10/19/02
Jon was obviously asleep. He was layed back in the driver's seat and was twitching away like a fish. We'd left Bend and made the boogie to the Mt. Thielsen trailhead and had arrived a little too early. It was still pitch dark. We were a little surprised to find no other cars at the trailhead. We had expected a few overnight parking lot campers . . . it was a Saturday.
| Jon desperately tries to unfold from his car-sleeping position after catching some ZZZ's in the trailhead parking lot. |
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We finally started up the trail. Man, what a boulevard! Shoulda' had a painted line down the middle. The grade was cake & we made it to the intersection with the Pacific Crest Trail in less than 90 minutes. We both found ourselves commenting on what appeared to be some really nice ski terrain up there.
Our first views of the summit horn from the west ridge were kinda grippy.
| Our first good look at the summit pinnacle from the west ridge. |
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We continued up the scree and talus mess. Luckily we're only a few weeks away now, but snow travel can't return soon enough - certainly a lot easier than climbing up hill over stacks of dinner plates and layers of ball bearings.
| The summit horn looming above. Still marching up the scree and talus as the trees dwindle down to scrub. (Jon Carney photo) |
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On the way up we discovered a skiable tight little couloir coming down off the summit horn. It spilled directly into the bowl below & will definitely deserve a return visit sometime in the spring when the snow is stable. Yeeeee-Hawwww!
| Thielsen casting a shadow in the morning light. Diamond Lake in the background. Don't know what this light phenomenon is called, but you can see exactly where we are on the route - indicated by the brightest spot on the left shoulder of the shadow. |
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After a bit of misadventure where I started to the climb the summit horn using a dead-end gulley, we back-tracked a bit and rotated around to the SE and made our way up the correct gully to the base of the rock climb.
| Jon nearing the top of the gully. |
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From the base of it there appeared to be multiple likely lines that would go, so I started up one & Jon another. We soon met up on the same line and both followed the line of least resistance upward. A really fun, airy little climb.
| Up the summit horn . . . the rock here was excellent. (Jon Carney photo) |
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| Looking NE a short ways up the climb. |
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| Jon doing a little foot-shuffle traverse about half-way up. |
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| Almost topped-out. I asked Jon to have a look at the 2000 feet of air thru the notch to his right . . . he said he didn't want to. Sawtooth Ridge directly below. |
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And then there was no more up. We were on the summit at about 10am. A beautiful cloudless, windless summit with views around the compass (and several thousand feet down on all sides). We could see southward to Mt. Shasta and north to Mt. Jefferson. Crater Lake was easily visible right next-door.
| Looking down from the summit at 9182 feet. The meadow below is the start of the Cottonwood Creek basin - 2100 vertical feet below us. |
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| Jon chillin' on top. Diamond Lake and Mt. Bailey in the background. |
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We spent about 30min on the summit, I guess. Still couldn't see any other folks on their way up the west ridge. Saw a couple of planes passing by . . . it's always kinda strange looking down on the top of a plane's fuselage while it's in flight.
| "Yellow and blue make green." Sealing up after scrawling in the summit register. (Jon Carney photo) |
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Finally gathered our gear and started back down the climb. The downclimb wasn't quite as anxiety- filled as we thought it might be, & we were soon back into the gully (and the scree and the dinner plates).
| Some cool old eroded volcanic formations near the col on the south ridge. This one was several hundred feet tall. |
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We both managed the mess without a significant digger and dropped back into the tree-line.
| Looking back at the summit horn from the junk-pile on the way down. |
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As we descended we passed about 3-4 parties on their way up & one dude by himself digging chanterelle mushrooms (legally?). We were speculating and planning the whole way down on the potential skiing up on Mt. Bailey - what an awesome looking hill! That one will have to go on the short list for the winter activities.
| A last look back at Thielsen from Route 138. |
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