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Anybody have Nooksack Tower on your summer list?

I am an experience climber who has climbed Triple Couloirs three times on three different years in various conditions. I consider myself a very conservative climber with a low risk tolerance who has climbed some of the most technical routes all over the world. I have only solo'd two "technical" routes in my life: one 5.6 rock climb in Leavenworth and Triple Couloirs, but I generally always prefer a running belay on all "technical" climbs. My personal opinion is that Triple Couloirs for the experienced climber lends itself to solo'ing. In the best conditions, TC has two very short ice pitches (less than three body lengths each) separated by three couloirs of snow which generally would be good terrain to self-arrest a fall. If you get to the first ice pitch and it is dry or thin, you can easily walk back down. If you get to the second ice pitch and it is dry or thin, you can easily walk back (reversing the moves or rappelling the first ice pitch). You can basically climb up and turn around when you get to a section that you decide that you can't reverse the pitch in its conditions. Yes, the route can be dry and it can be thin, but you can always turn around if it's not in great conditions. A fall from one of the two ice pitches would be relatively easy to arrest a fall. I teach students on arresting a fall on snow. I would classify the angle of snow in these couloirs relatively moderate self-arrest terrain (not the easiest, but not a difficult place to stop a fall). As a very experienced Mountaineer, I assume Dr. Thurmer was an expert at self-arrest technique on snow. I solo'd TC with three other friends at the same time, all soloing, carrying a 30m skinny rope to rappel or for emergencies or for a belay if somebody wanted it. In prime conditions (as I climbed it solo), the first pitch is 4-5 body lengths of AI3- and the second pitch is 1-2 body lengths of AI2 (sometimes it's even just snow that you walk up). Page 191 of the new guidebook "Cascade Classic Climbs" is a good, representative picture of my wife about to solo the "crux" WI3- on TC. You can see that in prime conditions, it is a *very easy* ice step. Without an autopsy, and without knowing the conditions, and without having known Dr. Thurmer personally, it is possible that he got hit by a falling rock and may have been incapacitated to arrest (the worst case and very unlikely scenario). Impossible to know. I don't think TC is notorious for having rock fall this time of year. I have climbed this mountain 8 times in March and April on different years and never observed rock fall. It's possible that he was just really unlucky and got hit by a rogue rock. Norman_Clyde, I think it's very unlikely that Dr. Thurmer would have set up a self-belay at any point, as the pitches do not lend themselves to a self-belay. I have climbed Gib Ledges, and (for comparison), I did not and would not solo that route due to the frequency of rock fall. I think Gib Ledges has much more exposure and much more objective hazard, for reference. The point of me saying all of this is that I personally think there should be zero judgment towards Dr. Thurmer's decision to solo this route. I don't really think there is any "no-fall" terrain on TC, as long as you are experienced with self-arrest techniques. I 100% respect all opposing opinions since everyone has different risk tolerances. My personal opinion, if you can lead WI4 ice clean, roped, and it feels easy, and you also have solid self-arrest skills, TC is a trivial route to solo (coming from a guy who doesn't solo shit).

Keep up the CPR. I like mine more.

This isn't editing tricks....a crazy beam lit up this tree as @cfire and myself were descending Wallaby this fall:

Trip: Mt Adams - South Spur Trip Date: 04/21/2021 Trip Report: Hiked up from the Wicky Shelter. If one can drive through the foot high snow on the sweeping corner above Wicky Shelter, there is a bunch of dry road above it. But, it was clear that at least one vehicle had been stuck in it. Followed the normal winter route but headed right to view the sunrise on the Mazama Glacier Headwall(?), below image. Hiked up a bit more and then left to get back to the normal route - had to cross a narrow crevasse to do so. Descended the summer route. Seems like it is melting out fast as there were exposed rocks on the normal climbing route up to the Piker's Peak plateau. More images https://imgur.com/gallery/CYAsv8p Gear Notes: Whippets, crampons, helmet (didn't use), axe (barely used), snow shoes Approach Notes: Long road walk from Wicky Shelter