Crescent - Pyramid quick ramble

Crescent peak.

I squeezed the Crescent to Pyramid traverse in the Swans between day care drop off and pick up on a perfect early fall day.  Early season snow was lingering in the highest peaks, but the Swans were just low enough to be snow free, which, coupled with crisp fall temperatures, made for quick and delightful conditions.  After a mad drive to the trailhead, I took the Crescent lake trail to the first lake and got things rolling by climbing the South face of Crescent.  I made reasonable time descending the ascent route, running short sections of scree in between slower sections.  I tried following the trail above the first lake most of the way up to the divide before making a short traversing climb to the base of the Northeast ridge of West Marshall.  The Northeast ridge is pretty short, and it went quickly.

On Crescent, looking to Marshall and Pyramid.  Gloomy skies.

Enjoyable climbing to Marshall.

Pyramid and Devil's basin from Marshall.

After traversing Marshall's summit ridge, I tried descending as far as I could down the South ridge, but it ended up cliffing out, and I had to do some shenanigans to get off the peak.  Nothing too bad, but certainly not the ideal route.  Eventually I made it to the intermittent climber's trail in Devil's basin, which I took for a few minutes before making the logical ledge traverse onto the North ridge of Pyramid peak.  From the ridge, it was a quick hike to the summit.  After a somewhat gloomy morning, the sun came out, setting the stage for a mellow egress back to the car.  The return was much quicker than expected.  I descended the open Southwest face to the trail, then took the horse outfitter trail back to the road, popping out just a few hundred yards from the car.

I still think that this outing is a gem in both winter and summer.  It takes a logical route over the three iconic Seeley Lake peaks.  It is light on adversity, with trails to get above any bushwacking, and technically easy yet engaging routefinding all along the way.  It would be fun to try to do this outing fast.  I think sub-4 is realistic.  6,000 vertical feet, done in 4 hours, 40 minutes.  By faint memory splits were:  Trail flattens out before traversing to the lake, 1 hour; Crescent, 2.15; Marshall 3.25; Pyramid 3:35; car: 4.40

What I think is the most expedient route, not including the trail.

  

Three Joe to Sweeney scramble

High spirits on the way to Big St. Joe.

With early snow in adjacent ranges, I spent perhaps my last long summer alpine scrambling day alone, working out a new Bitterroot ridge loop.  To my surprise, it was just clean enough to be a highly recommended outing.  I started the day out with a dark and frosty bike shuttle from the Sweeney trailhead to Bass creek.  After a trailhead stash of the bike and a backpack full of puffy clothes and ski gloves, I started up the familiar push to Little St. Joe. It is a big climb, but I kept the pace easy, and it went by quickly enough.  I followed what I think is the fastest route to Big St. Joe, staying on the ridge until it becomes gendarmed just past the Pinball Wizard gully, bypassing all of the gendarmes on the South side, then climbing the peak up the Southeast face.  A quickish descent put me at the next saddle, and a slightly off route climb had me on the summit of Stormy Joe.  I was a little bit ahead of schedule, and eager to explore new terrain.  I was uncertain how difficult the North ridge would be.  I descended near the crest until it became too cliffy, then weaved a 4th class descent on the West side around cliffs and across two gullies.  From there, it was relatively smooth sailing over the unnamed peaks at the head of the South Fork of Sweeney peak.  The South Fork ridge was my favorite part of the day.  I very much enjoyed moving with at a relaxed, even effort through wild and clean (by Bitterroot standards) terrain.

Upper Bass creek.

Glad to be done with the North Ridge of Stormy Joe.

Typical terrain along the head of the South fork.

I did another few bypasses, including a major detour to the East around the craggy North ridge of West Pyramid Butte (including a water break), and a major detour to the South off the ridge to a tarn where the Sweeney and Lolo ridges intersect.  The last push to Sweeney went quickly.  I was tired, but in all the right ways, and it was a delight to spend a perfect fall evening in the high Bitterroot.  The egress was familiar. Bop down the well-cairned Sweeney peak climber trail, then run down the very enjoyable Sweeney creek trail back to the car. 

Coming back up out of the major bypass to the East
and looking back at West Pyramid Butte.

High spirits somewhere in Sweeney creek.

Starting the final descent from Sweeney peak.

Thoughts and numbers: Somewhere around 12,000 vertical feet, done in about 12 hours trailhead to trailhead, not including the 1-hour bike shuttle.  Great day. Recommended.  The traverse is not as iconic as some of the Bitterroot classic ridge outings (i.e. High Five, Chaffin headwaters, and St. Mary's to Heavenly Twins), but it is a little more user friendly.  Bail options are limited in the South Fork of Sweeney creek.  An alternate exit to Lolo peak would also be a great outing, but the shuttle would be much longer.

Random note: While my day was kind of long and tiring, it was the same day that several Missoula local friends were testing their mettle at the Run Rabbit Run and IMTUF 100-mile races.  Going into the night, I was happy to tuck into a warm cozy bed while they were out testing their physical and mental limits.  Respect!

Tumbledown ridge rambling

Upper Tumbledown creek.

Leah and I were able to get out together for a day of running and scrambling during a perfect Labor day trip to the Taylor Fork drainage in the Southern Madisons.  Aside from an abundant population of grumpy grizzlies, I absolutely love this corner of Montana.  We were up at a reasonably early hour, and left a frosty trailhead at 8 am.  The goal was to get on the ridge crest at the Northern edge of the drainage, take it to Koch peak, and cruise the rim of the drainage until we ran out of time.  It was a beautiful morning, and the climb to peak 10,829 was pretty painless aside from a bone chillingly cold ford of Taylor Fork.  It was pretty cool to climb a new peak and get a better look at the wild Indian and No man ridges.  The descent and subsequent climb to the Notch on Koch were fast and fun.

Leah approaching.  Not warmed up yet.

Leah heading for the North ridge of Koch.

The notch took us almost an hour, but we found a way through the loose downclimb into the notch, and then found a chossy but doable 4th class exit.  It was smooth sailing from the ridge crest to the summit.  I was afraid of the next steep ridgeline section, so we took the standard descent down the grassy Southeast face to a small lake in the headwaters before pushing back up to the crest. We then forged a marginal line up the West ridge of peak 10,666, and worked out way down the long and surprisingly slippery descent.

Out of the Notch and relieved.

Leah climbing back to the crest in front of Koch peak.

Heading home.

We were definitely out of time, and made quick work of the exit trail.  What a perfect early fall day.  And a fun zone.  I still need to get back and ski some of the unnamed peaks near Koch with a stable spring snowpack.  Aside from a quick up and back trail run to the Cinnamon mountain lookout, the rest of the weekend was spent relaxing with family and friends.

Swan traverse - Union peak to Holland lake

Adventures on the Swan crest continue.  I was excited to string together the longest continuous alpine portion of the range, and it seemed reasonable to try to do it in a long day.  So, with a shuttle in place thanks to Leah, I started up from the gate to the Pony lake access road at 4 am.  The pre-dawn hours were enjoyable.  I lost some time wandering in the dark off trail above the lake, but it went smoothly enough, and I was on top of Union peak shortly after sunrise. I successfully bypassed the slow ridge line sections out to the crest with a very loose but still quick bypass to the South, and was on the crest 4.5 hours into the day.

Sunrise on the crest.  Looking back at Pony lake and the shaded West ridge
that I climbed to gain the North ridge of Union peak.

To my dismay, dawn was accompanied by storm clouds and a biting wind.  Everything else was about perfect, so I set my sights down the seeming endless ridge and rolled South.   The untrammeled and immaculate Union to Smith crest segment was quicker than I remembered, and I was successfully able to bypass the more technical descent options off my nemesis peak with a long detour to the East.

On the crest, ready to ridge ramble for a 10 hours or so.

My nemesis peak.  I took the short gully about half way down the East ridge.

I took a quick water break in the headwaters of Little Salmon creek before boosting back up to the crest, then to Smith Creek pass, then to Cooney peak.  I summited 7.5 hours into the day, optimistically hoping that I was a little over half way.  Unfortunately, the biting wind and intermittent rain intensified, and I got pretty cold as I traversed above Albino basin.  Given my already slightly depressed body temperature, I dropped off the ridge and bypassed the most technical ridge sections before Holland.  I regained the crest for an enjoyable romp up Holland's North ridge.  Fortunately, the winds abated slightly, and I finally ticked over to warm enough.  Buck was a blast.

Blustery and cold above the Albino glaciers.

Buck!

As I approached the point North of Woodward, a significant wall of precipitation swept in, and I decided to try to sneak up off the crest in order to weather the rain in relative shelter.  Eventually the ledges petered out, and I had to make a fairly difficult ascending climb up glassy, rain soaked slabs and dihedrals.  I was able to get up safely with a lot of attention to detail, and the whole affair cost me about 20 minutes.  The rest of the day went smoothly.  Woodward was fun, and the traverse to the lookout was fun.  My hip started hurting on the run out, but I jogged it at an easy clip, arriving at the car over an hour behind schedule but well before dark.  I should do a better job figuring out my hip pain injury.  For statistics, done in 15 hours, 43 minutes.  I didn't track vertical, but it was a big day for me, something 12 - 14k range.

Closing in on the lookout and ready to head down to the valley.

Dang, what a big, challenging, awesome day in one of the most under appreciated mountain ranges anywhere.  For those looking for an all day butt kicker, I think this route is a lot better than trying to combine traverses out to the Clearwater group because you stay up high all day. 

Camas crest ridge loop

It has been over a month, but Leah and I spent a late July weekend trading off mountain scramble days in the Bitterroot.  Saturday was my play day, and I biked out from the Coyote Coulee trailhead at a respectable 7 am.  In less than ninety minutes, I cruised past the Camas trailhead and bounced along to the point where the trail turns up Camas creek proper.  After a full snack sunscreen, shoe swap break, I cruised up to Camas lake, and then up to East Camas peak.  It was supposed to be a blistering hot day in the valley, but the morning was pleasant.  The remainder of the traverse went smoothly, and was quite an enjoyable loop.  I made reasonable time on the boulder hop out to West Camas with a ten minute stop to procure water from a slow drip in a ridge top snowbank.

View from East Camas, showing most of the ridge to West Camas and the Fin.

Looking back from the Fin to East and West Camas.

View from West Camas South to the Lost Horse drainage,
Koch, El Capitan and the Shard.

From West Camas, I bypassed the sharp point at the very head of the drainage (on the East) before regaining the ridge and walking easily to the top of the Fin.  There was also a lot of boulder hopping just South of the crest to Ward, but that section went quickly enough to afford time to walk all the way across the plateau to the exact summit.  I descended the South face of Ward under a blazing sun directly to the middle lakes, ran back down to Camas lake, took a dip, then made the easy run out to the trailhead without difficulty.  The bike back to Coyote Coulee was quick and made for a nice way to round out the day.

Ward South face, with my descent right down the middle.

Thoughts  It was good to finally, finally do this very logical loop. It is a good one.  Biking up the road is not necessary, but it adds to the effort required and helps reduce driving time, which is a little long relative to the length of the outing.  The rest of the weekend was spent lazily camping and picking huckleberries, and shuttling Leah on a similar Camas loop.  She one upped my style by tacking on a full descent off Ward to the Ward/Sawtooth trailhead.