(re-posted from Tom's nwhikers report, photos by Tom S. & Sergio V.) Originally this trip was supposed to end at Trinity via High Pass and Buck Creek Pass, but intense electrical storms had us changing our itinerary. This is essentially a repeat of a trip Tom and Geoff did in August of 2011, but this time we kept on the N side of the range instead of the S. We wound up traversing the Richardson, Pilz, Butterfly and Moth Glaciers. The descent down Thunder Creek was made more pleasant thanks to very recent work by a trail crew w/ horses. Those must be some cowboys to get horses up there! Our hats are off.

We started from and ended at White River TH. We ascended Clark via the Klenke/Sjolseth cross-country Y-Basin route, passing within 400' of the summit. We then continued on traversing the N side of the crest, climbing Luahna and Chalangin Peak along the way. We had one particularly sweet high camp at ~7900' on the Napeequa/Thunder divide above the Butterfly Glacier. Lightning was intense here, and we nearly got struck with several bolts cracking right on top of us. We dropped back onto the S side via a key ramp from the upper Moth, before climbing Tenpeak, then setting up another camp in upper Thunder Basin (gorgeous). We dropped back down to the White River trail via the climber's path in Thunder Creek. Good routefinding required here to keep the trail!

Highlights:
-30+ goats in one herd (pictured somewhere below)
-Perseid Meteor Shower
-ISS sighting and likely also the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle-4 (HTV-4)  chasing down the ISS in preparation for capture and birthing with
 Harmony node on 8/9/13.
-Almost getting hit by lightning (more than once)
-Two all-night thunderstorms w/ hail, high winds, and lots-o-lightning
-Stupendous views
-Saw nobody the entire trip

(re-posted from Monte's nwhikers report, photos by Monte V. & Sergio V.) After much inquiring and emailing in search of a partner for this trip, I finally succeeded in securing Monte V's company on an ascent of North Hozomeen. Next decision was trail or swath (as in border). We decided on the trail given the recent trail maintenance reported by Eric J. here. He's right; the trail is in good shape, ALL THE ENDLESS NO-GAIN SWITCHBACKS ARE IN GREAT SHAPE. We nevertheless made good time, stopping for camp at Point 6350 with a primo view of the peak.

We got going at 7:30am with some morning mists hanging around the summits. The clouds provided shade as we made our way through the basin and toward the mountain. We both like rock scrambling and chose to stay on rock most of the way up. Contrary to my fears, the rock was solid -- hand and foot holds were secure and there wasn't much danger of party-induced rock fall beyond some pebbles. Where water flowed down the rocks it was slippery even when not steep, so we stuck to the dry rock. We ran into one short 20' 4th class step between the snowfields, but the holds were good. Other than that I can't say it's more than semi-exposed 3rd the rest of the way up. There are lots of ledges to rest on, but I'd advise gloves -- the rock is sharp. Hozomeen supposedly means "sharp rock", but others have suggested that it's Fraser Indian dialect for "twin peaks with a rocky depression between". I guess we've applied "twin peaks" to more than enough mountains to share vague naming practices with the Fraser Indians.

Our descent route was mostly the same way, diverting to the remaining snow for a bit. I had to re-climb 300' to retrieve poles I temporarily forgot I left -- did that in 20 minutes up and down while Monte ate lunch. Then it was the many miles of trail back out. How many? Too many. And yeah, ALL THE ENDLESS NO-LOSS SWITCHBACKS ARE IN GREAT SHAPE. While we were camped and climbing the Fat Dog 100 race was conducted on the Skyline II Trail. My ankles and knees hurt just thinking about it. No thanks!