[geyer]

"Oh my god, I love my life." A very content Eve blurted this out to no one in particular as she snuggled up in her zero degree bag perched at our 7900' wind-protected bivy site between the McAllister and Klawatti Glaciers. Mike and I laughed, both at Eve's total sincerity and her apparent lack of modesty. When we finally caught our breath and Eve's smug grin went away, that statement continued to resonate with me. She's right... Just look at us, look where we are. Do you know how many people on this planet get to experience something like this? Do you know how many people even know something like this even exists?? How did we even get here... The Inspiration Ski Traverse (sort of) Dates: May 26-28, 2018 Distance: 19.8 miles Accum. Elevation Gain: 11,260 ft Total Humans Seen: fewer than you'd think Rewind to the week before, while taking naps on the summit of Abernathy Peak, I recalled to Eve how my Memorial Day weekends the past two years had been pretty awesome, with a solo trip up Mount Adams in the howling wind in 2016, and seeing the northern lights do their thing while camped at Tank Lakes in 2017. I wanted to one-up these trips somehow. Our initial goal was to go for the Dakobed Traverse (on skis), but the 6.5 hour drive between the White River Trailhead and the N Fork Sauk Trailhead was a bit daunting and I was having trouble getting Friday off to turn it into a 4-day trip. It wasn't until Thursday morning that Inspiration even came up. Planning was expedited and after a few quick reads of SummitPost, we were ready to go, along with Mike who was visiting his old homestead for the weekend. Day 1: Eldorado TH to K-A Col Distance: 7.0 miles Elevation Gain: 6780' Elevation Loss: 1090' Humans Seen: 5+ After camping at the trailhead overnight, we got a decent start on the day. The goal was to hit Klawatti Peak and camp at either Klawatti Col or Klawatti-Austera Col. Right off the bat, Eve lost one of her ski poles to the log crossing. Uh-oh. Not a good sign. And then, due to other... unforeseen circumstances... we were not moving as fast as we had hoped. It wasn't even 8 AM and we already had to re-evaluate our weekend goals. We decided that we had to skip Klawatti and hope there was time for it later (spoiler alert: there wasn't. Or more accurately, there was, but we weren't prepared for the route options available).

First views

Jo-burg

Moody clouds at the Eldorado Glacier

Mike for scale

Hungry clouds eating the Inspiration Glacier

Making our way past Eggplant

The clouds and wind were out in full force, especially near the Tepeh Towers, where we became completely engulfed. When we got to Klawatti, we took a look at it, and Eve noticed that the South route she intended to do already had a moat blocking it, despite 2-week old beta that said it was in. Ohhh well... Not like we had time for it anymore, anyways Klawatti's supposed "class 3" route baffled us the rest of the weekend. Where was this hidden treasure? Perhaps it was on the SE ridge, which was the only side hidden from us all weekend. Otherwise, nearly every other face looked chossy and vertical with moats obscuring potential entry points

22°halo (correction by Brushbuffalo)

Forbidden views

No views/best views

there be rocks o'er yonder

Out of the cloud for now

Personal favorite picture

Approaching Klawatti Col

scenic much?

classic ski tip shot

how'd this color photo get in here?

Eldo peaking out

last views of forbidden for a bit

dark vibes

The last stretch of the day led us from K Col to K-A Col, where the snow was complete mush and the skinning was slightly frightening given the runout. Just as we were told, the K-A Col had a huge (and growing) moat, with a 30 foot snow wall. Given the wind, the choice was obvious to set up camp inside the moat. It was spacious and very private, but also strangely unique. Camping in your own little snow and rock pocket, 7900' above sea level.

day's final traverse over to K-A Col

our guardian scottish terrier watchdog

There are people in this picture!

I'd frame this

Sunset views

runnels

Col Pano

Our home for the weekend

Day 2: Austera & Primus Distance: 6.4 miles Elevation Gain: 3700' Elevation Loss: 3700' Humans Seen: 0 After Mike broke his only water bottle and I broke my second pack strap in two weeks on day 1, the tables started to turn for us on day 2 as we awoke to a magnificent inversion layer sunrise. DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I HAVE DREAMT OF THIS??? HOLY COW MY FIRST INVERSION SUNRISE FROM THE ALPINE!!!

Waking up to this was a treat

INVERSION!!!

Colors!!

Baker

whoa

Our first stop of the day was Austera Peak, the skinning to the ridge was easy, but summit post's description led us to believe that we would need some pro for the climb up. Turns out that in spring, an ice axe is plenty of assurance, but since we had lugged a small rack and a climbing rope, we felt silly not to use them. Safety first, y'all

Starting over to Austera

Eve - always a mile ahead

Mike working for it

Mike and the Klawatti Glacier

The whole team here

There was a short scramble up to the main ridge from the south, where we quickly reached a false summit. We then had to shimmy our way over to a gap between the false summit and main summit. This gap had a finger of snow that essentially let you walk across. Eve led across the snow on belay and I soon followed (off belay) It was a little icy, so I won't lie - having that rope as a hand-line felt nice. The summit of Austera is one of - if not thee - coolest peak I have ever been to.

Mike chilling on the ridge

Damn, Primus, I want to ski all of you

summit shot

the final steps

the boss-lady

summit pano facing south

Eve regaining the false summit

Klawatti glacier

The skiing down was absolutely fantastic. Corn and views for days.

Time to put those skis back on!

Well-earned turns

Eve

Mike

Mike + Eve

The way down past the Austera Towers brought us to 6760' - a nearly 1500' ski run! At the base of the towers is what I would call one of three places that were sketchy for skinning, especially with the mushier snow. (The other location was at around 7800' coming around the Tepeh towers towards Klawatti Col from the south.) We all ended up booting this part to and from the North Klawatti Glacier. Once we got to the glacier, things mellowed out - big time. This glacier is extremely flat, and the home of a glacier monitoring station. Skinning to the summit was easy-peasy switchbacking, the views from the top were primo, and the skiing back down was as good as we could have asked for. Another 1300'+ ski run to cap the day!

The North Klawatti Glacier feels huge

Up we go

Up we go

The little black speck on the glacier is our gear yard sale

More summit naps

Eldorado

Klawatti

Buckner

Goode

Austera Ridge

Getting those turns again

Eve looking legit

Mike for scale

Turns

On the way back to camp, we noticed more glacier worms everywhere. Eve and I freaked out a little since we hadn't seen them since our Glacier Peak trip.

Glacier Worms!

This view does not get old

Return to camp

When we made it back to camp, I decided this would be the night I got up for astrophotography. Conditions weren't exactly prime, given the near-full moon and howling wind, but how many other people have a picture of star trails above the McAllister Glacier?? My only regret is not braving the wind for longer than the 20 minute star trail stack.

Moon shining over our moat

Big Dipper/Little Dipper

Wish I had more patience for better star trails

Day 3: K-A Col to TH Distance: 6.4 miles Elevation Gain: 780' Elevation Loss: 6420' Humans Seen: 7 The next morning, we again woke up to a cloud inversion sunrise, but the wind had picked up so much that none of us were in the mood to stick around for it. We hauled ass out of camp and started the trek back to the trailhead. The clouds around Forbidden were absolutely stunning. The only downside was that it mean skiing down was going to be in the clouds. It didn't matter much to me, because everything on skis seemed to be clicking for me this weekend, but the kick-step queen (Eve) preferred to boot it.

Final morning inversion

Inversion pano

back to Klawatti Col

Eve + Eldo

Forbidden being bashful

The struggle is real, the views make up for it

some crevasses opening

Aggressive kick-steps or Where the Wild Things Are pose?

Towers

Last one. seriously

James + Brady (?) on the summit of Eldorado

OK just kidding this is the last Forbidden pic

Apporaching eggplant

Skiing down in the cloud

Takeaways: - Ski crampons are da bomb - Ski straps are nearly impossible not to lose - Inversion sunrises are just as amazing as I'd imagined - When things aren't going according to plan, adjust your expectations and enjoy the ride Sidenote: McAllister Camp bridge washed out in 2017, which is why we didn't do the full traverse... although I hear that Lucky Ridge bushwack is nice and fun

[awilsondc]

Pretty cool man! I love your trip reports, keep it up! I need to do this some day. Just... so cool!

[geyer]

[Jake Robinson]

[chandlerhaberlack]

Wow some of the best spring north cascade pictures I've seen. This is awesome!

[Bootpathguy]

Splendid TR and Bingo!!!

[Matt]

[mbravenboer]

Those photos are truly wonderful. Great job!

[wildernessed]

Awesome!

[Brushbuffalo]

Amazing photos and awesome story telling. Love it!! But leave it to Professor Doug to make a tiny clarification. This pic shows a 22°halo, not a sundog ( parhelion).

[fourteen410]

Dreamy

[Get Out and Go]

[rbuzby]

[Brushbuffalo]

[geyer]

Thanks everyone for the responses! I was really hoping to get some reactions from the lot of you out of that first paragraph. And by the looks of it, it worked. Especially appreciate Jake and Bootpathguy's responses. It's a bit overwhelming to think that at any place and any time, there could be something absolutely majestic happening and nobody out there to witness it. Might as well get out to wherever makes you happy as much as possible.