[awilsondc]

On Sunday, I got some much needed time in the mountains. I had tried Jolly Mountain in the Teanaway a few months ago, but turned around due to some bad blisters starting to form on my heels during the first mile or two. I stopped and put on heel pads, but it was no use, my mountaineering boots were killing my heels so I bailed. Interestingly enough, I wore those same boots almost the entire time on this trip with no problems at all. Go figure. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. On Saturday night I drove up to the trailhead and slept in my car. It was supposed to be mostly clear skies, but still most sunrise forecast sites predicted a terrible sunrise. I was feeling a little desperate for a good sunrise, it's been so long and conditions just haven't worked out for me this year, so I set my alarm for 1:30 anyway and went to sleep. Well 1:30 came pretty early and despite feeling awake enough to get a move on, decided to trust the forecast and get a couple hours extra sleep. This turned out to be the right call (sunrise was indeed terrible) and I was grateful for the extra sleep. I was up and hiking by 4:23am. I started out in trail runners, hoping things would be melted out enough to hike a few hours before hitting consistent snow. Things were not melted out. The road was melted out in patches, but still mostly snowy and about 30-45 minutes in I stopped to put on my mountaineering boots and shortly later snowshoes. I left the road and snowshoed uphill through the forest for awhile aiming to meet up with a couple GPS tracks I was following. Soon I encountered an old snowmobile track heading in the direction I wanted to go. The compact snowmobile track provided a nice supportive crust and made the snowshoeing pretty easy. I followed it almost all the way to Peak 6086. The sun rose in the most boring manner possible, devoid of any color whatsoever and I was glad I didn't get up early. The sunrise gave way to a beautiful morning and the warmth of the sun was pure nourishment for what was ailing me. The views up high were better than expected. Lemah, Chimney Rock, and Bears Breast to the northwest, Stuart and co to the northeast, even Rainier was out and my spirits were lifted. I soon found myself on my first of six peaks for the day, 6086. The views were good, but I didn't linger and was soon off for Jolly. At this point the supportive crust of the snowmobile track was a thing of the past, and I would be breaking trail the rest of the way. It was a bit of extra work getting up to Jolly, but not that bad. I think it took me around 4 hours from the car to reach Jolly. Great views from up there! Again, I didn't linger too long and soon began my way to Humerus Hill.

Dawn

Illumination

Sun up

The Louve and Stuart

Bear's Breast

Shadow play

6086 summit view

Jolly Mountain

Jolly's summit block

Jolly summit panorama

Sasse and Rainier

Lemah and Chimney Rock

Hawkins Mountain

Mount Stuart

Humerus Hill looked a long way away. I wasn't really sure I wanted to go over there, but figured I'd regret it if I didn't. I started down Jolly's south ridge. It was a little steep and the snow was firm enough to make footing a little tricky. It looked steep enough to be avy terrain, but no roller balls or pinwheels (still too early in the day) so I made my way down. Open slopes transitioned into open burnt forest which was kind of cool to walk through. I had been a little overzealous going straight downhill and had to traverse a bit to get over to the ridge, but fortunately I didn't have to regain any elevation. I made my way over a couple ups and downs along the ridge and I heard a strange sound but didn't pay much mind until it heard it again a few minutes later... a wumph sound, this time accompanied by a palpable settling of the snow. Yikes! I wasn't in avy terrain at this point, but it was still a little unnerving. I reached my third peak of the day, peak 5760 but didn't stop as I was focused on my fourth, Humerus Hill. Humerus was a cool peak, the west ridge was steep in places, but the snow was firm enough that snowshoe crampons worked great and I soon found myself on the summit! Again, there were great views all around. I contemplated my next move for a bit, deciding if I just wanted to head back the way I came or drop down into the West Fork Teanaway River valley and climb Sasse. After some pondering, I decided to go for Sasse. I downclimbed Humerus Hill in boots since it was so steep, and put my snowshoes back on when I got to mellower terrain. I regained point 5750 before beginning the descent to the river valley below.

Descending from Jolly

Humerus through the dead sticks

Humerus Hill

Jolly from Humerus

Sasse Mountain looking a long way away

Rainier, framed

I hiked through more burnt forest as I descended before crossing a stream at around 5100 ft. I stopped here to fill up on water. At about 4700 ft I began a longish traverse, aiming for gentle slopes rather than get funneled into the steep stream drainage. The snow was really softening up at this point. At the bottom of the river valley, I crossed the river on a stout snow bridge and began the ascent towards Sasse's NE ridge. For some reason I had it in my head that it would only be 1200 ft of gain to the summit, but looking more closely at my map it was closer to 1800 ft. It wouldn't have been that big of a deal, except at this point the snow was a slushy sloppy mess of mashed potatoes. Each step snow would squish through the top hole of my snowshoes and add an extra 1 to 5 pounds worth of snow to every step. It was the worst part of my day. It was the best part of my day. Funny how that happens sometimes... It was extremely tiring climbing up Sasse in those conditions. I tried different strategies to minimize the extra snow I'd have to haul up with each step. I tried a side to side toe wiggle to shake snow off with each step, but it was too much extra effort. I tried a double step, where after stepping down and getting the snow squish through, I'd do a toe raise pivot and step on the smooshy snow, but that just stalled my progress. In the end I just took accepted the situation and hauled the extra snow. I found on this trip, as I have experienced in the past, that there is a purification of spirit to be gained through a grueling slog. I found a good rhythm and was grateful I was in good enough shape to not have my hip flexors killing me. I slogged up and up and soon found myself on a rocky ridge with a fair bit of exposure on each side. As I proceeded along the ridge the spine got narrower and the exposure steeper. It was a little tricky while wearing snowshoes, but I kept them on for probably longer than I should have before taking them off, even through some class 3 moves. The final rocky ridge looked too technical to bother with, so I bypassed it down and to the left. Once on easier terrain I put the snowshoes back on and slogged the rest of the way up to Sasse Mountain, peak five for the day. It had taken around 4 hours to get there from the summit of Humerus Hill.

Down through burnt forest

W F Teanaway River Valley

Slogging

Looking back at Jolly

Interesting terrain in snowshoes

I bypassed this to the left

Sasse Mountain summit

Mount Daniel

Sasse is a forested summit, but it's a burnt forested summit so there were some views. I was too tired to care though, so I continued on to Not so Sasse, my sixth and final peak of the day. Decent views from here. I could see all the peaks I had climbed, and damn they looked far away! Mostly, I was excited for no more uphill! I followed a GPS track downhill, aiming for a hairpin turn in the road at around 2800 ft. Snow ran out somewhere in the upper 3000's and it was a messy schwack through the forest down to the road. The road (partially melted) was a nice break and I followed it north for about a mile. When the road turned west, I kept going... more messy forest schwacking as I aimed for where the Little Salmon le Sac Creek met up with the main road. The creek is not where it is drawn on the map. I crossed it around 2400 ft and stayed north of it until I hit the road. From there it was a road walk back to the car. I thought I'd hate the road walk, but I was feeling pretty good and even kind of enjoyed it. It was nice to get back to the car though where a dry set of clothes was waiting for me. Great trip. I really enjoyed it.

Not so Sasse summit panorama

Forest on descent

Back on the road

map

~16 miles 7500 ft gain 12:30

[Bootpathguy]

My neck of the woods. Love it!!!

[Stefan-K]

Regal pic of Bear's Breast, love it! And the shadows of Ulrich's (Stuart); it all makes sense. You covered some ground! Way to go. Always engaging traveling through all the zones of the day/sun/terrain and the report reflects that well.

[jaysway]