Monday, September 24, 2018

Route: Quartz Mountain / Training Day (Middle fork Snoqualmie)

Mountain Information:

Driving Directions:

  • Trailhead:  No offical Trailhead. Park at the beginning of the CCC trail
  • Co-ordinates: 47°32'14", -121°34'32"
  • Address: NF-5600, North Bend, WA 98045
  • Elevation:   about 1000ft
  • Pass:  Northwest Forest Pass
  • Directions: From Interstate 90 take Exit 34, turn left under the freeway, pass Seattle East Auto Truck Plaza, turn right on Middle Fork Road, and drive about 9 miles and park off to the road just after a rocky outcropping. Anywhere in the next mile is fine as well. If you hit the Middle Fork Trailhead, you went too far. Another starting point is at Road 120, at 9.8 miles. Drive in on this road as far as you can, then walk it, eventually hitting the old CCC road (now trail).

Route Information: Training Day




Misc 

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Saturday, September 1, 2018

Route: Mount Thomson (Thompson) / West Ridge (I-90 Snoqualmie Pass)

Mountain Information:

 Driving Directions:


PCT Trailhead

Route Information: Beckey Route / SW Face







  • Approach from summitpost: 
    • This is an interminably long approach that takes the Pacific Crest Trail the entire way to the jump-off point. From the parking lot, hike the trail for 2.2 miles to the Red Mountain Trail junction (3,800 ft). Go right (uphill) and continue for 3.5 miles to Kendall Katwalk (5,400 ft) at the eastern head of Commonwealth Creek.
    • From Kendall Katwalk continue northeast on the trail, passing Ridge Lake (5,260 ft) in another mile. About 0.4 miles past Ridge Lake where the trail contours the south side of a long slope above Alaska Lake look for a short but steep side-trail (can be missed if not looking) leading up to Bumblebee Pass (the 5,400-ft pass east of Pt. 5928). Descend the other side of the pass (bring ice-axe in early season) to the basin south of Mt. Thomson.
  • Descend
    • Standard way to descend is down the East Ridge (class 4). We stayed on the ridge crest until we got to a gendarme on the ridge. We then moved right and down. There were rap slings around a tree but the terrain below looked easy enough to downclimb. Rapping would probably be faster though as the downclimb was more hairy than expected. More class 3 down scrambling brings you to another steeper section (again, it's probably a good idea for most to rap here). It's realtively smooth sailing after that as you reach a broad slope with lots of vegetation and a climbers' path heading down and right toward the basin. Just follow the climbers' path past the first "tower" and it'll take you down the scree slopes to the bottom of the Basin. Hike back up to Bumblebee Pass.
  • Gears: 
    •  A light traditional rack (nuts and cams up to perhaps 3 inches) is all you will need. Bring a helmet. Single rope will do esp. if you're planning on the standard, East Ridge descent. The climbing is not sustained and most of the time you're running it out anyway on class 3-4 terrain.
  • Notes:
    • Some loose holds on the ascent, teams following should wait until the next team is above.  Descent rather unpleasant scree.
    •  The two rappels are easy enough to find, first one is about 15 meters long, while the second is 20-25.  I wouldn't recommend doing a double rope rappel due to all the loose rock.
    • Rope drag was a problem on pitch 2 and 3, bring doubles. The rock can be a bit loose.

Misc 

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