[tyreid]

Just finished up a great 6 days on the Bailey Range Traverse. We had perfect weather and great conditions. There's not much seasonal snow left in the alpine and travel on glaciers was relatively easy with a nice suncupped surface. We went in via Sol Duc, past Heart Lake, onto the High Divide and camped above the Catwalk on our first night.

The next day we crossed the Catwalk, climbed Mt. Carrie and descended the the glacier beneath Mt. Ruth. The steep headwall that'd typically be snow climbing this time of year was melted down to glacier ice and I was happy to have brought a 19cm ice screw along for this section. We climbed this is 3 30m pitches (approx 45 deg).

We passed through the notch, dropped into Stephen basin, and camped high on the shoulder of Stephen Peak. From here it was ridge cruising with the occasional scrambly bushwhacking to upper Ferry Basin, onto the crest of the Bailey Range for the rest of the day, and a nice descent into upper Queets Basin.

Day four was the fun traverse ("fun" as in an arduous thrash) to the Humes Glacier. We cruised up to Blizzard Pass and dropped down to Camp Pan for our 4th night.

Through Glacier Pass and down the Blue to Glacier Meadows, and down to the Hoh where we camped along the river for our last night. The big news is the washout before Glacier Meadows has been fixed by the trail crew. Huge props for their efforts. It might require some maintenance but it's way safer than the rope ladder setup. Out to the trailhead on day 6 where we had a car shuttle arranged. Lots of great photos on our blog.

[BaNosser]

Awesome trip... can't believe how melted out some of those section are in early Aug!

[Magellan]

Wow. Just, wow. If you have any more words or pictures, I would welcome them.

[meck]

Great Photos Tyler! Looks like you hit the perfect weather window! I've been considering the alternate route that you took passing to the east of Ruth Peak up that steep snowfield. Do you think crampons and ice-axe would be sufficient to climb that (now exposed glacier ice) slope? Did it look like there was any better/safer way to avoid that section? (I understand that conditions change and your comfort level w/ ice slopes may be way higher than mine, but just curious what you thought of it) Also, how were the bugs?

[Ancient Ambler]

Great trip and cool departures from the standard route between Carrie and Ferry. Excellent photos on your blog. I especially enjoyed your shot looking down at Camp Pan from the south, plus your photos from upper Queets Basin, particularly the shot looking toward Humes Glacier with your tent on the south side of the tarn and the sun reflecting off the tarn and the photo from the NE side of the tarn looking down the Queets valley with the light of the setting sun reflecting off the snow onto the water. Was this the northernmost tarn in upper Queets Basin, about 1/3 mile south of Peak 5833? Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

[tyreid]

Hey meck- When that headwall section is still snow covered, crampons and ice axe would be all you need. When it's down to ice, it comes down to how proficient you are climbing awkward angled ice. I had a Sum'tec hammer and aluminum crampons and built anchors to bring up my second climber. It's possible there's a lower variation but I didn't see any obvious great options. Bugs were hit and miss- a little intense in the Stephen Peak zone but mellower towards Queets Basin. Ancient Ambler- correct.

[MtnMike]

Great meeting you at Camp Pan

Tyler's group dropping into Camp Pan

[Mtn Man]

Nice! I'm guessing you passed our Bday group on the way up to Olympus. Big Steve talked Bailey Range routes with you for a while. Congrats on a beautiful traverse! Edit: Looks like you were only a group of two, we talked to a group of 6. Nice trip! B)

[DIYSteve]

Camp Pan!

[iron]

good stuff. great pics. perfect amount of detail!