Ride Report: Defeated by the Cascade Triple Crown

[Dromond]

Have you ever had a big ride that you aspired to do and once you got the chance you totally failed on it? That is how it was with Greydon Clark an myself. We dreamed of huffing our desk-jockey selves up the 11,000' of climbing that comprises the Cascade Triple Crown. (Approximately speaking that is the Crystal Mountain, Ranger Creek and Sun Top rides for those of you not familiar with it.) Snow kept us off these trails for much of the summer and we picked today as the day when our fitness and schedules would allow us make through our little hellfest.

We departed Seattle at 5:00am to allow for max daylight. We were on our bikes and riding from our parking spot near hwy 410 by 7:15.




The plan was to bag the steepest climb first off which is the southback trail up Crystal. (I'm sure that some people say that the TC is technically the whole loop at Crystal, but riding up and down Southback is almost as hard and a lot more fun IMHO.) The day was looking atmosphere and a forecast of potential rain showers had us watching the weather. Cold weather energized us on the climb and we felt fantastic passing the 3,000' vert mark in no time.




We pondered our surprising chilly toes as we kept a conservative but consistent spin through the lovely meadows.




"Uh, we have visible solids. This could be a problem"




At this point I realized that we were in a September blizzard. Snow was accumulating on my bare arms and legs and we had to layer up even though we were almost at the top. Normally the first snow makes me giddy but this what not what I had in mind.




Energy wise we felt incredibly good. Cresting 4,000' we felt like we had just done a little warmup ride and that the next 7,000' was well within our limits. The problem was that we were already wet and cold.




Luckily we were able to get into the quasi-heated building at the top of Crystal. Yet, we were so wet and cold by that point that even with all of our layers a full set up jumping jacks left me chilly. The second we started the descent our teeth were chattering and I knew we were courting hypothermia with a breeze, 37 degree temps and wet clothing. Trail conditions were mostly very good with the melted snow keeping the summer dust and sand down a bit. Unfortunately all that melted snow and rain managed to get us to new levels of drenched and we spent the descent in varying states of numbness.




After a truly ripping and fun ride down the lower half of the trail we descended back down to the car where we had planned to refuel and then finish the ride. I was freezing and Greydon was turning blue. Even with dry gear we knew that the summit of the next two climbs was likely going to frigid, wet hypothermia-ville and we accepted our defeat. Next time!

[PeachesN'Cream]

Nice effort boys. Getting snowed out is a pretty legit reason eject.
Looking forward to yet another year of Graydon talking about attempting "the crown."

[springsproject]

Looked fun and miserable at the same time, nice! You guys bring whiskey?

[DAFTC]

It's just going to make it better when you do get it.

Not really a defeat...just part of the mountains.

Good on ya for posting the sufferTR