On your marks...

And so begins another season of Rainier and North Cascades climbing. Our Denali Preparation course was a mixture of terrible and perfect weather - great for preparing for the big hill. Thirty-one degrees and raining to bluebird skies and 80 degrees... you never know what you're going to get up there.

But we did get to summit of Mt Rainier, the first Denali Prep course of the season to do so, thanks to strong climbers, perfect weather, and a snowpack that was solid enough not to avalanche in the first warming cycle of the year.

Even better, with the sleds required to pull heavy loads on Denali, we were able to slide down the 4500 feet elevation back to the parking lot, a normally obnoxious descent in soft snow. Sweet!

A couple Rainier summit climbs and a 6-day glacier course will keep me busy for the next month while summer tries to arrive in Seattle...

Wilderness time

After yet another plan change once I left town, I did indeed manage to get out kayaking. Turns out Ross Lake is down 100 feet below its normal level (managed to make room for spring runoff), so there's a whole lot of bare gravel surrounding it currently - not the serene experience I was looking for. So off to Lake Chelan...

So it has the occasional motor boat, passenger ferry, and float plane, but pre-Memorial Day, it was actually pretty peaceful. The ranger station was closed for the weekend, so I hand-copied the display board map and set off.

The farther up the lake you go, the windier it gets, apparently, even early in the morning. I did make it within looking distance of Stehekin, at the far end of the 55-mile lake (I started about mile 10), but at that point there were whitecaps and 1-2 foot waves in addition to a pretty strong headwind, so looking seemed sufficient. I turned around and went back to a camping spot.

Not a lot to say or take pictures of on a solo kayak trip - there's water, trees, mountains, and the occasional beached-kayak picture. The last three days were all pretty rough water, and my arms were definitely ready to be done, having let my legs do most of the outdoor work for the last several months. This morning, tired of fighting the wind (a tailwind is actually much more tiring to control the boat in!), I pulled up about ten miles short of my car, walked/hitched to where it was parked and drove back to the kayak.

It was, however, overall great weather - a nice dose of sunshine for those of us who are convinced spring will never actually come to the Northwest. (It snowed briefly as I was coming back over the pass!) Now it's back to work until September...

Chaos

Last week on Rainier was, indeed, cold and snowy - all except the last day as we were leaving, of course. The better to prepare folks for Denali, I suppose.

These two weeks, however, have been much less structured - it's amazing how hard it can be to make a trip happen. Of the solicited suggestions from friends, I've probably planned and changed plans to include nearly all of them:

Week-long canyoneering trip to Zion. Nope, conditions are bad, so week-long kayak trip, then ski St Helens. Nope, I actually have a place to stay for the week so short bike trip and ski St Helens. Nope, people are coming back early, so long bike trip and ski St Helens. Nope, St Helens friend can't do it, so back to a week-long kayak trip. Next!!

Currently planning to kayak somewhere for a week, not sure where yet. Until tomorrow, when it will all change again...

Off to work

The weather has been crazy for the last little while - snow and hail in the city for the last few days, and more this weekend. Freezing levels have been around 1500 feet, so there's a lot of snow out there! Good for the climbing season, bad for poor Seattlites who are starting to wonder if we'll ever see the sun again.

Fortunately, I have to get out, even if I would rather sit on the couch and eat chocolate - the Denali Prep courses mean a week of whatever weather Mt Rainier hands us. Off we go!

Picked up and brought in

Ah, the damp and chilly experience that is the Northwest in spring. Of twelve days out, eight of them were spent in rain gear, sometimes admiring the shining aliveness of the rainforest, sometimes head down wishing I had decided to bike in Arizona instead.

Took the ferry across the water from Seattle and caught the Hood Canal bridge to Highway 101. Around the top of the Olympic Peninsula, then down the coast and around the various harbors at places like Aberdeen. Crossed over into Oregon with a few days left, so kept going south a bit past Tillamook before taking a left and heading in to Portland - about 588 miles all together.

Camped mostly along beaches, logging land, and closed campgrounds and didn't see another person camping the whole time. Beautiful. It's been a while since I did a solo trip (too long!), and possibly longer since I was over on the coast. It cleared up for a beautiful weekend heading into Portland where a friend came down to do double duty visiting his friend there and picking me up.

The funny thing is, despite the rain, I didn't really want to come back. At least once I found myself thinking that I could just keep going and head all the way down through Mexico... I felt like I ran away from home and got picked up, taken back, and told to play by the rules. I'll try to pretend, at least for a while.

Down time

Hell's Canyon was nice - managed to find a little camp spot by a stream and have some nature time to myself. Lovely.

How to stay in shape and out of trouble (ie sitting on the couch or spending lots of money)... Took the last week to catch up with some Seattle friends, hiking and climbing and skiing, and get affairs like oil changes and drivers license renewals in order. A couple more days of that, then ready to head off on a bike trip to Portland, the long way.

It's about 430 miles around the north side of the Olympic Peninsula on Hwy 101 then down to Rain City avoiding the interstate. Plenty of time to ride as slow or fast as I want, with a couple days to escape the rain if need be. The weather's supposed to clear up next week (it snowed in the city today!), but it is, after all, spring in the Northwest. Rainy and 41 degrees...

Planning to return to town mid-April, with little chance of internet on the trek. Til then, it's central heating appreciation fortnight - enjoy!

Apply powder liberally

Didn't realize I left things hanging in my mad dash from Alta to Oregon, but all is well!

I just got down from doing some powder hosting for Wallowa Alpine Huts for the last 11 days. (see wallowahuts.com) It was great, and exactly what the WFR manual proscribes for cracked ribs. A super-steep learning curve, getting to know the skin tracks and secret powder runs of the basin, but my lead hosts were generous and patient and extremely knowledgeable. It's a beautiful place, deep in the wilderness. The yurts are far enough in that day skiers don't come all the way in, and an hour of skinning yields whatever kind of terrain you're looking to ski, from some steep chutes to wide open bowls. Met some really cool guests, including some wild women from Idaho, and had a great time. Very much looking forward to spending more time here next winter.

A few pictures here pirated from the WAH website - more current ones if people send theirs to share.

It will be a little while longer until I don't have to worry about my rib, but I can actually take a deep breath again and almost sleep on my left side! It's the little things...

CB doesn't need me for the rest of the ski season here, so I have a whole month before work resumes in Washington. Headed out now for a few days of backpacking around Hell's Canyon since I'm in the area, then I'll need to get creative for the next little while to keep myself entertained. So far the potential list includes: cycling down the coast in the rain, living in the yome for a while, taking up residence in a fire lookout, heading for Moab or back to Alta... Low-budget suggestions accepted!