TyClimber

You might want to check out skimolife.com. Awesome site and lots of info about gear choice.

Thanks! That's the fun part of moderate snow and ice routes, you get to cover a lot of ground. I'm just glad I got to ski off this one instead of walking 7000' downhill!

Trip: Mt. Baker - Coleman-Deming and North Ridge Date: 11/26/2013 Trip Report: I've been dying to take advantage of this high pressure system while we've got it, but it seems like most of the cascades are in that annoying shoulder season. Just enough snow to make approaches difficult and cover rock routes, but not enough to bring the winter routes into shape. After spending a day skiing up on Heliotrope Ridge a couple weeks ago I had the north side of Baker on the brain. My plan of attack was somewhat contrived. I was sketched out about crossing the crevasse fields on the Coleman alone so I decided to go all the way up and over the top via the Coleman-Deming, where I could just follow other peoples tracks, and then down climb the North Ridge with a rappel over the ice cliff. It all went pretty smoothly, I guess really I just created the hardest approach possible. I got an early start but was disappointed to find that I still had to walk up to 5k before I could take the skis off the pack and start skinning. I was able to skin up to the saddle at 9k then had to switch to the pons. The wind was heinous when I popped over the ridge. The skis on my pack were essentially sails throwing me all over the place. I struggled up to about 9600' and then gave up and dropped the skis. I had hoped to ski off the top on the way down but I was wasting too much energy and the bigger goal for the day was to do both routes. I still managed to stay more or less on the schedule I'd set for myself and topped out for the first time 4:10 after leaving the car. With the wind ripping there was no incentive to loiter on top and I dropped back down the north side as fast as possible to get back into the lee of the mountain. The trip down the ridge went smoothly and I made good time, conditions were pretty much ideal. I did one 60m rap over the ice cliff and went down to the point I felt like all the interesting climbing was above me. Roughly 9000' I believe. I guess technically I didn't climb the entire North Ridge, but I feel like I climbed everything that gives it such a good reputation. The ice cliff itself was super fun and then it was just a steepish slog back to the top from there. I topped out for the second time dead on 7 hours out from the car. Lucky for me the wind had at least died down a bit by then because I was starting to drag, I swear the summit plateau was twice as big the second time I had to cross it! I picked my skis up on the way down and flailed my way back to 5k. The snow was incredibly variable and I was so blown out by that point that I was in pure survival skiing mode, just trying to stay upright and get back to the car. Putting the skis back onto the pack for the last bit was rough but I had the end in sight. Made it back to the car just as it got truly dark for a 9:10 round trip. Very tired but very happy! I was lame about taking pictures as I was pretty much in continuous motion all day, but here are a few Looking up the ice cliff from the bottom of the rappel I was so psyched to be back on top of the ice cliff I had to take a selfie! Looking up the route from the edge of the ice cliff Approach Notes: Managed to drive my Subaru Imprezza all the way to the trailhead, but just barely.

How filled in was the NBC? Would it still involve mixed climbing or is it just a snow climb at this point? Did you get a decent look at the triple couloirs on dragontail? Thanks!

Trip: Eldorado Peak - NE Face Date: 10/30/2013 Trip Report: I wanted to get out and take advantage of this weather before it was gone, but couldn't come up with a mid week partner. Eldorado Peak had been on my list for a long time but I had never gotten around to it. The northeast face seemed like a decent solo option. The conditions were pretty much perfect for moving fast, no snow until just before the glacier and then a mix of very firm powder and neve from there on up. Threatening clouds kept moving through and darkening the skies before blowing back out again. I ended up climbing in the sun most of the day, but the looming weather was a motivator to go fast. I found a nice line through the schrund that I would estimate was about 70' of 60*ish, after that the slope eased back and it was a cruise to the top. To my surprise the knife edge was actually in pretty good shape, I figured it would be melted down to more of a rounded blob after the weeks of warm sunny weather. I topped out 3.5 hours after leaving the car and as I was currently under blue skies, spent almost half an hour taking in the views. I've only been in the North Cascades a handful of times, they still blow my mind every time I'm up there. After that I cruised down the east ridge and made it back to the car for 6:15 round trip. Caught a few drops of rain on the drive home, so I guess I timed it right. Pics Looking up my line through the schrund The knife edge section Nice clouds over Forbidden on the way down Approach Notes: That trail is as steep as advertised. I guess at least it doesn't waste any extra distance.

Is it just me or was that incredibly frustrating to watch? Three people basically stood there waiting for the guy to die while one person dug and one person held the guy's foot. I would assume they all had shovels, why exactly weren't they using them? The first person was at the scene within 15 seconds but no one started really digging until almost a minute and a half. I guess the person blowing the safety whistle had an important job to do though... Then at the end the guy presents that as a success. I think the kid is alive because he's lucky. They got him out, but it took twice as long as it should have.

Climbed the north face of chair yesterday. The first pitch was thin but made for fun climbing. After that it was just a steep snow cruise until the small bulge towards the top. We also did the north face of Bryant peak last Monday. We found the first pitch to be steep thin ice followed by about 50' of sweet mixed ground. After that it was steep snow all the way to the top. I have to say it was a very cool route though. I think it is at least as good as the routes on chair peak.

Cool, thank you.

Hi everybody, I've been unable to drum up a partner for tomorrow so I'm trying to come up with a suitable solo mission. I've heard there is a route up the North face of Bryant Peak but I haven't had much luck finding details. If anybody could give me an idea of what I would encounter it would be much appreciated. Thanks!

I skied Granite Mountain today via the east ridge and lower south face. It was actually pretty nice snow once it had softened up a bit with the sun. Had to take the boards off at about 3500' and walk the rest of the way out though.

I found Hood to be fantastic. The accessibility was hard to beat, you can't drive that close to the real climbing on many peaks around here. Looking in the guide book it seems like there are so many route opportunities that you can get on even in the dead of winter when much of the mountains are beyond reach. I think going up north would be well worth your time, it's fun to expand the repertoire a bit. You just have to bite the bullet and put in the car time. About the times I guess I wasn't so clear. I started at 4:30, the times I gave after that were my time spent moving, hit Illumination Saddle 1:45 after I left the car, was under the couloir 2:30 after I left the car, etc.

Hmmm, it looks like some of those are sideways. Could someone explain how I would fix that? Thanks

One more.... Looking up at the Hourglass on the Leuthold couloir

Fletch topping out on Adams Looking up the Cooper Spur Looking down Cooper Spur from mid height Mt Hood summit view

I got out for a couple great days of moderate alpine ice this week. Conditions were perfect for moving quickly. Mt Adams, West Face of the North Ridge 11/6 My brother and I headed down to Mt Adams on November 6th with the idea of climbing the North Face of the Northwest Ridge in a day. Due to his class schedule at school we got a seriously late start Thursday evening and arrived at the trailhead around 2am. A two hour power nap in the car and we were on our way just after 4. The approach didn't really go that fast, we were dragging more than a little bit. We hit the lower slopes of the Adams Glacier after about 4 hours and started the long slog across. While we were walking we kept looking at the West Face of the North Ridge. We had spied it when we were up on the north side a few years ago doing a different route and talked about how cool it looked. This time around it looked too great to pass up. The fact that we were totally cracked on walking and the approach would be 30 min shorter was a big factor in the decision making process. We changed directions and made it to the base of the face about 5 hours in. We decided to go ahead and harness up but keep the rope in the bag until it was necessary, in the end we never took it out. The conditions varied between mostly neve with a bit of water ice on the first half to mostly water ice with the odd spot of neve on the top half. The route is a sustained 40* the whole way with occasional stretches that nudged up towards 50. Never really hard, just fun with ever growing exposure. We topped out 3 hours later, almost exactly 8 hours after we left the car. It was so cold up high that we had been climbing for the last hour in our down jackets. The decision not to make the long walk across the summit plateau wasn't even discussed, we stopped just long enough to have a drink and then started down the North Ridge. I had heard the North Ridge kind of sucks, turns out that is a huge understatement. There was just enough ice on some of the exposed traverses that you couldn't really relax. Eventually it was over though and then we just had to face up to the long walk back to the car. I'd had the brilliant idea on the way in to write time checks in the snow, that trail feels endless on the way out and having some sense of how far we had left to go was a huge boost to the morale. We finally hit the car at the 13.5 hour mark, taking off the boots was the highlight of the day. Mt Hood, Leuthold Couloir and Cooper Spur 11/10 I had never been to Mt Hood before. I've thought about it a lot, but the drive is just long enough from Seattle that I always found something closer to do. This week I decided it was time to change that. I pitched my brother the idea of doing the North Face, but he couldn't miss school. Left without a partner I did a bit of research and came up with the Leuthold Couloir. I headed down Wednesday night, hitting Timberline at midnight. The alarm went off waaaaay to early and I was underway by 4:30. Having never been there before I wasn't really sure how long things were going to take me, I roughly estimated it would take me seven hours or so to get up and down the route. Conditions really couldn't have been any better, the full moon was so bright I didn't even need a headlamp as I skinned up. I think moving across snow under a full moon has got to be one of my favorite experiences climbing. I made it to Illumination Saddle after 1:45, just as the sky was starting to lighten up to the east. I took a quick breather and switched from skis to the pons. Crossing the Reid glacier was a breeze and I was underneath the route at 2:30 in. I would imagine that if you climbed it in May the Leuthold is pretty tame, but under such thin conditions it was really fun. The hourglass was completely scoured water ice, with a step in the middle that felt close to 60*. Awesome. After that the angle eased up a lot and I trudged on to the top. I had gotten the idea of topping out in under 4 hours in my head on the way up but in the end it took me 4:03, so close! Sitting on the summit there was hardly a cloud in the sky and I just wasn't tired yet. I figured I made the drive all the way down here, I might as well maximize my time. I had heard the Cooper Spur is pretty fun so I stashed my skis and down I went. It took me an hour to down climb to the point that the ridge mellowed out. I hung out in the sun for about twenty minutes and then headed back up. Conditions were literally perfect. Again it was never really hard, just straight up fun. I topped out for the second time an hour later, 6:30 in for the day. At this point I was getting pretty tired, I decided to sit down and have a proper rest in the sun before I went any further. 45 min of laying down did the trick and I started down the south side route. I had to down climb to about 10k, then I was able to strap on the skis. The skiing wasn't great, but it got me back to the car fast. I hit the car at 8:45, quite satisfied with my first trip to Mt Hood. I have some crappy cell phone photos that I will post later.