I've had a weird work schedule this Spring. I'm the night chief at Harborview, and I work every other night. I rarely have a calendar day off - I'm always either post-call or going in to work. I never know when to sleep. I did manage to get a full day off on Monday, but couldn't find a partner. So I decided to do a solo ski/climb that I've been wanting to do for a while - The Brothers. It's not a particularly hard climb. It has just taunted me over the years by being so visible from Seattle. I took my skis since they haven't gotten much use this year. They spent a lot more time on my back than on my feet, but oh well.
The weather looked better for Tuesday, but I had to work that night at 6pm. So I set off at a leisurely time on Monday, planning on getting as high as I could and camping out, and summiting early enough Tuesday to get back to work. I left Seattle around 10am, dinked around on my way out, and finally left the car around 2pm. I saw plenty of hikers at Lower Lena Lake, who all inquired about my plans for the skis on my back. Once heading up the Valley of Silent Men, I say recent tracks but had no company except for the birds.
Loaded down in the dense forest in the Valley of Silent Men
I encountered snow around 2500 ft, and started skinning soon thereafter. After missing the turn, I found my way up over tons of avy debris up to the snowfield. The skinning sucked at this point due to thick chunky avy debris and deep runnels. I would have been better off ditching skis then, but pushed on until reaching the Lunch Ledge around 8pm. This is where I decided to camp for the night. I dug a platform, made camp, cooked, ate, admired the views, and crashed around 10pm.
Misty weather at camp:
I woke up around 2am to check the weather - crystal clear, stars out, the lights of Seattle shining. I got up, made a brew, packed up, and set off around 3am. Having seen no promising signs of good skiing up higher, I jettisoned my skis at camp. This was a good choice. I found more deep runnels and steep enough slopes that skinning would have been tough. And the descent wouldn't have been worth it. The snow was solid, though, and good for booting. As I made my way up, clouds started rolling in down low and steadily rising. The race was on to make the top before it became socked in. I made it, and enjoyed spectacular undercast conditions with stellar views of the prinicipal peaks of the Olympics peeking through!
Booting up steep 50-degree snow near the summit:
Final ridge to the South Peak, 6842ft.
Mists and sunrise over the Brothers Traverse. The North Peak is on the left:
I summited in great weather just after sunrise:
Shadow of the South Peak on the way down:
I was back at the Lunch Ledge by 7:30am. I made another brew, packed up, and put on my skis. I had about 10 nice turns on the lower snowfield below Lunch Ledge before conditions turned to crap. From then on it was combat skiing through avy debris, thick trees, and underbrush until reaching the junction at climbers' camp. I was able to skin back down the Valley of Silen Men for about another mile before the skis went back on my back for the long hike out to the car.
This was my first major solo alpine climb. I was a little apprehensive going into it, but I must say I was totally comfortable the whole time I was out there. While I prefer to climb with partners, when faced with the choice of going solo or staying home in the future, I'll go. As long as the objective is reasonable - snow climb, no technical terrain, low commitment.
