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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.

Crimper, you're right... Snake Rock is much further north from Asterisk Pass. G-Spotter... where did you find those names?

We climbed two unknown routes near Asterisk Pass on Saturday. More specifically, they are located on the west side of the Christian Brothers Wall. We took the trail up to "Katherine Finds an Edge" and "That First Step" on the north side of Asterisk Pass. Just above the base of those routes is a short scramble over the pass to an alcove of the west side. From here there is a bolted line on the right side that starts with several moves on volleyball-sized knobs. It feels like a 5.8(ish) route...? The second route is further left and starts on a vertical face with a thin crack. The route goes up three bolts on technical knobs then finishes on a slab with walnut-sized knobs. The start feels like 5.10a(ish)...? Does anyone know the names/grades of those routes?

Yet again... another nice TR, P-Town! The cloud-cover had us a bit confused on Little Tahoma that same weekend. We could see Stuart and I was wondering how your climb was going. Glad you pulled it off! :-)

Trip: Inner Constance - West Face Variation Date: 6/21/2008 Trip Report: A little late, but here it is: June 21-22 two student members of Explorer Post 58 and two adult advisors (including myself) climbed Inner Constance via a variation of route #4 in the Olympics Climbing Guide book. We biked from the road closure to the start of the "route" to Lake Constance. Camped the night at the lake. Approached the climbing route through Avalanche Canyon, then ascended a mix of snow slopes and gravelly ledges to a saddle in the Northeast Ridge. From there, a gentle snow slope led to the summit block. We easily scrambled to the top. Descended the same route. Packed up camp. Hiked the "route" back down (sketchy in sections... be careful not to lose your way). Coasted on our bikes back to the car. Arrived in Portland around 12:30 Monday morning. Yet another successful trip for some adventurous teens! Pics: http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/503/medium/002ii.jpg[/img]

Gettin' after it! Good on you! Nice "training", eh?

Indeed, two ropes would be useful. However, we elected to go light and simul-climbed most of the traverse with one, 60-meter rope. We shortened the rope about 50' on both ends while climbing the rock sections. This allowed us to easily communicate with one another. Plus it reduced rope drag considerably. We traversed the small glacier (on the north side of the notch, east of Torment's summit block) using all of our rope... simul-climbing about 100' apart. This allowed us to run-out protection (pickets and sporatic rock gear). Additionally, the full rope made is easier to negotiate moats and end-crossing crevasses. Goatboy is absolutely right about the snow conditions being very different mid-to-late season... the soft snow we encountered won't be around much longer. I imagine the pack will firm up on the north faces and glaze-over nicely. The traversing slopes are sustained, exposed aspects. Be careful, no matter the conditions.

P.S. It's unfortunate to see all the tat that's been left in the gully. If I could have reached some of it, I would have gladly cut off some of the ratty bits. My ethic is to remove an old sling if I'm going to leave a new one behind. Here's a photo of PTown setting up slings for our third single-rope rap. Notice that he's right on the edge of moat... barely reaching a small slingable block. There are two other stations (to his right) that are out-of-reach right now.

Panos- I was actually glad to have an axe on some portions of the snow traverses. Even though it was super soft, it gave me a little extra confidence... psycho pro., I suppose. Kevino- The rap stations from the notch in Forbidden's West Ridge onto the glacier are melting out fast. We rapped using a single rope, so we used slings that could be bypassed with a double-rope rap. I suspect that the last two stations will be out of reach soon (if not already so). It would be possible to rap the first +/-150' over rock to gain the snow slope above the schrund. From there, that section could be downclimbed without having to rap. The other obstacle will be the schrund... it is melting out fast, too.

We climbed the West Ridge of Forbidden (via the Torment-Forbidden Traverse) on Sunday. See PTownClimber's TR: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/812497/gonew/1#UNREAD The ridge is completely dry and in fine condition right now. We downclimbed the ridge to avoid the traversing the snow patches on the north face. The approach through the gully may be tricky. We rapped the gully and found the upper portion (+/-100') has exposed rock. The rest of the gully has really soft snow right now. The rap stations are almost unreachable due to moat melt-out. That ridge itself is "IN" and cruiser... go get it!

Nice TR PTown! Here's a few more of my favorite photos from the climb: