Last Updated: November 28, 2024



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  • Lone Goat & Snow Camp Mountain - hike (September 2023)
  • 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 - 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)

*As of 11/28/2024


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| Featured Trip Report |



Last Updated: Sep. 26, 2015

Mount Merritt - Old Sun Glacier, August 2015



*Report by Paul Klenke

Well it had to be done: to finish climbing the last of the six 10,000-ft peaks in Glacier National Park. Except this time we'd be loaded for (grizzly) bear. We'd have camping permits ahead of time so we could "legally" (i.e., not break the park's draconian camping rules). Our permits were scheduled for the first few days of August 2015. Before we got there we had heard that Mt. Merritt was arguably the most picturesque member of the six peaks. Now after having been there Sergio and I can opine that this is indeed the case. We only wish we had had better distant views while there. Forest fire smoke saw to that (or didn't saw to that, if you will). Mt. Merritt also has the allure of reasonable day-long approaches from different directions. And one approach affords a fantastic view of the mountain's glacier-mantled south side from an elevation about equal to the mid-section of the mountain itself (that is, not from far below in a valley, which generally tends to conceal a mountain's more aesthetic features). I'm referring to the approach via the Ptarmigan Tunnel. The tunnel itself is another notable feature of the park (more on that later).

I drove this time. I seem to drive on odd-numbered trips over there to Moooooontana. We made our "traditional" stop for lunch at the Wallace Brewery in Wallace, Idaho, only this time we didn't accidentally walk into the wrong establishment for the third time, and this time we weren't "bothered" by the old people posing as members of an accordion society. I love Wallace. It's probably the only town in America with a freeway for a roof. You have to visit there to see what I mean. The rest of the drive was fairly ordinary because we'd done it before. We met Agata in Columbia Falls a dozen or so miles outside of the park's west entrance. We had dinner. She joined us for hobo camp at the same location near Apgar that Sergio and I used the previous year. Only this time we couldn't get as far down the dirt track in the woods because the Verdina wagon is a low, black Audi with a nice paintjob. We hung out with the river rafting outfitter nearby for a bit in the evening before retiring (they had a keg of PBR!). The next day Sergio bid our Agata adieus and made our way into the park to officially obtain our camping permits. Agata would be doing her own thing for a few days then meet up with us later... (more...)

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