Washington Pass Climbing

After a day of rest and organization, I drove up to Washington Pass with fellow examinees Justin Merle and Pat Ormond for some more climbing/training. The Washington Pass area is on the east side of the range, so it generally experiences more stable weather than the west side of the range. If the weather forecast is marginal for the west side, there is a good chance that it's not raining on Washington Pass. Luckily, the weather forecast for the next few days was perfect though the temps were predicted to be in the mid 80's (hot!).

(Pat on the 5.8 layback crack)

On Sunday we planned to approach and climb the NW Corner route on North Early Winter Spire. The rock in this area is, for lack of a better word, perfect. Think multi-pitch rock climbing in an alpine setting with good friction on salt-and-pepper granite.

The NW Corner is a 5 pitch crack climb, with a few pitches of 5.8 and one wide (4") 5.9 corner providing the bulk of the difficulties. The climbing is solid and enjoyable the whole way with good belay ledges and adequate protection for the most part. The summit is a broad plateau providing excellent view of the entire Liberty group and other peaks in the North Cascades. The descent was recently rigged with two bolt rappell anchors at 30 meter intervals. Nice to rappell with only 1 rope!!

(Justin using good layback technique)

I continue to be impressed with the breadth of the Cascade Range. There is a reason that there are 3 volumes of the Beckey Guidebooks. There is literally a lifetime worth of climbing to do here. If only it never rained here.........

(View of Cutthroat Peak from the summit of N. Early Winter Spire)

Great day of climbing and we're looking forward to the NE Ridge of Black Peak tomorrow. Stay tuned......

Mt. Triumph via NE Ridge

My preparation started off quickly with an ascent of the NE Ridge of Mt. Triumph in the North Cascades National Park. Taking advantage of the good weather, my fellow examinees (Justin Merle and Anne Keller) headed out for a 2 day trip.

(Triumph is the peak in the back center of the picture.)

I try to limit my pack weights as much as possible on trips like this, and I found the Osprey Mutant 38 to be practically the perfect pack for an overnight mission such as this. It boasts plenty of room for a trip of this length, and it climbs very well when it is not loaded down. Simply the smartest pack design for alpine climbing I have seen yet from Osprey.

The hike to Thornton Col (bivy sites) is about 6 miles, some of which is on a nice, wide, easy-to-follow hiking trail. The last 2 miles, however, takes just as long as the first 4 to complete with some difficult trail finding and a steep climb to the sites at the col. The camps at the col allow for great views of other peaks in the range like Eldorado, and affords one a perfect view of the NE Ridge of Triumph.

(Anne getting after it on Triumph)

We woke up the following morning at 3:30 to begin the approach to the climb. From Thornton Col, we dropped down a few hundred feet below the E. Face of Triumph, and traversed granite slabs for quite a ways to the start of the real climbing on the ridge.


The climb itself is characterized by a series of 4th and low 5th class steps, with one perfect 5.7 pitch about 2/3 the way up the route, and plenty of airy knife edge ridge traversing. After the crux crack (which we climbed in mountain boots), it's a few more pitches of 4th and easy 5th class climbing to the top, with some heather bushes mixed in for spice. All in all a great route with perfect weather the whole day.

(Looking down the lower sections of the NE Ridge)

After the climb and descent we returned back to our camp and hiked back to the car. All in all about a 14 hour day from camp to summit to car. Great way to start the trip! I've always been totally impressed with the climbing in the N.Cascades and it felt good to get out in the mountains after the long drive from Durango. Hopefully the weather will hold and we'll have more days like this!!


(5.7 pitch high on the ridge takes the obvious wide crack in the center)

Heading to the North Cascades

I'm all packed up and ready to make the 2 day drive to the North Cascades in Washington to train for and take my Alpine Exam with the AMGA. Having already completed my Rock Guide Certification a few years ago, along with both Alpine Guides Courses, I have a good idea of what to expect. But as with most things in life there are no guarantees so I felt it was best to get myself to the North Cascades plenty early to have some time to re-familiarize myself with the range, get in great shape, and do some fun climbing in one of the country's best mountain ranges.

The North Cascades is situated approximately 2 hours east of Seattle and Bellingham Washington, and is a massive complex of interconnected peaks, ridges, glaciers, etc. Given the alpine nature, much of the rock is not of a high quality, but certainly more quality than say the San Juan Mountains in CO, my home range.

I'm both excited and nervous for the exam, which is as I think it should be. Performance on an exam or in any other stressful situation should elicit a healthy degree of the case of the butterflies. It's what helps to keep me sharp and focused on making sound decisions. It goes without saying that safety is of the utmost importance in the mountains, and I strive to control what I can control, but am realistic that control is largely a perception rather than reality, no matter what you are doing.

Learning how to control your actions to the degree that you are able to limit exposure on a given route and effectively increase team safety through the use of specific techniques is part of becoming a better mountain guide. I can say without reservation that my courses and exams with the AMGA have helped me to become a better guide.

It might seem weird to do this first, but I think it's appropriate given the fact that I wouldn't be in this position if it weren't for the many that have helped me in some way to get to the point where I'm able to take this exam.

I'd like to thank a few people for helping me out with gear, support, etc. Matt Gowar at RAB provides Southwest Adventure Guides with all their technical outerwear needs and I'll be sporting RAB outerwear during my time in the N. Cascades. Sam Mix at Osprey Packs makes sure I have all the right packs to carry my gear in. The Mutant 38 will be the perfect pack for this exam. Tom Adams at Petzl recently informed me that I'm the recipient of the Petzl Guide's Scholarship! This was fantastic news and thanks to Petzl for all their support of the AMGA as well. Petzl gear (headlamps, ice axes, ropes, belay devices, carabiner) are the best around and I'm glad to have plenty of Petzl gear on hand to use on the exam.

I'd like to also thank my folks for their unwavering support of everything I've ever done. Hopefully I can be as great a parent to my son as they were to my brother and I.

Lastly, I'd like to thank my wife Keeton for everything that she has done and is doing for me so that I can be here in Washington for almost 5 weeks! Taking care of our son Mason, running our business, and doing all the things that day-to-day life requires. It's more than a full time job and I simply could not be doing this without her love and support!

I will be posting regular updates on this blog about my whereabouts and climbs that I do with other exam participants over the next couple of weeks. I will also try to post between exam days, if there is time left in the day!