TR: American Alps Traverse - 16 days, 60k, and 120 miles

[Unemployed]

Angrysasquatch,

I lost 20 pounds, which was quite a hit. Woulda had more food if I didn't carry so much camera gear, which I weighed after the trip at 19.5 lbs over they rest of the gear that was a lot.

Thanks Edgnar, I continually push my way to getting better at writing and photography. I am never satisfied.

[CG]

Phenomenal, solid photography

[angrysasquatch]

Angrysasquatch,

I lost 20 pounds, which was quite a hit. Woulda had more food if I didn't carry so much camera gear, which I weighed after the trip at 19.5 lbs over they rest of the gear that was a lot.

Damn, that's gnarly. I am content with my decision to rock a nice P&S, because I know my photo gizmos slowly balloon to being just silly heavy. Thanks for hauling it though, it sure paid off.

[TBS]

Amazing! Fantastic work, Jason. You should change your username to funemployed

High praise from a master, and my amateur opinion agrees. HOF trip report fo sho! Really evocative writing. Fold some fictional drama around your narrative and you would have a cool novel

[Unemployed]

High praise from a master, and my amateur opinion agrees. HOF trip report fo sho! Really evocative writing. Fold some fictional drama around your narrative and you would have a cool novel

Thanks. Love his writing and pics. Anyone who does both, my hat is off to them. I love stories as much as photos.

[meter-man]

High praise from a master, and my amateur opinion agrees. HOF trip report fo sho! Really evocative writing. Fold some fictional drama around your narrative and you would have a cool novel

This is actually a great idea. I would gladly be the first to plunk down $25-50 for a coffee table book with this exact same TR - no additional work needed. Dav's Ski the 14ers costs $50 retail. In its current form, yours would likely be way longer...

[Unemployed]

Thanks Meter-man. I've mentioned this to some, but here it is for all…as I know many don't read the entire story, but for those that do, I think there is a certain satisfaction in that. I am reminded of the old timers at the beginning of the century and before who told wonderful stories and not just of the extreme. Because, really, this adventure wasn't extreme, by and large, or flung off to a far off continent. It was a home spun adventure right here, just beyond my doorstep. While I publish stories in mags and certainly publish imagery, I've yet to find an outlet…beyond something like TGR - and it is certainly pushing the format - where I can share a longer narrative with imagery. Even when it comes to building a personal website for doing this, I've thus far been unsuccessful. I can't seem to do it, not in a way I want. A book, well, that's a dream of mine, has been since I started collecting my first book. Now my walls are made of books. There's white behind them somewhere, sure. Ha. Anyhow, when I share stories like this, I hope I inspire others to do the same, in their own way, with their own voice. The push for shorter, bigger, more extreme, splashier, and instantaneous shouldn't be the wave of the future.

[meter-man]

Thanks Meter-man. I've mentioned this to some, but here it is for all…as I know many don't read the entire story, but for those that do, I think there is a certain satisfaction in that. I am reminded of the old timers at the beginning of the century and before who told wonderful stories and not just of the extreme. Because, really, this adventure wasn't extreme, by and large, or flung off to a far off continent. It was a home spun adventure right here at home. While I publish stories in mags and certainly publish imagery, I've yet to find an outlet…beyond something like TGR - and it is certainly pushing the format - where I can share a longer narrative with imagery. Even when it comes to building a personal website for doing this, I've thus far been unsuccessful. I can't seem to do it, not in a way I want. A book, well, that's a dream of mine, has been since I started collecting my first book. Now my walls are made of books. There's white behind them somewhere, sure. Ha. Anyhow, when I share stories like this, I hope I inspire others to do the same, in their own way, with their own voice. The push for shorter, bigger, more extreme, splashier, and instantaneous shouldn't be the wave of the future.

I completely agree. Very few remember John Muir for his visionary and audacious mountaineering (first to summit many Cali peaks), but everyone remembers the power of his words. "Climb the mountains and get their good tidings." "Who wouldn’t be a mountaineer! Up here all the world’s prizes seem nothing." "The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness." ETC. Same with Ansel Adams and his imagery.

But I rue the day when - like so many images and TRs on TGR - the coding gets changed and the images get lost. There's nothing wrong with posting on TGR (please keep doing so), but the visceral connection made with a printed book, and the permanence of printing, will create a lasting story that can inspire far into the future.

I'll shut up now. But seriously - sell me a book!!

[SchralphMacchio]

I could definitely see that! Between Pickets, American Alps, and Osceola ...

"Perverse Traverses of the Pacific Northwest, by an ex-Corporate Freeheeler and a Smelly Splitboarder"
Words and Images by Jason Hummel

[Kyle Miller]

I could definitely see that! Between Pickets, American Alps, and Osceola ...

"Perverse Traverses of the Pacific Northwest, by an ex-Corporate Freeheeler and a Smelly Splitboarder"
Words and Images by Jason Hummel

Whoa, Whoa, whoa!!!! let it be known I was the first person to jump in the freezing creek.

I always bring cologne with me on tours. Never know who you might run into.

[TBS]

This is actually a great idea. I would gladly be the first to plunk down $25-50 for a coffee table book with this exact same TR - no additional work needed. Dav's Ski the 14ers costs $50 retail. In its current form, yours would likely be way longer...

Agree this is a great idea, but I was thinking UE folds his TR narrative into a work of fiction. Picture this:

while on a long winter slog over the cascades, wilderness guides UE and Kyle come across one dead and one barely alive hooker. Survivor tells crazy story about getting thrown out of a private plane by some crazed lunatic. You do a text book rescue, except incorrectly note lat/long where you found her. SAR can't find the dead woman. You go on another trek in adjacent drainage next winter and come across a crashed plane filled with - blow. Debauchery ensues

Or You could solve mysteries...for example

A kid who thinks a 9mm glock is more important than a beacon. Gets caught in an avy. He's only partially buried but he's alone so wolves assemble, and either slowly eat him from head down as he melts out, or makes him their bitch. Either way it takes a long time to wade thru all the clues...why does this guy have a Stethoscope but not a multitool ?

A crazy old guy who is generally harmless (except for the occasional ax attack on ungulates) gets accused of murdering a human.

Some sanctimonious vegan chick gets trapped in a snowstorm for 10 days, kills and eats her boyfriend.

Some Wall St guy who trains like a madman to go heli skiing in AK, only to get sucked into the main rotor when his GoPro got hung up on a blade.

I'm sure you can come up with other plot lines.

[klar]

I'm sure you can come up with other plot lines.

I think he doesn't need to come up with fictional plotlines if he sits down with his brother and brainstorms childhood memories.


Well done friend bumblebee, bumble on.

[hop]

Nice work Jason. Carl would be proud.

[Gone Skiing]

Full rad. I went into a trance going through your adventure. Congrats, thats an awesome undertaking and a great success. Would definitely be into a coffee table book.

[alpinevibes]

A stunning project and undertaking. As a PNW kid, your guys' trips have been really inspiring, but this is the jewel in the crown!

[Mike Pow]

Brilliance. In all ways.

In awe.

[Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer]

What an outstanding and amazing trip report. Thanks very much for taking the time to put this together! Was a great read, and your photos are spectacular (as always).

[gravitylover]

One of the things I remember about this place in the early days was a desire to write about our experiences, then write some more and eventually we would get good at it. This was a place to practice and get feedback and a place to "try it out."

You have tried, practiced and succeeded to an exceptional point UE. My breakfast has been sitting on the table getting cold but I couldn't step away from the screen until the saga was complete. Congrats on the physical success as well, to both of you.

[Unemployed]

Someone asked for a map. Here's my best effort of the route.

[brice618]

Fuckin 'eh way to go!

[Lowell_Skoog]

Great story Jason!

I wanted to clarify something that was ambiguous in this post:

My attempts to convince like-minded friends to join me on such an endeavour as Forest was suggesting, had fallen on deaf ears. It was within Northwest ski historian and pioneer Lowell Skoog’s written account of his decades-long mission to ski from Mount Baker to Mount Rainier, a ~300-mile high route, a traverse across the Cascade Mountain crest. Lowell dubbed this route, traveling from Highway 20 through Glacier Peak, the “American Alps Traverse.”

By 1991 Skoog and party had made an attempt to complete the American Alps Traverse, but an uncooperative spring shut them down. In 2000, two locals took up the torch. Both Matt Firth and Bob Nielsen succeeded in reaching as far as Lyman Lake, about two-thirds of the way, but no farther. Since that time no other known efforts have been made.

"American Alps Traverse" was a name I came up with in the 1990s for a continuous ski route from the North Cascades Highway to Glacier Peak. I completed this route in segments between 1982 and 2000, but never did it as a single push. The 300+ mile route that Jason mentioned extends all the way from Mt Baker to Mt Rainier. That route, which I called "Skiing the Cascade Crest," is three times the length of the American Alps Traverse. I completed that route in memory of my brother Carl in 2007, a year and a half after his death in a skiing accident in Argentina. Again, this route was done in segments, not as a single push. It is documented on my website here:

http://alpenglow.org/skiing/cascade-crest/index.html

Carl and I attempted a single-push of the American Alps Traverse in 1991, but abandoned it due to poor weather. We never tried it again, mostly because I work full-time and it's not easy for me to do two week trips at a moment's notice.

Anyway, that's just some clarification. Thanks for a great story and pictures.

[_Aaron_]

That was fucking awesome. Thanks for sharing.

[Unemployed]

Great story Jason!

I wanted to clarify something that was ambiguous in this post:



"American Alps Traverse" was a name I came up with in the 1990s for a continuous ski route from the North Cascades Highway to Glacier Peak. I completed this route in segments between 1982 and 2000, but never did it as a single push. The 300+ mile route that Jason mentioned extends all the way from Mt Baker to Mt Rainier. That route, which I called "Skiing the Cascade Crest," is three times the length of the American Alps Traverse. I completed that route in memory of my brother Carl in 2007, a year and a half after his death in a skiing accident in Argentina. Again, this route was done in segments, not as a single push. It is documented on my website here:

http://alpenglow.org/skiing/cascade-crest/index.html

Carl and I attempted a single-push of the American Alps Traverse in 1991, but abandoned it due to poor weather. We never tried it again, mostly because I work full-time and it's not easy for me to do two week trips at a moment's notice.

Anyway, that's just some clarification. Thanks for a great story and pictures.

Thanks Lowell. Ha. I cut out a section there in one edit or another. Thanks for the clarification.

[meter-man]

BUUUMMMPPPP. Ask and ye shall receive. Coffeetable length offering on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...f-mind-journal
Unemployed, hope you don't mind the plug.

[meter-man]

Bumpers - only 50 hours left to pick up a sick coffeetable book.