Home > Trip Reports > 6/02 Sherman Peak-Silas bags #100 of some list

6/02 Sherman Peak-Silas bags #100 of some list

6/2/07
WA Cascades West Slopes North (Mt Baker)
12212
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Posted by artfreeman on 6/3/07 11:05am
A loosely affiliated gang of 6 set out Saturday to climb and ski Sherman Peak. Sherman is the 10,160€™ subsidiary peak just S of the summit of Mt. Baker.  Paul Klenke organized the trip.  He, Dave Creeden, Silas Wild, and I camped where the snow blocked road #13 about ½ mile from its end.  Dave and Paul took off at 5:30am, while us old-timers left a half-hour later, just to give those non-skiers a head start.  Of course, we never saw them again, at least on the way up!   Mike Collins and Fay Pullen had gone part way up Railroad Grade the afternoon before and camped.  They headed for the summit of Sherman and met up with Dave and Paul near the top, and after topping out in about 5.5 hours, this well-oiled, tuned up climbing machine veered off to do Colfax Peak.  See Mike€™s report on WTA website.

Meanwhile€¦€¦Silas and I skinned from road-end north, roughly following the trail that heads toward Crag View.  Broke out of the trees in about 2 hours and worked our way up onto Crag View, which I crossed over to snow slopes on its West side.  Silas ran the ridge (see photo at bottom of post).  His did not look like an easy way.

Smooth sailing all the way to the top on the Squak Glacier.  Snowmobiles buzzed in the distance, one came fairly close and there were high-mark tracks here and there, plus a track or two all the way to the ridgeline NW of Sherman at nearly 10,000€™.   And, the pisser is that we would have gladly accepted a tow!

Movie below should be played in a continuous loop for 7 hours to simulate the 6700€™ ski up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k8uBqP0OOA

We ditched the skis just below the ridge running West from Sherman, sneaked through a notch with no trouble (used ice axe) and walked to the top.  We popped the imaginary Champagne to celebrate Silas having finished the so-called €œclean 100€ list, that is, 100 highest peaks in Washington defined as having 400+€™ of prominence€”a list that is revered by at least a half dozen climbers world-wide.  No, seriously it was a huge accomplishment.  Congratulations Silas!

Movie below, titled €œOne More List Out the Window€ shows Silas in his moment of glory. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEXiJEaL9NE

Kind of wished we had carried skis to the tip top, since it was skiable, and looking down the East side we could see what looked like a very attractive run onto the Talum Glacier  (see photo of this at bottom).

Movie below will give you a great idea of the snow conditions Saturday on the Squak.  Note that we gummed up with pollen at about 7000€™ and you will see that the lower 2000€™ in the trees was not the greatest€”maybe there was a better route down there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alxRU4Xla5Y
Hooray for Silas!  He's a wild man.  Sounds like a good excuse to throw a party....

Looks like someone has a helmet cam  ;)

Nice work Silas!

Right on! What an adventure that must've been. How many years did it take you? 

author=Jason_H. link=topic=7320.msg29118#msg29118 date=1180925238]
Right on! What an adventure that must've been. How many years did it take you? 

It depends on when you start counting.   58.9 years of life, 35.9 years after Mt. Baker, my first summit in WA, or 3 years since I learned I had finished 99 peaks of this little known list.   The toughest part was remembering that I needed to do it, and in June for the most fun, ski to the car.   Thanks to Paul Klenke for reminding me this year and inviting me on a perfect day. 

author=skykilo link=topic=7320.msg29114#msg29114 date=1180924418]
Sounds like a good excuse to throw a party....

Maybe, but even better will be my Dad's 100th birthday, the day after Father's Day this year.

Congrats Silas! Don't suppose you will be slowing down anytime soon. Garth :)

Very outstanding accompishment Silas!
You sure get around.
Joe

congrats Silas. YOUD THE MAN!
Scottie

Hey Silas & Art,
Chuck and I were up there the day before (Friday) and saw no one. Only made it to 9k since this was my 2nd hike of the year and 6k in vert in 1 day pushed my limits. That trail was such a second guessing kind of thing since neither one of us had been on it before, especially on the way out. Dealing with serious sunburn today..............

The Squak is cool

TR to come soon.

Silas, you just too modest. You didn't even mention your milestone accomplishment yesterday. BTW Sherman looked spectacular from the freeway on my way home.

way to go Silas!

WOW!!  I didn't know I have been skiing with a legend.  Very impressive.

Congratulations.  Now, had anyone done the 200 highest peaks?!

author=Telemon link=topic=7320.msg29177#msg29177 date=1180986649]
Silas, you just too modest. You didn't even mention your milestone accomplishment yesterday. BTW Sherman looked spectacular from the freeway on my way home.


Yeah, you mentioned it like it was just another day out. I don't know how you do it all!

Congrats on the "100" list thing.

author=silaswild link=topic=7320.msg29124#msg29124 date=1180934272]
It depends on when you start counting.   58.9 years of life, 35.9 years after Mt. Baker, my first summit in WA, or 3 years since I learned I had finished 99 peaks of this little known list.   The toughest part was remembering that I needed to do it, and in June for the most fun, ski to the car.


So now that I won't be hearing about "Sherman Peak" and "top 100 something or other list" stuff any more, what's the next absent-minded obsession going to be?
;)

We were up there as well.  Congrats to Silaswild.  That skiing through the forest video is pretty impressive.
We walked down the steep forest bits.  The combination of sticky pollen and that carpet of forest litter was just begging for a boken neck.

Did you have something for the pollen?  We rubbed on not wax twice.  We didn't have any pollen problems until we neared Crag View which we passed to the west instead of east.  I think we'll try the rain-x next time.  Pretty hot day to be out on the Squock.  77 degrees at 7770' at around noon.

Oh.  I just noticed your last paragraph that I must not have read the first time around.

Woohoo Silas  :D.

Kick ass Silas!  That's awesome.  :)  --Scott

Congratulations Silas. Your skinning up video is hilarious - instant classic!

Art,  Perlin, Pete and I look forward to your skiing with us back at Stevens next season.  But you do understand that we don't do TR about that.  Plus if you start filming there, I can't guarantee your personal safety.  ;)

Silas,  ;)

I've never met you Silas, but congrats!! That's quite an accomplishment. I'm with Sky- excellent excuse for a party....

Looks like Hummel didn't want to mention when we skied it a few years ago off the summit we got a nice big schrund jump where our line met the glacier.  Josh went first, barely landed on the lower lip, avoiding a giant backflip into a massive black emptiness. Which of those smileys is for the puckered sphincter?

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6-02-sherman-peak-silas-bags-100-of-some-list
artfreeman
2007-06-03 18:05:55