Last Updated: May 18, 2023



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  • Camelshoof Mountain - hike (June 2022)
  • Askom Mountain - hike (June 2022)
  • Metal Dome - hike (July 2022)
  • Mount Sproatt - hike (July 2022)
  • Mission Ridge/Peak - hike (July 2022)
  • Harris Ridge & Nea Peak - hike (July 2022)
  • Three Brothers Mountain - hike (July 2022)
  • Zupjok, Llama & Alpaca Peaks - hike (July 2022)
  • Shulaps Mountain - hike/scramble (August 2022)
  • Mount Sheer & Ben More - hike/scramble (August 2022)
  • Cathedral Mountain - hike/scramble (August 2022)
  • Mount Penrose - hike/scramble (August 2022)
  • Caltha Peak - hike/scramble (September 2022)
  • Beauty Peak - hike (September 2022)
  • Markhor-Needle Traverse & Flatiron - hike/scramble (September 2022)
  • Conway Peak - hike (September 2022)
  • Green Mountain/Pk 2200 - hike/scramble (September 2022)
  • Mount Brew (Whistler) - hike (September 2022)
  • Mount Barbour - hike/scramble (October 2022)
  • Mount Gillespie - hike/scramble (October 2022)
  • Cougar Mountain - hike/scramble (October 2022)
  • Barn Bluff (Red Wing, MN) - hike (October 2022)
  • Mount Steele - hike/snowshoe (November 2022)
  • American Mountain (attempt), Hunter Lookout - hike (November 2022)
  • Belcarra Mountain - hike (November 2022)
  • Oyster Dome - hike (November 2022)
  • Mount Thom & Cilliwack Mountain/Hillkeep - hike (December 2022)
  • Frenchman Mountain (Las Vegas, NV) - hike (January 2023)
  • Rolley Peak/Lookout - hike (January 2023)
  • Round Mountain - ski tour (February 2023)
  • Blowdown Peak - ski tour (February 2023)
  • Silverdaisy Mountain - ski tour (March 2023)
  • Spearhead Glacier/Husume Coulior - ski tour (March 2023)
  • Cowboy Ridge/Peak 2026 - ski tour (April 2023)
  • Slahanay Peak - hike (April 2023)
  • American Mountain & Mount Lincoln - hike (May 2023)
  • Mount Mclean Attempt, Red Rock Trail, Dragons Back Trail - hike (May 2023)
  • Coast Mountain Circle Route w/ family - drive/sightseeing (May 2023)
  • Stawamus Chief (South, Middle & North) - hike (June 2023)

*As of 06/05/2023


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| Featured Trip Report |



Last Updated: Nov. 3, 2003

East Wilmans Spire - South Face, September 2003



If you're looking for an easy technical climb that can be completed in the short daylight of an autumn day, is within reasonable driving distance from Seattle, and offers up great views of the Mountain Loop area, look no further. By the way, East Wilmans Spire (EWS) is also a good climb to consider if you have to be back in Seattle by 7pm to attend your buddy's bachelor party. I sold Andy Ball on the idea (the climb, not the stripper party) who in turn invited James Cunnigham to also join us. James lives in Winthrop and was planning on visiting Andy in Seattle anyway. With a long drive ahead of him that Friday night, James suggested just meeting up with us at Barlow Pass the next morning. If he wasn't there when we arrived we were to just proceed without him. Andy and I pulled up beside James' truck at Barlow Pass shortly before 8am. We didn't envy his sleepless night in the truck, and so cut him some slack while he took an eternity to pack and get ready. Finally, we hopped on our bikes and began the 4-mile ride to Monte Cristo. Either my pack was really heavy or I was just tired myself, but the hill climbs wasted me! We locked our bikes in town, next to several other bikes already secured to the bike rack. With bike shoes stashed in the bushes, we started hiking up towards Glacier Basin. This would be my third trip to Glacier Basin and yet the scenery continues to impress me.

We encountered a party of three relaxing in the sunshine as we reached Glacier Basin. Andy and James apparently knew two of the guys from their high school days back on Bainbridge Island. We learned that there was also a party of two ahead of us (we could barely see them ascending the talus slope above us). Planning on climbing the South Face of EWS as well, the party of three seemed content just letting us get ahead of them. Bonus! The scramble up the scree and talus slope that fans out below EWS is tedious and loose, and hints at what lies ahead. Most years, the gully that continues up to the notch below EWS is snow-filled, becoming steep an icy later in the season. How odd, we thought, it was for the party ahead of us to leave crampons and axes behind. A short scramble into the horribly loose gully confirmed that it was in fact mostly snow-free, with only a small finger of snow and fallen blocks of ice accumulated at a constriction. The snow and ice was passable by odd an uncomfortable squeezing and stemming moves in the moat on the left then back right, around a final block of ice for one final pitch of wet, rotten, ball bearings-on slabs to the notch. All said, the gully is 3rd class, with a bit of 4th here and there. The moist and generally rotten rock demand one's full attention. Party induced rock-fall is definitely a consideration. (more...)

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