Lane Peak’s North Face with Lover’s Lane coming up from the bottom left

Lover's Lane on Lane Peak

April 28, 2019

With some colder weather, consolidated spring snow following a warm spell, and a short weather window, I talked Colin into heading down to Rainier and getting on one of the couloirs of Lane Peak. When we got to the Narada Falls parking lot on Sunday morning at about 9:15am, I scoped out the face with some binoculars and it seemed like Lover’s Lane would go.

We hiked up the steep face to the road, went around to the bend, descended through the trees, and were at the base of the North face in about 35 minutes. We put crampons on and racked up on the flat before heading up the slope towards our couloir.

The snow was nice and firm, but still gave a little for steps. Since Colin is getting used to more wintery routes, we decided to rope up and throw in some protection along the way. Where the couloir necked down, I found a cam on the left and proceeded to put in one piece every 20 meters or so in order to always have one thing on our doubled-in-half 60m twin rope. The conditions were so much fun that I let out some whoops and was having a grand time. At the high constriction, there was even enough ice to pop in a screw and we got full swings into the neve above for another 50 feet or so.

At the top of the couloir, I descended to the far side and put Colin on belay from the tree anchor. We did the double rope rap down into The Zipper and then soloed up to the top of it quickly, doing our best Ueli Steck impressions. From there, we curled around to the South side and followed the gully to the top, where we ate our lunch and watched the clouds roll in.

The descent went smoothly and we were back at the car about 4h 45m after we’d started. Really fun climb in great condition right now.

Worm Flows on Mount Saint Helens 2019

March 10, 2019

With a beautiful forecast and low avalanche danger despite some relatively new snow, Colin suggested a group of us head down to ski Saint Helens. We left Seattle around 5:30am, departing from the car a bit later than many other people at just shy of 10am but still well in the thick of the throngs of folks up there that day.

We made good time on the way up, reaching the crater rim in just over 3.5 hours. It was blustery and cold at the rim, so we didn’t stay long and opted to descend a bit to a sunny, calm bench where we ate lunch before skiing the rest of the way down and out to the car. It was a perfect time of year to do it, with continuous snow all the way from the parking lot, but a well-plowed access road and an easy skin track the whole way.

The Methow Monster

February 17, 2019

106km Nordic Skate Ski: Cub Creek TH - Rendezvous Pass - Mazama - Jack’s Loop - Mazama - MCT - Powers Plunge - Thompson Pass - Winthrop TH

Looking at the winter trail map for The Methow Valley, I couldn’t help but wonder if it would be possible to string all of the major systems together in a day. Over the years, I’d been on all of the trails independently, but putting it together would mean roughly doubling the longest ski I’d ever done in a day. Last winter’s ski from Cub Creek to Mazama and then to Winthrop at 65km was fun and not too painful, so extending the ski around Jack’s Loop before lunch and up to Thompson Pass after lunch seemed plausible.

I started at Cub Creek at 7:15am. The temperature was in the high teens starting the day and expected to get into the high twenties later on, so I split the difference with my wax. It didn’t feel super fast starting out with the snow creaking as I went, but I made it to Rendezvous Pass in about 1 hour and 8 minutes—about 10 minutes faster than last year. I was trying not to go too fast at the start, but was having too much fun and averaged 160bpm on the climb. I had first tracks of the day for much of the climb, which is always a great experience.

The descent into Rendezvous Basin was quick on freshly groomed trails until the grooming stopped near the bottom of the descent. Sick Joke Hill had been groomed the day before for the Tour of the Methow, but hadn’t been re-groomed, so it was skied out a bit and slick for keeping an edge. I was about 5 minutes faster than last year up the climb, with my heart back in the 160 range on average. Thankfully, the descent down Fawn Creek and Goat Creek was was quick and easy. I made it to the meadow just NE of the Mazama Store in 2 hours and 25 minutes and stopped for a quick snack and some water.

Base Camp, Upper River Run, and Jack’s Loop went pretty smoothly with a consistent, maintainable pace despite a noticeable headwind from the North on my way out. I was back in Mazama for lunch 4 hours after I’d started and just shy of 50km in at 11:15am. My legs felt a bit achy, but not terrible. Needless to say, I went to town at the Mazama Store for lunch, consuming a moderately obscene number of calories, refilling my water bottle and stocking up on Snickers.

An hour later, at about 12:15pm, I started down the MCT. While it had warmed up and was pretty sunny, the North wind kept the snow cool and pretty fast. I took it relatively easy, knowing how much was left, and kept my heart rate a bit lower while maintaining a little faster than 7-minute pace. I decided that Wolf Ridge warming hut would be a good place to take a break so that I’d warm back up before tackling the big climb at the end. Taking the boots off and drying my feet out a bit by the fire while refilling my water was awesome. I felt better at this point than I had just before lunch and was pretty sure I’d pull it off.

Climbing Powers Plunge and up past Patterson Lake to Chickadee Trailhead wasn’t as bad as I’d expected it to be—I made it in 41 minutes with an average heart rate of 148bpm. I rested up briefly in the Chickadee warming hut and then set off up Thompson Road. I decided to go up Meadowlark and down the road to give myself some plateaus on the climb and make the descent more straightforward. I kept feeling good all the way up to the pass, taking one short break part-way up the backside climb and making it from Chickadee in about 1 hour and 6 minutes, keeping the same heart rate average of 148.

From the top of the pass, it was in the bag! I zipped down the road, pulling my windbreaker back on along the way and retracing my steps to the top of Powers Plunge, then heading down the Lower Winthrop Trail. After crossing Twin Lakes Road, despite it being pretty flat, I hit a bit of a wall and stopped to eat my last granola bar and drink the last of my water. That was enough of a bump to get me out to the Winthrop trailhead at 5:30pm, just as the sky was turning pink and the moon was bright in the sky—a perfect way to finish it up. What a great adventure day!

UPDATE: See the extension to all the Rendezvous Huts I did in 2020 here.