September 5: AAI Guide Justin Wood called today reporting from the Picket Range. He and climber Jason Mancini (Savannah, GA) just embarked on an 8-day trip in the Pickets and plan to climb several peaks, including Mt. Challenger and Mt. Fury.

Hi, this is Justin, calling from the Big Beaver camp on Ross Lake. We left AAI's headquarters in Bellingham at 7am yesterday and arrived at Ross Lake Resort around 10:15am, after getting our permit in Marblemount, along with a couple breakfast burritos and a few snacks. After a morning of fog, the skies cleared by the time we got to Ross Lake Resort and we had great views of the steep valley walls all around us.

We got our packs loaded, and we drank and ate for an hour or so before departing for the boat dock around 11:30am. We had to wait at the dock for a little while as the other people sharing our same boat ride were a bit delayed, but soon enough were off across the lake.

We arrived at the Big Beaver Trailhead boat dock around 1pm and soon thereafter set up the Big Beaver Trail. We hiked through magnificent old growth forests and, seting a brisk pace, completed our "half marathon" with 50 pound packs in about 5 and a half hours, arriving at our camp at about 6:30pm. Tired, we made dinner and went to bed.

Unfortunatley, at this point, Justin's phone off. He and Jason are planning on ascending up the Challenger Arm tomorrow, their base camp for an ascent of Challenger.

September 7: AAI Guide Justin Wood called in again reporting from he and climber Jason Mancini's current position on the Challenger Arm in the Northern Picket Range.

Justin said, "Today we climbed Mt. Challenger under 'challenging' conditions. In this late season, the bergscrund has opened up at the top, causing us to ascend one pitch of 80-degree ice and four pitches of 45-degree ice just to get to the summit block. Today was the shortest day of our entire trip! We are camping tonight on the Challenger Arm, just like last night, and tomorrow we will move to the Luna cirque to scout our objectives, among which Mt. Fury is a potential."

September 10, 4:45pm:

Hi everyone, this is Justin calling from deep, deep, deep in the Northern Pickets. We woke at camp at 5400 feet on the Challenger Arm this morning after a very windy night. We slept in, waiting until the sun came up before stirring. We packed and left, hiking across the Challenger Glacier and making quick work of the traverse across the Luna Cirque. We hiked past a 19th-century moraine, then to Lousy Lake, where we camped. Contrary to its name, Lousy Lake is beautiful and right smack dab in the middle of the Luna Cirque. We have a view of the entire Northern Pickets laid out before us.

Tomorrow we will climb about 3000 feet and get into a position to attempt the southeast glacier on Mt. Fury. We're doing great, and we'll be in touch.

September 11, 7:52pm

Hi again, this is Justin. Today we traveled from Lousy Lake up to Luna Pass. It was 3600 feet of cross-country travel, mostly across a huge talus field. We made it in about 4.5 hours. We're resting now, and tomorrow we will attempt the southeast glacier on Mt. Fury. Depending on what time we finish tomorrow, we may start our descent towards lower elevations and plan to camp in a particular drainage that I heard has established campsites. We may try to get out one day early and spend our last day together doing skills.

September 10, 2007

Guide Justin Wood left a brief message with good news from the Picket Range! He said that he and Jason are now at Luna Pass (he called at 3pm), after a successful ascent of Mt. Fury's SE glacier. The route was good, with class three rock scrambling and 40-degree snow and ice climbing. The day entailed 2 miles of exposed ridge climbing, traversing, and walking on steep heather slopes. Though they didn't encounter too much technical difficulty, the day was still plenty taxing due to the constant exposure along the route. Justin said they left their camp on Luna Pass at 5:30am, summited by 10am, and were back to camp by 2:30pm. They were treated to an awesome sunrise and incredible views of the Southern Pickets.

Justin said that they are heading down towards Big Beaver on Ross Lake today. They hope to get out of the woods tomorrow, one day early, so they can have one full day of extra skills practice.

September 13, 2007

We just heard from guide Justin Wood, who returned yesterday from his trip in the Northern Pickets with climber Jason Mancini. Jason reported the following last days' details:

"I think the last dispatch I gave was on Monday, so I'll start with Monday night: We enjoyed amazingly clear skies under the 3000-foot face of Luna Peak and were treated to an incredible display of shooting stars. The next morning, we woke, packed, and began a 2-hour arduous bushwack to reach the lifeline of the Big Beaver Trail, where we then hiked 11 miles to Ross Lake to meet our afternoon ferry ride back to civilization. We then drove back to Bellingham and camped at local Larrabee State Park for the night. On Wednesday, our last day together, we went rock climbing at Mt. Erie near Anacortes. We did a full day of rock skills, complete with a review of rock rescue, and at the end of the day we climbed the three-pitch route, Zig Zag (5.7), which Jason led! Nice work Jason - it's been a great trip."