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Ingalls Photoshoot |
On October 9-10, Mike hiked to Ingalls Lake and the larches, for the
night. This was a test of Mike's bad back, which has been slowly
improving. The 2200' to Ingalls Pass showed Mike he has some
conditioning to regain, but once he arrived, he grabbed a perfect
campsite. The plan was to do some night photography, but the
clouds kept the stars hidden. Still it was a wonderful, albeit
chilly, night nestled amongst the golden larches. The next
morning Cherié hiked up to join Mike. After the hike out the two
headed to Leavenworth, and their quickly appearing home (away from
home). It was a great weekend, much too long since the
last outing! |
|
Rock Climbing |
On August 5, Mike, Cherié, Annie and Andy headed over to Leavenworth for
a day of fun, including rock climbing. Andy took to the rock
like a pro, and by the end of the day Annie was calling him Monkey boy!
After the fun on the rock, the four visited the future Warren estate,
which now has a foundation! |
|
Snowfield Peak |
On July 31 - August 2, Mike joined Jonathan, Ann, Carolyn and Marla on a
climb of Snowfield Peak. Mike was forewarned of the difficult
approach, and it lived up to its reputation. Steep, barely a
trail, hot, bugs and little water, for almost 5000' vertical feet!
But the group was rewarded with a spectacular basecamp, next to a
morainal lake with icebergs, at the toe of the Colonial Glacier, with a
200' waterfall right out of camp! The panoramic photo shows
our view from basecamp! After waking early on Saturday, the group
climbed the Colonial Glacier, descended to the Neve Glacier, then
ascended the summit pyramid to great views! The long trek
back to basecamp carried with it the reward of another night at high
camp. After a brutal descent, the group enjoyed a late lunch
in Marblemount. It was a challenging, but outstanding
weekend! |
|
Cape Alava |
On July 24, Mike and Annie joined their good friends Brad, Aidan,
Lauren, Katherine, and new friend David, on their semi regular
backpacking trip to Cape Alava, on the Washington coast.
While much of Washington baked, the group enjoyed a foggy weekend,
interrupted only by a sunny Saturday afternoon. As with
prior trips, the group ate well, played Uno, hiked to secret beach, and
swam in the Ozette River. Lauren and Katherine are off to
college, but we all hope we can continue the tradition of Cape Alava! |
July 4th in
the Tatoosh |
Over the 4th of July weekend, Mike and Cherié return to the Tatoosh
Range, south of Mt. Rainier. They skied up to just below
Castle Peak, and enjoyed once of the best campsites one could imagine,
on a rock buttress overlooking Mt. Rainier. On Friday, they
circumnavigated Pinnacle Peak, deciding not to make the long traverse to
Lane Peak, one of 2 peaks in the Tatoosh Mike has not summited.
On Saturday, they skinned to Castle, climbed Castle, then traversed the
ridge to Foss Peak. This leaves only Lane and Stevens of the
10 Tatoosh peaks for Mike to climb. It was a beautiful weekend, with
very few visitors (most travel to Mt. Rainier), and a great chance for
Mike and Cherié to enjoy each others company! |
|
Tatoosh Traverse |
On June 27, Mike traveled to the Tatoosh Range, just south of Paradise
and Mt. Rainier. There, he joined a Mountaineer Club
scramble led by Jeff Panza. The plan was to traverse 7 of the
Tatoosh peaks, starting near Paradise, and coming out at Longmire.
The day was perfect, but the climb long, so they ended up climbing only
4 1/2 peaks, Pinnacle, Plummer, Denman, 1/2 of Lane! and Wahpenayo.
After almost 14 hours and 5000' gain, they finally ended up at Longmire.
It was a fun day in the mountains! |
|
Welch Peak |
On June 20, Mike and Cherié joined with their good friends Cebe, Kayla,
Michael and Duncan, for an outing in the Olympic Mountains.
The plan was to do an alpine traverse from Welch Peak to Hawk Peak.
The day started wet, and got wetter! At 5000' the rain turned to
snow. But the group persevered, and scrambled the summit ridge to
the Welch Peak summit. The views matched the weather . . . yukky!
So, instead of finding their way to Hawk Peak in a whiteout, the group
traversed via trail to neighboring Mt. Townsend. The wild
flowers were spectacular, made even more vibrant by the wet weather!
The day was an excellent outing! |
|
Colchuck Peak |
On June 6, Mike and Cherié joined with their SIG climbing group to climb
Colchuck Peak, in the Enchantments. A car camp led to a 5am
start time, and a 4 mile hike to beautiful Colchuck Lake. From
there, the group climbed the long Colchuck Glacier to the Col between
Colchuck and Dragontail Peaks. Above the Col there was a
rock and snow to incredible views on the summit. After the
descent, the group ate at South, in Leavenworth. It was a
great trip with a fun group! |
|
Mt. Shasta |
Over Memorial Day weekend, Mike took a road trip to climb and ski Mt.
Shasta with Dan, Greg and Jeff. Alas, it was not to me, as Mike
broke every rule in the book . . . he did not sleep, he did not eat, he
did not drink, and he went at too fast of a pace! This
resulted in a classic BONK, which forced him to ski down without a
summit. But, it was a fun road trip, with some good pics! |
|
River Rafting |
On May 16, Mike, Cherié and Annie joined with friends David, Bernadette,
Madi and Sam, and rafted the Wenatchee river. As an added bonus,
their guide was Jim Farris, a climbing buddy of Cherié and Mike's,
turned river guide. The river was a perfect level to provide
a wild ride and many a drenching, and the weather cooperated with sun
and warmth! Dinner at South topped off an excellent
day! |
|
Mt. St. Helens |
On May 9-10, Mother's Day weekend, Mike and Cherié, joined with Cebe and
Jonathan to lead their SIG group up Mt. St. Helens. Mike, Cherié,
Jonathan and Sarah donned skis, and everyone else enjoyed their
crampons. In order to truly honor their Mothers, Mike and Sarah climbed
in dresses! After a scenic basecamp at the base of the
mountain, the group arose at 4am for a 5am start. The snow was
perfect, as they climbed during the sunrise. Finally, at
11am, they reached the summit, which is really a crater! The
four skiers then enjoyed a outstanding ski down and then out to the
cars. |
|
Leavenworth Rocks |
On April 11-12, Mike and Cherié, joined with Cebe and Glenn, and took
their SIG climbing group to Leavenworth for fun and exposure on the
rock. Saturday was a glorious day, with lots of climbing,
rappelling and belaying. Saturday night meant "roughing" it again
in the house that sleeps 1000 in Leavenworth, just like
2008.
After still another yummy dinner and breakfast, featuring choc chip
waffles, the group returned to the rock. This time the rock
was wet and snotty, just like the climbers, but they managed to tick off
a few more pitches and rappels. It was a fun time with a fun
group! |
|
Crystal Ski Day |
On April 4, shortly after returning from their Baja vacation, Mike and Cherié
joined with Annie and skied at Crystal Mtn on a glorious sunny day.
Also joining the trio was Andy, Annie's beau. Cherié and
Mike's first 5 runs equaled 10 black diamonds! They even got Annie
and Andy, and their good friend, Willie, on a couple of black diamonds!
It was an excellent ski day! |
|
Granite Mtn |
On March 15, Mike, Cherié, Deling and Yinan led some hardy members of
their SIG climbing group, Russ, Carol, John, Sarah, Cliff and Han, into
the snowy mountains and up about 1/2 of Granite Mountain. When the snow
turned thigh deep, they donned snowshoes. When the snow was thigh deep
with snowshoes on, they enjoyed the descent! It was a fun, snowy day,
with very good climbing students! |
|
Mt. Margaret |
On March 7, Mike joined with friends Ed, Jonathan, Barbara, Jill and
Pete, and skied Mt. Margaret near Snoqualmie Pass. It had snowed a
lot the prior week, and about 4-6 inches during the day.
They began the day on a road, but quickly left the loud snowmobilers on
an alternative approach to Mt. Margaret. After about 3000'
of skinning, they found themselves on the south summit of Mt. Margaret.
From there they enjoyed almost 3000' of perfect powder, much of it knee
deep. It was one of Mike's best backcountry ski days! |
|
Leavenworth X-C Ski |
On February 28, Mike, Cherié and Annie headed to their favorite town,
Leavenworth, for a day of cross country skiing, lunch at South, and
communion with their land. The weather was good, the snow
flat, and food fantastic! |
|
Silver Peak Ski Tour |
On February 15, Mike joined with friends Jonathan, Ann and Barbara, for
a ski tour of Silver Pk near Snoqualmie Pass. The day started with an
endless road skin, followed by a direct path from aptly named Windy Pass
to just below the Silver Pk summit ridge. An avy test pit revealed
a likely chance of an avalanche, so they enjoyed the ski back to Windy
Pass, then a direct route involving some excellent tree skiing back to
the cars! |
|
Amabilis Mountain |
On February 14, Valentine's Day, Mike and Cherié enjoyed a trip up
Amabilis Mtn, just past Snoqualmie Pass, on skis; then a long ski run on
excellent snow out to the cars. While eating lunch high on the
mountain, the sun came out to warm them! |
|
Diamond Head Ski |
On January 31, Mike and Cherié spent the weekend in their favorite town,
Leavenworth. This was a reward to Cherié
after her busy work schedule the past month. On the Saturday
they skied at Blewett Pass towards a small peak, Diamond Head. This was
not like the famous namesake in Hawaii. This ascent involved a
climb through dense woods, and then a descent on hard snow. But
the weather was great, the exercise vigorous, and the scenery beautiful.
After the ski tour, they joined good friends in Leavenworth for dinner
at their fav restaurant, South! |
|
Granite Mountain |
On January 25, Mike took advantage of an unexpected unscheduled day, and
climbed Granite Mountain. After emerging from the trees, Mike
entered a land of ice, rock and snow, where little lives.
The ascent involved hard snow, cold temperatures, and a growing
blizzard. But after much exercise, Mike stood on the barren
summit. |
|
Comet Falls Ski Tour |
On January 18, Mike joined with friends Ed, Matt, Jeff, Bari, Chloe and
Andy, and skinned to Comet Falls in Mt. Rainier NP. The
destination was Van Trump Park, and good turns, but a tricky sidehill
traverse took longer than anticipated. They ended at a broad
plateau, and avoided the return traverse by descending a rib to their
original approach. It was a fun outing! |
|
BC Ski Training |
On January 17, Mike spent the day in training for the backcountry ski
leader list at Snoqualmie Pass. After an indoor lecture held
outdoors in the fog and cold, the group warmed up by rescuing beacons,
digging snow pits, and, an especially fun activity, digging an emergency
snow trench bivy. |
|
Mailbox Peak |
On January 4, Mike, dreading another day in town, climbed Mailbox Peak.
A quick 3000' gain took him to the summit ridge, high winds, low
temperatures, and deep snow! It could not have been better.
After a strenuous final 1000' Mike stood on the summit, being the only
person brave(?) enough to take on the mountain that day! It
was truly an outstanding winter mountaineering experience! |
|
New Years Day Ski |
On New Years Day, Mike and Cherié joined Jonathan
at Crystal Mountain for a day of skiing. The powder was deep, but
wet, and there was much wallowing to start 2009! As an added
bonus, Annie came along for a day on her new snowboard, and brought her
boyfriend, Andy. Happy New Year! |