Seemingly endless days, crystal-clear alpine lakes, and golden sunsets, it’s finally summer in Washington! I know technically it has been summer for well over a month, but winter holds on in the mountains of Washington. Snow clings to the slopes and ice lingers in alpine lakes well into July some years. I usually try to wait until the end of July to go on backpacking trips with alpine lakes for a destination.
Read MoreIn May, Alex and I attempted to climb Ruth Mountain with the goal to camp on the summit and ski off the following morning. However, if you’ve read my previous blog post you will know that due to snowy navigation difficulties, we did not make it to the summit to camp. We were eventually successful in summiting the following morning, however, we were stuck in a total whiteout. The inclement weather made for a disappointing summit experience and I returned home with a feeling of unfinished business.
Read MoreDeep within Olympic National Park, surrounded by the verdant Hoh Rainforest and a winding network of rivers, lies the park’s crown jewel: Mount Olympus. At 7,980’, this peak is the tallest on the Olympic Peninsula and offers a birdseye view of the park. However, getting to the summit is no walk in the park, the trek requires 19 miles of hiking before visitors even glance a view of their lofty objective.
Read MoreI first saw Ruth Mountain in the summer of 2019 while Alex and I were hiking the Copper Ridge Loop. We were on the early stretches of the trail, making our way toward Hannegan Pass when a beautiful mountain face, its upper slopes still draped in snow in late summer, came into view. In my planning process for that hike I had been so fixated on the camp spots and other high points that I had entirely overlooked Ruth Mountain, but it was impossible to overlook on the trail, it dominated our views. As we got closer I said to Alex, “I’m pretty sure you can ski off that. We should do that!” 1.5 years later and we did just that!
Read MoreI pressed the start button on my Garmin watch and checked the time. 1:04AM. Above us, billions of twinkling stars painted the sky. I was thankful for the calm and clear conditions that would accompany us on the climb ahead. We couldn’t see the finer details of our objective for the morning, but we knew its presence was there. Its hulking mass of rock and ice covered slopes blotted out a huge portion of stars on the northern horizon. It acted like a black hole, obscuring any light and drawing us in like a magnet.
Read MoreIt feels like spring ski season in the PNW! After a winter that required me to postpone or cancel ski trip after ski trip due to storms or dangerous avalanche conditions, winter has finally seemed to have relinquished its hold to spring.
A few months ago, our friend Nate invited Alex and me to go on a spring trip with him into the Olympics for a snowy ascent of Mount Deception or a circumnavigation of Mount Deception, whichever seemed like the better option when we got there. We both eagerly agreed to the trip and looked forward to for the remainder of the season.
Read MoreIn late 2019 Alex and I signed up for a ski mountaineering course on Mt. Baker with Pro Guiding Service. After a few seasons of backcountry touring we were feeling limited by our lack of glacier travel and mountaineering skills. We had taken our AIARE 1 course and could travel and route find in the wintry backcountry, but we could not traverse onto the slopes of some of the more remote mountains in Washington because they were surrounded and covered by glaciers.
Read MoreOn January 17, Alex and I headed to Olympic National Forest to venture out on our first backpacking trip of 2021. We hadn’t been backpacking since early September and were eager to spend a night under the stars again. We didn’t plan on going so long between trips, in fact, this 4.5 month stretch might be the longest we’ve gone without backpacking since we started backpacking in 2015! However, poor weather conditions, moving to a new home, and other personal obligations piled up and our trips kept getting postponed and cancelled.
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