June Recap: Goodbye(s) and Hello!
Written by Evan Noronha on 7/1/2025
The last three weeks have been a whirlwind of chaos, excitement, and heartfelt goodbye-for-nows. Our friends and family have asked us to keep them posted on our travels to Europe and beyond, but it feels impossible to tell you where we're heading without sharing how we've gotten there. I had hoped to grace each story with it's own post, but a sentence each is all we can muster as we sip espresso under the watchful eyes of our server in Les Houches who can't wait for us to leave her table. So, here goes!
I skied in the North Cascades with Tom and Max. (May 21)
Written by Evan
Tom and I started with very high hopes for this whole weekend, and what actually ensued was the salvaged remains of an epic traverse across a North Cascades high route. Initially, Tom, Max, Greyson, and myself had planned to ski the Isolation Traverse over four days, but we clouds, precip, and overall wintery conditions across western Washington, we were forced to make other plans. It was disappointing to have to put off so many firsts. That trip would have been my first time winter camping, my first time on a glacier (after learning a ton from Tom's crevasse rescue course), and my first time skiing the Cascade high country.
Still, never one to spend a weekend on the couch, Tom rallied me for a long weekend of recreating on the east side. We clipped bolts in Vantage, got terribly lost on a new-to-us crag in Leavenworth, but most special was that I got a chance to ski The Birthday Tour with Tom and Max.
I first learned about this route a few weeks earlier, and was immediately sad that it had all the hallmarks of a route I would love to do, but wouldn't have time to ski it. This in-a-day route with mostly low-angle descents and a brief section of steep climbing and skiing is a classic Washington Pass Ski Tour, and is traditionally heavily trafficked the first weekend that Highway 20 opens. It being a few weeks since the highway had opened (and a Tuesday!) meant that we largely had the route to ourselves. Even though it was slightly later than optimal, the route was excellent. The snow climbing and couloir skiing kept things juust interesting enough to remain fully engaged. Travelling through the snow alongside Tom and Max, two very experienced, fit, and fun touring partners was also a great reminder that while I might be comfy skiing anything in the resort, backcountry travel is a totally different sport and I still have a lifetime of learning ahead of me.
One of the most rewarding parts of this day was that I got to see the start of Tom's interest in photography. I've always known that the most important part of sport / adventure photography is to be in the right place at the right time. Tom's really good at that. I knew I'd be huffing and puffing away for the whole day, so I decded to hand the camera over to him. He managed to grab some great shots! And many terrible ones! Still, in the weeks since, he has had so much fun with a camera in hand that he bought my old Z6II from me and has been carrying it on route as he guides on Mount Rainier. I've been thrilled to get weekly updates from him and can't wait to see where the hobby takes him.
[Photos to come!]
Morgan and I celebrated our anniversary in Mazama. (May 24)
Written by Morgan
I think we both found it sweet to trace our steps in the place where we agreed that we'd fallen in love. A year ago, we celebrated our fourth date by driving through WA pass in the dark, chatting all night in the truck bed cuddled up in a two-person sleeping bag, cragging with Evan's housemates, spreading goat cheese on fresh Mazama Store baguettes, and then zooming back to Seattle so Evan could catch his flight to Peru. With a year of experience under our belt (both in terms of climbing and knowing each other), we headed back to complete a popular 7-pitch route called Prime Rib and get our hands on more baguettes. The route had high exposure for a beginner but was definitely rewarding! My enduring memory is butterflies sunning themselves on our rope as I was belaying Evan on pitch four and the stunning views of opposing alpine meadows and peaks. A quick river dip, saunter around town, and highfive had us on the highway to catch the Outlaw Festival in the Gorge with my best friends.
Jaimi and I attended Dalan an Co's Annual lamb roast (May 30)
Written by Evan
It feels like the first rule of Lamb Roast is that you don't talk about Lamb Roast. Instead, I will share these photos (password: mutton) of two nights of meat-eating, pond-swimming, music-enjoying, lawn-game-playing shaninigans which were billed as a BBQ, but one could argue were beyond the scope of a BBQ.
We planted the garden! (June 6)
Written by Evan
We put this one off for too long. With the looming unncertainty of whether or not anyone would stick around to enjoy it, we were hesitant to invest the time and money needed to plant this years vegetable garden. In the end, Jaimi, Morgan and I decided to take the leap and just head to Freds and do it. We chaos-bought a smattering of peas, eggplants, peppers, tomatoes, basil, lemon cucumber and a lone bean plant. As of this writing nearly a month later, everyone is thriving (except the beans). Early on in our relationship, Morgan and I got so much joy from our morning garden walks, where we took stock of the new fruits and flowers each morning. It's been nice to be able to savor those experiences a few more times before getting on the road, and made our time at home especially grounding amist all the change we've been experiencing.
We made pizza at Morgan's going away party. (June 9)
I sent my years-long sport proj at Index. (June 14)
This one was small but huge. I first top roped Cunning Stunt in April of 2024 and on my first attempt I immediately knew it could be my first 10c. If I recall correctly, at the time I was able to do all of the moves except for the reachy crux on a crimp reaching to a jug. I came back a couple weeks later with my friend Linn, and gave it another burn, this time on the sharp end. My friend Zach was nice enough to record the attempt:
That attempt last year was the last time I tried the route, but it's been on my mind ever since. When I wrote my five goal for the new year, "Redpoint Cunning Stunt" was number 4. So, when Tom and I had one last opportunity to spend a cool cloudy day at Index, I knew this was the moment. We warmed up on SS Ultrabrutal, then Tom forced me to attempt a 10d move on the pitch above at least ten times before I finally stuck the dynamic crux.
Finally, warmed up and ready, I hopped on the project. I didn't remember most of the moves, except the crimpy traverse and the dynamix crux, so I felt like I was onsighting all over again. Nevertheless, I cruised up to the ledge before the crux, fiddled around with my beta for ten actual minutes, then finally pulled the move! I even managed to find a kneebar rest on the upper section of the pitch! As I was moving through the upper 5.8 section, all I could think was "don't mess up," because the thought of blowing the climb now was too much to bear. A few moves later, and I had clipped the chains—thoroughly flash pumped and ready to spend the rest of the afternoon belaying Tom on his mega-proj next door, The Fifth Force.
Soon after, we wrapped up and headed to Maple Leaf's annual music festival, Maplefest, where Morgan and Mel and co joined us for an afternoon of AYCE tamales, rice, beans and local music to sooth our tired forearms. This day was one for the books.
