Every Christmas I make a calendar for my friends and family. This year the theme of the calendar is "Aerial North Cascades," containing 13 carefully selected high-quality aerial images of Washington's rugged and beautiful glaciated North Cascades. Each month is represented by an aerial photo taken during that month. Here is a 
(SHORT REPORTS)
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Climbing with Parents
OVERHANGING Tower, Cirque of the Towers, Wyoming Trip Report #: 1 |
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Route: NE Ridge (4th to 5.2) Date: late July, 1994 Climbed by: Marty, Sue, Steph, Matt Teevan Summit elevation: 12,164 ft Brief trip report: Until we moved to British Columbia in 1995, my family was living in the Midwest. Every summer we came out west to enjoy the mountains my parents had backpacked and climbed in during their early married life. In 1994, my parents, my sister and I (9 and 11 years old), and two friends piled into our van and drove out to Wyoming, where we backpacked in the Wind Rivers for 2 weeks. This trip brought us through the amazing Cirque of the Towers area. My parents – fondly remembering the climbing days of their past - decided it would be fun to climb one of the moderate routes in the Cirque, and invited me to come along. They chose Overhanging Tower, a low class 5 peak in the heart of the Cirque peaks. This was my first alpine climb (my dad even let me lead a 15-ft pitch), and I loved it. I didn’t get the chance to climb again for several years, but this early climb set the stage for a future of mountain adventuring! Future trip reports for the Cirque of the Towers:
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SPIRE Point, North Cascades, Washington Trip Report #: 3 |
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Route: East Face from Spire Col (class 4, low class 5) Date: August 2, 2003 Climbed by: Marty, Steph, Jenny Summit elevation: 8,264 ft Brief trip report: My family (dad, mom, sister, and I) backpacked the Ptarmigan Traverse from July 29 to Aug 3, 2003 (this is one of my favorite backpacks I have done, click link for a few photos). On Day 5 of the traverse, we traversed Dana Glacier to Spire Col. My dad, sister, and I decided to scramble up Spire Point rising up to the west of the col. This was a fun Class 4/low Class 5 climb. It was the first climb that my dad, sister, and I had done together, and my third technical rock climb ever (my first was Overhanging Tower in the Wind Rivers of Wyoming in the Summer of 1994, when I was 11 years old, and my second was in the Sawtooths in Idaho in 1998, although I can’t seem to find any photos from that climb). The climb up Spire Point was blocky and took a couple of hours to get to the summit. |
Mount BAKER, North Cascades, Washington Trip Report #: 4 |
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Route: Coleman-Deming Glacier Date: June 14-15, 2004 Climbed by: Marty, Sue, Steph, Jenny Summit elevation: 10,781 ft Brief trip report: This was a fun family adventure, climbed by my dad, mom, sister, and myself. In the late-spring conditions, the route was straightforward, especially under the sunny skies we were fortunate to have. It was mainly a long snow-slog. The 360° view from the top of the snow-capped North Cascades was well worth the climb. Future trip reports for Mount Baker:
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WHATCOM Peak, North Cascades, Washington Trip Report #: 10
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Route: south side Date: July 24, 2005 Climbed by: Steph Summit elevation: 7,574 ft Brief trip report: My mom and I did a backpack trip up Easy Ridge, with tentative plans to climb Mt. Challenger. I had been high on the Challenger Glacier with my dad in July 2002, but we had not had time to climb the final rock pitch to the top. From any direction, the approach into Challenger is quite difficult. The Easy Ridge approach was no exception. The ridge itself was easy, but navigating our way over to Perfect Pass (the saddle between Whatcom Peak and Mt. Challenger from where you can get onto the Challenger Glacier) was not fun. There is a deep gully (called the "Perfect Impass") that is apparently possible to cross with some fixed protection and confident climbing skills, but my mom did not feel comfortable doing this, so we made a 1000+ ft descent to bypass the gully, and then did some horrendous bushwhacking to get up to Perfect Pass. By the time we got to the pass, it was too late to climb Challenger, so we relaxed in the meadows enjoying the view onto the vast Challenger Glacier. While my mom was napping, I decided to run up Whatcom Peak to the north of the pass. It was mainly a snow climb with a bit of rock scrambling at the top. It took 45 minutes to reach the summit from the pass. In July 2007, I successfully climbed Mt. Challenger. Future trip reports for Whatcom Peak:
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PRUSIK Peak, Enchantments, Washington Trip Report #: 11 |
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Route: West ridge (5.7, 6-7 pitches) Date: August 4, 2005 Climbed by: Marty, Sue, Steph, Jenny Summit elevation: 8,000 ft Brief trip report: This was another family adventure. My dad, mom, sister, and I did a 6 day backpack trip through the Enchantments, with one of our goals to climb Prusik Peak. We had only one rack of climbing gear, so I led the route, with my sister following behind me and unclipping from the gear, and my dad leading behind her, clipping his rope back into the gear. I think this is the only technical climb my whole family has done together, and we had quite the adventure: my mom climbed it in her running shoes, my dad got his wedding ring stuck in a crack and broke his finger getting it out, my sister sobbed in (but made it up!) the chimney variation I accidentally chose at the top, and I had the opportunity to prusik on Prusik when we got our rope stuck on the descent. But all in all, the route was fun and moderate, with solid granite and great views. We descended by rappelling down the north face with a single rope. We camped at Gnome Tarn with a great view of the steeper south face of Prusik. I vowed to return to climb this face, and in July 2006 I found a willing partner for the Burgner-Stanley route on the south face of Prusik. Click the link for a trip report and photos. Future trip reports for Prusik Peak:
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