Skagit Alpine

Skagit Alpine Club – March 2010 Newsletter

Skagit Alpine Club mission statement:  "To promote the use and prevent the abuse of outdoor recreation areas"....SAC Articles of Incorporation

Meeting:

Our February meeting will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 3rd at Skagit Valley College in Robert’s Hall T-31. The following shortcut is to a campus map http://www.skagit.edu/images/color_mvCampus.pdf. 

Secretary‘s Report:

Old Business:

Jason Griffith started passing around the food/ beverage sign-up sheet.

JG also said the ski trip looks pretty full this year (last weekend in Feb), there are 16 club members signed up to go. Everyone is welcome to come out and get some turns in with fellow club members.

The Basic Mountaineering course is looking like a go at this time. The EC (Exec Committee) has been working on getting insurance for the class and club.

Food and Drink Schedule:

New Business:

CDD- Said that he has constructed a Risk Management Plan for the club and the BMC, primarily for insurance purposes. He says it was something the club has needed for some time anyway.    

JG- Good news coming out of the ACFL- the draft management plan has had changes made to it that are beneficial to our user group. It seems that Harold and Dallas are putting their names in the hat to secure a position on the Mt. Erie or ACFL climbing committee.       

Financial Report: Ginny says we have about $4000.00 in the bank.

Program:

A Portable Way to Hit the Winter Trails

Winter Hikes of Western Washington Deck

The 50 Best (Mostly) Snow-Free Trails of Western Washington

Craig Romano

Featuring the author’s recommended trails for winter hiking throughout Western Washington, the Winter Hikes Deck is a versatile pack of outdoor options. From low-land routes and rainforest rambles, to coastal tramps and protected peaks, each card features a route description on one side and a map on the other. The deck includes 13 never-before-published hikes. Several additional cards will provide essentials for winter hiking, an index of hikes, and information on winter flora and fauna.

Author Bio:

Craig Romano is an avid hiker, runner, kayaker, and cyclist. He’s written for many publications and is co-creator of Hikeoftheweek.com. He is the author of Best Hikes With Dogs Inland Northwest, Columbia Highlands: Exploring Washington’s Last Frontier, as well as Day Hiking: Olympic Peninsula, Day Hiking: North Cascades, and Day Hiking: Central Cascades. Craig lives in Mount Vernon, Washington.

Lookout:

Outing(s):

Conservation Report:

Climbing Class:

Special Announcement/Event:

Washington Trails Association Work Party schedule:

Sign up at www.wta.org

Trip Report:

Submitted by Dr. Jillo (Jill Youde)

Baring Mt, Feb 6, 2010

Those of you who ski at Stevens Pass or crag in Leavenworth have probably noticed the dramatic double humped peak looming on the north side of Highway 2 just past Index. Baring Mountain caught Chris' attention as a possible winter ascent. Our dream team, consisting of George "Mountain Man" Reeves, Jim "Smilin' Jim" Lapp, Jenny "Legs" Baker, Chris "Beautiful and Neat" Danilson, and myself, met in Mt. Vernon at 6:30am. Turning off the highway at Baring (don't blink or you'll miss it!); we drove up a decent forest road 4.2 miles and were on the trail about 8:30am. The first few minutes of hiking are blissfully flat, then SHAZAM! the climber's trail starts for an unrelenting 1,800 vertical feet. The steepness of the trail had me sweating, cursing, and comparing it to parts of the Eldorado and the Pyramid/Colonial Basin approaches, both trails I despise each time I'm on them.  Of course, once back at the apres-climb pub with a glass of wine in me, they seem fine. Selective memory is a wonderful thing.

  The trail was in pretty decent shape until we got to the upper part where there was patchy snow, some of it quite hard, overlying mud. Jenny, the only one without plastic boots, was not amused. Fortunately, once on the ridge at 4,000 feet it was pleasant strolling on about an inch of soft snow. Love those ridge walks!!! We had tantalizing peeks of our objective through the trees and across the valley to Merchant and Gunn Peaks.

  You must eventually lose the ridge, descend and traverse through a forest, then pop over the ridge, at which point you view the obvious route to the summit. In the forest the snow was icy and steep; we donned crampons and were much happier. Looking over at the snow gulley leading to the saddle between the main and the south peak, what to our wondering eyes did appear but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer! NOT!  But we did see 4 ant-sized climbers wallowing in snow up to their man parts. At this point we decided to rest on our laurels (asses) for a bit and let those nice folks (suckers) kick us a stairway to heaven in all that powder.

  Chris, being the Type A overachiever that he is, could only relax for a nanosecond or two, then he had to show those Everett pansies how the Big Boys from Skagit "git 'er done". Soon he was leading the pack, kicking his way up, making friends and making us proud.

  From the saddle, the Everett boys led the first push but were plum tuckered out shortly.  Jenny, George, and I plowed through deep snow between small trees to the top (mostly Jenny: they don't call her "Legs" for nothing!) We were on the broad summit 4:20 hrs after leaving the car. It was a sunny day with views all around, but the chilly gusting wind convinced us to descend quickly.

  Lolling in sunshine in the snowy basin, we had a lovely lunch. There's nothing like a snow picnic to put you in a good mood and make you forget all that tedious downclimbing you must do before getting back to the car.  We wore our crampons on the upper part of the climber's trail; that made the descent much easier. Smilin' Jim entertained us with his unprovoked uproarious outbursts of laughter, and Big Blue got us home safely despite a muffler roaring like a 747. The day had been a success: good weather, good conditions, good friends, good times had by all.

Distance: 6 miles round trip

Elevation gain: 3,900 ft

Time to summit: 4:20 hrs

Time car to car: 7.5 hrs.

Officers:

President – Jason Griffith (360) 419-7480 jkgriffith@gmail.com

Vice President – Jonathan Frostad jonathanfrostad@hotmail.com

Treasurer – Ginny Darvill gdarvill@fidalgo.net

Secretary - Chris Noskoff cnoskoff@gmail.com

Newsletter - Corrina Marote corrina.marote@gmail.com

Webmaster - Steve Trent skagitalpineclub@comcast.net

Programs –

Lookout - John and Marie Erbstoeszer erbst@cnw.com

Outings - Lynn Postler sancho999@comcast.net

Conservation Com- Jenny Lee Frederick jennyleefrederick@gmail.com

Social Com- Wade Bessett bessettw@hotmail.com

Climbing Com - Chris Danilson