Complete Alpine Swan Crest traverse

I finally traversed the alpine crest of the Swans from Swan peak to Morrell mountain.  The trip was just as challenging as I had feared, and more beautiful than I could have imagined.

High in the Swans.

Day 1:  Conor and I rolled out from the Squeezer creek trailhead at first light after a good night of sleep.  The trail has been cleared this year, so we made good walking time to the lakes, and reasonable time to the summit.  The traverse into the head of Lion creek was slightly more challenging than a week ago, with firmer snow at the cruxy pinch, and less easy snow for glissading.  Nevertheless, it went quickly enough.  I modified our route to Lion pass, dropping way off the ridge to the main trail shortly after the nice alpine tarn walking deteriorated.  This blue collar variation still had a lot of beargrass and general slowness, but it worked well enough, and we were soon plodding up to Lion pass, then walking a good trail above the lakes in the head of Palisade creek.  This is the section where my stomach rebelled the previous trip, and it was simply marvelous to be moving easily and happily.

Steep hiking in Squeezer creek.  All photos of me are taken by Conor Phelan.

Over Swan peak, and into the head of Lion creek.

Nice off trail hiking in Lion creek.

Conor near Lion pass.

We kept plodding to Owl peak, worked our way down the scrappy West side, and plodded through a few hours of nondescript but passable easy bushwacking to my previous bail point.  The Union alpine section was awesome.  We weren't really tired yet, and it was fun to just kind of float along.  I tried a different descent off the unnamed highest peak.  Unfortunately, it was terribly loose and scary, and took us a lot of time.  Next time I will try going even farther down the east ridge before turning south to get off this vexing peak.  We returned to the ridge for the last few peaks before Smith creek pass.  The day was getting late, and Conor was OK with conceding the summit of Cooney peak, so we descended to a treeline camp directly below Cooney.   As would be the trend each day, we arrived at camp at dusk, ate a few cold food calories, and immediately tucked into sleeping bags for the night.  I slept well.

Interesting loose and steep downclimbing coming off Owl peak. 

Heading into the alpine near Union peak.

In the fun stuff near Union peak.

Looser and more terrible than it looks downclimbing near Smith Creek pass.

Sunset at the end of Day one.

Day 2: We were up at first light and walking by 6:30.  Conor's ankle was very stiff, but fortunately it loosened up, and he was able to continue with me to his planned exit point at the Holland lookout. It only took an hour to get up to the crest, and we were soon cruising along the immaculate section above the Albino basins.  Conor was nervous about the exposure, so we worked through all of the tricky bits together.  Conor also spotted a pair of bears grazing on moths in the basins west of Albino. The morning was delightful, and we summited Holland by mid morning.  Now in familiar terrain, we worked over Buck and Woodward, and were soon at Conor's departure point.  It was sad to see him depart, but he still had to get out and run a 20+ mile bike shuttle before driving home. I dropped down to the trail and jogged down to upper Holland lake, taking a few stops to refill water and cool off in the creeks.

Conor getting things rolling on day two.

On the long exposed ridge leading up to Holland peak.

Conor at the technical crux of the ridge north of Holland peak.
Easy climbing but very exposed.

On the standard descent off Holland peak.

On tap for the second half of the day was a rather audacious plan to traverse the Clearwater group, and I immediately got to work walking briskly up the trail to Gordon pass, then off trail to the base of Carmine, then up clean rock slabs to the summit. I topped out on Carmine at 3 pm, ready for more impeccable ridglines!  Much to my surprise, I saw a lone figure scratching his way up Carmine.  It ended up being a Missoula acquaintance, and it was interesting to compare notes as our paths crossed.  Also to my surprise, I started getting some twinges in my right quad.  I was of course immediately concerned, and cut out all downhill running. Wolverine came quickly enough, as did Ptarmigan point.  My quad was definitely tweekey, but it seemed manageable.  There is one easy 5th class chimney step on the North ridge of Ptarmigan peak which was more challenging than I remembered.  I had hoped to find a work around, but didn't, and ended up just carefully working through the easy 5th class chimney with suspect rock.  This 20 foot step is substantially more difficult than anything else in the Clearwater group, and I need to go back and puzzle out an easier route,  It must exist.  Anyway, at this point, sunset was only an hour away, and there is a lot of ground to cover on the way to Fisher, so I walked over the summit without stopping.  Fortunately, all of the tricky routefinding decisions on the traverse to Fisher went down without a hitch, and I pulled up onto the summit ridge of Fisher just after sunset.  I was too knackered to mess around with unknown terrain in the dark, so I immediately dropped into the headwaters of Babcock creek without climbing the last 100 vertical feet to the exact summit.

Trail running to Necklace lakes.

Through Holland creek, ready to climb Carmine peak.

On Wolverine, looking to Ptarmigan point and peak. 4 pm and still a long way to go.

Nearing the North ridge of Ptarmigan peak.

Finally closing in on Fisher.

My quad was quite painful on the descent to camp, and  I had to to a lot of compensation with the other leg.  After a quick tasty bite dinner (heavy but delicious), I went to bed fairly worried about completing the trip the following day.  I didn't sleep as well the second night because a buck deer spent much of the night ranging around my bivy site and I was worried he would eat my shoes.

Day 3:  I was up at first light again, walking before 6.  To my delight, my quad was much better, and it seemed reasonable to proceed as long as I used poles to compensate on downhills and didn't run.  The first hour through Grizzly basin was magical.  As soon as the terrain got complicated, I made a series of routefinding blunders that cost me almost two hours.  To make a frustratingly slow morning brief, I did a lot of nasty sidehilling in Morrell creek, and monkeying around in the steep rock steps just before Crescent.  Nevertheless, I summited Crescent by late morning.

An hour into the day.  Sunrise in Grizzly basin. 

More early morning light in Grizzly basin.

After too much slow going in Grizzly basin, I finally topped out on the ridge near Crescent.  
And promptly spent about two hours monkeying my way there

Concerned with finishing in one piece in the daylight, I bypassed both Marshall summits and proceeded straight to Pyramid peak.  It took a while to get there, but I was in familar terrain.  From Pyramid, a quick bop down to Pyramid lake had me ready for all new country on the traverse out to Morrell Mountain.  I had planned to skip Divine peak on the unmaintained trail that eventually connects to Youngs pass, but somehow got on the wrong trail.  By the time I realized my error, I was on the wrong side of Divine.  I made a snap decision to just punch it up to the summit and figure out  the rest of the route from there.  So I did.  Fortunately, I could clearly see the correct trail from the summit.  A quick descent put me on the trail and the home stretch.  By this point, eight of my toes had blisters on both the tops and bottoms (my ring toes were mercifly spared, don't ask me why), so each step was accompanied with a nice little stab of pain.  But blisters heal, my quad was feeling good, and I was going to finish one way or another.  The fiveish miles of trail were actually quite pleasant.  There was a lot of water, and I stopped a few times to re hydrate and keep the shirt soaked.  The mental break from routefinding was refreshing, and it was fun to see a lot of new country.  Soon enough, I departed the trail and hopped on the extended North ridge of Morrell at the headwaters of Blind Canyon.  Aside from the extremely sad state of my toes, the ridge to Morrell was fun and fast.  My energy was good, and the high points started clicking off quickly one after the other.  Soon enough, I was on Morrell mountain proper, chomping my last Gu Chomp, and generally enjoying the last little bit of foot powered travel.  A quick hobble was all it took to return to my bike, stashed near the lookout cabin.  I had left my car at the Seeley creek trailhead in case I had to bail, but the 15-mile bike ride took less than an hour, and provided a nice little cool down from the adventure.  Back at the car, it was delightful to finally sit down and gingerly peel socks off blistered feet.  It was even better to make it home and see the family, since three days away from our little one is about as much as I can handle these days.

At the pass between the Marshall summits, looking back to Crescent.

On Pyramid.  Morrell mountain finally visible in the distance.

Blistered trail walking on the way to Morrell. 

Celebration number one on Morrell, 15 minutes from the bike.

Celebration number two back at the bike.
My feet hurt like a bugger, and I was more than ready to coast it in to the car and excited to see my family.

Thoughts:  What an incredible trip.  It was amazing to see so much wild country, and I had an absolute blast.  Being a little burned out on racing, it was gratifying to complete a challenge that tested my physically and psychologically with an adequate buffer of safety.  I did not complete the route in perfect style, bypassing both Cooney and Marshall peaks, and not summiting Fisher.  I am personally satisfied with the trip, but there is a lot of room for someone to improve on my route in terms of time and style. 

It was a little bit disconcerting to end the trip so smashed physically, but I learned a little bit about durability, and only had to take one day off of walking, so no worries. My body has been a lot healthier this summer than last year, and it is wonderful to be able to be able to put in long efforts like this.  Overall recovery timeline was similar to the few long ultras I have done: back to walking in a day, back to easy runs in three days, back to moderate workouts in a week, about two weeks to to full physical recovery.  Three weeks out, I'm still not mentally recovered, which is fine.  A huge thanks to Leah helping with the shuttle, and for all of the support in allowing this trip to happen.

The route itself was pretty awesome, however all of the connecting segments require blue collar schwackery, and detract from the overall quality of the outing (Swan to Lion pass, Holland lookout to Carmine, Fisher to Crescent, Divine to Morrell).  Fortunately, each alpine section makes its own nice long day trip.

I need to statistics, but it was around 60 miles, and around 28k vert.  I was out for sixty one hours, and spend 43 hours moving.

Failure in the Swans

Wretched definition: (of a person) in a very unhappy of unfortunate state.
Scaled to first world standards, that pretty much sums it up. 

With generous help from family and friends, I started hiking up Squeezer creek at 8 pm on a random Monday evening, hoping to traverse from Swan peak to Morrell mountain the Swans.  I had a fun dusk patrol hike in to the lower lake, slept well, and was on the summit of Swan peak the following day before 9.  Unfortunately, something didn't settle in my stomach, and my condition deteriorated as I moved along new-to-me terrain to Lion pass and above the unnamed lakes near Owl peak.  By late morning, my body bottomed out, and I puked and lay down for a 3-hour nap.

Fun, fast travel coming off Swan peak.

Striking tarn in the headwaters of Lion creek.

Eventually, I got up and got moving again, but staying hydrated post-puking was challenging, and honestly, just staying upright on my feet was a chore as I slogged over Owl peak.  Overwhelmed by the daunting length of the outing given my deteriorated condition, I decided to bail by mid-afternoon.  The remaining daylight hours were spent slowly crossing the headwaters of the South fork of Lion creek, and descending to the road below Pony lake.  The following day, I felt much better and jogged out to the highway, hitched to Seeley, retrieved my bike, and returned home by mid afternoon with my tail tucked firmly between my legs.

Thoughts:  I am committed to getting out of the mountains safely every time, and made the right decision to bail.  The stomach distress was a one-off, and it was not realistic to complete such a daunting outing in my deteriorated state.  That being said, I am bitterly disapointed.  Having failed at several multi day outings over the years, and at a string of races in the past year, it is hard not to wonder if I have the mental toughness to execute long and challenging outings like this.  On a positive note, I am recovering very quickly, and am excited at how much healthier my body is overall this year compared to last year, especially my knee.  And, I think I have gear dialed and sufficient motivation to give it another go.

Stay tuned for a rematch! 

Northern Swans, Union to Cooney traverse

It is time to get back to summer mountain scrambling.  I got the short summer season rolling by checking off the last portion of the high Swan crest that I had not yet seen.  It was a great day, and it was good to finally summit the beautiful Union peak, which is the last of the major peaks on the Swan crest that I had not previously climbed.  

I started the day by biking the easy 6-mile shuttle and following the good climber's trail to Pony lake.  I jumped up onto the ridge at the lake, although in retrospect it might have been quicker to bushwack a little farther up the drainage.  The climb of Union peak was straightforward and fun.  There were a lot of slow sections between Union and the crest, and it took about an hour more than expected to reach the Swan crest.  In retrospect, I should have hopped down on snow and passed the slow sections on the North.  

Nearing the final ridge to Union peak.  Pony lake in the background.

Union peak on the right, and the traverse to the crest off the looker's left ridgeline.

The first few peaks of the crest were fast, clean, and fun.  The South ridge of the highest peak is steep and cliffy, and it took quite a bit of route sleuthing, some very solid 4th class downclimbing, and lots of scree and choss management to make it down.  To my surprise, the next section of ridge was steep and scary, so I bypassed it on the East.  In retrospect, I think it might be better to take the easiest Southeast gully off the high peak, bypass the technical ridge section, then climb back to the crest for the last two peaks.  

Looking out along the best part of the ridge from the crest.

Looking back at the first half of the ridge.

Downclimbing crux.

Steep snow, with the tricky Southwest face of the high peak behind.

The remaining traverse to Smith creek pass was fast and enjoyable.  I had an extra few minutes, and used all of them summiting Cooney peak, which adds about half an hour over just heading down the trail from the pass.  The 5 mile trail run out was downfall free and a blast.  I did take one tumble, shattering the screen on my cheap camera.  This is why I have always just used cheap digital cameras.  

Fun, fast travel near the pass. 

On Cooney, ready to head home.

Rolling home.

The drive back was quick, even with the shuttle, and I was back in town just 3.5 hours after leaving the summit of Cooney.  I have been re-doubling my efforts at spending more time at a true nose-breathing easy aerobic pace, and spent the day not too much above that effort level.  I was pleasantly tired by the time the truck came into view at 8 hours, 50 minutes bike to car, not including the 30-minute bike shuttle.  Just under 8,000 vertical feet.

Crescent to Pyramid tour in the Swans

This post is a few months late, but I already miss ski season.  With generous help from a close friend, we were able to get out of the house super early on a beautiful, hot May day, intent on getting the tour done in time for day care pick up.

Leah skiing off the summit of Pyramid peak.

We left the car at the Morrell creek bridge around 5:15 am, and made an efficient push up Crescent.  We walked to about 6,500 feet, and from there the snow was firm enough that we were able to walk most of the remaining climb in ski boots. We had packed all manner of tasty treats, and ate like royalty on each summit, which was a nice diversion from an entrenched pattern of endless bars and sesame sticks.  From the summit of Crescent, we skied good corn on the Southwest face to the bottom of the main avalanche path.

Keeping an eye out for Morrells during the approach through the Rice Ridge fire.

Leah topping out on Crescent.

Near the bottom of the Crescent run.

The climb up West Marshall was quick and still relatively cool.  We skied the skier's left of the two main avalanche paths, which was excellent and conveniently deposited us high enough to simplify the next climb.  By this higher route, the push up Pyramid was blissfully easy.  I pushed the last climb a bit and took a cat nap on the summit before rejoining Leah.  We traversed down the west ridge of Pyramid before dropping into the longest, cleanest of the avalanche paths, which had good corn top to bottom.  We ran out of snow shortly after hitting the trail, which made for a relatively long walk out, but it was enjoyable.  We easily made it back in time for day care pick up.

... and back up to West Marshall.

Leah eating tasty snacks on West Marshall.

Good turns heading toward Pyramid.

Good turns heading home.

Such a good day.  It would be nice to add runs in along the way, but I think we pretty much nailed the most logical link up.  I think it is one of the very best outings around Missoula, even with the challenging road access.  7,000 vertical feet, done in about ten hours car to car.

Cliff Lake, Binocular bounce

I spent a great afternoon in mid May at Cliff lake doing the Binocular bounce tour.  The basic idea is simple: traverse out to Binocular peak, then bounce back, skiing as many North facing bowls as possible.  There is enough skiing right around Cliff lake to keep one busy, but this tour is a great way to see a lot of country, and the route finding is just tricky enough to make it an engaging outing.

Looking out from the low pass at the beginning of the day.
Binocular peak is in the far background.  

I started off by climbing to the low saddle directly below Cliff eagle peak and schussed down the ramp to the next peak east.  From there I got on the Stateline and followed it out to Binocular peak.  It was a bit of a slog, but I was poised on Binocular soon enough, ready to bounce back.  Binocular, unnamed bowl above Hidden lake, unnamed bowl behind Eagle cliff, and the Diamond chute to return home.  Each run had good snow and skied well.  I took short breaks and pushed at a solid moderate pace, and each run took about 45 minutes.  Soon enough, I was working through tricky thin snow at the bottom of the Diamond chute.

Binocular peak.

Looking back at the Binocular peak run.  This time I skied the obvious run right off the high point.

Unnamed peak above Hidden lake.

Looking back at the Hidden lake run.

Fun skiing at the top of the Diamond chute.

One of the nice aspects of skiing at Cliff lake is the delightfully quick egress, and sure enough I was back in flip flops about ten minutes after starting the dry land egress from Diamond lake.  Somewhere a little north of 5,000 vert, done in just under 5 hours car to car.

Approximate route.