Kevin's Blog

White Chuck Mountain (6989' 8/15/10) and the BoDeans!!!!

2010-08-17T23:26:00.000-07:00

Summer finally returned this past weekend. Temps in the 90s every day and not a cloud in the sky. Pretty offensive for Seattle standards, but there are better things to complain about! Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it out for a multi day affair since I got tickets to the BoDeans for my birfday. If you ask me, a pretty good reason not to be able to get out. The BoDeans were playing as part

Triumph on Triumph (7270'); Despair on (the route to) Despair

2010-08-02T17:52:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday 7/27 after work Ryan, Lucas and I set out for our long trip of the summer. The intentions were to set up a car shuttle and hike from Thorton Lakes TH to Baker river TH, climbing many peaks and traversing other terrain features on the way: Triumph – Despair – Mystery Ridge – Hagan – Blum - and others? This would have been a great trip but it didn’t turn out as such for various

Columbia Peak (7172' 7/24/10)

2010-08-02T10:14:00.000-07:00

While a horrific “fail,” our attempt of glacier peak was oddly fun. The bike ride made for an added dimension and if the going is right, makes for much quicker travel. Alison and I decided on the Monte Cristo environs (glacier basin) last weekend. Monte Cristo is a pretty cool place: an old mining town from way back in the day. I found the ruins of town to be a worthy destination for a laid

Glacier Peak: Fail

2010-07-26T22:11:00.000-07:00

Biking on the road - that's one large fallen tree.Fourth portage. Carrying the bikes across a fallen tree.Tom crawling under a large fallen treeRiver crossing. Original Bridge in not so good of shapeOne of the many washed out areas. The trail used to be on the right slope.Glacier Peak so far far away. Must wait for another day.From our outing to Sloan last year, Tom was captivated by our

Mt Pugh (7224' 7/17/10)

2010-07-18T10:48:00.000-07:00

I haven't been able to get out as much as desired, but I am hoping to change that. I decided to get back in the groove and just do a long, straight forward solo "climb." Decided on Pugh since since it's one that I've heard was fun, is a lot of elevation gain (I need to get back into shape), and it's mostly on known, good trail so there wouldn't be a repeat performance from last outing (glacier

Railroad grade 6/13/10

2010-06-13T23:30:00.000-07:00

Headed out to to some spring skiing on Sunday. Weather was supposed to be good and we wanted to do something like Baker. With the crazy spring we're having there was extreme avy warnings for elevations at >7000 feet, especially on volcanoes. So Lucas, Ryan, Kendall, and I headed up to Park Butte, just under the easton glacier to check things out, but not go to high. Upon getting to the

Memorial day '10

2010-05-31T11:13:00.000-07:00

I finally got away from being trapped in the city with Alison on Memorial day weekend. Weather was supposed to be miserable all over the area so we chose to go close to Yakima just to try to get some vitamin D and whatever exercise we could. The hike didn't matter. We left Sat morning and arrived at Hardy Canyon after a long drive. The hike up was uneventful and unspectacular, but it was only

Snoqualmie Apr 2010

2010-04-12T12:36:00.000-07:00

It had recently dumped and we wanted to take advantage so we headed to the old fall back of Snoqualmie Mtn. Avy conditions were moderate (high warnings up above 5500) so it seemed like a good place to go. We got a relatively early start - early enough, but also late enough so another group had set down a great skin track up the phantom through the couple feet of new snow. We eventually saw

Scottish High Camp 3/19/10-3/21/10

2010-03-26T10:37:00.000-07:00

Been MIA recently, but back on the wagon again. Last weekend took a trip to the high country with Lucas and Eileen and some "mountain dogs"! ... and we did it in more style than normal. Headed just past Stevens Pass on Friday, transferred our gear to other transportation and got taken up to the high camp at 4500 feet. It was the easiest ~3000 foot ascent ever!In the afternoon we made our way

Aasgard - 2/12/2010. you win some, you lose some.

2010-02-15T09:45:00.000-08:00

Lucas on one of the bridges up to colchuck lakeAnother bridge, as you start climbing to the lakeSkinning out onto Colchuck lake, weather deterioratingOur sorry looking shelter just below dragontail in the morningCamp. Not the most comfy one I've ever experiencedLooking back at the pass and Dragontail.Lucas and I decided to try to take advantage of an apparent decent weather system and get some

Lichtenberg Mountain

2010-02-13T12:05:00.000-08:00

Lucas, Ryan, and I headed up to Lichtenburg mountain for my first ski of the year and my first excursion from my S.America trip - the cause for little activity around Seattle this winter. We skinned up to the summit soon enough and encountered some awesome fluff off the Southwest of the mountain for about a 1500 foot run. After heading up to the summit again we skied towards Lichtenwasser for

Kevin's entire (Brown Porter)

2009-09-12T10:01:00.000-07:00

I wanted to do a double IPA. But my yeast was too old and dead-ish... and an unhealthy yeast crop is a recipe for disaster. So I decided to go the other extreme and attempt a brown porter. I've never made a porter, I much prefer bolder stouts. But this was supposed to be a brown like porter... sort of a session beer for the fall/winter.For beer geeks: (10 gallon batch) 13# marris otter, 0.4#

Classic rauchbier

2009-09-07T12:01:00.000-07:00

With Labor day weekend still looking gloomy I decided to get my smoker up and going on Sunday and smoke 7.5 pound of vienna malt with some hickory smoke. So hickory might not be the best wood to use, but I thought it would be better than mesquite. I didn't have access to beechwood and I was to lazy to get to the store and find apple/cherry. Plus, this is an experimental beer!Labor day was brew

Lavender Mead

2009-09-06T23:59:00.000-07:00

I got back from the climbs early on Saturday so I thought that I'd occupy myself in another way - make some mead. Again this one is with the "solid" wildflower honey that Keith's mom produced, I'm still trying to figure out the best way to process it. Plan was to make three gallons.I prepped the lavender by steaming 1 ounce in steamer and reserving the lavender liquid from steamer.Boiled a

Mt Maude (9040') 9/4/09

2009-09-06T23:27:00.000-07:00

Alison needed to get out. I needed to get out. It was a long weekend. So we went out to the mountains. It was a bad week in that my sick cat had taken a turn for the worse and I chose (reluctantly, painfully) to have him put down. So getting away from the house was probably a good choice. Unfortunately, the forecast was for poor weather throughout the weekend (labor day). So we decided to

Mt Spickard (8979')

2009-09-06T21:12:00.000-07:00

Upon getting back to camp on Saturday after climbing Redoubt (story here), we imbibed on some whiskey after a long day on Redoubt. We were still planning on doing Spickard Sunday, but we expected it to be a walk up, not too difficult, and not take too much time. So we slept in and had a casual morning on Sunday. So at the early time of about 10:30 AM we started off towards Spickard. I think

Mt Redoubt (8969' 8/22/09)

2009-08-26T09:56:00.000-07:00

Like Mt Challenger, when I started climbing in the N Cascades, I thought I'd never be able to summit Mt Redoubt - too big, too far away, too unknown. Well, we wanted to get a good climbing trip in this summer but since time was limiting we focused on an area with a base camp and not a long-ish traverse. Redoubt fit the bill with base camp at Ouzel lake. The easiest access is from the N,

MIA

2009-07-28T13:40:00.001-07:00

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

2009-07-28T13:22:00.000-07:00

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

Mt Whitney - JMT Aug 2009

2009-07-24T13:26:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-03T17:24:00.000-07:00

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

Kyes peak (7280')

2009-06-26T22:00:00.000-07:00

So with good weather supposedly coming into the area, I wanted to get out on my day off. Problem: nobody else had the day off. So I posted on cascade climbers (first time) looking for a partner with the intent on doing Sloan. Z-Man replied and we concurred on a Kyes peak since the road to Sloan was closed for maintenance (as of the previous day, argh!). We decided to do the S ridge which

Ingalls Video

2009-06-24T09:31:00.000-07:00

Better late than never .... here's a little video Lucas made showing some of the days events.

South Ingalls and point 7646 (6/20/09)

2009-06-21T10:29:00.000-07:00

We recently had a record 29 consecutive days without rain in Seattle, however, it's been a different story in the mountains. Sure, good weather was in places, but we had not chosen wisely to find it (see previous hidden lakes peak post). So we watched the forecasts like hawks and decided to go to the east side of the crest to what looked like the place with the best forecast, even if it was a

Hidden Lake Peak

2009-06-08T08:58:00.000-07:00

Well, not much to say about this one. We really wanted to get out and do something nice in the N Cascades - Ryan really hasn't been out there yet. The plan was to try to do Eldorado via sibley creek/the triad and also climb the triad - a new one for me.After 2 weeks of incredible weather, wouldn't you know that we left the trail head in mist/drizzle/rain with no visibility. Weather not

The Brothers - 5/25/09

2009-05-26T10:57:00.000-07:00

The Brothers are visible to the West from Seattle and they have been staring me down almost everyday since I am always traveling East/West. Because of this I have wanted to climb them for the last several years .... just have never gotten around to it. Alison and I attempted them mid Feb and pretty much had a tough go of it because of conditions. There was enough snow to make finding the

Twas a day of beer

2009-05-16T19:45:00.000-07:00

knowing it was going to be a long day, I got the water ready for the mash, and on the stove the night before. I woke up early and turned the stove on .... and I was off. To make a long story short I rebrewed my IPA that I lost in "the incident during all incidents." (same recipe and all, so I won't repost) I've been without an IPA on tap for tooooooo much time. It was a ten gallon batch again

Highlights from early 2009

2009-05-11T15:06:00.000-07:00

Just a little video from our first few trips of 2009. Granite mountain, Red mountain, and Kaleetan peak. Kudos to LJT for putting the vid together, as he has done with the others. Had a few other escapades not included in the blog - like the slot couloir on Snoqualmie and a day near Hyak. Apologies for slacking on those.

DIY Sparge recirculation system

2009-05-08T13:27:00.000-07:00

I was ordering some tubing from morebeer and shipping was exorbitant - my purchase wasn't enough for free shipping. What to do? By a pump cause it would be fun and make my life easier. Yeah, right. OK, a note (disclaimer) up front. I am not an electrician. I make no promises for the accuracy of anything I write or show. In fact if you try to replicate this you are likely to burn down your

Belgian Wit

2009-05-08T13:17:00.001-07:00

With the kegs getting tapped, gotta brew to keep the brews flowing. Just did another spring time beer - A beglian wit. Again, lower alcohol but plenty of fruity flavors. I've never made one before so I didn't venture too far away from known protocols. I based the recipe on a Hoegaarden clone. Target 1.045 with an 80% efficiency.For beer geeks: 3.6# Belg pils, 3.25# unmalted wheat, 0.3# malted

Mt Shuksan Circumnavigation

2009-05-05T19:39:00.000-07:00

So here's the video. Below the story. Pictures afterward. ... an awesome day and a half on Shuksan culminating in my second ascent of the gorgeous mountain. Halertau

March comes in like a lion

2009-03-05T20:31:00.000-08:00

... as the saying goes, "March comes in like a lion." Is that a good thing? ... i guess it depends. This year the lion came in and appeared to bite my head off. This is why there have been few (i.e. zero) posts recently, and I need to vent one last time, so excuse the verbosity and melodramatics. So the story goes like this....Because the yard and carport were full of fallen trees I was

The Brothers - 2/15/09

2009-02-17T11:29:00.000-08:00

I've never been to the area, but I've wanted to try my luck at the brothers for awhile. You can see them standing by themselves from Seattle, and they mock me every time I drive West on a surface street in Seattle. From my understanding, late season climbs of the brothers can be a bugger due to overgrown brush. So, with the nice weather I went over the past weekend with my skis (being

Climbing - Tree Style

2009-02-16T19:14:00.000-08:00

I like trees, really I do. My lot line had 7 of them. For such a small area that's a lot. I tried to maintain them (kinda), but they've outgrown their welcome and are killing everything in my neighbor's and my yards. So I got an urge to re-landscape and do something else on the lot(line). So I convinced a friend to help take them down, so sad. I had seen a company do my neighbor's huge pine

Kaleetan Peak 2/7/09

2009-02-09T11:32:00.000-08:00

The original plan was to take a ferry and climb the Brothers on a two day ski/climb. The weather man put an end to that calling for a crappy Sunday, so we decided to do a one day climb in the Snoqualmie area - Kaleetan peak. After 2 days of numerous email threads creating 3 different parties, Ryan, Lucas, and I finally were on our way at the upper alpental lot at 6:00 in the morning. We were

Isolation Traverse. Aug, 2008

2009-02-01T14:45:00.000-08:00

Excuse the late post. This happened during the summer of 2008. I'll be updating more pics and cleaning things up, but I'm just getting it out to force myself....90 percent heaven and 10 percent hell. That’s all I can say. I will try to describe the proceedings, but 90 percent heaven and 10 percent hell. This was probably the toughest trip that I have endured when you combine psychological,

Red Mountain 1/31/09

2009-02-01T10:00:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Alison and I ventured up to commonwealth basin with the intent on doing Red Mountain with clown shoes on our feet. By the time we got out of the clouds and into picture perfect blue skies we realized we took a wrong turn and were just following another creek leading to the saddle between Red and Kendall. We continued up as far as we could and called a nice, quick outing.This weekend

IPA 1/30/09

2009-01-30T21:02:00.000-08:00

Mike tapped out my IPA so I thought I should start working towards replacing it. Wanted to make a slightly smaller one, after all this is the beer I drink most. A "smaller" version would make mornings easier and be cheaper too boot. Also, tried a new hop varietal - amarillos. Target 1.058 with 78% efficiency in a 10 gallon batch.for beer geeks. 16.5 #canadian 2 row, 1.5# crystal 40, 2.0#

Stout Stout Stout

2009-01-25T11:45:00.000-08:00

With the post ski beer reserves dwindling (kind of) I wanted to resupply. Attempted to make a dry stout with some extra body and umph, so yeah, not really a dry stout. 10 gallon batch assuming 80% efficiency.For beer geeks: 10 # marris otter 2 row, 6.5 # canadian 2 row, 0.5# each 40 and 120 crystal, 1 # each flaked barley, flaked wheat, and choc malt, 2# roast barley. Tried something new with

Granite Mountain - 1/17/09

2009-01-18T11:24:00.000-08:00

With snow packs stabilized after the flooding rain and a classic inversion leaving the mountains warm and sunny, Lucas and I went out for a quick excursion - either Granite peak or Kendall peak via Kendall lakes. En route Granite peak looked a little bare so we continued to Kendall, which was socked in. Fed up with Seattle gloom and not knowing when (or if) the fog would burn off we back

Heather Ridge

2009-01-05T22:26:00.000-08:00

Lucas and I headed out into the bc across from Steven's pass - Heather Ridge. There was pretty much a highway laid in the snow so the going was initially easy. We climbed to the high spot on the ridge (~5450'), had lunch, and dug a pit. The snow was soft powder on what appeared to be styrofoam as far as the shovel dug. Everything appeared to be stable so we skiied down into the back bowls for

Mt Shuksan (9127'), Sept, 2008

2008-09-07T15:58:00.000-07:00

If at first, if at second, if at third .... try try again. So my previous umpteen attempts at Shuksan have been weathered out. I've gotten up to the sulphide 3 times and have had to turn around in misery because of weather twice ... and the third time, well, you can read about it here. We wont mention the even less successful trips. So with the summer winding down after all of the other trips

Mt Stuart (9415'). Sept, 2008

2008-09-02T17:14:00.000-07:00

Stuart is the second highest non-volcanic peak. This pic is from Stuart Pass (Camps) and shows the West Ridge. July 4 weekend 4 of us tried to do the W ridge of Stuart. Weather was iffy and we ended up climbing into pea soup. When it started drizzling and the rock was getting slick, we decided to turn back. On the plus side, Sunday was a beautiful day in Highlight basin. Why the weather

COTT Day 6 - Leaving paradise.

2008-07-27T14:44:00.000-07:00

After getting back to camp we waited out a storm, which gave us some awesome down time to reminisce and talk about the area, since we were leaving first thing in the morning. It didn’t hurt having the sun shine through; illuminating the cirque unlike any other day we were there. We ate dinner killed a few more mosquitoes and went to be, totally giddy from the weeks events. We woke up early,

COTT Day 5 - Overhanging Tower

2008-07-26T14:42:00.000-07:00

Having a full day of rest we decided on a nice scramble in Overhanging Tower (OT) and then an attempt at Sharks Nose. We hiked up to Wolf’s Head, OT col went around to the N and then West of OT for a very nice, easy ascent. Shown is OT from Shark's nose with some mocking clouds just over top. The trippiest part was being on the summit and knowing that you were on a … well … overhanging piece

COTT Day three - Wolf's Head

2008-07-24T21:58:00.000-07:00

We awoke Thursday to beautiful skies and set out to try the E ridge of wolf's head. This is indeed one of the 100 classic climbs of the world (I believe). The guidebook says that it's easy and straight forward if you don't mind walking on a two foot wide sidewalk with 1000 feet drops to either side. If not, and you try to protect it, it's a long day. We planned to jump off that ridge when we got

COTT Day Two - Pingora

2008-07-23T21:18:00.000-07:00

We decided to do Pingora our first full day in the cirque - arguably the quintessential summit in the area. We went for the S buttress. We got up early not knowing what our speed would be nor whether T-storms would approach. We only met two other groups on the mountain - one passing us on an adjacent route, and one climbing late in the day. To the right, Lucas is "excited" to be at the base

Cirque of the Towers - Wind River Range

2008-07-22T19:53:00.000-07:00

So the day after Kari's wedding Lucas flew into Denver to meet me. We had Indian food with my fam, said goodbyes to the fam, went shopping, and got everything packed for an early start. Packing was no small feat - four kegs, 200 plus pounds of grain, climbing gear, and everything else in a golf. About 8 or 9 hours driving time and we were at the trailhead. On the way we stopped at Bitter

Road to Kari's Wedding

2008-07-16T18:39:00.000-07:00

OK, this is the start to the crazy part of my summer. Crazy in a good way, but crazy nonetheless. I had been gunning to drive to my sister's in Boulder CO and bring beer for her wedding. I had spent many of the previous weekends brewing four batches to hand deliver for her wedding. Well, it was only fitting that on the 12th of July, Mark and Alison (friends from my homebrew club) were having

Colchuck Peak; May 10, 2008

2008-05-11T15:42:00.000-07:00

Panorama from Colchuck lake. Aasgard pass : Dragontail Peak (8840') : Colchuck glacier : Colchuck Peak (8705'). (Editor's note: wow, colchuck looks dwarfed compared to dragontail at this angle.)Lucas and I had some celebrating to do. After long weeks for both of us, we had a few highlights. I finished teaching my first class (Admittedly it was team taught with my boss but she gave me

Crystal Lake Basin Ski tour

2008-05-05T19:43:00.000-07:00

Sunday was the day to go out. Not only was it supposed to have the best weather for the weekend there was an omen. On Saturday, I went to buy ski poles at a great local shop up the street, but it was closed. there was a sign (scribbles on paper is a better way to describe it) that said that they were closed due to "unavoidable circumstances." Below that it read: "You should be out skiing anyway

2008 BC Ski Synopsis

2008-04-29T08:55:00.000-07:00

A short synopsis of the skiing in the past 3 months. I've skied a total of two day in this millennium before this year and it shows. But it's an awesome time out in the back country.

White Salmon Glacier (4/26/08; ski)

2008-04-27T11:58:00.000-07:00

Ian had the weekend off to go celebrate his birthday and wanted to do something "big." We decided to attempt Shuksan via the White Salmon glacier. Late Friday afternoon Lucas and I loaded up the car and headed to Ian's. We made our introductions (I hadn't met Ian), loaded the car and were on our way. We arrived at the Mt Baker parking lot after they had closed the gate so we were resigned to

Wright Mountain (4/5/08)

2008-04-05T16:32:00.000-07:00

Finally got back into the snow on the 5th. Lucas and I were going to do a longer overnighter .... something like an overnighter on Shuksan, but instead we hung out late Friday drinking beer and discussing life issues. After long weeks for both of us we decided to sleep in and go from there. So I woke up late, cooked a decent breakfast, and had a lazy morning. Finally we decided to go for a

Weekend of snow and exhaustion

2008-03-10T21:23:00.001-07:00

So Saturday was a friend's b-day. The plan was to go to Hyak and have a decent nordic ski. We headed up with a late start and got some exercise in. It was a pretty chill day with beatiful skies. after some skiing around, we headed out to the yurt and arrived at about 3 in the afternoon. Soon people just started showing up with things big foot had stashed away for us. Part of the group and

McClellan Butte

2008-03-03T22:16:00.000-08:00

So Lucas and I decided a short, fun outing was best because of his need to defend .... well.... next Thursday! Well, we decided on skiing McClellan Butte. 5:00 came and I was rip roaring ... we needed an early start to get back for "work." So we parked just off the interstate and headed out. We had a "description" of what we wanted to do but the gist was: 1) drive I90. 2) get off at McClennan

Pilsner Mar 01, 08

2008-03-01T17:17:00.000-08:00

So I promised my sis, Kari, that I would drive down to her wedding and bring a few kegs with me. So what to brew? The wedding will be in the summer so a pilsner is always a good thing to have at hand for all them other types that don't like a lot of flavor in their beer. Actually, a well done pils has a ton of flavor. Any suggestions for a good, interesting, wedding beer?Also at the brewstore

Saison Feb 22, 2008

2008-02-29T09:44:00.000-08:00

So David, this one's for you. David and I were planning on brewing this together but his time in Seattle was cut short (for a job in SF) so we never got around to it, but we had the yeast that was special ordered. I've also wanted to try my luck at a saison, so now was the time. Base recipe from a friend of David's. All grain, 5 gallons.Target OG 1.052 (I forgot to recalc based on my mash

Snoqualmie Ski - Phantom Falls, Feb 2008

2008-02-24T10:58:00.000-08:00

Fixed gear in hand, Lucas picked me up at 5:30 for another climb/ski. By 6:00 we were picking up Blythe (another partner in crime that tried to kill me in the trees at the resorts when I was getting back on the skis again). We ended up at the upper Alpental lot to climb/skin up Snoqualmie Mountain via a direct route - Phantom Falls, or a variation thereof. This was supposed to be a straight

Kendall Peak Feb 18th, 2008

2008-02-20T17:32:00.001-08:00

So Lucas and I wanted to try the back country again, but this time we were goign to use the skis and try to get some more distance and do some climbing as well. The plan was to try to make Thompson and maybe do another peak in the Snoqualmie area (Red or Kendall?). So off we were at 6:00. Unfortunately the day did not turn out as planned and we just ended up climbing Kendall peak instead of Mt

Smithbrook Feb 16, 2008

2008-02-17T09:23:00.000-08:00

So, a few things. Being from the midwest, it's difficult to 'excel' at skiing since much of what we have is man made frozen ice crystals deposited on man made trash heaps. Anyway, I did learn (but not enough to excel) in yearly trips to CO and the wretched midwest skiing. So after moving out on my own, I really found out how expensive it was and never continued to ski, since mommy and daddy

Tiger Mountain 2/4/08

2008-02-04T22:07:00.000-08:00

So it's been awhile. Winter has set in and I haven't gotten out that much to, well, ... climb. But I have started to acquire some nice ski equipment and am trying to fill out the set up to get high in the back country - almost there. Until I get there, I've been skiing at some resorts, trying to remember how. I finally felt good on the new skis. So it's been the usual suspects, Baker,

Seattle Marathon, November 25th, 2007

2007-12-14T11:46:00.000-08:00

Having done the half in Leavenworth, Mike and I tried to do the Seattle full. While the race only took several hours, the training monopolized my time for more than a month. .... and it should have taken up more time since I should have trained longer and harder. But when doing one hard run a week, usually my weekends were shot because of the time consumed and the hurt endured. But finally I

Thanksgiving, Nov, 22nd 2007

2007-12-14T11:16:00.001-08:00

So "turkey day" was great this year. I have to mention this weekend because of all the great people that came and the great food. So about the people - mom and dad came all the way from Sedona AZ for the weekend, and it marked the 15th week of 6 weeks that they had been traveling so it was nice that they were able to find time. ... Not only that, but they didn't make me pick them up from the

High Divide September 29, 2007

2007-10-17T15:14:00.000-07:00

Brandee and I took off for the Olympic peninsula on Friday in hopes of escaping the city for a while in exchange for a nice relaxing time out on the peninsula. So we set out and the plan was to do the high divide loop on Saturday. 35oo' gain, 18 miles. Wow, I thought this was supposed to be relaxing. With an early morning breakfast at the B&B we were on our way. With a beautiful day the day

Leavenworth half marathon/ octoberfest

2007-10-17T15:04:00.000-07:00

So I've always wanted to run 2 marathons (anyone can just do one) but I hate running. Good friends from soccer Mike and Dana were planning to run the leavenworth half marathon that coincidentally coincided with octoberfest so they convinced me to tag along for a fun filled weekend! I, without thinking said of course and decided to try my luck running a long distance race.So the race was

Vesper 2007 N. face via 1968 route

2007-09-20T10:28:00.000-07:00

September 15, 2007 Owing to the end of summer we thought this might be a ‘last chance’ for decent weather allowing us to do something fun and exciting in the mountains. Lucas and I also needed an escape so we decided to try something new and a bit more technical for “practice” and headed up to Vesper peak to do the N. face (via 1968 route). We woke up at 4:30 and a tad past 5:00 Lucas

Challenger/N. Pickets 2007

2007-09-17T14:08:00.000-07:00

July 15 - 21, 2007The trip was supposed to be ~7 days to the northern pickets. Sunday hike into hannagan pass and down into the chiliwack river valley, from there across the chiliwack onto easy ridge, over easy peak and on towards perfect pass allowing us access to the Challenger glacier and Challenger. We were then supposed to continue into the Luna cirque, onto Luna ridge. From there we were

Mt Rainier - Ingraham Direct

2007-06-15T19:11:00.000-07:00

Since moving to WA, I've wanted to climb Mt Rainier (as seen from the muir snow fields on the right). Not that it is all that fun, but it's Mt Rainier. Lucas' friend also wanted to do it before moving away, so the three of us got on the same page for a relatively early season attempt. Lucas' friend dropped out so we tried to convince Tom to join us, keeping the rope team at 3. Fate was not on

Ptarmigan Traverse

2006-08-31T09:07:00.000-07:00

I am just posting pics with some wrong descriptions on snapfish. Click here for Lucas' account of the extravaganza. Also, here's a video....

Mt Baker (Easton glacier)

2004-08-05T19:04:00.000-07:00

For this trip I posted pics with descriptions on Snapfish. Also, Lucas tells all that needs telling.