MIA

Finally back from the high sierras preceded by Sloan peak! Stories coming as life as I knew it slowly returns to reality.

... Well, besides the Seattle heat that is putting the CA desert to shame. Great to be back.

Sloan Pk (7835') - 7/10/09

Sloan as seen from the first clearing on our way to cougar lake. Route was just on the other side of that left most ridge! Tom heading towards cougar creek amongst the alder and brambles. Poorly stitched photo showing the gully we got into just above the meadow. We aimed for the prominent rock just to the right of the top of tree. Tom on the rock island with Glacier pk. in background View of the glacier en route. Crevasses were tame, but starting to open up on the E side. Trail leading from the glacier (located just around the corner) At the summit Monte cristo area including Kyes peak (previous climb) Eldorado - Forbidden when "clouds" rolled in

So I convinced Tom to go out to Sloan with me on Friday. Weather looked iffy, but we wanted to get out of the city regardless. We were going to try to make camps at the "midway point" of the climb in the evening, which would have shortened the days. An important consideration because i still needed to pack for a trip to the Sierras that Fri night (6 AM sat departure). But alas, work, dinner, and normal bs-ing delayed us, so we camped at the trail head with a six pack for a great evening catching up. Went to bed without a cloud in the sky - and woke at 4:00 to crystal clear skies and were on the road via headlamp by 4:30. The Sauk river crossing was straight forward using numerous downed trees and log jams over the river(s). We spent a few moments finding the trail again and off we were on a well defined trail. We continued up the trail wish vanished into nothing and just continued going up the ridge through the forest, which was easy going. After significant elevation gain we saw what had to be the objective several creek beds away and then realized we were pretty much at cougar lake. Upon realizing our route mistake, our morale became deflated and I just about bailed due to the impending trip i needed to prepare for. But what the hell, it was only 7 or thereabouts so we decided to try to 'shwack our way over to the trail and/or up to the meadows where the camps were. Painful as it was we finally arrived at the camps in a few hours, or what felt like a few hours. We headed pretty much straight up towards the objective on snow which soon turned to some more bushwacking. Soon we were were on top of the ridge lining the gully that we were supposed to be ascending. A rising traverse (on and off trail) put us in the gully proper where we easily climbed snow to the glacier. I had read a relatively detailed report that talked about this last area, which said "that it was best to have a clear idea of where to go, but if all fails, head generally up and all will be good." Yes, trending up towards the destination gets you to the glacier with little chance of cliffing out or hitting a roadblock (at least with conditions that we found). At the toe glacier we decided to take a break on a rock island. The skies were without clouds, Glacier peak looked as if it was a stone throws away, we could see our huge route mistake that we circumvented, and the best part was that there was nary a soul around! How awesome of a day to get out! ... and the weatherman was wonderfully wrong about the forecast to boot! It was an awesome place to hang, especially considering that I had given up on the objective after getting off route! So after a long rest we left the rock tethered to eachother by a piece of spaghetti slogging up the glacier. We took pretty much a SW --> NE line avoiding a few crevasses and sinking snow bridges below us. All in all it was totally tame and straightforward. We left the NE corner of the glacier and continued the clockwise corcscrew on the E face. I found it surreal to find a descent trail in heather so high up on the mountain above the glacier - with 360 degree views (Stuart range SE, Monte cristo range S, etc.). This became my favorite section. Back around to the West side we started scrambling up the final section to the summit. It wa an awesome (and easy) scramble with a few moves to make you not lose focus to the summit. Maybe it was only awesome because of the way we felt, but nonetheless it added yet another aspect to the climb and day. We hung out at the summit for a bit with great views all around. Unfortunately clouds started roliing in and the time was getting late, limiting our time up there. We started retracing our steps down the mountain on cloud nine. Back in the meadow camp we found the trail and continued down cougar creek and its awesome water falls that we missed on the way up. We arrived at the car as the sun was setting after an amazing day and great climb. This was one of my favorite routes/climbs in the N cascades so far. It had variable, fun terrain - almost everything sans technical rock climbing and it certainly made it not feel like a 6000+ day. Amidst the terrain there was gorgeous views - and the views are in all directions. Definitely a climb to do - and to plan for a clear day! Approach notes: Do not get into conversation with your group so that you miss a switchback left over cougar creek and head due S on a ridge straight to Bedal peak. ... Unless you want a mosquito, bear scat, bramble, slide alder, bear scat infested up and down bushwack across relatively steap terrain to increase the adventure-fun of the climb. Gear notes: standard (and basic) glacier gear. Crampons (for this time) were not needed, nor wanted. Left hand beer for camp and trader joes (dark) chocolate covered pretzels for the trip home.

Mt Whitney - JMT Aug 2009

We climbed to the highest point in the continental 48. It was so exciting that I haven't had a chance to capture it all in words. I will when I can. :-(

Hibiscus Mead

I bought 5 gallons of honey from Keith's mom (thanks Lynn!) and have been wanting to do a mead (or 2 or 3 or 4). Ever since Don brought his hibiscus trippel to the homebrew meeting I wanted to try the same with mead. I wanted there to be a significant hibiscus/floral/tart flavor without being too overwhelming (like the ginger in the ginger beer - yum). I settled on about an oz/gallon (dried stuff) - seemed to be the low end of the scale from internet searches.

I assumed 32 GU/lb for the honey. Used ~ 10 # for the 3 gallons targeting about 1.100 gravity. Put 1 t acid blend, 1 t nutrient, and some water in a pot, and the hibiscus above it in a steamer. Steamed for about 15 minutes, and added all of that - flowers and tea, to the fermenter. I topped it to 3 gallons, pitched Lalvin 71B-1122, and let her go.

OG was 1.128 (!!!). Either my honey has more sugar in it or has significant amounts of other things in it to increase the gravity. We'll see how it ferments out - hopefully the yeast are hungry. But it's a gorgeous deep red color right now, hope it stays that way and doesn't darken too much.

Keith, if you're reading, we'll have to get some to your mom (depending on how it turns out)! :-)