May 11, 12, 13th - Hurricane Royal Traverse

This last weekend, the notorious Allen Taylor and I completed the traverse from Hurricane Ridge to Royal Basin in Olympic National Park. Allen is undoubtedly better at writing TR's and taking pictures, but since I have no job and nothing better to do I figured I'd throw this report up real quick. The route is long and the following text might be tedious, so you really might just want to skip to the pictures.

Day 1: Hurricane to Lillian Glacier Basin
Allen had other ambitions for the weekend, but I talked him in to joining me for the traverse. We started from the 'Ridge at 9am and skinned the Obstruction Point Road to the end by noon where we enjoyed bacon and cheddar bagel sandwiches. We followed Grand Ridge south to point 6580 where we had our first short descent of the trip. The snowpack was so consolidated that even this SE facing run held top-notch hero corn at a decidedly late 2pm. These awesome ski conditions were to stay with us for the rest of the trip. We then ascended to the top of Moose and enjoyed a lengthy ski to Gladys Lake on more killer corn. From Gladys we climbed to 6701 and had a final late afternoon descent into camp at the bottom of Lillian Glacier Basin. Total climbing/descent of just over 4,000'

Day 2: Lillian Glacier Basin to Royal Basin
This day was significantly longer than either of us expected and included seven major climbs and seven major descents, all of which were worth every bit of the effort. We left camp and climbed south to point 6615, then descended to Cameron Basin. We then gained the saddle between  Cameron's West Peak and point 7018 and descended the West Cameron Glacier and traversed to the East Glacier Basin. We enjoyed some more bacon and cheddar sandwiches, and Allen then led a soul crushing post-holing boot pack to the top of a ridge so we could ski down to Cedar Lake. From Cedar we climbed east and descended into the East Upper Grey Wolf Basin. We climbed above Grey Wolf Pass to descend deep into the West Upper Grey Wolf Basin. I really had no idea how large Upper Grey Wolf was...not to be underestimated. From there we climbed to the Deception Glacier moraine, then turning south and ascending an unnamed pass to drop to the base of Surprise Gap. Our final push of the day was the ascent of Surprise Gap, where we then enjoyed a fast evening ski into Royal Basin. Total gain/loss for the day was between 7,000' and 8,000'.

The final day was an uneventful ski/skin/hike out Royal Basin and back to Port Angeles where we enjoyed Burgers and Beer at my favorite local pub, Next Door (look 'em up if you're through town!).

I'm gonna be lazy about posting pics and just direct you to my facebook album. All apologies if you are: (A) too lazy to click an extra link OR: (B) at work surfing TAY and facebook is blocked.

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