Climbing

Beneath the Stars at Mount Rainier

Two weeks off of my trip to Spray Park, I returned to Mount Rainier hoping to find the wildflower season underway. Having been reminded of the Perseid meteor shower’s arrival, I moved up my visit to incorporate some night time up at Sunrise. I arrived at the Sunrise area close to midnight and found quite the party atmosphere. Lots of people had the same idea about viewing the meteor shower. The Park Service is also repaving several of the pullouts and parking lots so half of the Sunrise Point parking lot was unavailable. I moved on to the Sunrise Visitor Center where there was more parking.

I took a three hour nap and then hiked up the trail towards Sourdough Ridge to set up for the meteor shower. With no moon out, the sky was dark and the stars were out in full force. The meteor shower was a bit underwhelming. They would appear every now & then but I guess I expected more of them and more often. My camera is 3-4 years old and, unfortunately, shows it age when it comes to high ISO photography.

At F4 and 1600 ISO, my exposure times extended out to 3 minutes or so in order to get a decently exposed image. The current slew of cameras now can push ISOs out to 3200 and do so very cleanly so I’m anxious to see what Pentax announces in about a month at the Photokina trade show. Anyways, I made the most of it for about an hour or so before hiking out along the Silver Forest trail to find someplace to set up for sunrise.

Mount Rainier & the Milky Way
Milky Way
Milky Way over Sourdough Ridge
Mount Rainier - Perseid Meteor Shower 2010
Flowers at Sunrise were starting the Daisy / Aster phase. There wasn’t much lupine in bloom except for the perimeter of the timber atolls. The wildflower bloom doesn’t look like it will come close to last year’s show. Towards the end of the trail, I found some spots with stumps & logs to add some foreground interest. For the start of a very hot weather period, this particular morning was cold with a constant light wind.

Mount Rainier from the Silver Forest
Mount Rainier from the Silver Forest
I had hoped that there might be some valley fog down in the White River valley but that never materialized. Sunrise itself had some nice coloration but otherwise wasn’t special. After the initial warm light gave way to morning sunshine, I hung out to take in the view and listen to the birds which were beginning their days as well.

Pre-dawn - Mount Rainier
First Rays - Mount Rainier
Climbers on the Emmons Glacier Route
Sunrise from Sunrise
New day at Mount Rainier National Park
New day at Mount Rainier National Park
After hiking back to the parking lot, I decided to hike out along Sourdough Ridge to Frozen Lake. I saw a photo someone had taken at the lake and thought it might offer some possibilities with Mount Rainier in the background. After the initial climb to the spine of Sourdough Ridge, you’re rewarded with some views to the north of Huckleberry Basin as well as Glacier Peak and Mount Baker. An additional short stretch of climbing brings you to the crest of the ridge and then a gradual descent into the basin of Frozen Lake.

View north into Huckleberry Basin from Sourdough Ridge
I was bitterly disappointed with the lake. Apparently the lake is now a “water supply” resource and so no one is allowed within 15-20 feet of the lake’s shoreline (reinforced with a wire fence all around its perimeter). Bummer. With no photo opportunities at the lake, I reassessed my plans and decided to continue along the trail up to First Burroughs Mountain. The area around Frozen Lake is interesting since it is the intersection of several backcountry trails. The Wonderland Trail crosses paths here and drops into Berkeley Park to the north.

Panorama on the trail to First Burroughs
Deer resting in a grove of trees near Frozen Lake
I made my way up the trail towards Burroughs and crossed one short snowfield which had a small ledge cut into it. After that, another longer snowfield continued out of sight. Given the early morning and my lack of true hiking boots, I decided not to continue. Returning to my truck, I packed up and headed over to Chinook Pass.

Panorama of conditions at Tipsoo Lake - 8/13/2010
Conditions at Chinook Pass were disappointing. Any “peak” bloom is still a week away (if at all!). It’ a far cry from last year, for sure. After surveying Tipsoo Lake, I joined the Naches Peak Loop trail, starting on the backside of Naches Peak and hiking out towards the tarn. To reinforce the point, Avalanche Lillies are still in bloom scattered along the trail. Just like at Sunrise, it’s a banner year for Indian Paintbrush but not much else. Bugs, on the other hand, seemed to be out in force along the loop trail and at the tarn.

General wildflower conditions along the Naches Loop Trail - 8/13/2010
Given the conditions I saw, I decided to cut my plans short and not pursue sunset from the Paradise area. Hopefully the next week will bring about the conditions necessary for final blooms!

Side note: this past week I finally upgraded my photo processing to Adobe’s CS5. It’s been a bit of a slow learning curve to adapt my previous workflow to the desired workflow within CS5 but the end result is pretty impressive. I’ve just scratched the surface with it but I’m very glad I bit the bullet for the upgrade.

Mount Saint Helens

The beginning of May is when I think about climbing Mt St Helens. The weather is a bit nicer and the snowpack is fairly consolidated which makes for one long ride down in some nice corn snow. Typically the “summer” climbing route on Monitor Ridge isn’t accessible due to the snow covered road and so the standard winter route begins at the Marble Mountain Snow Park at 2640 feet. You do earn your turns though- 12 miles roundtrip and 5500′ of elevation gain.

I’ve climbed Mt St Helens a couple times before but not since the dome building episode of 2004-2006. My last attempt was aborted below the summit due to wind and rain so I was anxious to experience the new view from the crater rim. There was a promising forecast for the weekend so I purchased a climbing permit and headed down on Friday. Yet another “unseasonable” storm during the week brought new snow to the slopes of Mt St Helens. The promise of sunshine and warmer temperatures brought something else- high avalanche danger.

Monitor Ridge (Summer route) in the center and Worm Flows at right center
If I was to be on the mountain, I needed to try and get an early start so that my descent would be before the peak temperatures and sunshine. I arrived at a quiet snow park late Friday afternoon. I wanted to take some sunset photos but hadn’t decided on where to taken them- up the trail near timberline or down the road off of the mountain. I decided the latter and so during the last hour of daylight, I headed back down a few miles to a clearcut which offered a nice view of the mountain. Quickly looking around, I saw this fallen tree and decided to use it as a compositional piece…

Mount Saint Helens from Forest Service Road 81
Mount Saint Helens from Forest Service Road 81
The sunset wasn’t especially noteworthy and just faded away. Still, the setting light did accentuate the slopes of the mountain…

Sunset on Monitor Ridge
Sunset on the western slopes
After sunset, I headed back to the snow park where I sorted my gear for the morning went to sleep. I got up about 2:20am and hit the trail at 2:50am. I hadn’t paid any attention to the moon cycles so I was surprised to see that this particular morning was a full moon! It was already setting but did offer up a fair amount of light. After about an hour or so of hiking through the forest, I arrived at timberline and had my first good view of the mountain…

A moonlit Worm Flows from Timberline - 4am
The elevation gain begins in earnest from this point on. I do not consider myself to be a strong climber and so I opt for the slow and steady approach and utilize the climber’s breathing technique known as the rest step. Even with the warmer temperatures and sunshine, the snow did refreeze overnight and so I did have some latitude in my pace for the summit. In addition to food, water, snowboard & helmet, I was also lugging my SLR, 3 lenses, and my tripod. All of this starts to build after a number of miles!

View up from around 5,000 Feet
I plodded onward, taking the occasional extended break every 1000-1500′ or so. The weather remained clear and sunny with some increasing winds at the higher elevations. Crampons might have been good for piece of mind but weren’t required since there was an adequate bootpack in the snow on the route up. Once the sun’s rays started hitting the slopes, they slowly began to soften up.

Deceptively close - 2,000 feet to go...
A few clouds materialized during the morning but nothing too serious. It took longer than I would have preferred but just shy of 12pm, I topped out on the summit. A steady wind kept things cold and discouraged a long visit to the top. I was still very concerned about the avalanche forecast and so I only stayed long enough to take a couple photos before clicking in and heading down.

Panoramic view inside the crater
Crater Wall
After descending about 500-1000 feet, the snow conditions turned into perfect corn snow and I enjoyed smooth turns for 3000 feet. Below timberline, the snow was a bit slower but still rideable and I made it to within 1/4 mile of the trailhead before momentum finally ended. I was exhausted but I enjoyed sitting in the sunshine reflecting on a successful day.

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