- north cascades 19
- volcano 16
- sierra 13
- rainier 6
- methow mountains 3
- glacier peak wilderness 3
- adams 3
- I-90 3
- tetons 2
- wasatch 1
- urban 1
- stuart range 1
- mountain loop 1
- chiwaukums 1
- alpine lakes wilderness 1
favorite
A scenic loop to see soak in the fall colors and perhaps the impetus/rebirth of this very website!
Finally climbed the Grand Teton, which I felt was a bit overdue. Did the most I could in the Tetons without a partner, but was still able to romp around the range to see what’s out there when I come back with better objectives.
An unexpectedly smoky day, but probably the best of the so called Great Fourtneer Traverses in Colorado.
The Ouray 100 ultramarathon probably ranks as one of the hardest races in the country, clocking in at over 100 miles, ~42000 feet of vertical gain, at an average elevation of 10200 feet.
I’ve always wanted to do this ever since I saw the Mediocre Amateur video in what felt like another lifetime before the pandemic. I took the ridge direct, making it an extra long scramble 😋.
NFNWR is short for the north face of the northwest ridge on Mount Adams - what a mouthful to say.
During the time I’ve been skiing in Washington, there’s been some opinions that this line might be less and less skiable as climate change impacts the mountain.
With a fat high elevation snowpack and after seeing that some friends skied this line, I knew it was time to pounce.
I’ve done Ruth Mountain previously in the summer and I thought it had some of the best views in the North Cascades for the relatively easy level of effort. I couldn’t say no to the same views with even more snow, tagging Icy Peak this time around, and skiing back down the enticing slopes of Ruth.
A Fifty Classic Ski Descent of North America that I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. This one was especially special since Chris and I crossed paths interning at some random company back in my hometown on the east coast many lifetimes ago.
The Ptarmigan Traverse is an ultra-classic mountaineering route that cuts through the heart of the Northern Cascades. Four days of miles and miles of glacier travel, rugged terrain, and never-ending views.
Ruth Mountain may have the best scenery-to-effort ratio in the North Cascades. A smooth gravel road to Hannegan Pass Trailhead, followed by a nicely maintained trail, easy snow travel, and no crevasse shenanigans (season dependent obviously) - highly recommend as a type 1 kind of day.
I usually forget a lot of my urban runs but this was a good one. I often think about what my life would look like if I lived in SF/Bay Area, and maybe I’d come here quite a bit if I did.
Mount Rainier is just an absolute unit looming over the Seattle skyline from afar - a 14411’ ruler from sea level if you were curious what that might look like. I’ve always dreamed of what getting to the roof of Washington would be like after first seeing it.
Eldorado Peak is one of the “Fifty Classic Ski Descents of North America” that shouldn’t be. The quality of skiing itself was mediocre but the views more than made up for it. We were debating turning around with the grim visibility on the way up, but we pressed on and were instead rewarded with brief yet stunning views near the summit.
In retrospect this was probably a lot for me to handle at the time, but I’m super thankful for the receptive partners and the proper conditions for skiing a line this burly with no drama (although I was pretty tired). Would love to pay something like this forward one day.
thoughts
A scenic loop to see soak in the fall colors and perhaps the impetus/rebirth of this very website!
Knocking out the fourth and last of the so called Great Fourtneer Traverses, and my last outing in Colorado this year.
I’ve always wondered what kind of outing I’d be capable of off the couch, and on this day I really paid for it trying to attempt two classic steep ski lines on Mount Baker.
A lot of sentimental value coming back here as the Wasatch were my first “real” mountains I saw up close, and where I learned to really ski, which is probably responsible for this whole phase of my life. I wanted to write an entry for each outing I did in Utah but frankly I didn’t have that many pictures that I felt were all that scenic, so combining all of the pictures into one post with a bit of thoughts at the end.
multi-day
The Ouray 100 ultramarathon probably ranks as one of the hardest races in the country, clocking in at over 100 miles, ~42000 feet of vertical gain, at an average elevation of 10200 feet.
The Ptarmigan Traverse is an ultra-classic mountaineering route that cuts through the heart of the Northern Cascades. Four days of miles and miles of glacier travel, rugged terrain, and never-ending views.
A glorified backpacking trip to round out skiing the Washington volcanos. The ski descent was pretty mediocre, but it was otherwise cool to check out the changing season on Washington’s most remote volcano.
on-foot
The Sawtooth Slam is a great way to knock out five easy mountains from the Bulger List (a rough list of the state’s 100 tallest mountains). The larches were a little past prime, but collectively they gave off a darker yellow hue that was noticeably different from the weekend prior. Pretty cool to see the full lifecycle of these larches this season!
The previous day zapped more energy than expected, so I went for one of the more straightforward peaks in the area.
First time for me checking out the Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness area and really seeing the dense larch groves less prevalent in the rest of the Cascades.
Finally knocking this one out in between an iffy forecast window!
A scenic loop to see soak in the fall colors and perhaps the impetus/rebirth of this very website!
A nice loop to tag two peaks while enjoying some fall colors.
A nice warmup before venturing deeper into the great Glacier Peak Wilderness. I used to think the Entiats were a little lame and colorless, but revisiting the area was much cooler now that I could identify many more peaks of the GPW/North Cascades and able to remember fondly some of the prior experiences I’ve had on those peaks.
Been saving this one for those weird forecast days. I don’t think I give the Alpine Lakes Wilderness enough love. Definitely hoping to have more Plan A days here instead of relegating this area as a backup to “cooler” plans. A bit more crowded, and the peaks are a bit smaller, but I overlook how comparably rugged it is to the North Cascades.
A throwback and “free-solo” of my first alpine climb.
Gotta tag the state high point while I’m here right? If I ever want a taste of Colorado’s Sangre de Cristo range around the PNW, the Lost River Range is not terribly far. The peaks are bigger too!
Hesitating on the original plan to get up Mount Owen with the goal of scoping out the northern leg of the Grand Traverse. Went for an attempt the previous day and got poured on not even before leaving treeline - definitely not trying to take any chances with the conditions since the critical downclimbs are shaded. This morning I got discouraged by the flashes of lightning so I slept in, which ultimately prevented me from getting to Owen.
Finally climbed the Grand Teton, which I felt was a bit overdue. Did the most I could in the Tetons without a partner, but was still able to romp around the range to see what’s out there when I come back with better objectives.
Knocking out the fourth and last of the so called Great Fourtneer Traverses, and my last outing in Colorado this year.
Pretty unremarkable summit of Pikes Peak, although I think this 14er is over-hated. I thought it was quite a nice walk (despite the cars).
An unexpectedly smoky day, but probably the best of the so called Great Fourtneer Traverses in Colorado.
The Ouray 100 ultramarathon probably ranks as one of the hardest races in the country, clocking in at over 100 miles, ~42000 feet of vertical gain, at an average elevation of 10200 feet.
What a fun name for a mountain! Mount Sneffels stands tall among its neighbors and it really does catch your eye driving south towards Ridgway. This is the outing where I really learn Colorado is a pay to win state and I won’t apologize for saying that 😤. Beeeautiful views though.
Checking out what I think is the more boring part of the San Juans, only because it’s so isolated from all of the other interesting peaks to the east. My second so called Great Fourtneer Traverses in Colorado.
I’ve always wanted to do this ever since I saw the Mediocre Amateur video in what felt like another lifetime before the pandemic. I took the ridge direct, making it an extra long scramble 😋.
A fun scramble variation on what would normally be a slog of a route. My first taste of bomber Crestone Conglomerate rock!
The tackling the first of the so called Great Fourtneer Traverses in Colorado.
If we thought going up three separate Sawatch peaks by themselves was monotonous, how about doing three in one day 😂.
Yep this is already getting old lol. The third peak with similar mileage, views, and terrain profile, all while taking the same amount of time to summit. Although I will say that this probably had the best views of the Sawatch Peaks we’ve done, probably because there is greenery & vegetation as I’m learning.
Tackling another mediocre peak in the Sawatch Range.
Unacclimatized, sleep-deprived, and not even 2 hours after arriving to Frisco did we decide to go up Colorado’s highest peak, Mount Elbert.
The P3 Mount Defiance loop makes a rectangular shape on Strava I’ve come to recognize from everyone doing it over the years. A perfect low-stakes day for me and Haram as he prepares and crams some last minute vert for his upcoming race.
A nice group run to see some larches in the Chiwaukum Range. I should come here more often.
A failed attempt to get up Gothic and Del Campo peaks due to time but a great outing to decompress after work.
My friend Haram ran the Teanaway 100, a pretty hard 100 mile ultramarathon here in Washington with around 30000 feet of gain, and did it with almost no training (no exaggeration). And he managed to place 7th out of 23 at 32.5 hours, so a pretty decent performance. His previous biggest day was running the Enchantments, a mere 18 miles with 5000 vert - pretty bonkers accomplishment if you work out the ratio of performance to time spent/effort invested.
Up Sahale via the Quien Sabe Glacier route. Waffled a bit due to the forecast but glad I made it out (although I regrettably stubbed my toe on a rock and broke it).
This traverse covers the ridge of peaks directly south of Rainier from Stevens to Eagle Peak. I don’t think I’d recommend this one lol, mainly because it was a lot of work for views that didn’t change all that much (although it was cool to see the angle of Rainier change a little bit going west to east).
I was originally going to note how unremarkable Sourdough Mountain is except for the fact that it casually rises almost 5000 feet from Diablo Lake below. I guess I do take some of the easy peaks for granted sometimes - but I still think the views from the road are unimpressive compared to other national parks.
My first foray into the elusive Picket Range and perhaps one of the few peaks day-trippable in the area for my humble aerobic ambitions.
Tried to milk out the last of a weekend in the North Cascades after an exhausting day yesterday. A top 5 “gotta bring my mom” type hike for sure though - probably the best view of the southern pickets.
A fun scramble route on one of Washington’s most iconic mountains. Although I think of Mount Shuksan as more of a skier’s mountain, I’ll happily settle for scrambling on it when it’s bone dry.
Awesome ridge linkup starting at Excelsior Peak and ending with a fun scramble on Tomyhoi.
Sometimes I feel like the Twin Sisters Range next to Mount Baker is often forgotten about. The red tape with the logging company land ownership adds a bit to the weirdness and mystery. Armed with mountain bikes, this turned into a great multi-sport adventure traversing from South Twin to North Twin.
The Ptarmigan Traverse is an ultra-classic mountaineering route that cuts through the heart of the Northern Cascades. Four days of miles and miles of glacier travel, rugged terrain, and never-ending views.
Ruth Mountain may have the best scenery-to-effort ratio in the North Cascades. A smooth gravel road to Hannegan Pass Trailhead, followed by a nicely maintained trail, easy snow travel, and no crevasse shenanigans (season dependent obviously) - highly recommend as a type 1 kind of day.
Mailbox is an unremarkable peak for someone who’s gotten used to the scenery around North Bend and the I-90 corridor (and also done it many times), but it was a great day for friends visiting from out east. Ended up being a memorable one because it was one of those “above the clouds” type of days!
I usually forget a lot of my urban runs but this was a good one. I often think about what my life would look like if I lived in SF/Bay Area, and maybe I’d come here quite a bit if I did.
A recovery day on the way to San Francisco. Absolutely bonkers seeing the amount of flooding in the park and pouring water in the falls. A lot of old-timers seemed to agree that this year was exceptional with the amount of snowfall that landed in the Sierra. Apologies for the repeat photos, still in awe at the novelty of it all.
A break from skiing to check out a local hot spring.
A nice day for peakbagging in between bouldering days.
skiing
NFNWR is short for the north face of the northwest ridge on Mount Adams - what a mouthful to say.
During the time I’ve been skiing in Washington, there’s been some opinions that this line might be less and less skiable as climate change impacts the mountain.
With a fat high elevation snowpack and after seeing that some friends skied this line, I knew it was time to pounce.
I’ve done Ruth Mountain previously in the summer and I thought it had some of the best views in the North Cascades for the relatively easy level of effort. I couldn’t say no to the same views with even more snow, tagging Icy Peak this time around, and skiing back down the enticing slopes of Ruth.
As straightforward of an up and down on Mount Baker as you can get. Great to revisit this route, but man is it kind of a boring slog in the sense that the views don’t change that much. The conditions this weekend were a little uncertain to go for anything bigger and I certainly needed the confidence booster after last week’s debacle.
I’ve always wondered what kind of outing I’d be capable of off the couch, and on this day I really paid for it trying to attempt two classic steep ski lines on Mount Baker.
The coastal mountains of British Columbia are a magical place. I was a little worried coming into this with the historically bad lower-elevation snowpack, but it ended up not detracting from the experience whatsoever. Indeed, the conditions at the bottom of the Whistler resort were a little dire, but it was sooo white once you got up in the mountains proper.
A Fifty Classic Ski Descent of North America that I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. This one was especially special since Chris and I crossed paths interning at some random company back in my hometown on the east coast many lifetimes ago.
A warmup and scope out of the snow conditions around the Mount Baker Ski Area. Chris is so speedy!
Can’t remember why I came up here since Camp Muir is a relatively uninteresting objective, but still good to check out the area.
A lot of sentimental value coming back here as the Wasatch were my first “real” mountains I saw up close, and where I learned to really ski, which is probably responsible for this whole phase of my life. I wanted to write an entry for each outing I did in Utah but frankly I didn’t have that many pictures that I felt were all that scenic, so combining all of the pictures into one post with a bit of thoughts at the end.
To add to the confusion, there is also a White Salmon Glacier on a prominent Washington mountain (Shuksan being the other). I thought this terrain feature looked sooo cool on CalTopo but was unfortunately a bit more disappointing than expected.
Feeling strong enough this season to try for a double lap on Mount Adams.
A solo repeat of the exact same outing from last year, except I actually got the pictures I wanted!
My third summit of hood and my second time skiing off the true summit. I think I’m done with this route for good haha.
A double volcano day hanging around Bend, OR.
Back on Shasta, but the funky weather continues.
Dealing with a bit of funky weather on the long drive back home to WA.
Yep another obligatory tick of a classic ski line and the highest point of the contiguous U.S. I just wish I had oneee more day to do Mount Langley’s Northeast Couloir (didn’t have a truck) but not a bad way to wrap up skiing in the Sierra :)
I watched this video a while ago and I thought this line was one of the coolest in the Sierra. Did not meet expectations with the lower angle terrain and suboptimal ski conditions, but still great to check out the Dana Plateau regardless. Definitely need to come back to Tioga Pass a bit more next time.
I’m definitely a sucker for road lines and this one in particular catches your eye pretty easily when driving across the Eastern Sierra.
An easy last trip with the full crew to check out the June Lakes area.
This day had a bit more bs than anticipated but what a great line - definitely need to come back to this area to ski the other lines in the Twin Lakes area.
Mount Tom is one of the prominent mountains you see on the drive from Mammoth just before you turn the corner to Bishop. Most people opt to ski one of the east facing lines towards the valley, but a couple of us thought that the west facing stuff might be continuous with this kind of snow year.
Combining some of the miscellaneous days we had in Mammoth, where we stayed during this trip, into one post. We spent a couple days lapping the ridge to Sherwin Peak on the off days, as well as the prominent rock chute pictured below, but I was mostly awestruck by the amount of snow that fell on this mountain range over the winter, even if it was just the residual leftovers hanging on.
We’ve previously been mucking around the foothills in this range but now finally diving into the heart of the High Sierra.
Still in the foothills of these giant peaks, but peeking a little into the High Sierra near one of my favorite summer spots.
Acclimitizing to the elevation and checking out the foothills of the Eastern Sierra. Maybe some of the best top to bottom corn I’ve ever skied!
The start of our Sierra ski trip. We might have arrived at an awkward time...
A glorified backpacking trip to round out skiing the Washington volcanos. The ski descent was pretty mediocre, but it was otherwise cool to check out the changing season on Washington’s most remote volcano.
Just soaking in the views of the crevasses up close on this one. I hung back with one of a friend who was having a problem with the altitude and encouraged the other two to summit without else since I had already been up earlier this year. A bit disappointing, but this outing confirmed my ability to make turn around in practice, and was otherwise happy to explore this side of the mountain regardless of the outcome.
Little Tahoma is a satellite peak of Rainier, the pointy thing next to the main summit. I think it looks like a castle made of mahogany. Little T is actually the remnants of what used to be an even bigger volcano; it’s hard to imagine another a couple thousand feet on top of what Rainier is currently.
Mount Rainier is just an absolute unit looming over the Seattle skyline from afar - a 14411’ ruler from sea level if you were curious what that might look like. I’ve always dreamed of what getting to the roof of Washington would be like after first seeing it.
Eldorado Peak is one of the “Fifty Classic Ski Descents of North America” that shouldn’t be. The quality of skiing itself was mediocre but the views more than made up for it. We were debating turning around with the grim visibility on the way up, but we pressed on and were instead rewarded with brief yet stunning views near the summit.
There is nothing notable about Ruby Mountain in the North Cascades, but its view of Ross Lake and the surrounding peaks is pretty cool. We missed the powder window in favor of mashed potatoes so I definitely need to come back early on a cold bluebird day!
In retrospect this was probably a lot for me to handle at the time, but I’m super thankful for the receptive partners and the proper conditions for skiing a line this burly with no drama (although I was pretty tired). Would love to pay something like this forward one day.
scramble
A throwback and “free-solo” of my first alpine climb.
Hesitating on the original plan to get up Mount Owen with the goal of scoping out the northern leg of the Grand Traverse. Went for an attempt the previous day and got poured on not even before leaving treeline - definitely not trying to take any chances with the conditions since the critical downclimbs are shaded. This morning I got discouraged by the flashes of lightning so I slept in, which ultimately prevented me from getting to Owen.
Finally climbed the Grand Teton, which I felt was a bit overdue. Did the most I could in the Tetons without a partner, but was still able to romp around the range to see what’s out there when I come back with better objectives.
Knocking out the fourth and last of the so called Great Fourtneer Traverses, and my last outing in Colorado this year.
An unexpectedly smoky day, but probably the best of the so called Great Fourtneer Traverses in Colorado.
Checking out what I think is the more boring part of the San Juans, only because it’s so isolated from all of the other interesting peaks to the east. My second so called Great Fourtneer Traverses in Colorado.
I’ve always wanted to do this ever since I saw the Mediocre Amateur video in what felt like another lifetime before the pandemic. I took the ridge direct, making it an extra long scramble 😋.
A fun scramble variation on what would normally be a slog of a route. My first taste of bomber Crestone Conglomerate rock!
The tackling the first of the so called Great Fourtneer Traverses in Colorado.
A fun scramble route on one of Washington’s most iconic mountains. Although I think of Mount Shuksan as more of a skier’s mountain, I’ll happily settle for scrambling on it when it’s bone dry.
Sometimes I feel like the Twin Sisters Range next to Mount Baker is often forgotten about. The red tape with the logging company land ownership adds a bit to the weirdness and mystery. Armed with mountain bikes, this turned into a great multi-sport adventure traversing from South Twin to North Twin.
misc
I would love to be able to do this one again differently, but given that I found out than an aurora was happening the day of, I can’t be too bummed about it. Grateful to have even gotten to see such a rare phenomenon here in Washington at all.
Bit of a different one. One of my big life regrets in life is not seeing the total solar eclipse in August 2017. In hindsight, I realistically could have made it to Santee, South Carolina as a reasonable day/overnight trip from the D.C. metro area. It’s entertaining thinking where else I could have been, and it’s been fun to hear from friends where they were when they saw it (map of trajectory).
It must’ve been a true spectacle to be on Mount Jefferson in Oregon, most of the southern Idaho ranges, and the Tetons or Winds in Wyoming. I think mathematically it’s going to be a looong time before the solar eclipse passes over that part of the American West again.
I can’t be too hard on myself, since I was only two weeks into a new job and really didn’t know anything about it at all until we were handed the solar eclipse glasses the day of. In Virginia, we had an 81% obscuration, so I still did take part in a bit of the experience as well as seeing the resultant pinhole effect. But finding out later what I missed, I had to see the real thing.
WA
The Sawtooth Slam is a great way to knock out five easy mountains from the Bulger List (a rough list of the state’s 100 tallest mountains). The larches were a little past prime, but collectively they gave off a darker yellow hue that was noticeably different from the weekend prior. Pretty cool to see the full lifecycle of these larches this season!
The previous day zapped more energy than expected, so I went for one of the more straightforward peaks in the area.
First time for me checking out the Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness area and really seeing the dense larch groves less prevalent in the rest of the Cascades.
Finally knocking this one out in between an iffy forecast window!
A scenic loop to see soak in the fall colors and perhaps the impetus/rebirth of this very website!
A nice loop to tag two peaks while enjoying some fall colors.
A nice warmup before venturing deeper into the great Glacier Peak Wilderness. I used to think the Entiats were a little lame and colorless, but revisiting the area was much cooler now that I could identify many more peaks of the GPW/North Cascades and able to remember fondly some of the prior experiences I’ve had on those peaks.
Been saving this one for those weird forecast days. I don’t think I give the Alpine Lakes Wilderness enough love. Definitely hoping to have more Plan A days here instead of relegating this area as a backup to “cooler” plans. A bit more crowded, and the peaks are a bit smaller, but I overlook how comparably rugged it is to the North Cascades.
A throwback and “free-solo” of my first alpine climb.
NFNWR is short for the north face of the northwest ridge on Mount Adams - what a mouthful to say.
During the time I’ve been skiing in Washington, there’s been some opinions that this line might be less and less skiable as climate change impacts the mountain.
With a fat high elevation snowpack and after seeing that some friends skied this line, I knew it was time to pounce.
The P3 Mount Defiance loop makes a rectangular shape on Strava I’ve come to recognize from everyone doing it over the years. A perfect low-stakes day for me and Haram as he prepares and crams some last minute vert for his upcoming race.
I’ve done Ruth Mountain previously in the summer and I thought it had some of the best views in the North Cascades for the relatively easy level of effort. I couldn’t say no to the same views with even more snow, tagging Icy Peak this time around, and skiing back down the enticing slopes of Ruth.
As straightforward of an up and down on Mount Baker as you can get. Great to revisit this route, but man is it kind of a boring slog in the sense that the views don’t change that much. The conditions this weekend were a little uncertain to go for anything bigger and I certainly needed the confidence booster after last week’s debacle.
I’ve always wondered what kind of outing I’d be capable of off the couch, and on this day I really paid for it trying to attempt two classic steep ski lines on Mount Baker.
I would love to be able to do this one again differently, but given that I found out than an aurora was happening the day of, I can’t be too bummed about it. Grateful to have even gotten to see such a rare phenomenon here in Washington at all.
A Fifty Classic Ski Descent of North America that I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. This one was especially special since Chris and I crossed paths interning at some random company back in my hometown on the east coast many lifetimes ago.
A warmup and scope out of the snow conditions around the Mount Baker Ski Area. Chris is so speedy!
Can’t remember why I came up here since Camp Muir is a relatively uninteresting objective, but still good to check out the area.
A nice group run to see some larches in the Chiwaukum Range. I should come here more often.
A failed attempt to get up Gothic and Del Campo peaks due to time but a great outing to decompress after work.
My friend Haram ran the Teanaway 100, a pretty hard 100 mile ultramarathon here in Washington with around 30000 feet of gain, and did it with almost no training (no exaggeration). And he managed to place 7th out of 23 at 32.5 hours, so a pretty decent performance. His previous biggest day was running the Enchantments, a mere 18 miles with 5000 vert - pretty bonkers accomplishment if you work out the ratio of performance to time spent/effort invested.
Up Sahale via the Quien Sabe Glacier route. Waffled a bit due to the forecast but glad I made it out (although I regrettably stubbed my toe on a rock and broke it).
This traverse covers the ridge of peaks directly south of Rainier from Stevens to Eagle Peak. I don’t think I’d recommend this one lol, mainly because it was a lot of work for views that didn’t change all that much (although it was cool to see the angle of Rainier change a little bit going west to east).
I was originally going to note how unremarkable Sourdough Mountain is except for the fact that it casually rises almost 5000 feet from Diablo Lake below. I guess I do take some of the easy peaks for granted sometimes - but I still think the views from the road are unimpressive compared to other national parks.
My first foray into the elusive Picket Range and perhaps one of the few peaks day-trippable in the area for my humble aerobic ambitions.
Tried to milk out the last of a weekend in the North Cascades after an exhausting day yesterday. A top 5 “gotta bring my mom” type hike for sure though - probably the best view of the southern pickets.
A fun scramble route on one of Washington’s most iconic mountains. Although I think of Mount Shuksan as more of a skier’s mountain, I’ll happily settle for scrambling on it when it’s bone dry.
Awesome ridge linkup starting at Excelsior Peak and ending with a fun scramble on Tomyhoi.
Sometimes I feel like the Twin Sisters Range next to Mount Baker is often forgotten about. The red tape with the logging company land ownership adds a bit to the weirdness and mystery. Armed with mountain bikes, this turned into a great multi-sport adventure traversing from South Twin to North Twin.
The Ptarmigan Traverse is an ultra-classic mountaineering route that cuts through the heart of the Northern Cascades. Four days of miles and miles of glacier travel, rugged terrain, and never-ending views.
Ruth Mountain may have the best scenery-to-effort ratio in the North Cascades. A smooth gravel road to Hannegan Pass Trailhead, followed by a nicely maintained trail, easy snow travel, and no crevasse shenanigans (season dependent obviously) - highly recommend as a type 1 kind of day.
Mailbox is an unremarkable peak for someone who’s gotten used to the scenery around North Bend and the I-90 corridor (and also done it many times), but it was a great day for friends visiting from out east. Ended up being a memorable one because it was one of those “above the clouds” type of days!
To add to the confusion, there is also a White Salmon Glacier on a prominent Washington mountain (Shuksan being the other). I thought this terrain feature looked sooo cool on CalTopo but was unfortunately a bit more disappointing than expected.
Feeling strong enough this season to try for a double lap on Mount Adams.
A solo repeat of the exact same outing from last year, except I actually got the pictures I wanted!
A glorified backpacking trip to round out skiing the Washington volcanos. The ski descent was pretty mediocre, but it was otherwise cool to check out the changing season on Washington’s most remote volcano.
Just soaking in the views of the crevasses up close on this one. I hung back with one of a friend who was having a problem with the altitude and encouraged the other two to summit without else since I had already been up earlier this year. A bit disappointing, but this outing confirmed my ability to make turn around in practice, and was otherwise happy to explore this side of the mountain regardless of the outcome.
Little Tahoma is a satellite peak of Rainier, the pointy thing next to the main summit. I think it looks like a castle made of mahogany. Little T is actually the remnants of what used to be an even bigger volcano; it’s hard to imagine another a couple thousand feet on top of what Rainier is currently.
Mount Rainier is just an absolute unit looming over the Seattle skyline from afar - a 14411’ ruler from sea level if you were curious what that might look like. I’ve always dreamed of what getting to the roof of Washington would be like after first seeing it.
Eldorado Peak is one of the “Fifty Classic Ski Descents of North America” that shouldn’t be. The quality of skiing itself was mediocre but the views more than made up for it. We were debating turning around with the grim visibility on the way up, but we pressed on and were instead rewarded with brief yet stunning views near the summit.
There is nothing notable about Ruby Mountain in the North Cascades, but its view of Ross Lake and the surrounding peaks is pretty cool. We missed the powder window in favor of mashed potatoes so I definitely need to come back early on a cold bluebird day!
In retrospect this was probably a lot for me to handle at the time, but I’m super thankful for the receptive partners and the proper conditions for skiing a line this burly with no drama (although I was pretty tired). Would love to pay something like this forward one day.
CA
Back on Shasta, but the funky weather continues.
Dealing with a bit of funky weather on the long drive back home to WA.
I usually forget a lot of my urban runs but this was a good one. I often think about what my life would look like if I lived in SF/Bay Area, and maybe I’d come here quite a bit if I did.
A recovery day on the way to San Francisco. Absolutely bonkers seeing the amount of flooding in the park and pouring water in the falls. A lot of old-timers seemed to agree that this year was exceptional with the amount of snowfall that landed in the Sierra. Apologies for the repeat photos, still in awe at the novelty of it all.
Yep another obligatory tick of a classic ski line and the highest point of the contiguous U.S. I just wish I had oneee more day to do Mount Langley’s Northeast Couloir (didn’t have a truck) but not a bad way to wrap up skiing in the Sierra :)
I watched this video a while ago and I thought this line was one of the coolest in the Sierra. Did not meet expectations with the lower angle terrain and suboptimal ski conditions, but still great to check out the Dana Plateau regardless. Definitely need to come back to Tioga Pass a bit more next time.
I’m definitely a sucker for road lines and this one in particular catches your eye pretty easily when driving across the Eastern Sierra.
An easy last trip with the full crew to check out the June Lakes area.
This day had a bit more bs than anticipated but what a great line - definitely need to come back to this area to ski the other lines in the Twin Lakes area.
Mount Tom is one of the prominent mountains you see on the drive from Mammoth just before you turn the corner to Bishop. Most people opt to ski one of the east facing lines towards the valley, but a couple of us thought that the west facing stuff might be continuous with this kind of snow year.
Combining some of the miscellaneous days we had in Mammoth, where we stayed during this trip, into one post. We spent a couple days lapping the ridge to Sherwin Peak on the off days, as well as the prominent rock chute pictured below, but I was mostly awestruck by the amount of snow that fell on this mountain range over the winter, even if it was just the residual leftovers hanging on.
We’ve previously been mucking around the foothills in this range but now finally diving into the heart of the High Sierra.
A break from skiing to check out a local hot spring.
Still in the foothills of these giant peaks, but peeking a little into the High Sierra near one of my favorite summer spots.
Acclimitizing to the elevation and checking out the foothills of the Eastern Sierra. Maybe some of the best top to bottom corn I’ve ever skied!
The start of our Sierra ski trip. We might have arrived at an awkward time...
CO
Knocking out the fourth and last of the so called Great Fourtneer Traverses, and my last outing in Colorado this year.
Pretty unremarkable summit of Pikes Peak, although I think this 14er is over-hated. I thought it was quite a nice walk (despite the cars).
An unexpectedly smoky day, but probably the best of the so called Great Fourtneer Traverses in Colorado.
The Ouray 100 ultramarathon probably ranks as one of the hardest races in the country, clocking in at over 100 miles, ~42000 feet of vertical gain, at an average elevation of 10200 feet.
What a fun name for a mountain! Mount Sneffels stands tall among its neighbors and it really does catch your eye driving south towards Ridgway. This is the outing where I really learn Colorado is a pay to win state and I won’t apologize for saying that 😤. Beeeautiful views though.
Checking out what I think is the more boring part of the San Juans, only because it’s so isolated from all of the other interesting peaks to the east. My second so called Great Fourtneer Traverses in Colorado.
I’ve always wanted to do this ever since I saw the Mediocre Amateur video in what felt like another lifetime before the pandemic. I took the ridge direct, making it an extra long scramble 😋.
A fun scramble variation on what would normally be a slog of a route. My first taste of bomber Crestone Conglomerate rock!
The tackling the first of the so called Great Fourtneer Traverses in Colorado.
If we thought going up three separate Sawatch peaks by themselves was monotonous, how about doing three in one day 😂.
Yep this is already getting old lol. The third peak with similar mileage, views, and terrain profile, all while taking the same amount of time to summit. Although I will say that this probably had the best views of the Sawatch Peaks we’ve done, probably because there is greenery & vegetation as I’m learning.
Tackling another mediocre peak in the Sawatch Range.
Unacclimatized, sleep-deprived, and not even 2 hours after arriving to Frisco did we decide to go up Colorado’s highest peak, Mount Elbert.
WY
Hesitating on the original plan to get up Mount Owen with the goal of scoping out the northern leg of the Grand Traverse. Went for an attempt the previous day and got poured on not even before leaving treeline - definitely not trying to take any chances with the conditions since the critical downclimbs are shaded. This morning I got discouraged by the flashes of lightning so I slept in, which ultimately prevented me from getting to Owen.
Finally climbed the Grand Teton, which I felt was a bit overdue. Did the most I could in the Tetons without a partner, but was still able to romp around the range to see what’s out there when I come back with better objectives.
OR
My third summit of hood and my second time skiing off the true summit. I think I’m done with this route for good haha.
A double volcano day hanging around Bend, OR.
BC
The coastal mountains of British Columbia are a magical place. I was a little worried coming into this with the historically bad lower-elevation snowpack, but it ended up not detracting from the experience whatsoever. Indeed, the conditions at the bottom of the Whistler resort were a little dire, but it was sooo white once you got up in the mountains proper.
A nice day for peakbagging in between bouldering days.
UT
A lot of sentimental value coming back here as the Wasatch were my first “real” mountains I saw up close, and where I learned to really ski, which is probably responsible for this whole phase of my life. I wanted to write an entry for each outing I did in Utah but frankly I didn’t have that many pictures that I felt were all that scenic, so combining all of the pictures into one post with a bit of thoughts at the end.
ID
Gotta tag the state high point while I’m here right? If I ever want a taste of Colorado’s Sangre de Cristo range around the PNW, the Lost River Range is not terribly far. The peaks are bigger too!
north cascades
Finally knocking this one out in between an iffy forecast window!
A scenic loop to see soak in the fall colors and perhaps the impetus/rebirth of this very website!
I’ve done Ruth Mountain previously in the summer and I thought it had some of the best views in the North Cascades for the relatively easy level of effort. I couldn’t say no to the same views with even more snow, tagging Icy Peak this time around, and skiing back down the enticing slopes of Ruth.
As straightforward of an up and down on Mount Baker as you can get. Great to revisit this route, but man is it kind of a boring slog in the sense that the views don’t change that much. The conditions this weekend were a little uncertain to go for anything bigger and I certainly needed the confidence booster after last week’s debacle.
I’ve always wondered what kind of outing I’d be capable of off the couch, and on this day I really paid for it trying to attempt two classic steep ski lines on Mount Baker.
A Fifty Classic Ski Descent of North America that I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. This one was especially special since Chris and I crossed paths interning at some random company back in my hometown on the east coast many lifetimes ago.
A warmup and scope out of the snow conditions around the Mount Baker Ski Area. Chris is so speedy!
Up Sahale via the Quien Sabe Glacier route. Waffled a bit due to the forecast but glad I made it out (although I regrettably stubbed my toe on a rock and broke it).
I was originally going to note how unremarkable Sourdough Mountain is except for the fact that it casually rises almost 5000 feet from Diablo Lake below. I guess I do take some of the easy peaks for granted sometimes - but I still think the views from the road are unimpressive compared to other national parks.
My first foray into the elusive Picket Range and perhaps one of the few peaks day-trippable in the area for my humble aerobic ambitions.
Tried to milk out the last of a weekend in the North Cascades after an exhausting day yesterday. A top 5 “gotta bring my mom” type hike for sure though - probably the best view of the southern pickets.
A fun scramble route on one of Washington’s most iconic mountains. Although I think of Mount Shuksan as more of a skier’s mountain, I’ll happily settle for scrambling on it when it’s bone dry.
Awesome ridge linkup starting at Excelsior Peak and ending with a fun scramble on Tomyhoi.
Sometimes I feel like the Twin Sisters Range next to Mount Baker is often forgotten about. The red tape with the logging company land ownership adds a bit to the weirdness and mystery. Armed with mountain bikes, this turned into a great multi-sport adventure traversing from South Twin to North Twin.
The Ptarmigan Traverse is an ultra-classic mountaineering route that cuts through the heart of the Northern Cascades. Four days of miles and miles of glacier travel, rugged terrain, and never-ending views.
Ruth Mountain may have the best scenery-to-effort ratio in the North Cascades. A smooth gravel road to Hannegan Pass Trailhead, followed by a nicely maintained trail, easy snow travel, and no crevasse shenanigans (season dependent obviously) - highly recommend as a type 1 kind of day.
Eldorado Peak is one of the “Fifty Classic Ski Descents of North America” that shouldn’t be. The quality of skiing itself was mediocre but the views more than made up for it. We were debating turning around with the grim visibility on the way up, but we pressed on and were instead rewarded with brief yet stunning views near the summit.
There is nothing notable about Ruby Mountain in the North Cascades, but its view of Ross Lake and the surrounding peaks is pretty cool. We missed the powder window in favor of mashed potatoes so I definitely need to come back early on a cold bluebird day!
In retrospect this was probably a lot for me to handle at the time, but I’m super thankful for the receptive partners and the proper conditions for skiing a line this burly with no drama (although I was pretty tired). Would love to pay something like this forward one day.
volcano
NFNWR is short for the north face of the northwest ridge on Mount Adams - what a mouthful to say.
During the time I’ve been skiing in Washington, there’s been some opinions that this line might be less and less skiable as climate change impacts the mountain.
With a fat high elevation snowpack and after seeing that some friends skied this line, I knew it was time to pounce.
As straightforward of an up and down on Mount Baker as you can get. Great to revisit this route, but man is it kind of a boring slog in the sense that the views don’t change that much. The conditions this weekend were a little uncertain to go for anything bigger and I certainly needed the confidence booster after last week’s debacle.
I’ve always wondered what kind of outing I’d be capable of off the couch, and on this day I really paid for it trying to attempt two classic steep ski lines on Mount Baker.
Can’t remember why I came up here since Camp Muir is a relatively uninteresting objective, but still good to check out the area.
This traverse covers the ridge of peaks directly south of Rainier from Stevens to Eagle Peak. I don’t think I’d recommend this one lol, mainly because it was a lot of work for views that didn’t change all that much (although it was cool to see the angle of Rainier change a little bit going west to east).
To add to the confusion, there is also a White Salmon Glacier on a prominent Washington mountain (Shuksan being the other). I thought this terrain feature looked sooo cool on CalTopo but was unfortunately a bit more disappointing than expected.
Feeling strong enough this season to try for a double lap on Mount Adams.
A solo repeat of the exact same outing from last year, except I actually got the pictures I wanted!
My third summit of hood and my second time skiing off the true summit. I think I’m done with this route for good haha.
A double volcano day hanging around Bend, OR.
Back on Shasta, but the funky weather continues.
Dealing with a bit of funky weather on the long drive back home to WA.
A glorified backpacking trip to round out skiing the Washington volcanos. The ski descent was pretty mediocre, but it was otherwise cool to check out the changing season on Washington’s most remote volcano.
Just soaking in the views of the crevasses up close on this one. I hung back with one of a friend who was having a problem with the altitude and encouraged the other two to summit without else since I had already been up earlier this year. A bit disappointing, but this outing confirmed my ability to make turn around in practice, and was otherwise happy to explore this side of the mountain regardless of the outcome.
Little Tahoma is a satellite peak of Rainier, the pointy thing next to the main summit. I think it looks like a castle made of mahogany. Little T is actually the remnants of what used to be an even bigger volcano; it’s hard to imagine another a couple thousand feet on top of what Rainier is currently.
Mount Rainier is just an absolute unit looming over the Seattle skyline from afar - a 14411’ ruler from sea level if you were curious what that might look like. I’ve always dreamed of what getting to the roof of Washington would be like after first seeing it.
sierra
A recovery day on the way to San Francisco. Absolutely bonkers seeing the amount of flooding in the park and pouring water in the falls. A lot of old-timers seemed to agree that this year was exceptional with the amount of snowfall that landed in the Sierra. Apologies for the repeat photos, still in awe at the novelty of it all.
Yep another obligatory tick of a classic ski line and the highest point of the contiguous U.S. I just wish I had oneee more day to do Mount Langley’s Northeast Couloir (didn’t have a truck) but not a bad way to wrap up skiing in the Sierra :)
I watched this video a while ago and I thought this line was one of the coolest in the Sierra. Did not meet expectations with the lower angle terrain and suboptimal ski conditions, but still great to check out the Dana Plateau regardless. Definitely need to come back to Tioga Pass a bit more next time.
I’m definitely a sucker for road lines and this one in particular catches your eye pretty easily when driving across the Eastern Sierra.
An easy last trip with the full crew to check out the June Lakes area.
This day had a bit more bs than anticipated but what a great line - definitely need to come back to this area to ski the other lines in the Twin Lakes area.
Mount Tom is one of the prominent mountains you see on the drive from Mammoth just before you turn the corner to Bishop. Most people opt to ski one of the east facing lines towards the valley, but a couple of us thought that the west facing stuff might be continuous with this kind of snow year.
Combining some of the miscellaneous days we had in Mammoth, where we stayed during this trip, into one post. We spent a couple days lapping the ridge to Sherwin Peak on the off days, as well as the prominent rock chute pictured below, but I was mostly awestruck by the amount of snow that fell on this mountain range over the winter, even if it was just the residual leftovers hanging on.
We’ve previously been mucking around the foothills in this range but now finally diving into the heart of the High Sierra.
A break from skiing to check out a local hot spring.
Still in the foothills of these giant peaks, but peeking a little into the High Sierra near one of my favorite summer spots.
Acclimitizing to the elevation and checking out the foothills of the Eastern Sierra. Maybe some of the best top to bottom corn I’ve ever skied!
The start of our Sierra ski trip. We might have arrived at an awkward time...
rainier
Can’t remember why I came up here since Camp Muir is a relatively uninteresting objective, but still good to check out the area.
This traverse covers the ridge of peaks directly south of Rainier from Stevens to Eagle Peak. I don’t think I’d recommend this one lol, mainly because it was a lot of work for views that didn’t change all that much (although it was cool to see the angle of Rainier change a little bit going west to east).
A solo repeat of the exact same outing from last year, except I actually got the pictures I wanted!
Just soaking in the views of the crevasses up close on this one. I hung back with one of a friend who was having a problem with the altitude and encouraged the other two to summit without else since I had already been up earlier this year. A bit disappointing, but this outing confirmed my ability to make turn around in practice, and was otherwise happy to explore this side of the mountain regardless of the outcome.
Little Tahoma is a satellite peak of Rainier, the pointy thing next to the main summit. I think it looks like a castle made of mahogany. Little T is actually the remnants of what used to be an even bigger volcano; it’s hard to imagine another a couple thousand feet on top of what Rainier is currently.
Mount Rainier is just an absolute unit looming over the Seattle skyline from afar - a 14411’ ruler from sea level if you were curious what that might look like. I’ve always dreamed of what getting to the roof of Washington would be like after first seeing it.
methow mountains
The Sawtooth Slam is a great way to knock out five easy mountains from the Bulger List (a rough list of the state’s 100 tallest mountains). The larches were a little past prime, but collectively they gave off a darker yellow hue that was noticeably different from the weekend prior. Pretty cool to see the full lifecycle of these larches this season!
The previous day zapped more energy than expected, so I went for one of the more straightforward peaks in the area.
First time for me checking out the Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness area and really seeing the dense larch groves less prevalent in the rest of the Cascades.
glacier peak wilderness
A nice loop to tag two peaks while enjoying some fall colors.
A nice warmup before venturing deeper into the great Glacier Peak Wilderness. I used to think the Entiats were a little lame and colorless, but revisiting the area was much cooler now that I could identify many more peaks of the GPW/North Cascades and able to remember fondly some of the prior experiences I’ve had on those peaks.
A glorified backpacking trip to round out skiing the Washington volcanos. The ski descent was pretty mediocre, but it was otherwise cool to check out the changing season on Washington’s most remote volcano.
adams
NFNWR is short for the north face of the northwest ridge on Mount Adams - what a mouthful to say.
During the time I’ve been skiing in Washington, there’s been some opinions that this line might be less and less skiable as climate change impacts the mountain.
With a fat high elevation snowpack and after seeing that some friends skied this line, I knew it was time to pounce.
To add to the confusion, there is also a White Salmon Glacier on a prominent Washington mountain (Shuksan being the other). I thought this terrain feature looked sooo cool on CalTopo but was unfortunately a bit more disappointing than expected.
Feeling strong enough this season to try for a double lap on Mount Adams.
I-90
The P3 Mount Defiance loop makes a rectangular shape on Strava I’ve come to recognize from everyone doing it over the years. A perfect low-stakes day for me and Haram as he prepares and crams some last minute vert for his upcoming race.
My friend Haram ran the Teanaway 100, a pretty hard 100 mile ultramarathon here in Washington with around 30000 feet of gain, and did it with almost no training (no exaggeration). And he managed to place 7th out of 23 at 32.5 hours, so a pretty decent performance. His previous biggest day was running the Enchantments, a mere 18 miles with 5000 vert - pretty bonkers accomplishment if you work out the ratio of performance to time spent/effort invested.
Mailbox is an unremarkable peak for someone who’s gotten used to the scenery around North Bend and the I-90 corridor (and also done it many times), but it was a great day for friends visiting from out east. Ended up being a memorable one because it was one of those “above the clouds” type of days!
tetons
Hesitating on the original plan to get up Mount Owen with the goal of scoping out the northern leg of the Grand Traverse. Went for an attempt the previous day and got poured on not even before leaving treeline - definitely not trying to take any chances with the conditions since the critical downclimbs are shaded. This morning I got discouraged by the flashes of lightning so I slept in, which ultimately prevented me from getting to Owen.
Finally climbed the Grand Teton, which I felt was a bit overdue. Did the most I could in the Tetons without a partner, but was still able to romp around the range to see what’s out there when I come back with better objectives.
wasatch
A lot of sentimental value coming back here as the Wasatch were my first “real” mountains I saw up close, and where I learned to really ski, which is probably responsible for this whole phase of my life. I wanted to write an entry for each outing I did in Utah but frankly I didn’t have that many pictures that I felt were all that scenic, so combining all of the pictures into one post with a bit of thoughts at the end.
urban
I usually forget a lot of my urban runs but this was a good one. I often think about what my life would look like if I lived in SF/Bay Area, and maybe I’d come here quite a bit if I did.
stuart range
A throwback and “free-solo” of my first alpine climb.
mountain loop
A failed attempt to get up Gothic and Del Campo peaks due to time but a great outing to decompress after work.
chiwaukums
A nice group run to see some larches in the Chiwaukum Range. I should come here more often.
alpine lakes wilderness
Been saving this one for those weird forecast days. I don’t think I give the Alpine Lakes Wilderness enough love. Definitely hoping to have more Plan A days here instead of relegating this area as a backup to “cooler” plans. A bit more crowded, and the peaks are a bit smaller, but I overlook how comparably rugged it is to the North Cascades.