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 Peak bagging, bushwhacking, zamboni driving, snowshoeing, self portrait artist, and speed demon who loves to hang out on Mt. Seymour
3994 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2008 : 09:45 AM
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Work had gotten in the way of doing this trip with DBlair and Spectrum a couple of months ago and spotty weather more recently. Things aligned themselves and Darren and I were snowshoeing up to near Artist Point from the Mt. Baker ski area at 10:30.
Gaining the ridge we got a view of where we wanted to go.
 
1. Mt. Baker, can you spot the pinnacle?
2. A close up.
Contouring around the south side of Table Mountain we headed in a southwest direction. Quite a bit of avalanche debris on the south slopes.
 Darren in action. Shuksan behind.
 The Pinnacle doesn't look too far off from here.
After passing Table we drop down slightly and things really open up and we see that we still have a long way to go yet.
 Shuksan in all it's glory.
More traversing gets us to the base of a small ridge. The sun had burnt through the high cloud cover but the wind had picked up.
 Getting a little closer.
I elect to drop down into a bowl and up the other side. Darren was fussing about my choice as he wanted to go up and over. After some grumblings he followed me and we regained the ridge above another bowl northeast of the pinnacle.
 I took a lot of pictures of this mountain today.
 Looking back at Tomyhoi, Border Peaks, Larrabee and Barometer(?).
 Coleman Pinnacle on the left.
We were going to go up a heavily corniced ridge, but with that and the wind blowing snow all over the place Darren made the choice to drop down into the NE bowl. Now it was my turn to grumble as we traversed along and then dropped down some more. This was followed by a long ascent to gain the saddle between the two peaks seen in the picture above.
After doing this we both were tired out. From where we were the pinnacle rose up steeply. The thing was (I discovered later) we were on the wrong side of it. The scramble route is on the other side. Looking at steep snow slopes I figured I could probably bag it from this side. Darren wasn't so keen. I put on my crampons and traversed over to the southeast face.
Things got really steep in a hurry and I took my time kicking in good steps and plunging in my iceaxe. A couple of parts got really steep and I only looked back down once as I didn't like what I could see. Darren was on the ridge freezing his ass off in the wind watching my progress.
Eventually the slope grew less steep and I made my way along the heavily corniced edge to the summit. Here I saw the tracks from people who came up the right way.
 Mt. Baker from the summit.
 Me with Shuksan behind.
Just before the summit I had noticed a snow gully descending the south face and I decided to head down that instead of taking off the crampons and downclimbing the rocky scramble standard route. This went okay except for some sloughing of snow in one spot. I then worked my way around the south side and ascended back to where I'd left my snowshoes.
Putting them back on I met up with Darren and we headed back. The wind was really blowing at times creating some cool looking spindrift.
 Coleman Pinnacle from near where I left my snowshoes. Ascent line is basically skyline.
 Looking back from where we came from.
 The route taken to the summit.
We didn't drop down into the northeast bowl this time, but stuck to the ridge. Shuksan was dominating the views and I took more pictures.
    
1. Coleman Pinnacle, a sub peak and spindrift.
2. Shuksan.
3. CP and Baker.
4. Shuksan again (you can see why it is one of the most photographed mountains in the USA).
5. A black and white aspect.
Finally we pass under the south side of Table. Plans earlier in the day were to head up here too, but we were pretty tired out by now.
 Still smiling though.
Up a little more to the Artist Point area, a few more photos and then we head down to the parking lot.
 Ruth Mountain.
 Larrabee and The Pleiades with Slesse rear right.
A little over six hours round trip (felt like more), we had some nice tan lines between our shorts and gators. And then we went home . |
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Coffee swillin', wine lovin', Owl fearin' Andie McDowell stunt double, who sports retro gear
Vancouver, BC
5464 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2008 : 10:59 AM
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| Looks like an amazing day! |
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Vancouver
349 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2008 : 11:05 AM
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really interesting route. what a wonderful trip !!! |
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Fast hikin, carrot chompin, always grinnin, gear scatterin recipient of the Theta Lake manouver
Burnaby
2039 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2008 : 11:55 AM
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Nice pictures Simon.
The pinnacle doesn't looks so close in your first pic. Only 6 hours-must be deceiving. Shuksan is beautiful indeed! Did you buy Darren a hot chocolate for waiting in the cold wind? |
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Tumbler Ridge, BC
Canada
391 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2008 : 12:17 PM
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Sweet shot.
Looks like a good trip on backcountry skis! |
Edited by - gamos on 03/07/2008 12:17 PM |
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Happy go lucky, plaid wearin, postholin, safeway gaitor sportin, old-school film shootin, giver of many regards
Abbotsford, B.C.
Canada
13441 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2008 : 12:17 PM
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Simon.
As usual great trip, superb reporting, and awesome photos. You do find some great journeys, well done.
K |
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 Best grilled cheese maker ever
Whitehorse, YUKON
Canada
2142 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2008 : 12:36 PM
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quote:
Did you buy Darren a hot chocolate for waiting in the cold wind?
Ha! He made me buy him a bag of chips, but it was worth it because I got to listen to a crazy Mexican lady complain about having her car searched for guns and being hassled by the Sheriff all the time. Plus, the chips were only 69 cents. |
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Surrey, BC
Canada
947 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2008 : 1:06 PM
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| I kept wondering about going up from that side when we went, it did look pretty steep from what I remember. Good job getting up it that way. |
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 chinese hot-pot gourmand, costco pirate, 103 hikes completin', picture postin', commander of our newest canadian trekkers
Vancouver, BC
Canada
1740 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2008 : 1:24 PM
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| nice, I'll go there this Saturday |
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Utah's canyon trekking,deck chair packing desert explorer who dreams of visiting Canada someday
3988 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2008 : 2:07 PM
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Another outstanding trek! Windswept terrain looks unforgiving.
Shuksan in all it's glory is my favorite pic. Is there a small lake at the base where all those trees get really thick?
I can't get out today...the physical therapist hosed up my session.
He was short handed, in a super hurry, forgot what he was doing with me, seemed derailed and really jacked the one side of my knee. Icing down, big time today. Too bad, because the sun is really shinging right now. Great that you two finally got together on this one.
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Abbotsford, BC
Canada
1005 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2008 : 5:47 PM
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| Nice trip! |
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Best grilled cheese maker ever
Whitehorse, YUKON
Canada
2142 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2008 : 6:58 PM
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quote:
I elect to drop down into a bowl and up the other side. Darren was fussing about my choice as he wanted to go up and over. After some grumblings he followed me and we regained the ridge above another bowl northeast of the pinnacle.
I was fussing because it was the wrong way!
quote:
We were going to go up a heavily corniced ridge, but with that and the wind blowing snow all over the place Darren made the choice to drop down into the NE bowl. Now it was my turn to grumble as we traversed along and then dropped down some more. This was followed by a long ascent to gain the saddle between the two peaks seen in the picture above.
He was fussing because I was trying to fix his mistake!
A few more pics.
  
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Edited by - darren on 03/07/2008 7:04 PM |
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Vancouver, BC
Canada
1126 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2008 : 7:42 PM
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I spent most of the day playing tetris (the project I was marking). Good to know I didn't miss much  . Thanks for the report. |
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double-double seeking, snow-chasing, short-cutting, vertical feet collector
4523 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2008 : 8:17 PM
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I love these photos best:
lovely trip Simon and Darren, and fabulous photos! |
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Fowl photographin, animal lovin, thread trollin, dry bag humpin, canoe canoodler
Vancouver, BC
Canada
4036 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2008 : 8:27 PM
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I'll have to pick this one too... 
but it's not an easy choice as there are so many stunners to choose from. Thanks for sharing the shots and another great TR! |
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Peak bagging, bushwhacking, zamboni driving, snowshoeing, self portrait artist, and speed demon who loves to hang out on Mt. Seymour
3994 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2008 : 9:29 PM
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Thanks for the comments.
Darren and I both erred nearing the pinnacle. We should have stayed more on the south side of the ridge past the bowl.
Rented Mule, there maybe tarns in the area, but the only thing I could find on a map was a Lake Ann low down in the valley. |
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1355 Posts |
Posted - 03/11/2008 : 4:25 PM
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| Nice trip, guys. Well done. |
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bandana wearin', pole huckin', view lovin', dog herdin', 4x4 navigatin', lake huntin', butt-slidin' bridge crosser, who enjoys postholing with an overnighter pack
Surrey, BC
Canada
4646 Posts |
Posted - 03/11/2008 : 5:43 PM
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I loved the 1st report by DBlair & Spectrum and this one is no different! What a nice trip  .
Awesome pics Simon |
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 | Nis
Intermediate Member
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Langley, BC
777 Posts |
Posted - 03/11/2008 : 9:11 PM
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| Great shots and trip guys looks like a good one. |
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Ptarmigan Ridge & Coleman Pinnacle. Mar 06 08
