may 21, 2005, monte cristo, north col

the Monte Cristo area has intrigued me for some time.  originally, what caught my attention -- in addition to hearing that it was remote, beautiful, and historic -- was the approach:


biking adds another way to bring the heartrate up; it cuts down on time, both in and out; and importantly, it's fun.

the forecast for Saturday wasn't ideal, but i managed to convince Cass to go explore the area over skiing Vesper Peak. we were expecting it to rain.  at 6am we left Seattle and by  8:20am, we started pedaling from the gate at Barlow Pass (elev. 2361 ft.).  suprisingly, it's a leisure 4.1-mile ride to the old mining town of Monte Cristo.  the ride gains about 300 vf., pretty mellow compared to the ride up the logging roads to North Twin Sister.  the road to Monte Cristo is smooth, and it acrosses a couple creeks, with one requiring a dismount and hike-a-bike over a log-like bridge.  the ride goes by fast (expect 30-40 minutes).  interestingly, at the entrance to the town of Monte Cristo, we found a bike rack and two other bikes locked to it.  biking appears to be a popular way to get to the town.  Cass and i didn't bring a lock, so we stashed our bikes behind an old abandoned building at the east end of town.

i know nothing about the history of the town of Monte Cristo, but being there i got a sense that it was a really interesting place.  Cass, with his vast knowledge of Cascade history, clued me in as we strolled through town.  anyway, from town we followed Dumas St. to Glacier Basin.  the trail climbs for 2 miles, about 1600 vf., and pleasantly hugs Glacier Creek, except for a short steep section that reminds me of the approach to Mt. Spickard (i.e., occassional veggie belays).  there's even a waterfall that looks like the Unforgettable Waterfall, but not quite as big.

once we entered Glacier Basin, an impressive view of a chain connecting Cadet Peak, Monte Cristo and Wilmans Peak unfolded.  there's a lot of skiable terrain in this area and i couldn't wait to get up higher to have a better look. we didn't have any set plans for the day.  we decided not to visit Wilmans Peak because of minimal coverage.  too bad because it would have been a nice ski.  the high snowline on Cadet and Monte Cristo exposed a large cliff band making the access difficult. after careful examination, we noticed a potential gully through the cliffs and decided on Monte Cristo.  when we got to the base, it turned out to be pretty straightforward, however, being a terrain trap (active slide path) we didn't waist much time. above the cliffs the terrain easied off considerably.  looking up at Monte Cristo, i saw a couple good lines on its west face.  there was a direct line that looked reasonable, somewhat steepish.  to its left was a moderately steep gully leading to a col, and north of that the ridge drops to another col (lower), one that separates Cadet and Monte Cristo.  surprisingly, there was about 4 inhces of new snow, which was wind loaded and poorly bonded to the granulated based below.  the new snow wasn't fluff either, but heavy and it balled up easily.  the winds blew from time to time and the incoming weather looked ominous.  after considering the snow condition and weather, Cass and i decided to shoot for the lower north col of Monte Cristo.  the higher col would have been nice, and even the more direct line, but we didn't feel comfortable climbing up steepish slopes in funky snow.  we donned skis and carefully worked our way to the col. as we climbed, we noticed sluffing on steeper aspects.  

at the col (~6500 ft.), we were greeted by an impressive view to the east and Glacier Peak.  the terrain was eye-candy -- lots to ski back there.  from the col we boot up the ridge toward Cadet for a better view.  we didn't get very far because the snow went from shin-deep to thigh-deep.  to the south we saw a wall of white moving in our direction.  a few minutes later, wind and snow hit us in the face.  it was time to go.  we skied down and found sections that felt like butta. as we traversed to drop back down the gully into the basin, we noticed fresh debris from a couple of small natural releases, one of which ran down the direct line that we were eyeing earlier.  good thing we didn't go up there.  at the base, it started to rain.  we found shelter underneath a large boulder and waited out the rain.  while pedalling down, we saw a couple hikers. i wonder what they were thinking.

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