[IanB]

This spring was filled with such promise, making it to 7000' on top of Mt. Buckhorn by June 15th. The next day I took a 6' fall at work and cranked my right ankle over in a bad way. The next two months really sucked, thinking of all the snowy ridges and blooming alpine flowers. The silver lining at least, was a series of nice rehab beach-walks on the sandy shores of the whulj. Well, by mid-August I'd done a couple of on-trail hikes and felt ready to start testing my cross-country abilities. Rob was able to join me for a loop around the back side of Welch Peak and a week later, the long scramble along the length of Hawk Ridge. Both of these trips on known routes went well, so the following week I set out for Northeast Buckhorn. Last fall I'd chickened-out at the saddle with the wind whipping so hard I had to brace myself from being blown away. This time calmer conditions prevailed and I was able to find the way up, which turns out to actually be pretty easy for Class 3 - only two "pay attention" moments and otherwise very straightforward scrambling. A few pics from these warm-up trips: Welch Peak - August 27th

Mating butterflies.

Cloud halo.

Afternoon clouds over Townsend.

Posing Rob heroically on the precipice.

. Hawk Ridge - September 4th

Above the B-17 debris field. Copper Peak and The Castle.

Onto the rocky northern anchor of the ridge.

Tyler on the left, Townsend and Welch on the right.

The trickiest (not very) move on the ridge.

Looking down on Tull City.

Silver Lake.

An amazing standing wave cloud that persisted for over an hour,

before briefly sweeping up and around us!

"Don't you think we should start heading down?"

. The Buckhorns - September 8th

Looking up from the trail to the saddle.

Looking back down from partway up.

Still a ways yet to go.

The view south from the saddle.

On top! Copper Creek, The Castle, Worthington and Iron.

Boulder Ridge and Southwest Buckhorn.

Southwest Buckhorn from the saddle.

Nice light on Worthington and Northeast Buckhorn.

Shadows in the center of the picture reveal the gully system that breaches the upper cliffs.

Darn nice!

Lovin' it.

Good to know there's a trail back to the car.

. Mount Worthington - The Scenic Route - September 13th So by now I was feeling confident enough to tackle something that had been on my wish list for a long time: A visit to the original Tubal Cain mine shaft drilled into the highest cliffs of Copper Peak. I followed the Tubal Cain trail to Copper City and then the old trail (shortcut) which rejoins the main line just short of the junction with the trail to Buckhorn Lake. The lake was the lowest I've yet seen which made crossing the inlet waterfall quite easy. From here I was going to attempt to follow the route taken by the miners from their camp at the lake, across the northwest slope of the mountain, before turning up into the cirque between Copper Peak and Worthington. The worst brush is just east of the lake. A few hundred feet of thrashing let me out onto a talus slope that runs up toward the crest of the mountain. From there I slogged up hill until roughly even with a notch in a spur ridge to the north, then contoured across some steep and partially wooded slopes to the notch. From there the going got a bit easier on my way over to the next spur where I got my first look up into the cirque.

Buckhorn Lake.

The Castle from the first spur ridge.

Looking south toward the first spur from the second.

The north wall of the cirque.

First glimpse of the mine shaft!

In some welcome shade, I began toiling up through acres and acres of loose scree and talus. There's nothing green at all holding this slope together as new material is continuously added to the heap. As I labored up, chunks of Worthington were rattling down. Reaching the mine would be straightforward, but I also had my eye on a gully system that I was hoping would provide a way up out of what would otherwise be a dead end. (I knew that it was likely that my trip would end at the mine, but I really wanted to make this a loop hike that included the summit.) Eventually I closed in on the shaft entrance, only to get a big surprise - it was full of snow!

The forbidding walls of the cul-de-sac.

Contorted rock to the north.

The shaft entrance on the lower right, (with a little ledge for a doorstep.) My exit gully on the left.

The Castle from the doorstep.

Looking in - who expected that!?

Inside the icebox.

The picture I've wanted to take for a very long time.

Okay, well, that was nifty, but now I had to attempt to get up and out onto Copper Peak. One foot off of the doorstep and the angle of repose doubled. A few feet higher on my left I passed a shallow test shaft, and continued zig-zagging up between the narrowing cliffs. Soon I found myself in the shadow of a huge overhanging block. So far, so good, but just short of where I needed, it pinched out against a convex bulge in the adjoining rock face. So this is what it came down to - get through here or turn around. I had to wriggle crab-like out of the crevice, onto my knees on the curving rock. The potential fall might only have been about 15', but still, enough to get badly hurt, miles from the nearest trail. Now that I was committed, still half-crouched trying to keep 3-and-a-half points of contact, I searched for hoped-for holds. Just another few feet and I would be off this sketchy gravel-dusted rock... Failing to find a final hold, I sunk the pick of my axe in above a good-sized clump of alpines, and pulled myself back up on my feet. Whew! Carefully climbing up and away from the chute, the terrain mellowed until I could again relax on the easy north ridge of Copper Peak. I knew the rest of the way over to Worthington required some scrambling and I'd burned a lot of time on my way up that gully, so I only paused on top of Copper for a sip of water before forging ahead. Getting down to the saddle between the peaks is straightforward, but it gets a little gnarly-looking on the ridge up to Worthington. Not needing any more excitement then necessary, I took the prudent option, dropping about 200' down the Quilcene side before working back up past the difficulties to the summit block. Bypassing the summit scramble, I finally dropped my pack in the tawny meadows of Worthington's west ridge. Time for a change of fresh clothes and beer! In a few minutes of glorious relaxation, all my anxieties slipped away. Before long I found myself heading up to tag the top - which seemed so easy after the day's travails. To my surprise, no one had signed in since Gimpilator and BryanK nearly a year before!

Looking back down the chute.

Townsend and the north ends of Hawk and Copper.

All of Hawk Ridge.

Worthington summit block from Beer Meadow.

The view southwest from the top.

Looking back over at Copper Peak.

Zoom of the crux in the gully - right in the middle of the picture.

Life is good!

It had been hot and hazy all day with smoke from fires down by Mt. Adams. Finally, the light was getting longer as a beautiful evening came on. It was time to saddle-up and begin the relatively easy trek back to the lake. Arriving at the col between Worthington and Iron, I found the basin below unsurprisingly devoid of snow, so it was lots o' rock-scotching down to the lip of the headwall, and then swinging by vegetable belays down the wooded wall to the lower rock field below. Racing the dusk, I crawled out of the tangled trees above the lake's inlet with just a few minutes to spare. For good measure, I followed the trail up to the junction before sitting down to watch Worthington fade into the mild, deepening blue evening. From here it was only five miles by flashlight back to the car.

Constance and company.

Shadow portrait.

Iron mountain.

Evening light on a buttress of Worthington.

And on Iron.

[Bryan K]

Glad you are back on the trail!! Worthington was the last big peak I did before having knee surgery again last fall. Cool to be a part of a small group if people who've made that summit

[Phil]

Always nice to read about your adventures and see the pics. Love the map, too.

[Ancient Ambler]

Excellent trips, reports and photos, Ian. It's great to see you back in the Olympics. I'm glad your recovery proceeded fast enough to allow you to get in some alpine travel before the snows come again. I'm looking forward to some more reports on your post-recovery adventures.

[NWtrax]

it's clear nothing is gonna keep you out of these mountains. the smile says it all

[Magellan]

Glad to hear you have mended. Thanks for bringing back the goods.

[IanB]

Thanks so much, everybody! It is really, really nice to be out there again.

[wolffie]

If you're not doing yoga now, find a competent yoga instructor with experience in injury rehab. That's how I repaired by broken fibula. Fully 18 months post-injury, I got the last 3% mobility back by paying attention and making quite subtle adjustments in posture. These injuries do not heal automatically; you sometimes have to do it intentionally.

[silence]

nice going ian!

[coho]

Down but not out. Nice late summer comeback Ian!

[Gimpilator]

[IanB]

Thanks again, for all your congratulations! Now if I could just get rid of the darn bug that derailed today's big plans...

[iron]

good stuff. glad you're back at it!

[raising3hikers]

glad you got right back to the mountains after healing. The ice box looks interesting

[bobbi]

you and everyone else are animals! let's see...that includes iron, raising3hikers,wolfie, and many other nwhikers who are or have been injured and cannot keep still....returning to the mountains as soon as possible. way to go!