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SultanHiker
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PostFri Mar 06, 2020 9:53 pm 
Mt Stickney 2-29-2020
Seen from Hwy 2 a couple days before the hike
Seen from Hwy 2 a couple days before the hike
I’ve climbed Stickney frequently since 2014. It’s the closest mountain to me, and it sees very few visitors. My friend Andy joined me for his second time. Some of the videos in this TR are his. Check him out on https://www.youtube.com/user/AndrewTravels/ We decided to do an overnight snowshoe. Probably a good idea because he likes to start late, and daylight is shorter this time of year. Probably would have been difficult to do in a single day in the conditions we encountered. We had a secret mission that shall remain a mystery for now… We left the trailhead at 11:07am amongst the booming sounds of the target shooters along the Sultan Basin Road. The trail was bare for short bit, but quickly turned to snow pack. There were some new blow-downs. By the time we were in the first switch backs, we donned snowshoes.
Crossing the worst blow-down
Crossing the worst blow-down
There were some pretty steep slopes to traverse in the snow. Nothing risky. Water sources were gone in the upper sections of the road hike. Lightly snowing for a lot of the ascent (and the majority of the trip)
Steep slope
Steep slope
Finding the correct path off the road was aided by my previous GPS tracks. We walked across One Acre Lake and gained a little more elevation. Then we picked a campsite just after 5pm at around 4200ft. We had to cut some snow using snowshoes to level out a pad for the tent. Phad Thai for dinner (using melted snow). The snow stopped, the sky cleared, and the stars came out. We were hopeful for good summit weather.
We woke up to a beautiful morning, but it didn’t last. We had breakfast and packed for a summit bid. We started out just after 10am. The first difficulty was gaining the notch on the summit approach. It was steep. Ice axe was a help. Fluffy in the middle, and icy on the perimeter of the gully. Kicking in steps with snowshoes. Took a long time. Visibility was terrible. It was impossible to decipher the slope of the snow in front of you. But it was only a psychological problem, not knowing if you were going to lose elevation, only to have to regain it.
Beautiful weather for a nanosecond.
Beautiful weather for a nanosecond.
After the notch, Andy ditched his snowshoes in favor of microspikes. I left mine on (they had better teeth than his). He doesn’t like exposure, so he crawled a lot after this point. We stayed to climber’s right to avoid the cornice we had seen from below. There’s a spot just before the summit where you have to turn around and down-climb a few feet. Snowshoes suck for this scenario and the exposure was great, so Andy continued while I ditched my shoes in favor of crampons. We got to the summit at 12:15p. Pringles and beverages were had. Views were not had. We didn’t stay for long. Maybe 20 minutes. Summit register was obviously buried under multiple feet of snow. Would have been fun to check it out, since I had installed it…
Summit time.
Summit time.
Andy descending.
Andy descending.
Best visibility
Best visibility
Andy crawled down most of the way to the notch. Then we agreed that downclimbing into the gully was ridiculous. We packed up for a glissade. I went first and ended up doing a somersault somewhere in the 2nd half of my glissade. I couldn’t see for most of it since the powder coated my sunglasses right away. When I stood up, I was nearly up to my waist in powder. Andy followed.
We got to camp around 1:40p. We ate Ramen and packed up. Andy’s gloves were frozen. I hadn’t felt my toes since we embarked in the morning. I put on toe warmers before the tent was dismantled. We left around 3pm.
Back to camp.
Back to camp.
My hands had warmed up by the time we were crossing the lake. So I gave him my gloves for the rest of the descent. On the road, we saw a lot of rabbit tracks in the fresh snow. At first it was novel. But then it was just commonplace. They were everywhere. Right before the rabbit tracks, we saw small clawed tracks. Had to assume bobcat, since they were on the smaller side. That was the extent of wild life we saw, except the snow-climbing-bug near camp (and the other bug 40 yards behind him).
Back to the truck at 6:10p. Then down to JD Slick’s in Sultan to regain some calories. / /

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puzzlr
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puzzlr
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PostSat Mar 07, 2020 12:54 am 
Great TR. Good use of video. It's really fun to see this area in winter -- a rare treat. What's the story behind "Willie's Tree"? Does that small sign on the tree by your camp say that?

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tmatlack
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PostSat Mar 07, 2020 4:49 am 
Great outing and documentation. Sorry about the visibility. That depth perception in flat light is weird. Question: on long extended winter "hikes" with big packs, how do you deal with sweat soaked base-layers..especially on your back? Do you carry extras? Dry them in sleeping bag as you sleep? I am heavy perspirer and nothing works for very long for base layer top.

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RichP
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PostSat Mar 07, 2020 8:24 am 
A fine adventure indeed.

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SultanHiker
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PostSat Mar 07, 2020 8:27 am 
puzzlr wrote:
What's the story behind "Willie's Tree"? Does that small sign on the tree by your camp say that?
Willie was a canine companion (one of the best) who's no longer here. His last big climb was on this route, and that tree is as far as he got, where he waited patiently.

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SultanHiker
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PostSat Mar 07, 2020 9:00 am 
tmatlack wrote:
Question: on long extended winter "hikes" with big packs, how do you deal with sweat soaked base-layers..especially on your back? Do you carry extras? Dry them in sleeping bag as you sleep? I am heavy perspirer and nothing works for very long for base layer top.
I haven't done a lot of these, but fabric is a big deal for me. I wear light synthetics that don't really hold sweat and didn't wear a base for this climb (I brought Under Armour thermals just in case). And then layers like a light rain jacket for a little bit of warmth, and a puffy for summit and camp time. A backpack with a breathable mesh contact surface (Osprey Atmos). Even my pants didn't hold moisture. And goretex rain pants on the way down to camp. My friend likes merino wool, but he seemed to hold more moisture, but says it stays warm and is still comfortable. We try to keep moving, as every time we stopped, we'd start to get cold. What little moisture I had collected was worn in my bag, and was fine in the morning. But it wasn't much. Even the falling snow evaporated as quickly as it landed (it was very light, although persistent). Wish I could be more help... That's all I got.

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Nancyann
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PostSat Mar 07, 2020 10:22 pm 
Awesome endeavor! Really enjoyed the videos. Coincidentally, today I was trying to explain to a gal who works at Wallace Falls State Park how to get to One Acre Lake. They also had problems at the gate with target shooters still shooting at dusk like I did two years ago. (Actually it was pitch dark when we returned.) Even more worrisome, last year we stopped there while driving back from Olney Pass to tell three shooters who were aiming their weapons directly down towards the road where you would be walking that they might kill somebody. They said they had no idea that there was a road down below. confused.gif

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