Forum Index > Trip Reports > Mount Rahm & Mount Custer, 08/14-16/2021
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Alden Ryno
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Joined: 04 Jun 2019
Posts: 150 | TRs | Pics
Location: Issaquah, WA
Alden Ryno
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PostMon Aug 23, 2021 10:28 am 
Beneath the gully to access Rahm
Beneath the gully to access Rahm
Trip Stats: 24 miles, 11,000' gain Trailhead: Depot Creek Road, B.C. Gear:Poles, Ice Axe, Crampons (not used)
Route overview
Route overview
Redoubt while descending Custer
Redoubt while descending Custer
For our final two Bulgers, Ryan and I needed to summit Mount Custer and Mount Rahm in the Chilliwack. We had hoped to grab all six Chillpeaks during our July 4th excursion into the area via Perry Creek. Despite splendid weather, we moved slower than expected, principally the approach was much longer than expected. We had only reached Lake Ouzel by the end of Day 2 of 7. We "double orphaned" the least technical of the six peaks and vowed to return at a later date... Then, the Canadian Border was set to open to US residents on August 9th! When we heard of the possible occasion, the planning began for the first potential weekend. While some events nearly adjusted our trips in not the best ways, we were still set for the first weekend after the border opened. Our party of five had been split in two due to heavy smoke moving into the area. Rikki and I planned to begin Saturday morning while Ryan, Rebecca, and Phillip may begin midday Saturday. Saturday
Gate 0.8 miles from the old start. 2.5 miles from border swath crossing. Nice road all the way now!
Gate 0.8 miles from the old start. 2.5 miles from border swath crossing. Nice road all the way now!
Open road
Open road
Take the [b:c25479c42d]left[/b:c25479c42d] after the excavator/tree-grabber. This is the [b:c25479c42d]second[/b:c25479c42d] "Y" in the road. This is about 1.0 mile from the gate and the approximate starting point of the trail before renewed logging ops. Both paths get you to the swatch, the left here rises more quickly and bypasses the old switchback.
Take the left after the excavator/tree-grabber. This is the second "Y" in the road. This is about 1.0 mile from the gate and the approximate starting point of the trail before renewed logging ops. Both paths get you to the swatch, the left here rises more quickly and bypasses the old switchback.
New trailhead sign as well? Only a few entries. Suspected first Americans in the register. Earliest entry was late-July 2020, presumed Canadians.
New trailhead sign as well? Only a few entries. Suspected first Americans in the register. Earliest entry was late-July 2020, presumed Canadians.
The plan was to approach via Depot Creek, spur from the trail at the top of the falls, and move cross country to the SW slopes of Mount Custer. The first I saw of this route was from a descent by Fred. Ideally, we'd have all met up at Silver lake after having summitted Custer, but the terrain is loose and slow. Rikki and I left the car around 8am a bit behind schedule but we figured that travel would be simple. First mistake… We followed the newly tracked road (logging) for 2.5 miles and then some. We began to climb on the road and I realized that we were reaching the border swath at not a flat spot and checked the map. Crap. We passed the turnoff by 0.4 miles. We felt foolish but came to see that the road crew and deposited large berms of debris at a pullout that was the start of the route (allegedly). We marked it with arrows and cairns but the other parties missed it too. Our next big blunder was not making the trail quite to the Depot Creek Falls portion. We were on the right path, but it got extremely brushy so we backtracked slightly and went off trail to pop out next to the falls between the two fixed lines with no good option to get to either. Again, we went back into the bush and hoofed it up and around. This took nearly two hours in total. When we reconnected with the trail it was glorious. I still don’t understand why the trail goes through the falls, other than for the pure novelty of saying one clamored up part of a waterfall...
Depot Creek spewin'
Depot Creek spewin'
(Re)doubtless a grand view
(Re)doubtless a grand view
Long glacier
Long glacier
Little Rikki, Big World. Above Depot Creek nearing Lake Ouzel.
Little Rikki, Big World. Above Depot Creek nearing Lake Ouzel.
Ouzel. Redoubt Glacier is in rough shape. Amazing to see it twice, a month and a half apart, this year.
Ouzel. Redoubt Glacier is in rough shape. Amazing to see it twice, a month and a half apart, this year.
Redoubt Glacier ice tongue
Redoubt Glacier ice tongue
Up!
Up!
Halfway between Lake Ouzel and Silver Pass
Halfway between Lake Ouzel and Silver Pass
First full view of Silver Lake. We descended too far left. Center-right of the pass is much more level
First full view of Silver Lake. We descended too far left. Center-right of the pass is much more level
Unfortunately, the approach took Rikki and I significantly longer than expected so we opted to go to Lake Ouzel then to Silver Lake at 8pm the standard way. Meanwhile, the other three began around noon and blitzed up the trail and off-trail to summit Custer at 845ish pm! 99 for Ryan smile.gif They dropped down about 1,000’ feet and camped for the night. Unfortunately, they slept on snow but found a prime, dry spot right next to them in the morning… We coordinated via inReach message to confirm a meet up the next morning on the traverse to Rahm around 730am.
Near camp
Near camp
Slab sleepin'
Slab sleepin'
Sunday
Silver Lake morning light
Silver Lake morning light
Loose, steep terrain to our rendezvous point
Loose, steep terrain to our rendezvous point
Silver Lake post sunrise
Silver Lake post sunrise
Rikki and I were on the move around 615am, crossing the head of Silver Lake. What a place! The terrain getting from Silver Lake to 7,400/600’ on the traverse is steep and loose but levels off after a few hundred feet to make upward travel pleasant. We all coalesced a few minutes before 730. A successful backcountry rendezvous!!
The only tedious section of the traverse to Rahm. We stayed around 7,400'-7,600' the entire time, descending slightly to the base of the cliffs.
The only tedious section of the traverse to Rahm. We stayed around 7,400'-7,600' the entire time, descending slightly to the base of the cliffs.
The gully only popped into view as we reached the base of it
The gully only popped into view as we reached the base of it
The traverse was much better than we could have hoped for. Much of it takes place on dry slabs with a few permanent snowfields that are low angle. We assessed which gully to take through the cliffs to Rahm and eventually settled on the center "4th" class option. It was great. We didn’t decide until immediately below the gully. It splits into two, we opted for the east (climber’s right) sub gully. Ryan and Philip went left while Rebecca and I went right. Soon, Ryan proclaimed that their option didn’t go (easily) so we all shifted to the right gully and remained in two groups to reduce rockfall. The 4th class section was solid and relatively clean. When the gradient lessened, the terrain loosened but was never terrible. We topped out on the gully and crossed another low angle snowfield to gain the ridge below the summit of Rahm. About this point, Rikki noticed a human crossing the snowfield below the cliffs… Ryan let out the best alpine yodel and the figure waved a pole and began to run on the snow. I used my phone to zoom in on it and I immediately thought that it looked like our friend Sam! He hadn't come due to family commitments but I swore it bore his pink hoodie, shorts, and movement gait. We began to speculate on the odds.
Rebecca on the traverse from Rahm, Silver Glacier and Spickard behind
Rebecca on the traverse from Rahm, Silver Glacier and Spickard behind
Meanwhile, we made easy travel on the south slopes/ridge to the summit. Ryan and I tagged both summits to be sure since some maps label the peaks as the true summit. We believe the true high point to be the USGS labeled summit (east peak). Ryan had his final Bulger summit and my 99th. Between Rebecca, Phillip, and Rikki, Ryan had his three most frequent Bulger summit partners. Such fitting company and a privilege to witness. We sat for quite a while on the summit, not thinking of what terrain was to come.
The elusive figure below
The elusive figure below
Zoomed in as the figure ran
Zoomed in as the figure ran
Summit stoke for Ryan's final Bulger summit
Summit stoke for Ryan's final Bulger summit
Rikki and her fair prize
Rikki and her fair prize
Below, the figure began to grow as it made fast work of the terrain and my confidence that it was Sam grew while justified skepticism remained in others. Not until it was 100 feet below did we know that it was in fact Sam! He began 530 the evening before and shiver bivy'd for a few hours at Ouzel (and spoke to Dwayne Dunaway, on his way to tag Custer, his 99th) before moving on the intercept us. It was a huge gamble on his part...we hadn't divulged our itinerary to him so he didn't know whether we'd be on Rahm or Custer or who would or wouldn't actually be there! He came bearing summit gifts (TacoBell, doughnuts, and Diet Mountain Dew). After nearly an hour and a half, we began to descend. Again, we split in the gully. Coalescing below, I caught this stunner of a shot!
oooweeee
oooweeee
When we reached our rendezvous point, we stayed together for a little while more. Ryan, Rebecca, and Philip intended to stay high and drop just above Silver Pass while Rikki, Sam, and I would ascend to the south ridge route and drop to the basins to the SW of Custer.
Abbey Road in the Chilliwack
Abbey Road in the Chilliwack
The other party seemed to attempt a high but not-too-high crossing and got into a pickle that forced them down to Silver Lake and out via the way that we took in. We would retrace their steps.
Silver Glacier
Silver Glacier
Once at the pass south of Custer, we dropped down about 800’ brutal feet before turning toward Custer. This terrain was such a nuisance. It was large, loose rocks (not quite boulders) that moved with most every step. By this point, we were all tired of the choss. Thankfully when we turned toward Custer, the material beneath our feet got a bit smaller and slightly less mobile. The SW slopes are gentle until about 8,000’ when they greatly steepen. From afar, the entire south face of Custer looks like a vertical wall of choss. However, as usual, when you get closer, it becomes clear that it’s not as bad as it had seemed. One of those things that you learn after doing this for a modest amount of time. The slopes got more and more loose. Eventually, they turned into distinct gullied instead of a debris fan. I kept going farther and farther east (climber’s right) as I followed somewhat stable ribs sticking out of the choss. Ultimately, I popped out onto the south ridge near the final low point on that route. My other two compatriots clamored farther west. We all tried to remain in visual contact in the case of rockfall or other mishap. We were soon on the summit! Alas, there’s no summit register!
Nearing Custer summit
Nearing Custer summit
Ryan told me, later, that he heard of this and had planned to bring a register for us, but our original plan was Custer then Rahm, so he forewent that idea. Whoops! I found the idea of no register more humorous than anything else.
Rikki on Custer
Rikki on Custer
Sam on Custer
Sam on Custer
We hung out for longer than recommended (in a few spots) but we departed before too long. I think that the terrain was pleasant for descending, but I somehow surf on choss while Sam isn’t nearly as comfortable. Granted, you do not want to be below, or above, anyone else on this route. Sam’s bushwhack had stolen his helmet as tribute so he stayed at the top. By the time we left the snowfield at the bottom of Custer, it was 7pm with sunset in an hour and a half. We planned to descend all the way to the falls to camp. Would it work in the dark? Before reaching the trees, we took plenty of pictures of Redoubt as the incoming clouds, the smoke, and the sunset put on a spectacular light show. It was such a privilege to witness descending my final Bulger. It was nearly dark by the time that we reached the trees so headlamps came out for the final 1,000’ of descent.
Rikki <3. Sam did a photoshoot for us with amazing light and scenery.
Rikki <3. Sam did a photoshoot for us with amazing light and scenery.
chossssss
chossssss
Beautiful
Beautiful
Smoke from the Bear Creek fire intensified throughout Sunday as westerly winds picked up
Smoke from the Bear Creek fire intensified throughout Sunday as westerly winds picked up
As we got lower, the brush thickened and parts of the forest steepened. Not really recommended in the dark but I was being a bit stubborn and preferred to get this out of the way rather than do it in the morning.
Into the dark brush, wee one
Into the dark brush, wee one
Around 1030pm we reached the swamp… While we were dry and tried to find a way around the swamp, we swallowed whatever dry pride there was and trudged through the swamp to camp. That water is disgusting, brown, and smelled of absolute hot garbage. Sam was expecting some leeches. Sam went to sleep almost immediately without food while Rikki and I had mashed potatoes and hot chocolate. Monday We got going in the morning after two short rain showers. I did not want to be soaked on the way out, particularly for the section above the falls (it’s extremely steep). The terrain is also covered in a layer of slick pine needles. That may be a constant or because there’s been such reduced traffic the past two years.
Rikki approaching the first of the two fixed lines.
Rikki approaching the first of the two fixed lines.
Sam downclimbing, with rope in hand, the lower portion with fixed line.
Sam downclimbing, with rope in hand, the lower portion with fixed line.
As a parting gift from the Cascades, we had to immediately pass through the swamp for about 10 paces to get to the dry trail. Now, we all had re-soaked shoes. Woo! The descent to the falls was decent, it rained for most of it but no one was harmed. The descent of the falls was also less eventful (thankfully) than expected. Once past the falls, the rain stopped and travel was much easy and overall quite pleasant. This is an awesome trail that parallels Depot Creek quite closely for most of its distance.
only a mile to go!
only a mile to go!
We were back at the border and logging road before too terribly long and took our last break to allow socks to get more dry and snack some. Only 2.5 miles of easy road to go! At the last mile, Sam and Rikki took a bathroom break and urged me to go on so I ran to the cars. I only count peaks and trips when I touch my car. That moment came at 145pm. Completion hit me briefly. What a journey the past three and a quarter years! I can’t begin to express what I’ve learned and appreciated about this endeavour. While I’ll probably reduce my mountain intensity, they’ll remain a huge part of my life.

raising3hikers, vk, Off Route Randy, Route Loser, Brushbuffalo, LukeHelgeson, neek, awilsondc, Mesahchie Mark, rubywrangler, abkoch3, ONELUV1, RichP  ~*CutebutChossy69*~, rstoddard24, geyer  Tom
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The Summit Sloth
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Location: Seattle, WA
The Summit Sloth
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PostMon Aug 23, 2021 10:33 am 
Amazing to relive our rendezvous and your finale in this report! My own contribution pending some work and sleep in this space.

Cascade Boot Smell-O-Vision
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rstoddard24
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rstoddard24
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PostMon Aug 23, 2021 10:38 am 
Thanks Alden for the TR! This was a cool trip because we had three sub-parties that merged into one on Rahm summit! Here is the "meanwhile" report from the perspective of Rebecca-Philip-Ryan subparty (photo credit to Philip and Rebecca for all of the good photos) ... The Seattle crew (Rebecca, Philip, and me) had half the drive so had the ability to be more agile with our smoke dodging. We also had the constraints that it would be uncomfortable for the three of us to sleep in the car and we had to be back for work in Seattle on Monday. I used to be more relaxed about going out in smoke, but in August 2018 Philip and I got caught out in some dense smoke while climbing Cannon and Enchantment pk during an enchantments thru-run. I felt bad for days after that and since then I have been a bit more careful. The HRRR smoke forecast was quite stable though predicting things would be rapidly improving by Saturday afternoon and Sunday would be basically clear. We decided to skip the car camp at the trailhead in dense smoke and planned to cross the border Saturday morning and start hiking after noon. Unfortunately, we took our covid tests on Wednesday evening which meant we had to retake them on Friday morning (so they would be within 72 hours of border crossing time) and hope for a fast turnaround. I was becoming frustrated with all of the logistics but still felt this was a better plan than camping in near hazardous smoke levels Friday nite. The North Seattle tests results came back negative at 1am Saturday, but by 8am the SODO test results still hadn't come back and we decided to head toward the border anyway and hope for the best. About 20 min before we got to the border our parties final test came back negative and we made it thru the border with no issue.
walking the logging road
walking the logging road
We left the gate on the logging road ~12:30pm and totally missed the cairns and arrows Rikki and Alden made for us, but bushwhacking from the logging road to the depot trail went pretty smooth. We hiked the overgrown trail up to the falls where we must have followed Alden and Rikki's path thru the bushes for a bit because we totally missed the ropes. We checked the map and realized we were high, then we descended thru bushes back to the ropes. Heavy flow was present, and we got completely blasted with spray as we climbed the ropes and scrambled above (no photos since we put phones in dry bags here...). We climbed the steep path that reminded me of the kamikaze trail, and we refilled water next to the swamp at the top.
following Alden/Rikkis brush bash next to falls
following Alden/Rikkis brush bash next to falls
At this point we still thought Alden and Rikki were ahead of us and getting their Custer summit and were planning to meet us at Silver lake camp that evening. We knew the remaining daylight was limited but were optimistic at this point we would get our Custer summit before sunset and could make it to silver lake camp with just an hour or 2 of headlamp time. We started up the "Custer chossland direct" route, which goes E then NE from top of the falls to Custer summit. I had read about Fred N taking a similar route on descent, but most people go via Ouzel or other routes I guess. I think this is a very fast and efficient route up Custer; we had a bit of brush at the very beginning but then were able to stay mostly on talus and heather and open terrain up to the chossland. We had one class 3 step at ~5300' but that is probably avoidable climbers left (our track is on peakbagger)
looking back at Redoubt
looking back at Redoubt
looking back down Depot valley
looking back down Depot valley
arrival at Custer chossland
arrival at Custer chossland
Although many climbers take the Custer-Rahm ridge or the Custer S ridge to avoid elevation loss on this trip, I recalled chatting with Jake Robinson about this trip and his recommendation was just to avoid the sketchy climbing altogether by taking the SW slopes up and down from the summit. This meant for our trip plan we would descend to ~7500' from the summit then head E up moderate terrain over a saddle on the Custer S ridge to access the Silver lk basin. This route has just ~500' extra gain points than the S ridge traverse route and avoids sketchy exposed class 4. We committed to this plan by stashing our overnight gear at 7500' and continued to the summit fast n light. The last 500' to the summit steepens and we stayed close to manage rockfall, and we also tried to stay on gray choss since Philip hates red choss. The SW finish never gets so steep that we were concerned about an un-arrestable fall tho, and we never found the part where we needed to be "120% careful" as suggested by Steven Song. We reached the summit just after sunset at ~8:45pm and were greeted by surreal views with smoke below and sunset to the west.
Rebecca and Philip on Custer Summit !!
Rebecca and Philip on Custer Summit !!
I turned on the inReach to send the summit text and got a message from Alden saying they had arrived at silver lk camp at 8:20pm, and I responded with our updated eta of 11-midnight. Headlamps came on for the descent and when we made it back to our bivy gear we reevaluated the situation - we figured Alden and Rikki would be asleep when we got there anyway, and it would be more energy efficient for us to bivy there and climb over the ridge with daylight in the morning. I inreached Alden new plan to rendezvous along the Rahm traverse ~730am the next day - the inreaches make the backcountry rendezvous planning much easier! I reread Alden's message and it seemed they had not gotten their Custer summit yet. I was a bit disappointed because then we wouldn't get to finish together, but more than anything I was just happy that we all had made it out here even despite challenges of border crossing and smoke. We slept on a snow patch that wasn't quite flat right next to some nice flat dirt benches a few steps away that we didn't notice until first light came the next day. We left our bivy site at ~5:45am and were treated to a spectacular sunrise view over Silver lk when we crested the Custer S Ridge. By 715am we had reunited with Rikki and Alden wahoo!
Silver Lake from Custer S Ridge saddle
Silver Lake from Custer S Ridge saddle
Alden's prose and photos above capture the Rahm summit and surprise Sam appearance smile.gif My story resumes after we said our goodbyes after Rikki, Alden, and Sam left up toward Custer S Ridge. We started our way out to the car via Silver pass and Lk Ouzel, which turned out to be a longer haul than expected. We tried a shortcut following Jason H's track direct to Silver pass but he had crossed some snow that was now ice and it didn't go. There was a low 5th slab downclimb option but we said no thanks and painfully retraced steps back closer to silver lake to descend. The terrain to Ouzel was slow and we took a break there after chatting with Duane, who said he just got 99/100 on Custer (with just Jack remaining)! The story of the rest of the day was just everything took way longer than we thought, and darkness fell before we had made it back to the border swath. The last half mile in of the "trail" in the dark was ridiculous with so many blowdowns we couldn't stay on - the adventure level of the trip turned up a level in this section as we desperately clawed thru fallen trees by headlamp. My light finally fell on the border obelisk which I had navigated to using gps, but now we still needed to find the road. I got a bit distraught and disoriented trying to cross the swath - the swath is so messed with tree debris in piles on top of each other - I kept falling thru holes and got some big bruises and cuts on my shins. Rebecca and Philip thankfully took over the navigation and led me to the logging road which was a massive relief to step onto. We made it back to the cars around 1030pm, almost 17 hrs after starting from our bivy that morning. Rebecca and I drove in 1 hr blocks and made it back to Seattle at ~2:30am and we all had very productive days at work the following day wink.gif
Made it back to border obelisk
Made it back to border obelisk
What a memorable trip to finish the Bulgers! I'm not going to hijack Alden's TR with my nostalgic thoughts on the Bulger project, but I will say thanks to Rebecca, Philip, Rikki, Alden, and Sam for such a memorable final trip and thanks so much to all of my partners thru the years who made the project so special for me - good times in the alpine challenging yourself with good people is what it is all about for me <3

Dave Weyrick, Brushbuffalo, LukeHelgeson
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abkoch3
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abkoch3
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PostMon Aug 23, 2021 1:27 pm 
Congrats on finishing! What an accomplishment!!

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LukeHelgeson
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LukeHelgeson
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PostMon Aug 23, 2021 7:42 pm 
Looks like a fun way to finish The Bulgers! Congrats guys!!

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jboealps
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jboealps
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PostTue Aug 24, 2021 10:58 am 
Congratulations on finishing the list. Kathy and I have many great memories of the Depot Creek and the Chilliwacks! Kathy & Jerry Baillie #31 & #19 respectively.

Alden Ryno
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cascadetraverser
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cascadetraverser
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PostWed Aug 25, 2021 10:04 am 
Great place, great trip and Congrats!!

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