Back at Crystal

Well the first part of climbing season is over and it is time for me to get back to Crystal to work and play.  I have a few climbs lined up in the future, Mt. Olmpus in August.  But mainly I will be hiking around Crystal and Mt. Rainier, and maybe do some rock climbing.  The Mustard Molester made it up no sweat but I had my parents follow me just in case and they stayed at the Alpine Inn, my new digs.

Today I went on a hike out toward East Peak way and it was quite different with no snow.  It was a beautiful day with mainly clear skies.

Here is Crystal Mountain Resorts and very little snow.  You can see Kelly's Gap road there, and the cliff's where my co-workers have set up some rock climbing routes.

Here is the first peak I climbed after taking the Pacific Crest Trail for a little ways before long it was snow covered and I decided bushwhack straight uphill toward the ridge.  It is an unnamed peak as far as I know.

From atop the unnamed peak there as a "T"where two ridge lines meet.  One follow the PCT, and goes by Norse Peak and East Peak and Pickhandle Point and this is the second ridge line.

This is Norse Peak.  I didn't make there today because the Alpine Inn opened and I had to be back and I didn't know if could make it back on time.

Here's a self potratit of me on the top of unnamed peak with Crystal Mountain in the background.

 Here is Mount Rainier, with a cloud over it.  A good view of Little Tahoma Peak.

Here is East Peak, I took the way I usually take down from there but it was a little difficult finding my way with out the snow!

Mt. Hood Summit 06/17/2013

A group of eight of us went up to Mt. Hood on Monday.  We left Timberline relatively early at 11PM.

We had a few other climber's up on the mountain including a group of Mazamas led by Amy, and a group of Catlin Gable students.

Conner with the bergschrund in the background.

Me on highest point of Oregon elevation 11,240 ft.   It was rather windy, but we all made it too the summit.

We used some protection with Lisa laying down a couple picket's and we prussic down the rope from the Mazama Chute.  Here is Bridget coming down.

We just escaped a lenticular cloud, and I think Amy group had a bit of a white out coming down.

We had some fun glissading down.

Ahhh, Timberline Lodge a great site after a long day.  We ate lunch Ratskeller, I had a huge burger and an Ice Ax IPA.

Unicorn Peak 06/08/2013

We got back on Thursday night from Mount Shasta and I emailed Bob to tell him that I could make the climb to Unicorn Peak on Saturday.   Alexis drove me up on Friday and we tried to find Snow Lake but the trail had snow on it and it was getting late in the evening so we camped illegally at Bench Lake but we weren't sure it wasn't Snow Lake however we didn't have a permit after all.

Unicorn Peak is the highest peak in the Tatoosh Range.  Tatoosh means nourishing breast a local native American language.

Tom was in the group ahead of us.  We borrowed his rope to rappel with.

Summit shot of Unicorn Peak elevation 6,917 ft.

Mt. Adams from the summit of Unicorn there was a mountain goat on the ridge, some of the first wildlife I've seen this season.

We rappelled off the summit block, Sabina had some trouble and pendulumed had hurt her back.  But she made it back alright.

We glissaded back all the way to Snow Lake and then hiked out to the cars.  Great weather and and a great climb.  This was the first Mazmas climb for many of our team.

Shastina -> Shasta Summit 06/02/2013

Summit shot of Mount Shasta on June 5 

We resceduled the Shastina climb from Memorail Day to the next weekend due to weather.  Whit picked me up and we drove to Rogue River.

We stopped by Depot St. Burger and Malt Shop in Rogue River and had a great burger and fries after a long drive.

We camped at Valley of the Rogue State Park and then drove the rest of the way to Mount Shasta.  Where I met Robert and Steve and Howard.  

We met at the Mount Shasta Forrest Service office where wet met Jennifer and Cloudy to finish up our climbing team and myself and Whit went to The Fifth Season a long time outdoor equipment shop to buy our annual passes to climb Mount Shasta.  

We left the Bunny Flat trail head at 10:30ish and headed for Cascade Gulch.

The trail stopped by The Sierra Clubs Horse Camp with a spring that we used to fill up water as well as the Shasta Alpine Lodge which climbers can use in an emergency.

The Alpine Lodge was errected in 1922 and the Horse Camp was the starting place for John Muir for his climb in 1874.

Cloudy at the Shasta Alpine Lodge, there is a fireplace and stove to be used is emergencies.

We camped at Hidden Valley where there were plenty of dry bivy sites and we could see the climbing route of Shastina and Shasta via the West Face.  There were a couple of other groups there including a guided group.

We woke up early and Robert decided to climb up the Lighting Bolt Couloir which is pictured above.  It is the most direct route up Shastina.

We made up to the top and Shastina with Steve down at our camping spot as he was dealing with a little altitude sickness he decided not to climb with us.

Summit shot myself on Shastina elevation 12,330 ft. is Mount Shasta's little sister with Shasta in the background.

We were planning maybe to do Black Butte on our off day but that didn't happen this time maybe next year.

We glissaded down the Cascade Gulch after a 1,000 ft. of rock scree decent.  Then Jennifer, Howard and Steve left to go back to Portland with Steve getting a hotel room in Mount Shasta City.  We camped and left in the morning and met Steve for lunch at The Goat Tavern which is a must for those visit Mount Shasta City.  They had a number a local beer and a great burger menu, I had the Ruben with garlic fries.

After lunch Whit and I got some more food and sunscreen at the store and then went back up to Bunny Flats to camp.  It is free to camp there, but there is no water so we had to stock up before at the store.  The next day we left Bunny Flats at 9 A.M. 

Whit had climbed up many routes including Denali and South America including Aconcagau.  

We made camp at Helen Lake which was around 10,000 ft. evelvation.  I slept alright but there was no getting rid of the sun rays.  I tried to make some shade using a garbage bag.

Avalanche Gulch route goes up the snowfield past The Heart the rather large outcropping of rock fall.  Because of the low snow pack we went up the Red Banks columns instead of going around Thumb Rock as there were crevasses. 

The shadow of Mount Shasta early in the morning.   We left Helen Lake around 3:30 A.M.

Castle Crags State Park is a well known climbing area I hope to visit maybe next year.

Red Banks columns. 

The snow was perfect for using the high-dagger technique for my ice ax.

Whit climbing up the Red Banks.

The beginning of Misery Hill getting closer to the summit.

From the top of Misery Hill a great view of Shastina and lake Stinson.

We are climbing up the final push.

Summit shot of Mount Shasta elevation 14,179 ft.

We glissaded down part way to Helen Lake and then camped before heading out in the morning and then more glissading down to Horse Camp.

We ate at the original Black Bear Diner in Mount Shasta City, I had the 1/2 pound bacon cheeseburger and the Black Bear serves breakfast all day.  It was a great trip with great weather.