Last Updated: December 4, 2024



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Oh my! Quite the backlog here...

  • Isollilock Peak - scramble (October 2023)
  • Mount Manson - Mount Hatfield Traverse - scramble (October 2023)
  • The Gargoyles & Columnar Peak - scramble (October 2023)
  • Opal Cone and Lava Glacier - hike (October 2023)
  • Park Butte (WA) - hike (October 2023)
  • Trappers Peak (WA) - scramble (October 2023)
  • Rattlesnake Ledge (WA) - hike (November 2023)
  • Sauk Mountain (WA) - hike (November 2023)
  • Sunshine Coast (Mount Daniel, Pender Hill) - hike (November 2023)
  • Mount Dickerman (WA) - hike (November 2022)
  • Verona Peak AKA Winter's End - snowshoe (November 2023)
  • Dolomites (IT) - snowboard (December 2023)
  • Red Rock Canyon (NV) - scramble (January 2024)
  • Flute Summit & Oboe Summit - snowboard (February 2024)
  • Whistler Miscellaneous (Train Wreck, Loggers Lake, Shadow Lake and more) - hike (February 2024)
  • Mount Underhill - hike (March 2024)
  • Bombtram Mountain - snowshoe (March 2024)
  • Steep Peak - snowboard (March 2024)
  • Ruby Mountain (WA) - snowshoe (April 2024)
  • Blustry Mountain - hike (April 2024)
  • Sowerby Peak (Barr East) - snowshoe (April 2024)
  • Picacho Peak (AZ) - hike (April 2024)
  • Kitt Peak Observatory (AZ) - (April 2024)
  • Mount Wrightson (AZ) - hike (April 2024)
  • Saguaro National Park (AZ) - April 2024)
  • Superstition Peak/Benchmark (AZ) - scramble (April 2024)
  • Mount Humphreys (AZ) - hike (May 2024)
  • Petrified Forest National Park (AZ) - (May 2024)
  • Piestewa Peak (AZ) - hike (May 2024)
  • Channeled Scablands (WA | Columbia Gorge, Ancient Lakes, Potholes Lake, Palouse Falls and more) - hike (May 2024)
  • Rhododendron Mountain ("Pk. 2220") - snowshoe (June 2024)
  • Flora Peak - hike (June 2024)
  • Gibson Peak - snowshoe (June 2024)
  • Mount Urquhart - scramble (June 2024)
  • Rock Mountain (WA) - hike (July 2024)
  • Ladies Pass Quartet (WA | Cape Horn, Ladies Peak, Snowgrass NE Peak, Snowgrass Mountain) - scramble (July 2024)
  • Old Snowy (WA) - scramble (July 2024)
  • Dog Mountain (WA) - hike (July 2024)
  • Mount Ratney & Mount Bardean - scramble (July 2024)
  • Torrent Peak - scramble (July 2024)
  • Steep Peak - Darkside Peak Traverse - scramble (July 2024)
  • Silvertip Mountain - scramble (July 2024)
  • The Old Settler - scramble (July 2024)
  • Silent Hub Peak - scramble (August 2024)
  • Saint Jacobs Mountain - scramble (August 2024)
  • Mount David (WA) - scramble (August 2024)
  • Goat Mountain West Peak & Table Mountain (WA) - hike (August 2024)
  • Griswold Pass (Tuber Hill, Glacier View Peak, Subatomic Peaks: Baryon, Meson, Muon, Lepton) - scramble (September 2024)
  • Yellow Aster Butte (WA) - hike (September 2024)
  • Mazama Dome (WA) - hike (September 2024)
  • Ptarmigan Ridge - (WA | The Portals East Peak, Coleman Pinnacle) - hike (September 2024)
  • Tetrahedron Peak - scramble (September 2024)
  • Lone Cone & Peak 86 (Tofino) - hike (September 2024)
  • Mount Athelstan ("Pk. 2460") - scramble (September 2024)
  • Excelsior Peak and Cowap Peak (WA) - hike (October 2024)
  • Hollyburn Peak - hike (October 2024)
  • Cheam Peak - hike (October 2024)
  • Blanchard Needle - scramble (October 2024)
  • Debeck's Hill & 4 Lakes Loop - hike (October 2024)
  • Mount Hallowell - hike (November 2024)
  • Anderson Mountain (WA) - hike (December 2024)
  • Sumas Mountain (WA) - hike (December 2024)

*As of 12/04/2024


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| Featured Trip Report |



Last Updated: Sep. 14, 2004

Bugaboo Spire - Kain Route (South Ridge), August 2004



Dave and Michael's reports following their adventures in the Columbia Mountains during the summer of 2003 inspired me to make this road trip. Home to UNESCO World Heritage Site and Canada's first National Park - Banff National Park, I have long wanted to experience southeastern British Columbia for myself. Ironically, the suggestion to make the long journey, and tick off a few noteworthy peaks, sprang from Eric and me lamenting the poor weather forecast for the North Cascades (and elsewhere). "They (The Rockies) are well east of the crest", I recall mentioning to Eric, implying that the mountains lie in a rain shadow of sorts. With this skewed logic, we were quick to put our 4-day Luna/Fury climb on hold and went about making last-minute plans for a 5-day whirlwind tour of the Canadian Rockies. Our ambitious "power weekend" itinerary allowed for only one or two days worth of climbing in the Bugaboos. Time permitting; we'd enjoy a day of sightseeing in Yoho and Banff National Parks in The Rockies proper, and finally one last day of climbing in Glacier National Park. We'd be burning two entire days just driving there and returning to Seattle. A crash-course in classic Rocky Mountain weather, elation in success, frustration in failure, and a sense that our proverbial mountaineering "backyard" had expanded by some immeasurable amount followed.

Figuring on about 8 hours of driving time from Seattle to reach the Bugaboo Provincial Park turnoff, and about 2 hours of hiking to reach the luxurious Kain Hut, we weren't in too terrible a hurry to leave town. Punctuated by thunderstorms and heavy rain, the otherwise monotonous drive east to Spokane did little to bolster our optimism for nicer weather up north. The drive north through Coeur d'Alene and Sandpoint, however, brought back fond memories of my many ski trips to Schweitzer Mountain as an undergrad at WSU. Near the border, the Kootenay River Valley, through which we were traveling, took on a different, broader, almost Rockies-like appearance, minus the rocky peaks. It would later dawn on me that these gentle, forested mountains make up the Selkirk Range foothills of the Columbia Mountains, culminating with the rugged and heavily glaciated peaks within Glacier National Park and beyond. For now, however, the Selkirks would have to wait, for we were headed for Cranbrook, the town at the headwaters of the Columbia River and gateway to the Purcell Range and Rocky Mountains. (more...)

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