[b00]

luna 9/4 - 9/6/2014

carla on luna's true summit

In his introduction to the area in the Cascade Alpine Guide, Vol. 3, Fred Beckey writes: “Because of the rugged terrain, the Picket Range has remained the wildest and most unexplored region in the North Cascades. It is not an area for the wilderness novice…the length of climbs, combined with steep mixed terrain and variable conditions, demands all around competence and fitness.” (oops, i guess that leaves me out :>)

strolling luna's sw ridge

after careful deliberation, we the members of local 8311(the united brush-bashers,creek forders and route fitters union), voted for an all-out strike. in this case, a strike in the pickets would be shear luna-cy :>)

carla leading out heading from luna's false summit toward the true summit, while pj looks on

our picketing began with a ride on the ross lake water taxi. our buddies tom and matt did their best to miss the taxi, but somehow avoided disaster with a cooperatively late arriving water taxi and an all out sprint from hiway 20 down to the dock :>) they were heading up farther, to little beaver, and were glad to share the taxi(saved all of us some money) with us.

digging the views on luna's sw ridge with the northern pickets in the background

as best we could, we avoided stepping on the little toads that littered the big beaver trail. although it took us 4 hours to get to luna camp, but it felt like it only took a few minutes. we now had to pay attention to find the turn-off. most every bit of beta we had, proposed a different spot to leave the trail :<( but all agreed it was past luna camp. we looked for a said mark on a tree on the left side of the trail and some rocks embedded in log on the right. we also looked for an open area. no marks in a tree, nor rocks embedder in logs were found, but 30 minutes past luna camp, we found a large cairn on the left in a very minor stream bed. this cairn did not match any of our beta. so talked and decided to look farther. in a few minutes, we found an open area, but it seemed to be too far upstream, so we returned to the cairn. at the cairn, we (dived in) headed for big beaver creek. pj found a way that actually was not that bad, only a little brushy. we made the creek and mike (m.c., our dj or master of ceremonies) put on some water shoes and gave it a shot, but it was too deep :<( . we headed upstream and i found a spot i liked. it had a nice gravel bar on both sides of the creek, so we could easily enter and exit the creek and sit comfortably. so i put on ultralight running shoes(they weigh less than flip-flops!) and with some probing, i was able to find a way across that was upper thigh deep.

fording big beaver

after crossing, i tossed one of my poles as far as i could (it barely reached the other bank), so pj would have a pole to cross with.

fording big beaver

fording big beaver

we ascending brush to 2600' and then did a leftward traverse toward access creek. once we were on the ridge above and on the north side of access creek, we followed and lost the trail up along the creek, continually heading up. through thick and thin brush. when doing union business, it is always through the thick and thin :>)

you say you can't see anything through all that brush...

we knew we needed to find the trail before we reached the 3900' crossing point for access creek. we caught up with a party who had a multi-hour head start on us and followed them to the crossing. unfortunately, they were not on the trail and we succeeded in following them through some bonus slide alder and an annoying creek crossing(on the way back we did find the correct crossing).

carla crossing access creek

to add injury to insult, they picked up their pace just a little and beat us to the only really good camp spot :<( they were really nice guys, who were planning a trip us both east and west fury. the one was also a buddy of pj's cousin fred. i hope their climbs were fun. once across the creek, we hopped boulders to the nice camp next to access creek at ~4150' and then continued on up along the south side of access creek to ~4260', where we hunted for a good while for decent campsites. i could tell everyone, including myself was a little worn out. some more than others. my legs did not feel sore, but i felt tired.

almost to camp near access creek. carla's face says it all - the bundle of emotions and general tiredness we were all feeling

we set up camp, with everyone in a tent but pj, who was bivying. while we were eating, we had some unexpected dinner guests - snafflehounds :<( pj said, and the rest of us agreed, there were more snafflehounds than anyone of had seen before. pj got little sleep as he had to battle the hounds to protect his stuff, almost all night long. only when the morning light starting to come on, did their attacks abate. the following night, pj would join mc in his tent. carla and i brought our packs and our boots into the tent, to keep the snafflehounds from chewing on them. my little fly creek 2 tent, one of the smaller, lightweight 2 man tents made, was really crammed with two people and all our stuff. i did not sleep that well the first night, but did get some sleep night two. we had a nice breakfast and headed up the obvious easy lower gully

in the lower gully, just about back to camp

out of camp. at the top of the lower gully, we took the middle upper gully, the one that angles up and to the right. it too was relatively easy, but getting from camp to the top of the gullies, proved much more time consuming than they appeared. at the top of the gully we were not really sure where exactly to go, but we had good fortune. first, i had a gps track of a past ascent and second, we found the best blueberries, big and perfect ripeness. ummm! we were stopped dead in our tracks for a few minutes handling both. we headed up (nw) about 100' vertical feet

above the top of the gullies with luna rising above

and then did a leftward (w) traverse

the traverse over to luna's sw ridge

working a little up and down until we started ascending, with some class 3 moves, to gain luna's sw ridge.

the views from the ridge were stupendous.

on lunas's sw ridge, looking up at the scrambling to luna's false summit. the northen pickets in the background

there were a number of camp spots and bivy spots, none super-perfect comfort-wise(either a little sloped or rocky), but not that bad and definitely it was prime real estate.

scrambling up to luna's false summit

the ridge was pleasant all the way to the false summit.

1 label

scrambling up to luna's false summit

we had all heard that getting from the false to the true summit was hard, but we were not prepared for what we saw. it looked awful, heinous, terrible, terrifying. the true summit was also much farther away than any of us had expected :<( numerous friends and trip reports talked about how difficult and dangerous getting from the false to the true summit was. more than one said, no one in their party even attempted to go across :<( these daunting reports definitely colored our thinking. all of us were at least a little worried. we talked over the trip reports and beta we had. it still looked awful. we stared for quite a while. carla wanted to go over the false summit and down to some ledges on the southeast side. mc wanted to drop down a few hundred feet on the nw side and take a broad easy ramp up. it did not matter which way we looked, we could not be sure how well the route would work out, since we could not see the whole route for any. pj was definitely leaning toward dropping way down.

carla leading the way from luna's false to true summit. notice the distinct ledges/ramp we took,

this was carla second attempt on luna and she was worried if we drop down we would either dead end or run out of time. she did not like those options . typically she does not like to lead, but she was feeling desperate. she figured if she could show everyone the beginning would work, the rest of us would follow her. she headed down the ridge a few feet and then was able to work her way down to the nice ledges on the se side. we could see ledges all the way to near the summit and they looked excellent.

ledges on the way back from luna's true summit

we just did not know if we could get to the summit from the ledges. after seeing carla, mc still wanted to big drop down the nw side. i liked carla's way, but i was going to go wherever pj went, figuring he had the most experienced. pj though, had changed his mind. after seeing carla, he was ready to give the se ledges a try and told mc to go ahead do what mc wanted, pj was joining carla and would meet mc on the summit. mc then decided to join all us, as he is a team player. it was very exposed. a lot of the moves from the false to the true summit were very exposed. the few first moves off the summit were class 3 down the ridge connecting the two summits, down to spot where you need to go either left to the nw or right to the se side. we went right. then came the exposed crux, either an awkward class 4 move or a low 5th class move to get down to the ledge. on the way over i did the 4th class, on the way back, i did the low 5th class(no one else did the low 5th class move). the ledges were just as exposed, but even easier than they looked(class 2/3)

mc and carla working thw ledges on the way to luna's true summit

mc and carla working the ledges on the way to luna's true summit

and soon we were just below the true summit. then we ascended to reach a class 4 mantle that was strenuous, but not exposed.

pj standing above ramp above the class 4 mantle

that got us onto an easy sloping ramp that led us up to luna's ne ridge just 25' below the summit. we reached the summit, with a few moves of exposed class 3. carla deservedly attained the summit first. what made it fun, was all the class 3 and 4 moves were on solid stuff. we did not have to do anything difficult on loose rock :>)

luna's true summit

luna's true summit

luna's true summit

now it was time to celebrate! pj was the man of the hour. on the summit of luna peak, he became the 11th human being to finish the very difficult list - washington's highest 100 peaks with 400' of clean prominence - and pj did it without really working on the list. he did kind of accidentally by just climbing mountains that he was interested in. the nickname pj stand for peak junkie.

pj celebrating reaching the summit of luna and by doing so, becoming the 11 human to finish washington's highest 100 peaks with 400' of prominence :>)

after reaching the summit we took a break a 5' below it where there was lots of room. to get down we climbed back over the summit, so we actually reached the summit twice :>) after descending for a few minutes and after we had already passed the class 4 mantle move, we discovered we had the pencil for the summit register. so while the others waited, i re-climbed the class 4 mantle and re-ascended to the summit again and returned the pencil to the register tube. it was possibly was a record - three ascents of luna in one day! sorry, no more autographs :>) the three other climber's on this trip were all super accomplished - carla had just finished the bulger high 100 list, mc had finished both the frontcourt and the backcourt lists(is that right, have only three people finished both?) and pj had also previously finished the bulger high 100 list. i tried the whole trip to always contribute somehow, even if i was just the list-less junior partner :>) the snafflehounds were not as much of a problem the second night, although they did bite through the cord on my ursack. fortunately, they did not get into my food. we moved a little quicker than we feared we might and made it back to the dock a couple of hours before the water taxi would arrive. pj, carla and i all enjoyed a swim and we all enjoyed relaxing and we all revelled in the afterglow of a tremendous trip.

1 label

pj and carla chillin' by ross lake with their buddy jack sitting behind them

for carla and me, the route from the false to the true summit of luna the highlight. i bet it was for pj and mc too. should i have said highlight? i guess so, since i cannot come up with the right words to express the elation, the afterglow, the happiness, the ...

carla and her new pack accessory, a pack butterfly right after we returned across big beaver

in the pickets, one must pay their union dues. on the false summit of luna, one of our party contributed(dropped :<( ) his helmet as tribute to the union bosses. you could complain about the high price of entry, but before you do, one should consider the benefits.

2 labels

brushy, but never awful. the brush makes up for its lack of severity with quantity, although it is not that much, it is just physically demanding. there were no days my legs were tired, but i definitely was pack tired each day. thanks guys for taking me with you, for the company, the adult supervision, the fun times and being all-around great partners! :>) water: not all the creeks on the map along the big beaver trail were flowing, but we found water when we needed it. no water found from big creek until a good ways up access creek. access creek had a good flow. i don't remember seeing any water from camp until almost to luna's sw ridge.

pull up your pants pj, someone is taking your photo

quick and dirty route info: hike big beaver trail to luna camp, walk half hour beyond and turn left. cross big beaver, head up to 2600', traverse to ridge north and above access creek(the unnamed on the map creek that flow west of luna). head up n side of access creek to 3900', cross to south side of creek and head up. from 4200' on access creek, take obvious lower gully to its top. then take middle gully to its top, ascend 100' and then traverse left all the way to luna's sw ridge. ascend to false summit. down climb ridge a few feet until stop. descend right down to ledge. take ledge all the to below summit. mantle and then ramp to luna's ne ridge. scramble 25' of exposed class 3 to summit. smile :>)

scrambling up to luna's false summit

trip total 36.53mi 8009' gain day one - (1.05mi 0' gain - hike down to lake)(big beaver dock to camp - 15.11mi 3330' gain) 16.16mi 3330' gain 3:57 big beaver dock on ross lake to luna camp (9.36mi) 0:26 break 0:30 luna camp to cairn on trail marking turn-off (1.17mi) 0:11 explore up trail for different turn-off and come back to cairn on trail marking turn-off 0:17 from trail to big beaver 1:13 explore crossings, find spot to cross and cross big beaver 3:46 big beaver to camp 10:19 big beaver dock on ross lake to 4260' camp by access creek (day one total)

looking down from luna's true summit

day two - 5.09mi 4156' gain 1:40 camp to 6215' on ridge 0:15 break 1:51 6215' top of gullies to 7150' on luna summit ridge 1:10 7150' on luna summit ridge to false summit 1:58 luna false summit to true summit and back to luna false summit - including breaks(~0:30 minutes from false to true summit) 2:10 luna false summit to 6215' top of gullies 0:09 break 1:10 6215' top of gullies to camp 10:23 camp to summit to camp (day two total)

on top of luna's false summit. the true summit is just left of carla

day three - (14.23mi 580' gain - camp to big beaver dock)(1.05mi 523' gain - hike up from lake) 15.28mi 523'gain 3:08 camp to big beaver 0:43 cross big beaver+break 0:29 big beaver to cairn on trail marking turn-off 4:33 cairn on trail marking turn-off to big beaver dock 8:53 sub-total (4260' camp by access creek to big beaver dock on ross lake) 2:09 swimming and hang out wait for water taxi 0:11 ride water taxi back 0:25 hike up from lake 11:39 day three total

mc and carla working their way back to the false summit

equipment: ice axe, helmet, river fording shoes equipment brought but not used: crampons

day 1 beginning

day end one close-up

day two

day three

[Malachai Constant]

I remember a ridge of broken dinner plates from the false to the true summit, nie wieder!

[raising3hikers]

Nice going PJ! That's quite the accomplishment

[b00]

[MangyMarmot]

Nice trip! Cool photos. Thanks for the TR.

[BarbE]

[Magellan]

Huge accomplishment finishing the Px400. Congratulations to all for reaching this difficult summit.

[iron]

[mike]

I remember it being the best viewpoint in the NCascades.

[RichP]

Awesome trip everybody.

[GeoTom]

Lunacy, sheer lunacy. Nice storytelling b00. Do we need to chip in to buy you a new t-shirt?

[ree]

Love your trip reports, B00. The pink eye one was my fave.

[Jim Dockery]

Great trip & pics I was up there back in the 70s and it was my toughest trip for many years.

[dunker53]

Pictures awesome and the 'exposure' in your write-up left me scared to death!

[puzzlr]

Really nice panos. We saw Luna from Redoubt and Spickard and it looked like a huge chisel sticking into the sky.