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Trip: Mt. Hood - North Face Right Gully Trip Date: 01/02/2019 Trip Report: New year new objectives! Plans, partners, and conditions finally aligned for the north face of Hood. I parked at Timberline and my friend drove us to Tilly Jane. 12am sharp we were on the trail. The approach to the A-Frame was super mellow and took us slightly over an hour. From there we followed a well compacted path to the carin on Cooper Spur. The snow on the glacier was boot deep most of the way. Not bad conditions at all. By 4:20 we stopped at about 8500 feet to nap because none of us got any sleep the day before. Sleeping at the base of Cooper 30 At 5:50 my partner woke me up. I'm pretty sure I was hypothermic but that nap felt soooo good. The slog up to the base of the route uneventful but the sunrise was well worth it. We crossed to the right of the bergschrund. The snow was kind of spooky but it went with ease. After some more slogging we got on the first ice step. It felt WI2-3ish overall. After about 50 meters of climbing I made a belay with a screw and picket. First ice step Me leading up the step The snow between the ice steps was quite pleasant. We comfortably soloed through it, kicking in deep if we needed to rest. Here's the second ice step. It felt pretty easy as well. WI2 probably. A few hundred more feet of slogging brought us to Cathedral Spire. It looked like a fun climb for another day. Climbing up one of those cracks looked compelling and fun. What the snow looked like Summit pyramid. At the summit pyramid we faced the first alpine ice we had seen on the entire route. Opting not to simu-solo, we unroped for the last stretch. Pulling the summit cornice was bittersweet. Throughout the entire route we faced no wind, relatively mild temperatures, and perfect visibility. When we got to the summit, it was a different story. It was a total whiteout, icy wind made everything freeze, and things got pretty damn cold. We decided to descend the old chute because the pearly gates were iced up. We made it down in record slow time, mistaking ice formations for buildings and people a number of times. The descent to Palmer had very little snow, it was mostly these ice rock things. Our lack of sleep was finally catching up to us. When we got to the car, I began seeing imaginary hot air balloons and large apartment buildings. Overall though, it was an exceptional trip. The snow was great. The ice was great. Even the approach was pretty mellow and fun. All in all it took us about 15 hours including the impromptu nap time. I honestly have no idea when we got to the summit. It was a fun but relatively easy romp up the mountain. here's what the descent conditions looked like Gear Notes: 4 Screws 2 Pickets Approach Notes: Follow the trail, descent at the carin

Trip: Mount Stuart - Girth Pillar Trip Date: 07/31/2018 Trip Report: Updated with video After having a good time doing the Center Stage/Flight of the Falcons linkup in Darrington last month, I convinced my friend Kevin to climb the Girth Pillar c2c. I've got 3 little kids at home in Seattle and Kevin lives in Oregon, so we like to pack a lot of adventure into our infrequent climbs together. Turns out this adventure was heavy on the walking and scrambling, but the novelty of doing a new route (for us) on a big mountain made the effort worth it. We left the parking lot at 4am and hustled to the base of the North Ridge. Roped up and simulclimbed 6 pitches until the ridge narrows and flattens out. At this point the access ramp (easy walk down) breaks left and deposits you a few meters above the seracs on the upper Ice Cliff Glacier. We walked down, scoped the rest of the approach, and put on our crampons while watching RV-sized ice chunks tumble down. The upper glacier held soft snow with the only difficulty requiring a climb into and out of the massive crevasse that spans the width of the glacier. We hopped over the moat onto the rock (red) and proceeded to climb up through 500 feet of choss, death blocks, and grit. Up to 5.9X and time consuming. Pretty sure we were not on the recommended approach, but rather climbers right of it, as we had to move back left to finally access the bivy ledge. The actual pillar pitches (green) were quite good and the overall position is incredible. Route finding is obvious because it follows a single crack system the whole way. Mostly hand jamming mixed with flake pulling, although nearly all of the pitches lean to the right so they can feel a bit strenuous. Kevin led all 3 pitches onsight. I offered moral encouragement and tried not to short rope him despite our fuzzed out workhorse and GriGri2 combo. We topped out the pillar and simuled to the false summit. After taking time to eat and refill our water bottles with drips from snow patches, we started down the Cascadian Couloir for the long slog back to the car, finally arriving a few minutes before midnight. Just about 20 hours total on the move. Gear Notes: singles to #3, 2x #1, 3x #2 60m rope approach shoes, aluminum crampons, 1 technical tool per person Approach Notes: Standard southern approach via Ingalls Lake. Access upper Ice Cliff Glacier from ramp on lower north ridge.