Mt. Baker: Watson's Traverse

The Watson's Traverse is a fabled Northwest ski mountaineering epic, that begins at the Kulshan Cabin, (above Glacier,WA) traverses over the 10,781 ft summit of Mt. Baker and ends at the Mt. Baker ski area. Dwight Watson, Erick Larson and Andy Hennig first completed this traverse in May 1939 covering the nearly 18 miles in a very long day. With snow pack in the North Cascades well above normal and a perfect two day weather window, conditions for the traverse could not have been better.

Fellow TNF Seattle employee Chris Hall and I started talking about doing this traverse earlier this winter while ski touring on Mt. Herman. From the summit of Herman the views of Mt. Baker are incredible and week after week we could see the Park Glacier getting more and more filled in by strong pacific storms. Initially we did not know much about the history of the Watson's Traverse but believed that the Park Glacier and its very steep head wall could be skied. After doing our homework and studying previous years trip reports we devised an ambitious plan to complete the traverse in true alpine style, following the path of the original party.

On the night of May 18 I picked up Chris at 10:00 PM and we rushed up to the Heliotrope trail head to begin the traverse. The lone negative impact from the heavy snow year has been limited access to trail heads with low elevation snow prominent down to about 2500 ft. We were forced to stop 2 miles from the end of the road making the traverse even longer. Once we arrived early in the morning on the 19th we began wildly throwing our gear together trying to find the perfect combination of weight versus necessity. We would be crossing 4 separate glaciers, so our combined gear would not be light due to required technical equipment such as a harness and rope. Finally at 2:00 in the morning under the vast starlight sky, we started the long slog up the road to the trail head. We made steady progress up to Heliotrope ridge and the Hogsback, where we encountered other groups of climbers. Most were headed up the same ascent route that we would be climbing (Colman-Deming) but one ambitious group was climbing the north ridge with ski's on their backs! After a short break we left the Hogsback and made our way onto the Colman glacier where we roped up. The route was so filled in that the normally heavily crevassed glacier involved just one bridge crossing.

We skinned the entire route with the exception of the steep Roman head wall and arrived on the summit just before noon. The accent had taken nearly 9 hours and we had gained 8700 ft in elevation. We drank, ate and rested on the summit for about 30 minutes, enjoying the panorama of the North Cascades. The views were amazing and the sky as blue as I have ever seen it. With light winds and cool temperatures in the 20's the Park Glacier seemed to be in perfect shape to ski. Questions always arise when you don't ascend what you descend but Chris and I were confident in our abilities and decided to go for the traverse. Having come this far the thought of turning around barely crossed our minds. Having our fill of water and food, we de-skinned and clipped in for an epic descent down the Cockscomb ridge and onto the vast Park Glacier. The ridge skied very well with variable snow conditions from bullet proof ice to wind blown powder. The surprise came for us when we dropped onto the Park glacier to find boot top powder. The decent was one that we will never forget! Once down the Park in an area called Glacier Saddle we took a look back at our line of descent. It was amazing to see the imprint that we had made on Mt. Baker. Soon our attention turned from the elation of the descent to figuring out how to get to Ptarmigan ridge and cover the 9 miles back to the ski area. The traverse out across Ptarmigan Ridge was uneventful and very long. We literally stumbled into the Heather Meadows parking lot at 7:00 PM, a full 17 hours after starting.

Total Mileage: 17.5 miles

Elevation Gained: 11,000 ft

Duration; 17 hours

Jeff Schomaker and Chris Hall
TNF Seattle

Trail Clearing on the Kek!

After Hiking 50 miles in 48 hours with no training, almost dying in the Tuscobia 75 (http://www.tuscobiaultra.com/) from hypothermia due to an electrolyte imbalance, and racing 75 miles of the Arrowhead 135 (http://www.arrowheadultra.com/index.php) in -37 degree temperatures with a 40lbs sled in 31 hours, I decided to go on some “Fun” trips. I thought a great way to start off the spring with a “Fun” trip would be by leading a nice easy 30 mile 3 day backpacking/Trail clearing trip on the Kekicabic trail with the Boundary Waters Advisory Committee, an outdoors club committed to maintaining the trials of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). We would be backpacking in to mark the sections of trail which were either hard to follow due to the large fires in 2006 and 2007 or had a large number of dead falls. We managed to recruit 7 volunteers for the adventure.

The Kekakabic trail, originally built by the CCC to resupply a fire tower on Lake Kekakabic, the trail runs through the BWCAW, a wilderness area in Northern Minnesota. Due to the wilderness designation no motorized vehicles or machinery such as chainsaws can be used on the trail. The beginning of the trail is well maintained and is also part of the Centennial Trail, newly created by the National Forest Service in celebration of its 100th anniversary. On the Centennial trail are old Iron mines, railroad beds, and donkey trails to see. Once off the Centennial trail and out of the river lowlands the trail takes to the ridges and has been scorched by two high intensity fires over the past five years. Large swaths of bedrock show through where the thin soil has been eroded away by rain and wind. Blackened trunks of a once dense forest stand bare in the wind and long grasses lay dead on the ground from the past winter obscuring potential trail hazards.
We began our adventure Thursday evening with a harrowing drive up the gunflint trail to a cabin donated to our trail cleanup effort by Gunflint Wilderness Outfitters. With the warm spring weather pushing against the snow pack from record snowfalls last winter, there was extremely dense fog. Visibility was limited at times to 10 feet or less. There were a number of instances where we narrowly missed hitting a deer or driving off the road. We finally reached the cabin around two in the morning. After a long day at work and a longer drive, six plus hours, up north we were all glad to hit the sack.

Morning came early but the excitement for the anticipated 12 miles of rugged backcountry hiking pushed any weariness from our bodies. We could not have asked for better weather, overcast and in the 50s, it was perfect for hiking. Reaching the trail head just after 9am, making only one or two wrong turns along the way, we had a safety talk, assigning a lead hiker and sweeper.

Our first pack stop was at miner’s lake, the site of the only mine in the area to harvest useable iron ore, only one car full. The first section went slower than expected due to

all the historical sites to see along the Centennial trail. As we continued down the trail, we passed where we would camp the second night. Around noon we lost the

trail for the fir

st time as we approached a large beaver dam and river crossing. We scouted out the area looking for the best place to cross. There was a section of the river wh

ere someone had built up a stone causeway and the crossing turned out to be fairly easy. We decided to stop to pump water, have a snack and remarked the trail for future groups.

Instead of having lunch at noon, only three hours into our 9 hour day we pushed on knowing that after lunch groups travel half the speed as before lunch. As the day wore on age and the different fitness levels am

ong group members began to show. The frequency of water breaks increased there were more resting steps and our pace slowed considerably. The situation was not helped by the fact that the condition of the trail was deteriorating as we moved further from civilization. The number of deadfalls increased and the trail was slowl

y being reclaimed by a rising lake. Climbing up away from the lake, everyone needed a rest so we stopped for

lunch. I eat some Hudson’s Bay, a granola bar with about 2000 calories which I learned to make while guiding at Northern Tier National High Adventure base, and snacked on peanut m&ms.

The hour long lunch break helped to revitalize both our bodies and spirits. With a little more spring in our step we started with a new found desire to reach our goal,

the Agomok Bridge. Unfortunately like many plans, things did not go as we had hoped. Before long the trail once again began to wear on us, it became painfully visible that our goal w

as just a little more than the group’s abilities. As we reached the campsite at Lake Gabimichigami, 2.5 miles short of our goal, we decided the prudent choice was to make camp for the night and enjoy what was left of the evening.

My tenting partner and I set up his Madraque 23, a great two man backpacking tent, and laid out our Beeline Sleeping bags. As I fired up my MSR Drag

onfly, it was interesting to see the different cooking approaches. For this shorter, easier trip, I had just chosen my standard go to meal of Hamburger helper and brought along a trail oven to make muffins each night. Nick, another associate at The North Face Minneapolis, had been working two days to dehydrate food in an attempt to have the most creative meals. The third cook group, every one over 35, went with Mountain House boiling water in a JetBoil. They said it boiled water in 2 minutes flat. The only question was “how much water can you boil in two minutes?”

After dinner we built a nice fire under the fire grate, you can only build fires under a fire great in the BWCAW, and talked about the events of the day. Most people went to bed once dusk had settled and as darkness encircled the rest of us, we thought it would be best to make it an early night.

It was a cold night, one of the guys had a thermometer which showed 26 degrees, but I stayed plenty warm in my Beeline even though it is only rated to 30. With the temperature so low it was a struggle to get out of my warm sleeping bags in the morning, I am pretty sure I was the last one up. Breakfast went slowly and we took our time packing up. Two of the slower hikers got a head start, feeling that they were slowing the group down.

Only needing to hike part of the way out, we took our time. We stopped often for water breaks and picked up old flagging tape. Many of the trees which had been previously flagged had fallen down during the winter or the flagging tape had been torn off after it had degraded in the sun. We eat lunch at the river crossing from the previous day and enjoyed the blue skies and sixty degree weather. As we approached our campsite for the night we suddenly came to a dead end, the trail just disappeared into a lake. Once again we scouted around to find where the trail had gone. Spreading out across the hillside there was no sign of the clear trail we had hiked on the day before. One person went up to explore the ridge line and found our missing trail. I ran back down the trail to see where we had gone wrong. In our excitement about the great weather and moving down an open trail, we had missed a turn off and walked down a portage trail ending at the lake.

The campsite we stayed at was much larger than the previous night. It was very open looking almost like a nicely manicured back hard with smooth areas of bare rock. Taking our packs off, we lay down in the grass and rested a while. Nick and my tent mate decided to go swimming. Ice was just out so I thought this was a crazy Idea but they pulled their shirts off and ran in to the forty degree water boots and all!

That night we had a much larger fire, sitting around telling stories of our previous trips, everyone was in much better sprits having not been totally exhausted during the day’s hiking. One of the older guys had been to 49 of the 50 highest peaks in each state and hiked extensively in the Rockies. When the stars came out it was spectacular. I stayed up to enjoy the wonderful night after everyone else had gone back to their tents. Being the last night, as always, it was a little bitter sweet having to return to civilization the next day.

Nick pushed us to get up early and get out quickly the next morning. We wanted to eat lunch in Grand Marais on the way back. Having been given a hard time about being the last ones pack the previous morning my tent mate and I were the first packed this morning, even though we were the last up. It was a short two hour hike out mostly downhill on a well worn trail, well worn compared to where we had been hiking the previous two days. As we hiked the final mile I tried to take in as much of the North Country as I could, it is always difficult leaving, knowing you will not make it back for another month or two.

Slowly loading the car I thanked everyone for a great trip, no one was injured, and we headed off for Lunch in town. Even with having to cut things short, only 20 of the 30 planned miles, it was a great trip. We had cleaned up the flagging tape on the trail and moved some deadfalls out of the way. Most importantly we made some new friends and great memories!

Elk Track Adventure, Snoqualmie National Forest

When I arrived at my destination in Snoqualmie National Forest, for a solo backpacking trip to take place from March 22nd-24th, 2011, conditions were less than ideal. The trail-less mountain valley I had planned my hike for was blocked by a large tract of private lands that had not been readily identifiable on local topos. On top of that, it was a cool 40 degrees and rain was constant.

Upon arriving, I quickly checked my map and rerouted to the nearby Green River (6.5 mi immediately West of Crystal Mt. Ski Resort). I enjoyed the solitude of a cool, snow-covered (albeit wet) forested landscape for the next few days. As a national forest, Snoqualmie is utilized for lumber harvesting, so many of the evergreen trees nearest the road were secondary growth (trunk diameters were often a foot or two), though the further I got into the forest I began to notice more and more old growth. Some of these had trunk diameters of six feet or more!

My camp was made nestled within the confines of a small, old growth-laden island that I found after crossing fallen trees afloat on the Green River. I snowshoed as my main mode of transportation over two feet of snow on the ground in most places. At the center of the island the ground was quite clear, sheltered from the weather by about six or seven old growths. I thought to myself this would be a great place to make camp, and realized that I wasn't the first creature to have this idea. Littering the ground around me were 30, or so, individual piles of elk scat, each comprised of about 30 pellets. Some clearly fresh and deposited no earlier than that morning.

With the presence of local elk herds in mind, I stayed on the outskirts of the island and made my presence minimal. The tracks these animals made were a solid six inches in length, and broken branches around the island (from their movements) were sometimes at my head level (about six feet), implying an immense presence of some 500+ lb individuals. It was in my best interest to avoid confrontation. Though unfortunately, I was unable to view any elk directly, even at a distance.

All of the animal sign in the area was invigorating to see; signs of life, though indirect, are still often unseen by the average Joe. I did have a mostly (again, it was raining continuously) pleasant time, and was even able to enjoy a fresh cup of hand-picked, fire-brewed, evergreen needle tea! Mmm mmm good!

Jeremy R.

A Yosemite Adventure

In early May Todd Rutan, Brad Rexroat, and myself took a couple of days after the manager's meeting to venture in Yosemite National Park. We had three main goals... have a good time, return home safely, and see a bear. In true TNF associate fashion we each brought our own tents. That's right three tents for three people, maybe a smidge of an overkill. Anyway Brad used his stores demo tent the Minibus 2 and Todd brought his Mica 12. I originally planned on using an old Diad 2 that I had brought to Cali with me but when I was pitching my tent at the managers meeting I realized that I had a broken tent pole. Luckily, my hommie from across the river donated his stores Meso 22 to my cause and I was able to sleep solo.

We didn't get out of Berkeley until about 6pm and after a bad but not regrettable stop at In and Out we got to Yosemite at 1 in the morning. Unfortunately for Brad and Todd they were relying on my previous experience to get us to our campsite at 1 a.m. It should be know that my previous experience was for two days in the day light a year prior. I don't do anything particularly well at 1am let alone navigate. We ended up at our campsite to get some rest at 2 a.m. which gave us exactly 4 hours of sleep until we needed to get up to move our illegally parked car.

When we got there we had a permit to go all the way to Merced Lake from the Yosemite Valley. Outside of the ridiculous distance, 24 miles there and back, we would have had to cover in two days there was two feet of snow in the high country. Thanks to the wise park ranger we got a permit to camp in Little Yosemite Valley. To get their we needed to hike up Nevada Falls which is about 2000 feet of elevation gain in around 4 miles. I would have liked to think I was in the best of shape to handle a hike of this magnitude at elevation, but Todd Rutan can climb like a freaking Sherpa while setting a blazing pace. We made it to the top of Nevada Falls in about 5 hours and the LYV in 6 thanks to a little freeze dried (p.s. steer clear of freeze dried Phad Thai) lunch break on the way.

Once we got to base camp at LYV we hiked around for a few hours before we decided to set camp up and eat some dinner. After dinner and hours of hiking we were all ready to sleep by around 8 p.m. In my defense it was 10 p.m. central time which is about my normal bed time. I fell asleep rather quickly dreaming I was on a tempurpedic mattress as opposed the half inflated Thermarest that I have ignored to fix for years. I used the Beeline sleeping bag which is an old 30 degree 900 fill bag that we used to make. For those of you who forget what I look like I'm a 5'10" white guy that weighs a buck forty on a good day, so it's safe to say I froze my ear lobes off that night.

Anyway, I awoke about 9:30 pm to hear some rummaging around near our bear box. My mind immediately shot to the park ranger telling us to put all food and toiletries in the bear box and not to keep anything with a scent in our tents. I immediately scanned my tent and luckily found nothing that would attract a bear, as I said I way a buck forty and might be the least delicious looking human a bear has ever seen. It would be like a human grabbing a drum stick with the least amount of chicken, so I felt pretty safe. My mind then shot back to the conversation with the park ranger when he asked what to do if we saw a bear. I said "I faster than Todd and Brad so you'd have to ask them." He did not see the humor and told me I should get loud and throw something in the direction of the bear. Instinctively I grabbed a trekking pole and began to peer out the window of my tent. I look across and saw Todd's face in his tent window at the same time with a look of nervous curiosity that I must have had as well because, after all, seeing a bear was one of our goals. What I thought was a bear was actually Brad putting away sun block in the bear box (after remembering the same conversation with the ranger that I did) that he had in his tent with him. Fortunately this was my only interaction with a "bear" but going two for three with our goals is not bad. Hey, if it was baseball and you went two for three in your career you'd be a hall of famer.

Going down the mountain was a different story for me than going up. This is where I could put the hurt on Todd and Brad. With my demo El Lobo pack I was able to scamper down the mountain like a jungle cat (It was probably more like a rolling stone as I didn't have a ton of control but this is my story and jungle cats are cool). I'd be lying if said I didn't want to see a bear sitting in the driver seat of Todd's rental car snacking on the trail mix we left in it, but to my disappointment there was no bear. It was a great trip and a heck of a work out. This is the second year in a row that a few of us have gone out there after the meeting and you can sure bet that we'll do it again next year.

Brett Knight

Afton State Park, A Winter Camp

Finally our Braggin’ Rights login is sorted out! So I can update you on some awesomeness happening at TNF Minneapolis!
This months round of exploration started off on March 7th, with five TNF employees heading into a snow covered, moon lit Afton State Park. Myself (Becky Lightfoot), along with Karl Huemiller, Reid Curry, and Katie Piet from TNF Minneapolis and Kelli Morrison from TNF St Paul headed out covered in gear ready to battle a cold and snowy night. This was my first official winter camping experience.
How many North Face products were in attendance that night? I can not say. To many to count. Base layers, socks, boots, hats, snow pants, fleece, back packs, tents, water bottles... The most important one though, my demo gear pick, the women's Re-meow sleeping bag. It was essential on this sub 20 degrees night.
Our hike into camp was short, just a mile, but it was late already and we still needed to set up camp and make dinner. A few of us set up tents while the others started food. Dinner was delicious. We had instant mashed potatoes and veggie chilly with cheese on top. I found it a little challenging keeping up my body heat, sitting for so long on a sow covered bench, so after dinner we ran around the camp site for a while and did some jumping jacks. Then we buried our water bottles in the snow (so they wouldn't freeze) and jumped in out tents (unless you were Karl, then you slept under a tree).
Now the re-meow is rated to 20 degrees but that rating is for the very limit of comfort and we were dealing with some pretty cold and wet air so I brought along my regular cat's meow as well. Yes that’s right, on my first ever winter camping trip I slept in two 20 degree sleeping bags. I'm happy to say it was a very warm and comfortable night. I put a granola bar in the little outside zipper pocket incase I got cold and hungry at night. I didn't. I had plenty of room inside the bag to move and it cinched nicely around my face so as to keep the cold out.
The next morning we made some breakfast and headed off on a detour route of two miles back to the parking lot. It was a perfectly sunny morning and we quickly peeled off layers as we realized just how much the temperature had risen. We stopped to take in a view of the St. Croix River and then piled into the cars to get back in time to work the closing shift.

Climbing Pilot Mountain

Our friend and coworker Jesse Riley just graduated and is on his way out to explore new horizons and we wanted to have one last chance to climb with him; so the four of us went out to Pilot Mountain. In preparation for the climb we laid out our gear and took note of what more we needed from the stores demo gear. Makana has a flyweight pack that he loves, and decided to try out our Verto 26 (Demo Gear). As it was Brad’s first outdoor climb, he borrowed the Angstrom 30 (Demo Gear) to ensure he had enough space for everything.

In the early morning of May 4, 2011 we gathered at Pete’s place to grab some grub and try to give Alex Honnold’s ten egg breakfast a run for its money. We failed miserably with only eight eggs between the four of us. After breakfast we hit the road for the 100 mile drive.

Pilot Mountain is a very popular climbing destination in North Carolina. It is known for its top rope routes, although there are also a few sport climbs. Jesse, Makana and Pete are somewhat familiar with Pilot Mountain, having made a trip up two weeks prior; this was Brad’s first time. With the sun shining, mild temperatures and a fresh mountain breeze we arrived at Pilot Mountain in good spirits.

Using a lot of our new gear from Petzl and Metolius, we set up two top ropes on bolted anchors atop the longest routes in the park. One route, Vegomatic, is a 5.8 climb with a number of solid holds leading to the crux, which involved a dynamic move on an overhang. The other route, Chicken Bone, is rated at 5.7 and is a test of endurance and one’s ability to continuously battle with outstretched crimpers. These two routes were each about 90 feet high!

Rappelling can be a nerve-wrecking endeavor for both new and experienced climbers. All of us, except Jesse were met with a bit of cold feet as we stepped over the edge. Having reached the bottom with adrenaline pumping, we were aching to climb. Jesse and Makana started on the Vegomatic as Brad and Pete took on Chicken Bone. After switching up the climbs, we were exhausted. We pulled down the ropes, cleared the anchors, had some lunch and set up again on two other routes in the Little Amphitheater.

These new routes were called Grandpa's Belay 5.7 and Pee Break Left 5.6. Jesse and Pete set up the anchors and rappelled down in tandem. As a testament to our work, a gentleman who instructs climbing came and took pictures of our top rope anchors as an example to his students of how you should build them every time!

We had climbed the Pee Break Left 5.6 on our previous visit, but wanted to try some different routes going up this time. Jesse attempted to redpoint a route that would turn the 5.6 into a 5.10c but wasn't quite able to make it. Brad completed his first top out on an outdoor climb there! Makana set up protection on the anchors of Grandpa's Belay to take pictures of Jesse coming up Pee Break Left.

After our climbs we packed up our gear and wished Jesse safe travels.

Looking at the demo gear, we were all impressed on how well it preformed. Makana compares the Verto 26 to his beloved flyweight pack and gives the Verto 26 kudos for a better back panel, three point compression and comfort when carrying. He also points to the ability to hang a hydration bladder and a large carrying capacity as added features. Overall outcome: Excited to recommend.

Brad’s experience with the Angstrom 30 brought to light many new benefits of the pack. He appreciated its size allowing him to easily carry all the necessary gear including but not limited to: stinky climbing shoes (strapped on the outside), climbing harness, belay gear/carabineers, extra clothing and outerwear, and a mammoth lunch (3 sandwiches, some fruit, 2 bottles of water, and a full bag of potato chips). Overall outcome: Brad now owns both an Angstrom 30 and a Verto 26.

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TNF Raleigh

Makana Dumlao

Peter Kaminski

Brad Muszalski

Jesse Riley

Never Stop Exploring

Chris' Camping Chronicles Vol. 1

I am a very inexperienced backpacker/camper so I asked Jesse, my friend of 20 years to take me on my first trip. Jesse has numerous trips throughout the U.S. under his belt so I knew he would make the outing a fun one. We decided to go to Mt. Greylock in Western Massachusetts. Mt. Greylock is the highest peak in Massachusetts at 3489 ft. though to you West Coasters it is merely a small hill. My gear list for the trip included our store's demo Minibus 23, Re-Meow, and Primero 70. Needless to say I had plenty of other TNF items on body and in my bag including a Venture parka, top and bottom baselayers, a TKA 100 and my favorite TNF piece the Zephyrus pullover, which I discovered makes a fabulous pillow when in its stow pocket!

Jesse and I headed out for two nights with the weather predicted to be cloudy and foggy the first day, but sunshine by the second and third day. As we hiked up the mountain we found that there was still 2-3 feet of snow in some of the pine forests, but fortunately it was packed down from other hikers so navigating it was a breeze. The Primero 70 was very comfortable and it was clear to me that without the support system contained in it my back would have been killing me! Jesse made it clear throughout the trip that I had brought far too much stuff, but at least I had the right bag for it! Our views from the top were obscured by excessive fog and clouds so we decided to move on to where we were going to camp for the night.

Our camp was right next to a brook which was rushing pretty hard due to the melting snow. It was an amazing place to set up camp. The water from the brook was crystal clear and the yummiest water I'd ever tasted. The ease of pitching the Minibus was great and although I knew all about the technology seeing it in action while camping was pretty exciting. The interior space was impressive and fit both of us very comfortably. Jesse cooked dinner for me and after the long hike that day I went to bed fairly early. The Re-Meow was the perfect bag to keep me toasty warm. It got down to around 32 degrees that night so I was happy to have such a warm bag.

Jesse snored all night long which allowed me very little sleep, but considering I was having a panic attack all night for fear of bears this mattered little. I awoke at the crack of dawn and found that it was snowing and there were very strong winds (see Jesse below having his morning coffee). What happened to my sunshine?! : (

After our breakfast and coffee we decided that we were going to cut our trip to just one night as the temperature was going to drop considerably the next night. As we hiked down the mountain I was a bit sad that the meteorologists in New England are clueless, but ultimately so happy that I got to go on this adventure with my best friend. As always, all of my TNF gear performed amazingly and lookout for Chris' Camping Chronicles Vol. 2 as Jesse and I are headed to the White Mtns. of New Hampshire in a couple of weeks.

Chris Barakat-TNF Natick