[ira]

Toby had one of his few weekends off from baby duty so we decided to head over to the east side to get some peaks. Dave also joined us after a day of climbing at leavenworth. The weather report was bleak (70%) chance of rain for the area but toby had the weekend off so we had to go. The road in as identified in the Summit Routes book is currently not passable so we went in an alternative way which is only about 4 miles longer. From Hwy 153 turn onto Gold Creek Rd #4340 and stay on this road for approx 11.5 miles. This is clearly the main road so don't be tempted to turn off on all the side spurs. Eventually make a left on road #700 which also has a sign for Libby Creek TH. 1.5 miles on this and then another left on #750 brings you to the TH in one mile. We did this drive friday evening and spent the night at the TH (el 4400 ft) Sat morning we headed out on the trail. It gains elevation rather quickly heading up to a ridge. Took a break after 1000' which we did in 30 min. Up to this point the trail has a lot of overgrowth which is in need of some cutting. The trail then starts a traverse through forest which looks like it was hit by some beetles as there are downed trees everywhere, including 20-30 across the trail. Most are easily crossed but some have to be walked around. The trail continues to gain elevation gradually with some creek crossings. We hit snow on the trail around 6800 ft which was sporadic and made route finding a little difficult but not too bad. At 7200 ft we arrived at the cabin, 5 miles, 3 hrs 15 min. I was hoping to bivy in the cabin as last time i was there it was dry. however, there was snow in the cabin and a big puddle on the mud floor so that was not an option. I had a bivy bag and we had a two person tent so we were fine. After setting up camp we took off to do Hoodoo. Since the trail was totally under snow we took a bearing from the map and headed off pretty much due west. In about 10 minutes we were able to see hoodoo so that made the rest of the trip easy. We ascended a col part way and then crossed rock and snow until we were higher on the ridge where it became snow free and lots of big boulders. We boulder hopped and got to the summit 1 hr 10 min after leaving camp. Now i've seen lady bugs on summits before but never anything like this. There were tens of thousands of them gathered in groupings everywhere that made sections solid red. It was really quite amazing. The sun now came out and we spent the next 1.5 hrs lounging on big flat rocks just enjoying some heat. We talked about going over to do raven ridge but the concensus was to head back to camp and drink scotch. At camp we built a nice campfire, drank some scotch and black russians and generally relaxed for a very long time. The next morning we headed off to climb Raven Ridge. Again the trail was under snow but we went off in the general direction, found bits of trail along the way and arrived at Libby Lake in short order. The lake is still pretty frozen and it was cold when we got there. We put away ski poles, took out ice axes and put on crampons. We had chosen a particular couloir up raven ridge when we were on hoodoo so we headed to that one. It was snow all the way to the ridgeline, maybe 40 deg at places but we took turns kicking steps and it went smoothly. At the ridge top we took off the crampons and traversed for 1/2 mile along the south side of the ridge jumping from boulder to boulder and sometimes climbing up and down the big ones. After a total of two hrs from camp we arrived at the summit. We lounged for a little while but we didn't get the sun we had on hoodoo so after 1/2 hr we headed back down. The couloir was in perfect shape for plunge stepping so that made for a quick descent. Back to camp and out we went. Stopped in Pateros at a bakery just inside of town for some great pizza and lemonade. They also have lots of other tasty items plus a big outdoor sitting area on the banks of the Columbia River. Great place after a climb. These two peaks could easily be done in a single day from the TH if you drove over the night before. Probably take 11 - 12 hrs but is quite doable. It is nice to spend the night and make it more leisurely but for those with less time a single day trip would work as long as you move along at a good pace. Here are some pics toby took: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dr_tobster/sets/72157630381921324/

[paultkuhn]

[Foist]

So there are two bumps on the topo map on the ridge, one marked 8580 and one marked 8572. Am I to understand from your photo of the register that you climbed the one marked 8572 on the map, but that it is, in fact, 8580 feet high? (I'm not sure why this matters to me, but once I decided to follow your report on the topo map, I had to know...)

[ira]