Beartooths 2012 - family climbing trip

[Spudman]

Me and the girls spent a week in the wilderness this July climbing and hiking...and swatting mosquitoes. Here is a link where you can see some of the scenery.

http://s175.photobucket.com/albums/w149/srspud/Beartooths 2012/

Below is Lonesome Mountain. It wasn't technical, but a violent storm came in about 15 minutes after we summited. We had to get down fast or risk getting hit by lightning. Obviously this picture below was not from the day of the climb.

This is a shot from the summit. The mountain second from the left is the fist mountain I ever climbed and it was solo...sort of. I had the ashes of the man that raised me in my summit pack and I left his ashes on top after preforming a ceremony that included tape recorded music from George Winston specially composed for the occasion. They were neighbors. It's a narrow point that is hard to see in this shot. If you look at the big high glacier then you might be able to see that there are two mountains.

 

[mrmudcat]

:danceWow I wish I was hanging with ya on that excursion..just me and my harmonica:rockya

 

[piebaldpython]

Wow.......mountain snow in July where you camped. Amazing. Thanks for the look. Hey.....dumb question......but how does one get down that mountain "fast" as you wrote? To me the big city-boy, it looks like an invitation to taking one heck of a tumble.

 

[Spudman]

Wow.......mountain snow in July where you camped. Amazing. Thanks for the look. Hey.....dumb question......but how does one get down that mountain "fast" as you wrote? To me the big city-boy, it looks like an invitation to taking one heck of a tumble.

It's total focus. You have to step/run from rock to rock perfectly. Years of practice and athletic endeavor allows me to do this. My wife not so much. I was relying on fear with her. Lightning was starting to strike not far away and I had to remind her to focus and that her life was in danger. She only got one scrape on the way down. Even when you are down there still is nowhere to hide but the likelihood of getting zapped is lessened.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/09/0917_030917_tetonrescue.html
http://www.localnews8.com/news/Miss...itals/-/308662/1565760/-/9yx9c1z/-/index.html

 

[Robert]

Aweome Spud! I need to come visit you and go hiking. Obviously!

 

[R_of_G]

Thanks for sharing these with us Steve. As someone who has lived in flat Florida for the past 20 years, mountain photos make me very happy. There are some great floral shots in the linked batch of photos.

 

[Tig]

Simply awesome. While I love tropical flowers, mountain flowers can be even more beautiful.
I know the photos can't compare to seeing all of that in person, so it had to be a great trip.

I remember as a kid hiking in the mountains how everything appears to be closer than it really is. The first posted photo of Lonesome Mountain makes it look like you could walk there in no time!

 

[NWBasser]

Those are really cool mountains Spud!

THose "chopped" summits are very different from our Cascades where we either have conical volcanoes like Rainier or jagged, serrated spires of the North Cascades. Speaking of lightning, I was nearly hit one time in the Pasayten Wilderness, just east of the North Cascades.

With so much work this summer and taking care of my eight-year old, I haven't been up in our high country this year. Also, after our heavy snow winter, everything was quite buried in snow all the way through July. If I can't go, then enjoying your pictures is the next best thing. Thanks much for sharing.

 

[NWBasser]

This picture gives a pretty good sense of our mountains.

A bit too steep for me to want to climb.

 

[Spudman]

The Sawtooths are all pointy and craggy like that.

 

[tjcurtin1]

Holy smokes, you guys - what fantastic scenery! Hiking through there must be an incredible experience! I saw some of this from 30,000 feet coming back from California this summer, and tried to imagine what it would be like to be down there. Thanks for sharing the awesome views.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

NW Basser, as you know, I have lived in WA and over here in Idaho. Yeah, the Cascades are different from Idaho mountains mostly. The North Cascades are most similar to the Idaho mountains. Some parts of the south cascades, Goat Rocks area are a bit similar, but it is a different deal.

Spud, nice shots. But I want to see a shot of you guys trying to escape the mosquitoes in the water, and still getting bit all over your faces! Yikes!

here is a pic of Old Snowy in the Goat Rocks of the south cascades. I remember picking obsidian of this peak as a young boy scout on my first big backpack trip, many years ago.

And more of my old favorites the Goat Rocks: