Katie and Eric May 14, 2016 We originally planned to do a rock climb up the west ridge of Chair Peak near Snoqualmie pass, but it was raining at the trailhead so we left all the heavy climbing gear in the car and instead hiked up to snow lake, which… Continue reading
Liberty Bell – Beckey Route (5.6) Katie and Eric May 7, 2016 Highway 20 was just recently plowed, so Katie and I drove up to Washington pass Friday night and found an excellent plowed pulloff to camp out right at the pass. We had a leisurely morning looking up at… Continue reading
Katie and Eric April 30-May 1 We camped out on the edge of the Bumping River Friday night, then stashed our bikes in the woods Saturday morning and drove to the put-in at the Bumping Reservoir. This is in the national forest just east of Mt Rainier, below Chinook Pass…. Continue reading
Katie and Eric April 23-24 The Royal Columns climbing area on the Tieton River has an excellent collection of cracks to climb right next to the road. We spent a few days climbing here, and found an amazing campsite Saturday night up some rough dirt roads on the top of… Continue reading
Mt Baker Ski Attempt Eric and Greg April 16, 2016 It’s the right time of year for big ski descents with snow all the way from summits to trailheads, long days, and generally low avy danger. Greg and I hoped to get a 7,500ft+ ski descent from the summit of… Continue reading
Little Tahoma (11,138ft) April 9-10, 2016 Eric, Aaron, Tyler, Ana The weather was forecast to be sunny all weekend so I abandoned plans to go rock climbing east of the crest in favor of getting high in the mountains for good views. The highest mountain in Washington that I’d not… Continue reading
Glacier Peak (10,520ft) April 1-2, 2016 Eric and Duncan Glacier Peak is the most remote volcano in the cascades and is at least a 15-mile hike from the nearest road. With a long stretch of high pressure forecast Duncan and I decided to give it a try, and see if… Continue reading
Sawtooth Slam – Mount Bigelow (8,440ft), Martin Peak (8,375ft), Switchback Peak (8,321ft) March 27-29 Eric Gilbertson I couldn’t find a mountaineering partner for the first half of spring break, so set off to climb some mountains solo. The weather was supposed to be dry and sunny east of the cascade… Continue reading
March 25-27 Matthew Gilbertson, with John Romanishin, Ye Yao, Maike Sonnewald I did a quasi-Presi Traverse this weekend with three other MITOCers: John Romanishin, Ye Yao, and Maike Sonnewald. Friday night, we drove up to NH, dropping off four bikes in the woods near Pinkham Notch along the way. Then we… Continue reading
Strobach Mountain (6,397 ft) Eric and Katie Our goal over Katie’s spring break was to find some late-season ice climbing to train for upcoming alpine climbs. Hyalite Canyon in Montana was our first choice, but with temperatures forecast to be in the 50s F that week it looked like there… Continue reading