[geyer]

Dates: August 25-26, 2018 Distance: 24 miles (some of that was skiing) Accum. Elevation Gain: 8600' Total Humans Seen: lottts of PCT thru-hikers, 5 people on Walupt Lake Trail, 0 off-trail Did I ski?: You betcha Ever since I started backcountry skiing, I've wanted to do a Goat Rocks traverse. I've also had my eye on scrambling Gilbert Peak lately (lots of prominence!). Well, it's August, so I'm clearly not getting a ski traverse in. And with the Miriam Fire, the easy approach to Gilbert was out as well... But the little devil sitting on my left shoulder had this thought: "You know, geyer - there are still glaciers and snowfields that could be skied." It was Friday night at 7:00 pm and I was still at the office when this little idea popped into my head. So I quickly asked a few friends (no takers), ran home, packed up my overnight bag and threw my skis into my car. 9:30 pm departure. Sign of an adventure in the making. I arrived at the Walupt Lake Trailhead a touch before 1 am and took a brief 4 hour nap in the parking area. And so it began Day 1: Walupt Lake to Conrad Basin, Distance: 13 miles Elevation Gain: 5700' Elevation Loss: 3200' For that first half mile of hiking, I was grimacing and already telling myself I would never put myself through such agony again. I don't have the exact numbers, but it was probably 40+ lbs once accounting for the ~14lb ski setup. I haven't carried a bag that heavy since...well, since going down that doggone boulder field from the Eldorado area [shudders]. Somehow, that initial shock only lasted that first half mile, and from then on, the weight didn't really hurt all that much... until it did. It was an ok day - occasionally blue sky, but high cloud cover. Nothing like the "mostly sunny" that NOAA predicted. Better than nothing, I suppose. The initial leg of the trail was mostly empty, crossing paths with only a pair of hunters and the smell of smoke still lingered. When I got to Nannie Peak, there was a low layer of clouds on the other side of the ridge, just low enough to see the tips of the surrounding mountains. Sheep lake was cool enough for a brief photo stop, watching the fog drift across the top of the water.

Nannie Peak views

tiny tarn near the trail

first views of the Goat Rocks

sheep lake arrival

dun.dun.dun. dun duun. du duuun.... SMOOOKE ON THE WAAATER

sheep lake

sheep lake

injected a bit of color into this

Things got a bit foggier on the way to Cispus Pass as the winds picked up and blew the smoke out to the southeast. The fog provided an interesting mood for photography, but it got old (especially on Sunday). Once at Cispus Pass, I came down to the main creek flowing through the basin and headed right to go up to the next pass off-trail. This terrain is extremely mellow.

foggy flowers

trail views

flowery gully

trail to Cispus pass

cool geology brought on by cooling of magma into basalt columns. There's some fun physics behind why 120 degrees is the angle that the columns separate into, but I'll leave that to you to look up...

Looking back on the trail to Cispus Pass [before]

floofy puff-balls that I can't remember the name of

goat citadel in the clouds

some views emerge at the 2nd pass

Once at the pass, I was presented with the first decision: to ski or not to ski this tiny snowfield in front of me? I passed, in hopes of bigger and better things. Instead I went right, where I was presented with another decision: to go down the gray rock or the orange rock? The gray rock looked more direct an the orange rock looked like kitty litter, so I chose the gray rock to the right. THIS WAS A MISTAKE. The gray rock soon gave way to very steep, very loose, very small scree that gave way with every downward step. I don't know if you've ever fallen backwards onto your butt with skis on your back multiple times in a minute, but it is not pleasant! This was the only serious type-2 portion of the weekend.

Look! snow! should i ski it?

Cispus basin views

you can see rainier and Little T

b&W

views to the southeast. Goat Citadel & glacier

Once down the scree slope, I entered the glacier basin below Goat Citadel. This glacier doesn't have a name for some reason, unless it was once connected to the Conrad Glacier over the next pass. It seems to be the healthiest glacier of the Goat Rocks bunch, which isn't saying much because they are all very broken up and falling to pieces. It was here where I first put my skis on and skied the snowfield below the glacier. Very mellow. Very fun.

b&W views on the snowfield below the glacier

going up for a lap

tiny brad skis back down

looking up

I had done a good bit of map scouting beforehand to see if I could get up to Gilbert Peak without going all the way toward warm lake and finding the ridge or without climbing a chossy gully on the southwest side of Gilbert. From the map, it looked like the col to the southeast and northwest of Gilbert would both be options (if the glaciers cooperated). But the northwest col was clearly not in season, showing huge gaping moats all up and down the glacier. (When I got to Conrad Basin later, it looked like option two was a possibility if I had wanted to climb some scree to the left, but the weather wasn't cooperating and I was cold.)

my would-be route to the col if it wasn't broken up

After getting a couple laps in, I skinned up the glacier toward the next pass. Luckily, there was a mellow side of the glacier near the rocky lateral moraine which I cruised right on up. If not for 5 stinkin' feet of rock, this would have been 800 consecutive feet of skiiable August terrain! Damned glacier - why didn't you think of the skiiers!!

glacier has some deep crevasses

up

up

From the (3rd) pass, I finally got views of the glacier lake in the basin below the Conrad Glacier. I was pleasantly surprised by its vibrant blue-green hue, because in the pictures I had seen, it looked mostly gray. The wind here got even stronger and I had to reevaluate my goals. The stretch goal to go toward warm lake was looking less appealing, and going to Gilbert Peak was not that great either.

finally at the end of the glacier to the next pass

views over the pass to Conrad Basin

conrad basin

B&W of the goat citadel glacier

Instead, I hiked the colorful ridge on my left (Tieton ridge) for a while until it became more of a scramble than a walk. The colors were phenomenal. And it was some of the softest terrain I've ever hiked on.

Wind whipped up on the ridge and brought some clouds, leading to a lot of this view

you could say i really liked the colors up there

a little splash of light

After that, I went down to the basin and scoped out another ski line on a snowfield. It would have to wait til tomorrow, because this area was freakin' beautiful and I had pictures to take on my new camera! It was also windy, and I decided to build a mini rock shelter on two sides to protect my bivy and camp stove flame. (don't worry, I dispersed the rocks when I left.) I have a newfound respect for the people who create perfect rock shelters with flat rocks that are 3 feet tall.

basin views of the moraine lake

glacial streams make leading lines too easy

that color, though

b&w of teh braided stream

color version

I thoroughly enjoy this view

little yellow flowers

nightfall

Anyone have any ideas why this might be here? Mystery

My pathetic little rock shelter

The night was probably the second windiest night I've ever had in the backcountry. I'm glad I brought ear plugs, or else I would not have slept a wink. Instead, I slept like a log. Apparently I missed one of the best showings of the northern lights all year, but they wouldn't have shown inside of the ping pong ball where I was sleeping anyway. Day 2: Conrad Basin back to car Distance: 11 miles Elevation Gain: 2900' Elevation Loss: 5400' The next morning, I got up early enough to filter some water and witness about 10 seconds of glow in the clouds (which i got on camera). All my mind could think about was how windy and cold it was and that it was misting, so I decided not to make a run at Gilbert Peak and not to make a run at skiing the clean snowfield line I had scoped out. I just wanted to keep moving to stay warm.

morning blue hour

some twilight color

b&w of the lake and Gilbert

color version less dramatic

I made it back to pass #3 where I had approximately zero visibility, so naturally I put my skis on and went down that almost-uninterrupted 800' ski run while whooping and hollering the whole way down. FUN! Except for that part where the glacier was melting really fast and I felt like I was skiing on pure ice with a coating of rock flour. NOT FUN (at least it was flat and not crevassed). I got down to the bottom of the snowfield and went back up for another lap, because dammit I didn't come all this way just to go home at 9 am!

view of the lake in the fog

skied down from the pass and saw this tarn, ripe for a pond skim. but I was too cold

After another lap, I saddled up the skis and decided to take the orange rock ridge up instead of the loose scree that I took down. Great decision, because the whole way up was like one long stairclimber with an abundace of ledges. I made it to pass #2 where visibility was almost nil. I very nearly went down the entirely wrong basin because I had no sense of bearings, but it didn't feel right since everything was steeper than I had come up. After a quick course correction, I was back on track and making it down Cispus basin. Soon enough, I was back on trail and immediately met by dozens of PCT hikers who were all amused that I was carrying skis. If you ever want a good conversation starter on the trails, carry skis in August.

moody grass pictures

more floofs

trail floofs

Being inside of a ping pong ball does make for some interesting photography, I will grant it that.

looking at the trail to cispus pass [after]

the tarn was especially moody

in a ping pong ball

don't forget to look up!

foggy pines

Takeaways: - Skiing in August is fun - that extra pair of wool socks you pack for sleeping in make great unidextrous mittens during the day - I need to visit more glacier basins before they become just plain basins!

[General ****]

geyer, What a fantastic trip report, thank you. That was an amazing route you went on, and your photography is fantastic. I don't think we'll be going into the Basen via this route, but it sure looks beautiful.

[geyer]

[texasbb]

Very nice. I love it up there. I grieved a bit this year with the South Fork road washed out. Thanks for the story and pics!

[General ****]

I've seen the puffy flowers in other areas of the Goat Rocks and I think they might be called Snow Grass. However, I would get a second opinion as I could be wrong.

[texasbb]

[General ****]

texasbb, Thanks for the clarification, I like the nickname, "Hippies on a Stick", I don't think I will remember Anemone Occidentalis... but they sure are pretty!

[Bootpathguy]

[BigBrunyon]

Goin' big out there! You get what you give!! Keep givin'!!!

[GaliWalker]

Pretty! Some beautiful pictures in there. I never visited the Goat Rocks when I lived in Washington, and it remains one of the ones that got away.

[RichP]

Some of those pics look more like Alaska than Washington. Nice exploration .

[Tomlike]

fun stuff! nice report to a lesser visited corner of the Goats The windiest night I've ever spent (by far!) in the mountains was above Cispus Pass seven years ago. We had all 12 guy lines staked out on my Supermid and we still thought the thing was going to blow away during the night

[fourteen410]

Thanks for the eye candy! Love that area. If you haven't been to Warm Lake before, it's definitely worth a return visit. The moraine lake in your pictures has often been referred to as Cold Lake (likely for good reason).

[geyer]

[texasbb]