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Trip: Mt Hood - Pearly Gates - Left Trip Date: 01/13/2019 Trip Report: Just a quick conditions update for Mt Hood. Took the left option in Pearly gates and found a short step of ice, maybe 5-6 feet. Followed by maybe 10 meters of low angle ice. It is in great conditions for those comfortable on water ice. Downclimbed the mazama chute. All the old chute routes are in and straightforward steep snow climbing. Saw several parties heading up DKHW and am interested to hear a conditions report there. Based on the ice in the gates I expect the headwall to be in shape with good ice. My 17th and first solo Hood. Well, except for the rest of the hoard. The hourglass: \ Crappy pic of the step: Top of the ice: Summit Pano: Gear Notes: 2 tools Approach Notes: Less painful in the dark.

Hey all, I am looking for a partner to do the Cassin Ridge with this spring. I am an experienced climber, I climb 11's at the crag and 10's in the alpine, WI4, and have lots of experience on the glaciers as well as previous Alaska range experience. For the last 8 months, I have been working 1:1 with a coach from uphillathlete.com to prepare for the Cassin. None of my regular partners are able to take the requisite time off, so I am reaching out to try and find somebody. Shoot me a message if interested and we can talk details!

Leaving Portland for Banff tomorrow. Will be there 4 weeks. Don't have anyone lined up to climb with Jan 26th to Feb 1st. yippieway@gmail.com if your interested.

Trip: Alpine Lakes Wilderness - North Buttress Couloir Trip Date: 01/12/2019 Trip Report: Began ascent around 0615, cruised up the road following tracks to trailhead for Cashmere mountain. From there broke trail all the way to turn around point. Navigation through the forest was quite poor, even though done this portion plenty of times, still got lost at certain portions. Took about 5 hours to reach Colchuck Lake, was humbled by process of breaking trail and poor skinning skills. Opted to not cross on the lake just wasn’t vibing with it. Sat around for around 40 min. warming hand and waiting for visibility to open up. Pushed out towards far side of Colchuck Lake where weather was much better even just 100’ higher. Hugged skiers’ left on boulder field proved worth it, wish I would have ascended even more on this side rather the Colchuck Glacier moraine, although it did have a handful of cornices which seemed solid and inactive. Transitioned into climb mode near entrance of couloir. Snow was not compactible at all, ice tools were more shovels making room for better steps. Had crampons on with intention of reaching higher and avoiding a difficult spot to slip them on but were not necessary. Overall snow seemed good until I transitioned from one aspect to another, where, the snow seemed to be even more bottomless and inconsolable. It was this point where I opted turn around – just did not have margin for my own solo attempt. The ski descent from this portion (see below) got to my nerves a bit. Due to the inconsolable snow, arresting was not an option. Your tool would simply slice right through, yet your skis would still float relatively well on the surface. Between this, the steeper grade and the looming cliff below, it was survival skiing until I reached my transition point. Dropped into the skiers left of the moraine and threw down my line. Opted to follow standard trail out so to avoid the lake. The descent through the forest was much better, skating out on skins proved much timelier with even portions of skiable slopes. The road out as also super, a little frozen at places, bit hard to turn and crashed but oh well. Upon arrival at the car, totaled 13:23 hrs. 16.6 miles & 6000’ gain with high point of 7000’. Gear Notes: Tools, crampons, self-belay setup, two screws, 30m 6.1mm rope, picket, used only tools for pushing down snow Approach Notes: Tunes highly recommended IMG_0434.HEIC Bailing on Colchuck NBC.mov

proud of you sohn

It was great meeting you on the Eliot, Peter. That trip sounds amazing. Have fun and good luck with partners!

The rock is compact and polished; not much in the way of handholds or gear. The first half of the climbing, up into the basin, did not feel highly threatened to me; there is a lot of lower angle rock between the snouts of the glaciers and that area. The upper slab section, which we found entirely unprotectable and lies in the fall line of the right-hand glacier, might be avoidable climber's right (looking at some other photos), but you do still have to pass the fall line of that right ice cliff. Doing so on class 2 or 3 would be faster though, than the 4/5 we encountered. You'd have to cross the larger, right-hand outflow twice though, which could be an issue depending on volume. It's not a small amount of water, even in later summer. Almost 12 years later and I still get excited thinking about this route; having gazed up at it, studied it in photos, and dreamed about what it might be like in those upper basins for years. getting our asses handed to us the first try. Getting more and more hopeful as each successive obstacle was passed on the second try. So, so many rappels and so much downclimbing in the dark down the east ridge after getting the to summit. Shivering with one sleeping bag and a space blanket just below the CJ Col after 24 hours on the move, wondering if the predicted rain was going to soak us, and the glorious acres of blueberries we found for breakfast the next morning. There is an experience doing a new route that is entirely unlike repeating; no tat, no cairns, never looking at a route description or trying to figure out if I'm 'going the right way'. Look up, choose the way that looks like it goes, then go find out if it really does. Beautiful simplicity and true adventure.