Jefferson's Birds and Climbing Journal

This weekend I spent both days birding the Lummi Flats. I'd birded there once before, but it was super windy so we didn't see much at all. I had a couple of targets, northern shrike, snow bunting, and horned lark, but I was mostly excited to explore a new area. 

This is just a short post to summarize some cool birding experiences from the beginning of this year. The first cool experience was a combination of luck and perseverance. 

This weekend I attempted to climb the Northeast Buttress of Chair Peak with Preston. The peak is located in Snoqualmie Pass and is generally considered an approachable winter alpine route, although as with all winter alpine routes, the difficulty is highly conditions dependent. While it had been warm recently, we hoped with the current temperature just below freezing the route would still have enough ice to climb. Combined with clear skies and low avalanche danger, it seemed at least worth an attempt.