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williswall
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williswall
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PostSat Jun 24, 2017 8:16 pm 
Sendoff hikes (#2) Steamboat Prow After spending Wednesday, June 21 hiking to Enchanted Valley, we used Thursday as a rest, recovery and travel day to position ourselves at White River campground to hit Steamboat prow on Friday, June 23. We arrived with plenty of daylight (about 6 PM) and noticed that a ranger was removing all the barriers in anticipation of the campground opening the next day. We parked in a site right off the road, then set up our hot shower. After Cassie was done but while I was in the shower, the ranger came by and said it was OK to actually camp there and the pay station was open. Assuring him that we would indeed pay, we were elated that we wouldn't have to move the truck. All cleaned up with fluffy hair and destinkified bodies, we broke out the cooler for dinner, strolled down to the river to see the view, then stoked up a fire, allowing Cassie to read and enjoy the heat as I sipped on Baileys. Quite the relaxing day. The fire burned just long enough for us to hit the hay at 10. I awoke at 3 and went down to the river to see if I could get some star shots, but predawn light was already filling the backdrop. Nevertheless, the milky way was still visible. We got up at 7:30, broke camp and parked in the regular lot (after breakfast of course), to be on the trail just before 9. Although the melt off is in full swing, there is still an astounding amount of snow in some places on the trail. We ran into broken snow at 5000' but by 5400' it was continuous, with some places looking up to 10 feet deep. However, traffic is heavy with climbers and skiers and the boot path is easy to follow to Glacier Basin. When I skied this a few weeks ago the river was nowhere to be seen, buried under the snow. But it is now emerging and barely a few days are left to access the snowfield without having to cross a braid of the creek, at least lower down. The traditional climbers path stays on the moraine climbers right, contouring around to eventually access the Inter glacier. However, one can currently just get on the snow right at Glacier Basin and start the slog uphill. We saw a trio we had talked to earlier up at St. Elmo’s pass who were heading to do Ptarmigan Ridge. The steepest part of this climb is the lower section of the Inter glacier and here’s where Cassie was starting to feel her lack of climbing, as this was the first elevation this year (this trip is a total of 14 miles and 5300’ of elevation gain/loss). I could tell she was gritting down and promised her a flatter section where we could take a break and get some chow, at about 8100 feet. After this break it was easy peasy until the main boot track petered out, and I had to kick steps in my trail runners (why wear torsionally rigid footwear when trail runners will do?…wink wink) for the last 700 feet of climb to Steamboat. Once there the weather was so good, the views so sublime and/or in your face, that we spent an hour and a half just soaking it all in, Cassie confirming that this was indeed a view worth the climb. Dave joined us on top; turns out he is one of the SAR pilots, dedicated NPS staff, so I took some photos of him to send to his mom, not just because he said I could come check out the SAR helo ops there. Soon he was off down the scramble trail to spend a night or two at the Ranger hut at Camp Schurman. Finally we drug ourselves away from this most excellent spot and plunged our way down, me stopping once and marveling that the snow was good enough to set a glissade track with non slippery attire. Cassie tried it a few times but her yoga pants were so thin that she froze her backside. I did one more nice stretch, obviously away from the cracks we saw on the way up, and lickety split we were back at Glacier Basin. BTW, there is still enough coverage that an obvious boot track led from the Inter to Mt. Ruth, for those who might be interested in bagging both. At Glacier Basin I was reminded of small world as we ran into some skiers coming up late and one was my FAA doc…he and his son were going to rest a few hours at Schurman then continue the climb/ski in one stretch. The dude is my age, in impressively good shape. Cassie and I continued our speedy descent and still had plenty of light to eat dinner and clean up before the drive home. END These 3 days gave us the whole gamut, low to high, easy to slightly painful, night hiking, squealing elk, butt freezing glissades, campfires, hot showers, star shows, buttercup filled meadows, easy breezes and splendid air, a very nice send off indeed.
meteors over Rainier
meteors over Rainier
Bailey's on the stumps
Bailey's on the stumps
hot shower time!
hot shower time!
skin free area
skin free area
one legged man on bridge
one legged man on bridge
back in the green
back in the green
chillin'
chillin'
melting out fast
melting out fast
current snow conditions at Glacier Basin
current snow conditions at Glacier Basin
cracks starting to appear on the Inter
cracks starting to appear on the Inter
climbers cresting the steeper section
climbers cresting the steeper section
snowfield looking to Sunrise
snowfield looking to Sunrise
Inter glacier terminus
Inter glacier terminus
climbers at Camp Curtis
climbers at Camp Curtis
Little T
Little T
Mt Ruth
Mt Ruth
climber takes in Little T
climber takes in Little T
Cassie climbing
Cassie climbing
boot track to Mt Ruth
boot track to Mt Ruth
the Ghost
the Ghost
Cassie on Steamboat Prow
Cassie on Steamboat Prow
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
lots of activity
lots of activity
ski tracks above Camp Schurman
ski tracks above Camp Schurman
Steamboat pano
Steamboat pano
Steamboat pano looking towards Sunrise
Steamboat pano looking towards Sunrise
Steamboat scramble route
Steamboat scramble route
the descent
the descent
Winthrop cracks
Winthrop cracks
lingering on the view
lingering on the view
in your face view
in your face view
Emmons
Emmons
Emmons climbing route, Corridor left
Emmons climbing route, Corridor left
Emmons Glacier and Meany Crest
Emmons Glacier and Meany Crest
first, second and third Burroughs
first, second and third Burroughs
Grand Park, Glacier Peak
Grand Park, Glacier Peak
Dave starts scramble down to Camp Schurman
Dave starts scramble down to Camp Schurman
fresh glissade track
fresh glissade track
the river emerges
the river emerges
dork pose
dork pose
it's about time
it's about time
little somethin' for the ride home
little somethin' for the ride home
guac and bean dip
guac and bean dip
angles
angles

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Mikey
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PostSat Jun 24, 2017 9:13 pm 
Nice report, great photos. You mentioned:"then set up our hot shower". What do you do to get a hot shower?

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williswall
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williswall
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PostSat Jun 24, 2017 9:29 pm 
Mikey wrote:
You mentioned:"then set up our hot shower". What do you do to get a hot shower?
This year I bought a Zodi hot water shower, it's compact and has a water pump and piezo starter, so we set up the pop up privacy tent and emerge fresh as a daisy! What a difference it makes on a multi day like this.
hot shower time!
hot shower time!

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kweb
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PostSun Jun 25, 2017 11:05 am 
As always, great photos! We may have crossed paths. I was coming out that way after a night on the summit. We saw lots of skiers heading up.

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mbravenboer
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PostSun Jun 25, 2017 12:48 pm 
Excellent photos! Really enjoyed looking at them. Such amazing scenery there.

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Distel32
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PostSun Jun 25, 2017 1:05 pm 
up.gif

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mtn.climber
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PostMon Jun 26, 2017 12:07 pm 
Great pics and info. Thanks. up.gif

Reach for the sky, cuz tomorrow may never come. Live the life of love. Love the life you live.
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Foist
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PostMon Jun 26, 2017 1:19 pm 
Awesome photos and info, although the info made me sad. I have a reservation to camp in Glacier Basin on July 8 with my 5 year old, and it looks like that plan is doomed.

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mtn.climber
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PostMon Jun 26, 2017 2:29 pm 
Foist wrote:
Awesome photos and info, although the info made me sad. I have a reservation to camp in Glacier Basin on July 8 with my 5 year old, and it looks like that plan is doomed.
I wouldn't think so, Foist. We were there yesterday. The campsites are all under snow, but with the heat everything is melting fast. There are some dry patches, and a few tents were pitched on them. If the nice weather continues, there will be lots more open ground in two more weeks.

Reach for the sky, cuz tomorrow may never come. Live the life of love. Love the life you live.
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Foist
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PostMon Jun 26, 2017 2:35 pm 
Oh ok. Do you think the snow patches remaining would be navigable for a strong but short little 5 year old? Oh another question (sorry to hijack WW's trip report!). What time on a Friday in July does one need to arrive at the White River CG in order to secure a spot? We could just go early Saturday morning but it would be more fun to camp there.

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mtn.climber
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PostMon Jun 26, 2017 2:52 pm 
Foist wrote:
Oh ok. Do you think the snow patches remaining would be navigable for a strong but short little 5 year old? Oh another question (sorry to hijack WW's trip report!). What time on a Friday in July does one need to arrive at the White River CG in order to secure a spot? We could just go early Saturday morning but it would be more fun to camp there.
We showed up on Sat afternoon at WR campground, and had no trouble getting a site. It didn't even fill up during the night. Could be a different story I suppose, but I don't think there would be any problem by showing up on Friday. Currently, the last mile of trail is mostly snow, but easily followed. A lot more will melt on the trail in the next couple of weeks. I would think a motivated child could do it. Call the White River ranger station a couple of days before heading out and ask them for current trail/camping conditions.

Reach for the sky, cuz tomorrow may never come. Live the life of love. Love the life you live.
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Foist
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PostMon Jun 26, 2017 2:58 pm 
Of course, will definitely do that. Thanks!!

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