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Here are some poor-quality, iPhone pics from the climb: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11863105@N04/sets/72157625055026944/detail/

Thanks for the photos mattp. What time of year were those shots taken? I'm not sure that we'd actually do a true "traverse" along the ridgeline. It looks like the snow slopes below the ridge would be a cruise, eh?

Thanks guys. After I posted the original message, I went home to find a description in the Climber's Guide to the Olympics. I'm excited to try it out!

I'm thinking of taking a small group of teens (with alpine training) up to the Mt. Washington area this spring. Is it possible to link the two mountains in a day? If so, how would you approach and in what sequence would you climb them? Any route info. would be helpful. Thanks.

I'm not sure what current conditions are like. But I can attest that the approach is quite challenging. It seemed much longer than the route descriptions that we'd read. Consider taking bikes up the road and stashing them once the "climber's route" begins. Having bikes makes for a speedy and fun descent back to the car. Photos from our hike into Constance Lake and climb of Inner Constance last June:

Here's the only shot I got looking towards the other gullies. It's hard to make-out the conditions inside them. As recent events can confirm, there's lots of icefall up there right now. Beware!

Snodge, We scoped out that gully. It would definitely be much longer and perhaps more interesting to climb. I'd love to go back sometime and go for it. We opted not to hit it because there appeared to be a thinly-covered section midway up (notice the brown section in the photo). With no ropes or pro. we didn't want to get over our heads. Additionally, the ice above was already exposed to the sun. We felt more comfortable about our decision when a shower of icefall came down that gully when we were halfway up our chosen route. Sure glad we weren't caught in the barrage! As it turned out, there was only about 250' of climbing in the gully we ascended (once you enter the gully... not counting the fan, below). Short, but fun, nonetheless

Indeed, there are lots of factors at-play on the mountain's snow and ice conditions right now (as always). This is very sad news.

I lost my favorite cap on Sunday (1/18) hiking up the climber's trail above Timberline Lodge. The wind swiped it off my head and into the trees. Considering the force of the winds, it's probably at the coast by now... Ha! It's a Mountain Hardware, ball-cap-styled hat, with flip-down earflaps. Please let me know if you found it. Thanks!

More photos- First light on Illumination Rock: Cloudscape: The gully we climbed (notice all the icefall debris): Preston climbs through the slot: Looking up to the Wy'East traverse: Walking back to our skis (after descending West Crater Rim): Finally some turns: See more photos at my Flickr site:

Hoping the best for to the injured and rescuers. With ice conditions like they are (rime) and the warm temps, it doesn't take much sun to create icefall. If you're gonna go for it, it's best to go in early morning... before sun exposure. We saw some large chunks hurtling down the Pearly Gates and gullies to the east on Sunday morning.

Nice climb and TR P-Town! Another memorable outing... "livin' good days", indeed! When I get a chance, I'll have to resize my photos and post a few more shots.

Sweatinoutliquor- Thanks for the steps up the top of Wy'East! We linked into that route, this morning, after climbing one of the gullies on Devil's Kitchen Headwall. We were wondering who had put them in... now we know. Indeed the wind was nasty! However we found great front-pointing snow in the gullies, the Wy'East traverse, and the summit ridge. Cheers!

Excellent... thanks guys!

Thanks, Markd! I wish the 5.8 continued up the flake to top-out... fun climbing, for sure.