Summertime in the Pacific Northwest

My last day on the snow this year was late July, on the Eliot Glacier and the "snowdome". When the snow is not good enough to justify the hike you know the season is over. Still it was a fun day climbing around crevasses, and shredding some turns in the summer sun.

The following day, we went to climb French's Dome off of Lolo Pass road in the Mt. Hood National Forest. While it is a miniature crag only 80 to 160 feet high, it still offers fun climbing and a cool free-hanging rappel. In mid August, myself, my dog Bo and my Next Adventure co-workers Joey Donuts and Ryan Slagler went to Alpine Lakes Wilderness outside of Cle Elum, Wa. We hiked up past Cathedral Rock, to Peggy's Pond and then cross country around a rugged cirque to reach Circle Lake. Later in August and early September myself and R2 (next employee) climbed Beacon Rock in the Columbia River Gorge a couple of times. It's a great climb on soliod rock for several pitches. Its awesome being 600 feet off the ground hanging on a rope. Just this last week R2 and myself made the trek up Silverstar Mountain to Chimney Rocks, a secluded piece of granitic rock nestled on a sub-alpine ridge. Logging operations on an adjacent ridge: Indian summer will bring more great weather to the PNW, but the snow will start flying soon!