[tCaoNgan]

The weather forecast called for high 80s in town. Highway 20 was going to open on Wed. Alex and I were ready to give Jack Mountain a try. • Slept at East Bank trailhead Thursday night. • Took us 4 hours to get to May Creek Camp Friday morning. We wasted a big chunk of time looking for a food locker unsuccessfully. Then we realized it might be located at the lake. I decided to break a dead tree to hang a portion of our food. It worked perfectly. • Took us 6 hours to get to 56K from May Creek Camp. • Camped at 56K where it was close to running water. While preparing our camp we saw a party of two. We chatted with them a few minutes. They went higher. • We got up at 1:45am Saturday morning. Took us 2 hours and 15 minutes to get to the Headwall. • We waited until 6:35am to start climbing the headwall because the other party was ahead of us. They did a good job by picking a direct line as the standard route was not in good shape. We followed them. But at some point, we lost their footprints, so we kicked our own steps for some time. We caught up with them. They told us the condition was good. We waited for them patiently. I thought it was hard for them to kick steps. When they told me they set up protection every 30 meters I became a little worried. The sun was approaching the foot of the headwall. I wanted to climb fast and get down before the sun reached the headwall. I asked Josh, (the behind person) if we could pass them. Josh said ‘yes’, and I attempted to pass them on the right side. I thought they would wait. But Josh’s partner Steve was in the front started moving. He probably did not know we wanted to pass them. We realized it was inconvenient, so we stopped and let them go first. • We summited at 9am. • Climbing down was very much the same for us. We waited a bit longer on the summit to give Josh and Steve a reasonable distance. • We belayed two pitches using two rock horns and building two snow anchors. I thought free down-climb would be much safer, but Alex thought it was good for us to practice.

Bushing whacking was not too bad but quite steep for heavy pack

It felt good when we started having good views

We decided to camp at 56K. Running water 100ft below camp

First look of Jack Mountain from our camp

Wow! The headwall

Amazing!

So beautiful!

Sign of old avalanche debris

Direct route as popular route was not in good shape

Alex coming up

Close to the ridge, Alex behind me in picture

Alex was patient to let me celebrating

Happy summit

Alex showing appreciation to BD Venoms

Me, trying to show I am not lying

Me belaying Alex first pitch from the summit

Alex building second snow anchor. He later realized that he was a few feet below a cornice-. He said stupid him!

We made it down from the summit. Enjoying our lunch.

A huge frog on the trail

Hiking out. The thin log was strong enough to cross

Alex bought me a bottle of wine for my 80th Bulger. That was cool!

It was a fun trip. Good to have bro Alex as my partner. Calm, cautious, calculated, durable, humble but hungry. Many thanks to Steve and Josh! Without you guys it would have been much harder for Alex and I to bag Jack. My Take: It is not that scary if one comes prepared. Unless setting protection every 30m as Steve & Josh did, I felt it would be safer and easier to free climb. Secured crampons, reasonable weight & moderate-curved axes would be my go to things. Take time and rest when needed as there are so many secured spots. Unlike WI, I did not feel tired at all during the climb. And I am talking about I am 61.5 y.o. But hiking down wore my out because my feet were so wet. All these Gortex boots only prevent water coming out when your feet are soaked. That's called waterproof boots! Maybe full leather mountaineering boots such as La Sportiva, Scarpa, etc. will keep your feet dry, but there is a trade off.

[KascadeFlat]

Congrats on a big climb!

[Fletcher]

Great route, thanks for the memories!

[RichP]

Excellent climb. 61.5? Inspiring.

[MackAttack]

Nice work! I'm surprised by how different it looks from when I attempted it that same weekend in 2019. You had much less snow which may have been for the better. It got pretty wallow-y in sections.

[tCaoNgan]

Thanks! Yea, I was surprised, too. There was enough snow on the mountains this yr. Perhaps this May is warmer than 2019. Let's believe in climate change and debate is over .

[JeremyJ]

Great report Tim! What a treat to have a neighbor that I can ask about almost any Bulger! Congrats on the climb!