Bozeman, Montana - Sphinx Mountain

Since Taylor started school at Montana State University two years ago (wow how time flies!) we have driven to Bozeman about 10 times.  Each time we take the drive we pass by a great looking peak in the Madison Range just north of Yellowstone . After a little research we found out it is called Sphinx Mountain with an elevation of 10,876 feet.

Dylan and I had planned on climbing it last Memorial Day but the weather wasn't cooperating and it snowed all weekend.  Even with the Idaho forest fires covering the area in a blanket of smoke we figured this would be our chance.



Taylor and Dylan relaxing at Montana Ale Works

After spending some time with Taylor and Tam on Saturday we headed out early on Sunday morning.  Unlike a lot of our Idaho climbs, we were at the trail head in an hour and a half.  Can't beat that.  Also unlike our Idaho climbs, we were greeted with the following sign:

We had come prepared though - Taylor had lent us her bear spray.  Luckily, we didn't need it.

There was a great trail leading up from Bear Creek and we made quick time in the cool, albeit smoky morning. 

Our objective through the smoke

In a little less than 3 hours we had covered the 5 miles to a saddle with "The Helmet" and started following a climbers trail up a broad gully on Sphinx Mountain.

Dylan with the Helmet behind him

The climber's trail made its way up the scree and moss covered gully. 

The climbing wasn't difficult and in another hour we had reached the summit at 10,876 feet.  The wind had been blowing on our way up and the air had cleared considerably.  With the wind came the cold, and we put our jackets on to eat lunch and admire the views.

With the wind blowing we didn't stay on the summit long.  The trip down went very quickly and we were back at the car a little over two hours later.

Looking back on the way down.

Stats:
Mileage - ~12 miles
Elevation - ~4600 feet
Car to Car Time - 6 hours

Devil's Bedsted East - 11,865 Feet

With Dylan back in the fold (we picked him up two weeks ago) it was time to get out and climb a mountain.  The question was where.  With three wildfires raging across Idaho it would be hit and miss trying to find a place with minimal smoke.

After talking it over some, we decided to take our chances and head east of Hailey to Devil's Bedsted East (DBE) in the Pioneers.  In reading some of the past trip reports it sounded like we would be in for a bit of scrambling.  We were not disappointed.

When John, Mariel and I climbed Abel Peak the week before Rainier, DBE was front and center during the drive in.  Rather than taking the approach hike from other's trip reports we opted for a shorter route from the Kane Lake trail head.

We arrived at the trail head a little before 9AM - it was 50 degrees and no smoke!  After 20 minutes of hiking in the trial we took a sharp left and headed up a steep scree filled couloir.
 

Scree filled couloir

The scree wasn't too bad as we headed up, but when we got close to the top and the route steepened we headed to the right and scrambled on some relatively solid rock.

Once on top we found out that we could either continue scrambling up the west ridge or drop down a few hundred feet and tackle the north face.  I wanted to continue with the ridge, but the boy talked me out of it.  So down we went...
 

We dropped down just to the right of the white slide area

It actually was a fun route.  Once we crossed the cirque we climbed straight up through a section of moss covered rocks before transitioning to steeper rock.

Heading up

What a blast!  Constant hands and feet gripping the rock interspersed with route finding decisions.  This was why people said this was one of Idaho's best climbs.  As we got closer to the summit the rock became steeper until we both popped up over the summit ridge.

Scrambling up the last 30 feet

With little smoke in the air the views weren't too bad.
 

Mystery Peak

Abel Peak

As we were eating lunch and snapping pictures a small band of clouds quickly formed.  You could see the rain falling from these clouds several miles away so we quickly packed up and took our last pictures.

Summit shot (with rain jackets!)

As we took our first steps across the summit ridge to head down an extremely loud thunder boomer let loose!  I have to use the adjective 'extremely' since we were standing on top of a mountain at 11,800 feet with nothing to protect.  That really got the adrenaline flowing! We quickly scampered down a hundred feet or so as another boomer went off.  We didn't see any lightning nor feel the electricity but the sound was enough. 

Dylan scampering for safety

As we descended another hundred feet the rain and hail started.  We hunkered down for 5 minutes or so as the clouds passed over us and the rain stopped.  After the rain we were treated to this spectacular rainbow stretching across the valley.

We slipped our way down the rocks until the sun dried everything out making the descent a bit easier.

Trip Stats:
Length - ~5 miles
Elevation - 4300 feet
Time to summit - 4 hours
Car to car time - 7 hours

Celebration of Life - Mount Rainier - July 24-25

Mount Rainier

Earlier in the year John Platt surprised me with an invitation to climb Mount Rainier this summer with his buddy Brian Mahon for their annual Celebration of Life event.  It took me a while to accept the invitation, mainly because of the mountain's magnitude and my perceived fitness level.  But, after a while, I gladly accepted.  John’s trip report as well as the meaning of the celebration of life can be obtained here: http://www.splattski.com/2012/celebration/index.html

Somehow I was able to convince John to add Dylan to the trip after I had convinced Dylan’s mother that he needed a break from working all summer at Camp Meriwether.

The plan was to hike up the Kautz glacier route which John and Brian had climbed last year.  John had told me all about the trip, commenting that it was mainly a snow climb and not too difficult.

In addition to John, Brian, Dylan and I, Tom Martin (an old friend of John’s) and John’s daughter Mariel were joining us.

The groups travel arrangements were varied: John and I drove over from Boise on Tuesday; Dylan took a bus from Tillamook; and Tom flew in from New Hampshire.  The four of us met before noon at the Portland airport.  John’s daughter Mariel, who was supposed to arrive at 5PM, was a little late after her plane from Boise was caught up with President Obama’s visit to Portland.  Eventually she landed and we made our way to Castle Rock, WA, to Brian’s house, for a quick dinner and some rest. 

After a short 2.5 hour drive from Brian’s house to Rainier’s main lodge at Paradise, we finished packing gear, purchased our climbers passes, and were off at about 7:30AM.  The initial view of the massive mountain was incredible!

J. Platt photo

We quickly hiked up Paradise’s trail system before separating from the heavily traveled Disappointment Clever route, at Glacier Viewpoint and dropped down to the Nisqually glacier.  Here we stopped to separate into two teams of three and roped up.

The teams roping up

From here we threaded our way around and over crevasses, never having to take more than a large step to “jump” over these large cracks.  It was a little spooky when you looked down inside the crevasses, since the bottom wasn’t visible.   It turns out the planned route wasn’t going to work due to lack of snow, so we improvised by climbing up onto the Wilson Glacier via a small rock filled chute.  With our hearts beating fast, we quickly moved through this chute with one eye watching for rock fall.

Once on the Wilson Glacier, we travelled almost straight up a section called the Turtle.  Having no idea on why it is called the Turtle, I can only speculate it is due to the pace we (or more appropriately, I) was moving up the mountain.

Once up the Turtle, we stopped for lunch and to gaze at the scene around us.  It was an amazing day with amazing views all around.  The pictures do not show the magnitude of the mountain.  In looking ahead, I could see the Kautz ice cliffs where we would be camping.  They looked very close, but it took us another 3 hours to reach them.

Brian, Tom, John and Mariel at lunch

Crevasses along the route

Almost to camp!

We eventually reached the camping area at 11,100 feet around 3PM and proceeded to slowly make camp.  It seemed like I was moving very slow.  I’d do one thing and have to sit down and rest – Dylan was the same.  Don’t know if it was the altitude, the earlier exertion or a combination of them both.  But it was slow going.

Dylan enjoying the view from camp

We eventually widened an area to hold two tents while John dug out some snow for another tent platform.  After filling water bottles and cooking and eating dinner I settled in before sunset to sleep.  Other than Tom and Brian chatting I didn’t hear anything till it was time to get up at 2:30AM.  Dylan and I both slept through the large crescendos that were created when the ice cliffs above us calved off the mountain!  That was a good thing.

2:30AM came pretty early, but we eventually woke up and started breakfast.  Some had coffee and oatmeal and others had granola.  After a this quick breakfast we were off in the dark for our summit bid.  The first obstacle we came to was a 30 foot rock-down climb to reach the Kautz Glacier. Dylan and I rappelled down using the fixed rope, while others down climbed while hanging on to the rope.  Once down we started zigzagging up the steep show chute until we reached an icy section. 

Smiles all around while waiting for their turn on the ice

At this point Brian free climbed up the icy pitch and, using an anchor left by a group of guided climbers, belayed the rest of us up.  It was a bit of a calf burner front pointing the crampons into the ice, but a lot of fun!

Dylan climbing the ice pitch

Once past the two pitches of ice, it was up, up, and more up.  After a short while the marine layer enveloped us and visibility was reduced to 100 feet or so.  I was at the end of one rope with John leading and Mariel in the middle and could occasionally catch glimpses of John as we progressed upward. 

Still sunny as we head up

Dodging crevasses in the fog

The weather teased us with occasional sunshine, but eventually even that petered out.  We progressed upward, weaving our way around crevasses that we could barely see.  After a short bit I looked up and noticed Dylan, Brian and Tom hugging each other and realized I had 50 feet to go to the summit.

Summit shot - myself, Dylan, Mariel, Tom, Brian, and John

It was great to be on top – it was cold, windy, and the visibility was maybe 50 feet!  We hunkered down behind a short ridge for a while before deciding we needed to head down before we became too cold.

I led our rope team down, following the team of Brian, Dylan, and Tom.  They quickly moved out of sight in the thick clouds as we progressed a little more cautiously (read-slower).  The plan was to follow our tracks down the mountain, but in the clouds and flat light the tracks were difficult to see.  After one tentative move, I found the main set of tracks and followed the other team around and through the crevasses in the fog.

We quickly moved down following our tracks and broke through the fog at the top of the ice chutes.  On the ascent we used the guided group’s anchors, but we had passed them on their way down earlier and they had pulled the anchors.  Brian created an ice axe anchor and used this to belay Tom and Dylan down to a rappel belay station below.  Here, these two set up an anchor around an ice bollard anchor, backed up by an ice screw (Sounds like I know what I’m talking about!)  You must be mountaineering anytime you can put ice bollard and ice screw in the same sentence!

Brian belaying Tom

Dylan rappelling

Now it's my turn

From here we had two ice pitches to rappel down and then a steep pitch where we front pointed facing the mountain before we had an easy walk back to the rock climb before camp.

Once back at camp, we took a bit of time to reload on food and water.  We then packed up and hit the trail down.  Dylan was roped up with Tom and Brian and these guys did a bit of “team” glissading (butt sliding), while John, Mariel and I decided to stick with staying on our feet.  Dylan told me afterward that team glissading is the only way to travel down!

Heading down

The route down was long and hot, with steep sections interspersed with crevasse jumping.  We had one particular stressful portion where we were traversing a steep section on the Wilson Glacier with a large rock band/crevasse directly below us.  Once past this section, it was a matter of putting the pedal to the metal and getting back to the car.  Seems like it took forever to get back to Paradise with the long day we had already experienced, but we eventually made it around 7:30PM.

Mount Rainier Stats

Distance: lots!

Time Car to Car: 18 hours

Elevation Gain: 9000 feet

Mountain Biking in the Sawtooth Valley

With nothing much going on last weekend, Tam and I decided to get out of town and "camp" in the Sawtooth Mountains.  We loaded the trailer and bikes, grabbed Shadow, and hit the road Friday evening. 

Saturday morning was gorgeous, in the low 60's with no wind.  After a leisurely breakfast we drove a couple of miles outside of Stanley to the Fisher Creek trail head.  The planned loop is described in several books as the Fisher - Williams Creek Loop.  It starts with a couple of miles of highway followed by several miles of gravel road.  The gravel road eventually gives way to a gated two track that winds its way up Fisher Creek.

Heading up from the Highway

This area had burned several years ago and the ride alternated between burned and non-burned areas.  The two track followed Fisher Creek up for a couple of miles and approximately 1500 feet elevation gain and eventually came to a pass.

All smiles as we are cruising

Beautiful trail

At the trail crest

Once we reached the trail crest the trail turned into a smooth single track that took us down.  There were a couple of slightly technical sections, but for the most part we could let off the brakes and enjoy the downhill.

Tam cruising through a burned section

A slightly technical section

An example of the single track

All good things must end and eventually the downhill single track took a turn back uphill for a second summit.  The climb was gradual and not too difficult.  After cresting this summit, we enjoyed another 3-4 miles of downhill single track.  But unlike the burned first section, this time it was all forested.  It wasn't long before the trail opened up into a beautiful meadow with multiple creek crossings.

Crossing one of the creeks in the meadow.

We had one more little climb to complete, out of the meadow, before we screamed down the last section of single track to Shadow waiting patiently at the truck.  Too bad the weather didn't cooperate with us on this day.

The view from the last single track section

This was an excellent introduction into real "mountain" biking.  We'll be back for some more this summer!