Josh in Seattle

My good friend and climbing partner Josh Dalton arrived in Seattle yesterday so naturally we went out for a quick climb within an hour of him landing. We chose Exit 38 in North Bend because of how close it is to Seattle so that we could make it back in time for me to drop him off at his girlfriends house. We ended up only getting 2 climbs in because of rain but it was still a good time. We are planning on hitting up the Index Town Walls this Wednesday and Thursday and possibly some alpine climbing on Friday if all works out. Shaping up to be a fun couple weeks before I leave to Germany.

Bouldering in a parking lot

Seattle Bouldering Project opening

 I have been going in checking on the on construction of the Seattle Bouldering Project (SBP) just off of Rainer Ave since I arrived in Seattle in December so you can imagine how excited I was when they opened their doors this Friday. I didn't take any pictures when I was there but I found some online to give you an idea of the place. They even play good music!!

Cannon peak attempt

Leaving the house at 4 in the morning is usually hard for me but I woke up for this trip ready to go. After picking up our two partners (1 skier and 1 snowboarder) we were off driving toward Leavenworth and up Icicle Creek Road parking at the trail head at __. Once we packed up the skis on the pack we got underway with the fun part and started climbing straight out of the valley bushwhacking the whole way until hitting the snow line. I was the only one wearing shoes for the first part and was very happy about that fact! After hitting the snow line I swapped out the shoes and we started booting up the right side of the valley until hitting tree line where the snow was filled in enough to start skinning through large roller balls of a wet slide  that had happened a week or two prior. Two hours later we had made it to Conney just before the Summit of Cannon and this is where we went wrong. We decided to go up onto a ridge that we though connected to the main summit instead of booting up one of the three couloirs to the summit. We got cliffed out on the ridge and ended up skiing straight back out the way we had come through crusty and super mushy snow. After a super long exit we finally made it back to the car at 9:30 and were back to the house at 12:45. LONG DAY!!

Way too close!!

April 30th and May 1st Climbing

This last weekend was one of the best weekends I've had for a long time and also had some of the best weather that the area has gotten since I've been here so naturally I was going to be climbing.

Ben topping out as the sun drops 

I had received a call from one of my climbing buddies from back in Leadville, where I was going to school and he said that he had the day off from working on the boat and wanted to climb. I had already made plans to do some work at one of my aunts friends houses on Bainbridge Island so there was definitely a conflict of interest but I sorted that all out. On Saturday after ripping through the work I was on the ferry back to Seattle by 1 where I picked up my friend Ben, and were off to the closest climbing to Seattle, Exit 38 (Far Side), just outside of North Bend. I had never been to this area but it proved to have quite a few routes with better quality rock than expected with fun moves. After climbing four or five routes we headed for the car at 8:45 using one headlamp between the two of us on a very muddy trail. We decided to head back to North Bend to eat some dinner before heading all the way back into Seattle where I had to drop him off at Fisherman's Terminal. We chose a restaurant along main street and had a Burger and a beer which is one of the best ways to end a climbing day in my opinion. I had a great day and so nice being back with one of the Leadville friends again after a long time.

Nice climbers trail next to the stream

The next day was just as nice as the day before with not a cloud in the sky. I knew I wanted to climb (no shit!), but didn't have a partner. I loaded up the car and headed off to the crag anyways to try to find one. After scoping out the most popular area I met two guys that were my age and they invited me to climb with them which turned out great. We were very compatible and climbed two routes under the trestle and after that went back to The Far Side to some less crowded stuff. It was nice to be able to see all of the climbing in the area which there turned out to be way more than I had first expected and far better rock than the first place we had been.  All and all we climbed 8 routes ranging from 5.6 to 5.10b and had an awesome day. I hope to do more climbing with them up at Leavenworth later in the year so we exchanged info so this can happen.
This was one of the best weekend I've had and it was great to climb with old friends and also meet some new ones. GREAT WEEKEND!

Alpental solo tour Wednesday, April 27th

I woke up this morning to my alarm clock at 5:30 and hit the snooze two times so it must have been 5:45 or so when I actually got up. This week I had posted on Turns All Year that I was looking for a partner and to my disappointment this post got zero takers but instead of call the day off I decided to go up to Alpental to find some partners in the parking lot or just do some solo laps. I was told by another guy on TAL that there were "four or five" cars in the parking lot on Tuesday so that gave me a little hope to push me on. After driving through anything from pouring rain to a light drizzle I was happy to arrive in the parking lot to snow falling. Once in the Alpental parking lot I sat for a good 30 minutes reading a ski magazine and listening to music before giving up on finding a partner and grabbing the skis and skins and heading out on my own. After 20 minutes of skinning I stopped to chat with two guys going the other direction that had skinned up the runs at Alpental and skied though a backcountry gate to make a few turns before heading off to work. They told me that the top part was,"actually pretty fluffy" so it gave me renewed hope that this day would not be a waste. After another hour of skinning I could see that wet slides had been released on virtually every high angle slope so I stuck to the trees and low angle stuff for all my skinning. Once I had gained the high ridge in front on Pineapple pass I decided to descend through the trees, turning more to slow myself down than for fun.
After one short run I thought my day was over and headed down the groomed track to the parking lot. Just as I rounded the final corner to the paring lot I saw two guys that were heading up and asked them If I could join them. They answered,"yes" and the second part of my day had started. We stuck to my original skin track to its high point but broke off after it to continue on shallow terrain in the direction of Pineapple Pass. Once we got in the valley at the foot Pineapple pass it was decided that we would skin across two large debris piles and along a flank to arrive on the other side of the ridge where there was "good shallow skiing". I didn't buy this because I have skied the other side of the ridge and looked back at what we would be on top of coming from this direction and remember more of a sheer cliff band than "shallow skiing". Just before this plan was hatched I had asked to borrow wax for my skins that were covered in heavy snow and gaining weight so at the time of me feeling uncomfortable with the current plan I was already behind the guy that had let me borrow the wax. I followed behind through one debris pile until I could hand of his skin wax and told them I had to get back to my car before 12. They were both okay with me leaving early and told me to stay safe on my ski down. I said, "thanks for the wax" and headed down the same shallow trees I had skied earlier and had a great last run. All and all I had a great day skiing lower angle trees on the way down to the car and would call the day a success and who couldn't with break in the clouds like this...

-Owen

My Weekend April 22-24th

The trail to Oyster Dome

My weekend started with me trying to find a partner to ski with in the Bellingham area as my cousin was suppose to get out of class at 1 which is pretty late to go climb or do anything else outside (not really). After searching online for a while and posting on different peoples trips that I would be interested I was finally rigged with a guy that was headed up the South West (could be wrong) face of the Twin Sister. I was super happy to be making it up this climb in what turned out to be sunny weather. The next day I met my partner in the parking lot of a Hagge n just down the hill from WWU and we were off. After finding the correct dirt road we drove until we got to a guy that was welding. We got out to ask him a few questions and got the information that he and his crew would be heading out of the area at 4 and locking the gate behind them. It was already 10 or so, so we decided that instead of taking that chance we would make our way to the Coleman-Demming route on Mt.Baker for some nice turns on the shallow face. After unloading the sled and preparing the trailer for loading when we returned we were off for 3 or 4 miles of what felt like waves. My partner tried to get out of the ruts as best he could by cruising on the outer part of the track but just as we rounded a bump section the side of the trail gave way and we were tumbling down the bank on the downhill side of the road. When I felt the sled was turning over I jumped as hard as I could to clear the sled but my partner was not so lucky and the sled rolled over him. Lucky for both of us the only damage that was done to us or our equipment in the whole incident was a lost contact. The sled was pinned against a tree and remains in the same place to this day. My partner is going to try to go back this spring to get the sled out with a winch when the snow is gone on the road. After that whole episode we skied back to the truck, loaded our gear minus the sled and headed back to Hagen where he dropped me back at my car. We decided that we had to do another tour to wipe this one out of the books and hopefully that will happen later this year. After arriving back at my cousins apartment at 12:45 I gave him a call to tell him that we were going climbing and that I would him why I was back so early when he got back to his room. We spent the rest of the day climbing at Oyster Dome overlooking the San Juan Islands just outside of Bellingham . Due the the excellent weather we could for miles and it was one of the best views of the ocean I have ever seen. The next day some of Colin's friends and I went climbing at another area that had moderate routes and super loose rock for being a sport climbing area. On one of the climbs I was leading a huge boulder let loose right as I was clipping a bolt. I managed to move my foot fast enough to maintain my balance but with the trail right below it could have been a bad thing. All and all I had a great time in Bellingham this weekend but wish I would have had my passport to run to Canada for climbing in Squamish, maybe next time

Uncle Scotts 50th birthday party at Crystal Mtn

Just got back from an awesome time up at Crystal celebrating my uncles 50th birthday.  The first plan to have me film the birthday celebrations but that fell through when my camera decided not to start up after a long night of charging the battery so here are a few pictures along with my aunts pictures to capture the memories.
The mountain was covered in fog as we arrived at the base and got our stuff on. As we made our way up the lifts we gained an extra ski pass from a friend of Scott's that is a ski instructor and had a comp pass. After regrouping with friends and family at the base we made our way up the gondola with packs stuffed with sandwich making materials plus chips, apples, and cookies. We dropped the packs at the top and started skiing. The conditions where less than desirable but we all managed to get a good edge in on the sheet of ice that is ofter called "packed powder", and oxymoron if I have ever heard one.
After a few hours of skiing we took a warming break that lasted until 10 minutes before lunch was scheduled. We got to the lunch spot (top of the mountain) right as sandwiches were being whipped up. One drink was given by the birthday boy to everyone at the party which was awesome but I was surprised to see more people ordering up coffee than beer at the bar. Not in Euroland anymore!

After lunch the clouds started to part off and on for the rest of the day making it a much nicer day and softening up some of the snow. Overall it was a great party and cool to meet a lot of people that I had only seen at one or two outdoor trips again. Fun times!