Unicorn Peak (2012 Mazama Climb 192)

Last year, a group of us tried to climb Unicorn Peak, but because of snow conditions, we had to turn around at Snow Lake.  This year, we had much better climbing conditions, though weather was going to be the biggest obstacle to a successful summit.

Unicorn Peak is one of the numerous peaks on the Tatoosh Range, immediately south of Mt. Rainier in Mt. Rainier National Park.  From the road to Paradise Lodge, Unicorn Peak looks like, well, a unicorn.  It has this rock formation that sticks out just like a unicorn's horn.  The summit of Unicorn is 6,917 feet with approximately 2,400 feet of elevation gain from the Snow Lake trailhead.

This was the third attempt this year to get this climb underway.  Our leader, Mike Holman, originally had this climb scheduled for mid May but it was postponed due to snow conditions.  Our second opportunity was in early June, but we were thwarted by bad weather.  This was the third and final opportunity because of Mike's summer schedule.  He was going to make a go of this climb unless the weather was appalling.  The forecast was for 90% chance of showers.

Since I was driving to Olympia immediately after the climb, I drove on my own and arrived at Cougar Creek campground around 11pm.  I got up at 5 the next morning and met the rest of the group at the campground.  We drove up to the trailhead and met our final two climbers who had driven up that morning.  One of those climbers was our assistant leader, Tom, aka Opa Snake of Glacier Snake fame (see previous Glacier Snake climb posts).

We never did do formal interviews or a group meeting, we just got our gear together and started up the trail just before 7:30am.  Aside from a few melted out patches, most of the entire trail was covered in snow.  But, we knew the route to Snow Lake, about a mile from the trailhead.  Not more than 10 minutes after we started to climb, the rain came.  It was a light rain, but we were getting nervous because we knew we could not climb the summit pinnacle safely if the rock was wet.

Around 8:30, we arrived at Snow Lake where we took a break to eat and adjust gear.  Much to our surprise, the clouds started to lift, and there was blue sky visible behind Unicorn Peak.  It looked like the rain was not more than a passing shower.

Immediately after Snow Lake, the trail ascends the first of two chutes.  It was here where last year cornices on top of the chute made the climb to dangerous to continue.  This time there were no cornices present.  We had put on crampons at our Snow Lake break, so we were able to ascend the 500 foot chute easily as the snow was well packed.  Once on top of the chute, the trail levels out a little, though we were still ascending.  Right before the second chute, we took a food break.  Fog rolled in and then lifted, but the rains stayed away.  We continued zigzagging up the second chute which seemed steeper than the first, at least it appeared that way when looking down.  Soon, we came to a small ridge about 400 feet below the summit that indicated we were almost to the top.

We turned east and without too much heartache, we came to the base of the summit block.  We put on our harnesses and Mike and two others set up a fixed line to get to the summit and set up a rappel station as well.  The idea was we would climb up the fixed line, spend some time on the summit, then rappel off the other.  As it turned out, we had a strong enough group where we all moved up the 5.0 rated route quickly, enjoyed time on the summit, then rappelled back to the base of the block using both the fixed line and rappel lines simultaneously.  The views of the summit were satisfactory but the clouds did obscure our views of Mt. Rainier directly to the north.  Once on the base, we put our harnesses away and enjoyed "leader treats" of strawberry shortcakes made from strawberries I had picked the day before, and yes, I brought a can of whipped cream.

The descent back to Snow Lake was fast because we glissaded down both chutes.  The snow conditions combined with the slope made the glissades fast but were within safe operating limits.  In no time at all, we were back at the Snow Lake trailhead just after 3:30pm.  Not bad work for 8 hours of climbing.  Afterwards,we went to the Copper Creek Inn for food and drink before departing for home.

I loved the climb.  It was a lot of fun and not too difficult.  A real advantage of this climb and other climbs in the Tatoosh Range is that is so easy to get to.  From Portland, it is only a 2 1/2 hour drive to the entrance of Mt. Rainier National Park.  And the views from the Tatoosh are phenomenal   For more photos of my Unicorn Climb, go here:  Unicorn Peak Climb 06-24-12

Mt. Hood Climb (2012 Mazama Climb 67)

There are some challenging mountains that I've climbed that I've been able to summit on the first attempt (Mt. Rainier, Mt. Shuksan, Middle Sister), but others that I just can't seem to conquer.  Mt. Hood happens to be one of them.  This was the third attempt to summit Mt. Hood.  The first time we had to turn around at the top of the Palmer Glacier due to high winds, and second was cancelled in town because of inclement weather.  Surely, third time would be a charm.  The climb leader was Andrew Bodien.  I had climbed The Castle in the Mt. Rainier National Park in 2010 with him.  I've known Andrew for a while as he has been leading hikes, camping trips, and rock climbing adventures for the Adventurous Young Mazamas for a number of years.

This climb was originally scheduled for May 23rd but was cancelled due to weather.  Andrew rescheduled the climb for Tuesday May 29th, the day after Memorial Day.  I was a little nervous about the weather because over the Memorial Day weekend, there was plenty of rain in Portland and snow up on the mountain.  As the climb date got closer, the weather window looked like it would improve and we might actually be able to climb.  There was some wind expected but it would was forecast to decrease as the night wore on.

Our group of 11 met at the Timberline Lodge climber's register at 12:01am.  After getting our gear together and Andrew filling out the necessary permits, we had a brief meeting with introductions and a review of the game plan for the climb.  I noticed that the winds were strong at Timberline.  Andrew reminded us that the winds were forecast to decrease and he was encouraged because there was better visibility than he had anticipated.

Our group set off at 12:30am.  We hiked up the climber's trail past the Magic Mile ski lift, Silcox Hut, and the Palmer ski lift taking breaks along the way.  There was a quarter moon setting off to our west and the stars filled the nighttime sky.  However, the wind continued to blow strongly from the west.  At about the 7,500 foot level, three climbers decided to turn around. One climber was not feeling well and the other two climbers were uncomfortable with the winds.  With about 1,000 feet to go until the top of the Palmer Glacier, Andrew told the other 8 of us that we would reassess the situation at our Palmer Glacier rest break.  We were hoping the winds would decrease and sometimes, when the conditions are right, the winds will actually be less strong the higher in elevation we go.

We got to the top of the Palmer Glacier at 3:15am.  The winds continued to blow strongly, but we remained hopeful that the winds would die down.  We put on our crampons, ate some food and drank some water, adjusted our clothing, and continued up the Triangle Moraine.

The Triangle Moraine is a much steeper section and unfortunately, with the new snow over the weekend, there were no footsteps for us to follow, so we had to kick step our way up.  The higher we traveled, the slower the pace got.  I know I was starting to get tired from not having sufficient sleep the day before, but I kept chugging along.  A couple of other climbers seemed to be slowing down as well.  We took breaks as needed, but we never regained a pace necessary to complete the climb.

At 6:45am, we reached Hot Rocks at the elevation of 10,100 feet.  We had climbed over 4,100 feet and only had 1,100 feet to go.  Ahead of us was the Hogsback and the Old Chute.  We could see a couple of climbers ascending the Old Chute to complete the climb.  Due to snow and ice melt during daylight hours, it is very dangerous to be in the Old Chute or Hogsback after sunrise because of potential ice and rockfall.  Andrew said it would take us another two hours to summit because he would have to set pickets and we would have to get into rope teams.  Plus after the summit, we would still have to climb down the same chute.  After further discussion, it was decided to end the climb at Hot Rocks.  With a warm temperature day forecast, it was not worth the risk of injury to go for the summit.

We finished our break and then turned around to descend.  While glissading was discussed, the snow was too icy to do so safely, so with our crampons on, we descended down to the Palmer ski lift, took another break where we put away our crampons, and then continued our hike out to Timberline.  We arrived at the lodge a little after 10am.  After packing our gear in the cars, we went to the Huckleberry Inn in Government Camp and had breakfast.  Andrew recommended the huckleberry pancake short stack which didn't disappoint.  After breakfast, we said our goodbyes and then drove back to Portland arriving around 1pm.

It was unfortunate that we ran out of time on this climb.  The big problem was our pace slowed after reaching the top of the Palmer Glacier.  If we started an hour earlier, we may have made it to summit on time, but climbing is unpredictable too. There could be perfect conditions with really strong climbers and for whatever reason you still can't reach the top.  I know for me personally, I need to rethink how to climb Mt. Hood because I got so tired heading up the Triangle Moraine.  Maybe if I can find a way to sleep for a few hours at the trailhead or in Government Camp prior to the climb I will feel fresh and have sufficient energy to keep a good pace.

Though we didn't reach the top, I still had a great time and I will try Hood again next year.

For the complete photo album, go here:  Mt. Hood Climb 05-29-12

Mt. St. Helens (2012 Mazama Climb 123)

The second weekend of May is typically one of the busiest times to climb Mt. St. Helens because it is just before the 100 climber per day quota goes into effect on May 15th.  Prior to that day, there is no limit on how many climbers can ascend MSH.  The last two years, I had thoughts of climbing St. Helens on the Mother's Day weekend, but the weather was never cooperative.  This year, with the forecast to be sunny and the warmest weekend so far in 2012, and with no prior commitments, I asked for and was granted permission by my wonderful wife to climb.

I saw there were a number of openings for Mazama climbs over the weekend, but the only climb on Saturday was Greg Wilmarth's climb. If I want my marriage to last, I am certainly not going to climb on Mother's Day.  Though, the thought of climbing Mt. St. Helens on Mother's Day in a dress in honor of our mothers, as many people do, did go through my mind.

Greg wanted to get an early start because of an elevated avalanche danger.  He decided to meet at 5:00am at the Marble Mountain Trailhead and start the climb by 5:30.  While some members of the team camped out at the trailhead, since I live in Vancouver, I drove up the morning of the climb.  I arrived at the trailhead at 4:30, met the team at 5, and after introductions and a brief team meeting, we hit the trail at 5:29am.

The first thousand feet of the climb is basically a hike up cross country ski trails.  The snow was hard enough to where we did not need snowshoes and is not steep enough to need crampons.  We ascended the 1,000 feet in about an hour taking a few short breaks to delayer.  It was somewhere in the second hour of the climb that I realized that I had forgotten to put up my Northwest Forest Pass in my window.  Of course I was not going to turn around at that point, I just hoped that there would not be a parking ticket by the USFS awaiting my return.

It did not take long for us to get out of the trees and to see our first views of Mt. St. Helens basking in the morning light.  At around 4,000 feet, we came across a flat area where there were about 10 tents set up and numerous people, many of whom were already wearing their Mother's Day dresses , were getting ready for their climb.  We stopped there to put on our sunscreen, crampons, and to eat a snack.

We continued upwards and we could clearly see specks in the distance that were other climbers going up the mountain.  Because of all the people climbing and because we had a period of nice weather, we had plenty of footsteps to follow and very few new kick steps to create.

The weather warmed up pretty quickly, but we kept pushing upwards.  The snow was softening up which made crampon travel a little harder, but we continued to make good time despite our pace slowing down.  Unlike Mt. Adams where there is one "false summit" to attack, Mt. St. Helens seemed to have multiple false summits.  We would ascend a section thinking that this was it, only to see another section slightly steeper than the last, and this happened over and over until we finally got to 8,200 feet where we saw our last push off to our northeast.  Though we were all getting tired, we slogged through the last hill and reached the summit at 11:45am - 6 hours and 15 minutes after we started.

We took a break at the summit.  A forest ranger who we had seen on our last push to the top warned us all of the dangers of the cornices and told us not to get to close to the crater rim.  Of course we listened to her advice and stayed away from the edge even though it prevented us from having a clear view of the crater itself.  But, we did have great views of Mt. Rainier to the north, Mt. Adams to the southeast, Mt. Hood to the south, and Mt. Jefferson way off in the distance behind Hood.  After taking our summit photos and eating our lunch, we put away our crampons and put on our nylon pants and garbage bags for our glissade down.

Despite the softening snow, we still had great glissading conditions.  Previous climbers had already created solid glissade paths so we just followed those all the way down to tree line.  When all was said and done, we had glissaded down about 4,000 feet.  It is remarkable how it takes hours of climbing to gain the elevation only to lose it in a few short minutes.  We got of our glissade gear and since the snow was so soft, we put on the snowshoes to finish our hike out to the trailhead.  We arrived back at the cars slightly after 4:00pm and I did the "happy dance" when I saw that there was no parking ticket on my windshield.

It was a great climb overall.  The most challenging part of this climb is the amount of elevation gained.  It is 5,500 feet from the Marble Mountain Trailhead (winter route) to the summit.  But it is a good conditioning climb.  I'd highly recommend climbing during the "winter conditions" because of opportunity to glissade at the end.  And, regardless of your gender, don't forget to wear your dress if you climb on Mother's Day in honor of your mothers, the mother of your children, and those who have been like a mother to you.

All of my Mt. St. Helen's photos can be seen here:
Mt St Helens Climb Photos