ScaredSilly

Spent many days up there. Great country, surprisingly still lots of snow this year. BTW when crossing a stream make your poles longer. And for a stream like that one facing up stream allows one to lean into the current while moving diagonally to the side.

I may be able to help a little but need to check with a friend who was up in that area with clients years ago. That said I can give a few general thoughts from my poking around the Glacier. I did not ascend it due to bronchial infection and walked over to and up the std route. It is possible to bivy up high near some of rocks/seracs but at that height the slope is 45 degrees plus so you would likely be chopping a platform. The good part is that one could probably kick their gear off and it would roll damn near back to Camp II (more than one climber has done this - not gear, but the climber with a very bad outcome!!!). That said, I am not super knowledgeable about the route but does it not start at around 5900m and rejoins the Polish direct at about 6500m with a traverse left below the last major rock band before gaining the summit ridge? If so that is not too far above Camp 2 (5600m). So it may not be too much of a benefit to bivy super high but perhaps just closer horizontally to the start which might make it possible to bribe someone into retrieving your camp. (i.e. I would probably try not carry up and over and was initially thinking the route started higher above Camp 2). From the top of the Polish Glacier it is a long walk to the summit. I watched a Polish climber get to the top of the Polish Glacier but then never to be seen again. I looked for him at the base with no signs and I think he went to the other side (literally and figuratively). Pretty somber to say the least. Can not help you with pro ideas but the rock is fairly crappy. The glacier can be ice or a snow slog. One other general recommendation. While some like to acclimate else where I would recommend acclimating on-site. The scene at base camp is not too bad. You can get away from it easily. And one can day hike up the gully next to base camp and get some great views on the S. Face. Some go to this col and descend down to Plaza Franco. I think it tops out at around 4800m-4900m. I did not quite go all the way as I was still recovering. The other is that if it is just two of ya and one is not well after the acclimatization hike you may not be motivated to head up to base camp by yourself. At least when I got sick my partner could continue on without me. Which he did by doing a carry to Camp I while I horked up my lungs in base camp. One other recommendation, if you are acclimated (or recovering) a carry to Camp 2 is not needed. We planned to do one but because we got nabbed in a storm and spent 3 nights at Camp 1 we decided to take 4 days of food to Camp 2 and go for it from there. We figured if we did not make it on our first try we would just come down and get more food. Although we found many abandoned caches at Camp 2 and could have survived for several more days. BTW I am assuming you mean 4 days from the Base Camp. Certainly realizable but personally I would plan for a few more days cause when Viento Blanco comes you want to be able to hunker down or get the hell down lest you end up like this:

What do you want to know?

Some fun on the hill. V: Hey A, can you get up here this weekend we have a high pressure setting up A: No, I am stuck in DC in meetings through the weekend. Think it will last until next week? V: They say it will last 10 days. A: Okay, let me try to clear my calendar when I get back and lets watch the weather. One week latter ... V: Weather is still holding through Saturday night. A: I have a flight pick me up at PDX at 4pm on Thursday. So the emails went. After the airport pickup we stop for dinner and beer arriving at Timberline around 7pm with blue bird skies but high winds. There is lots of activity in the parking lot from others settling in for the night. Not us, we set off hiking up to Illumination Rock with plans to bivy there for a couple of nights. Being part of the leisure class we set a blistering pace up the freshly groomed runs making the top of the Magic Mile in less an hour. Soon afterwards it gets dark and the winds increase. Then V admits he was up until 3am drinking with his brother and is not feeling the love of the mountain yet. At this point we are mid way up the Palmer. Ah what the hell, lets just bivy here and finish the walk in the morning (hopefully without the wind). At 5am it is light out but the winds are still blowing. Being part of the crack of noon club we decide to go back to sleep. At 7am we are awoken by the sounds of a snow cat. We can only wonder what the snow cat driver thought about seeing us bivied there in the snow - other than yup just a couple of slackers under estimating the hill. Finally at 8am we decide that it is one thing to be discovered by the cat driver but another to be skied over by those taking the lift so we finally decided to move along towards the saddle. We arrive at the saddle finding that the shitters had pretty much dropped trowel where ever they felt like it. There are thing called WAG bags, use them folks. And if you can't, shit yer pants or stay off the hill as there is no reason to shit right in a heavily used camping area. Finding a fecal free area we cached our tent and other gear. Finally, strolling out at 10:30am in the warmth of the sun and a lot less wind we drop down onto the Reid Glacier to find excellent névé. V has never been on this side of the hill before so we wander over toward Yocum Ridge and swing right up Leutholds. Conditions are fine as we wander up into the hourglass. We find a little ice but nothing that can not be climbed with a single tool and ski pole. About noon we stop at Queen's Chair for a picnic lunch and few pictures. After which we top out and only find one other person who is descending. Lovely to have the summit to oneself. We descend back to saddle where we brew up, lounge, have dinner, lounge some more, and BS about the usual three mountain topics. At 3:30am the noise makers show up. Why is it that people have to so damn noisy in the wee hours? Finally they leave. Then another set show up at 4:30am. We finally politely ask them to quiet down as we are trying to sleep. They leave at 5am. At the this point it is getting light so we decide to get up and get moving. We set off about 6:15am or so dropping back down on to the Reid. Same conditions as the day before. We wander across the Reid to the base of Yocum. Though a bit longer than we expect, we quickly go around the corner finding firmer and steeper névé than on the Reid. After one easy bridge over a crack we are down on the Sandy Glacier. Like the day before we head over towards a ridge, take a right turn and wander up the headwall. We climb up to just below the pinch before breaking out a second tool. Which was good timing as we found some nice ice. Above the pinch it was a mix of hard névé and ice but nothing on the route was more than 55 degrees. At this point we are a couple of hundred feet below another group (the 5am noise makers) so we head left a bit and pick up the ridge. Rather catch up to the other group we have another picnic at the Queen's Chair. As we wander up the last bit we can hear voices, lots of voices. Ah yes, it is a Saturday on Mt. Hood. Fortunately, the summit ridge is not too chaotic. It is odd though as it is our first time being on the same summit in less than 24 hours. We did not spend much time on top and began our descent. We were glad to be leaving the masses while descending via the Carter Rim. After arriving back at the Saddle we pack up our gear and headed down the hill. We finished the day with a beer and dinner at the Lodge and watched the weather roll in. Timing is everything. After that V dropped me off at friends for my 6am flight the next morning while he headed back north with a stop at his brother's. Though I do not think V was going to do any serious drinking. At 65 V is getting a little old for multiple benders but for two routes in two days. No pictures as our ascents were nothing of note, just a couple of guys enjoying some quality time on the hill.

Fixed it for ya.

Nice, great photos. Sounds like after you did the second rock band you went up the ridge a bit farther than we did in 2000. We had a nice camp at round 16,700 that was in a rock out cropping that protected us from the wind.

nice to see some progress given what I get to read living in OOootah.

Wow - big balls on the walls. Amar is correct about the line they are one couloir over from Thermogenesis but it would appear that the lower section is in common as they state "Once through the couloir we traversed above cliffs and into the choke where we would be exposed to rock and icefall." I would interpret the choke to be the hourglass on Thermogenesis. That said, a gnarly descent.

What Don drew is pretty much the line we took in early August. The two patches of snow were much smaller but the pocket glacier was about the same size. There was a bit of debris from the north glacier but I would rather take my chances with it than being flushed by the pocket as there is lot of water coming from it. Thus it is well lubricated.

Bummer ... not a good day on the hill.

That is what is sounds like to me. Very understandable, probably skied of the summit towards the Coleman-Denning and was a bit right of the fall line when he fell and then went down the headwall. Harsh.

In general for glacial routes longer screws are preferred because finding good ice can be problematic. Also you can always girth hitch a long screw.

I would say what is drawn in red is not the preferred alternative to get the toe as it puts you under the pocket glacier. We came in from the right side, which while there is glacier/snow above you are less exposed overall.

I have done the direct start and then some as we did not want to venture out on the pocket glacier. That was in early Aug and it was broken up with lots of water coming down. When we did the direct start we came directly below buttress and wandered up slabs and started climbing. We did three pitches one of which was 5.10+ so we obviously did not do the true direct but the indirect - direct. Picture below of the 5.10+ section.

Oddly enough the two times I have been on Adams I have been temporarily in the wrong place. Much to my embarrassment both times have been in perfectly clear weather and for the most part daylight. I can get myself off the hill but I will be damned if I can find the right trail back to the road.

Nice little outing for a solo. Good on ya! A couple notes for you. IMHO going over to the north side via the Newton Clark is no big deal - I have done it from the high side a couple of times. Solo once in October and unroped in July. Lwer down there are cracks but if you do it from about 9k feet it is a cruise. As for the second step, 30' of at most 75 degree ice. IHMO folks way over estimate the steepness of ice. When ice gets to be 75 plus degrees it feels over hanging simply because of the way tools are placed and you are actually hanging off them.

Ha. Us cantankerous and selective old farts from out of state and some youngsters (like Frieh who has it dialed) know how to plan visits to avoid the crummy weather. Two weeks ago, I flex into PDX on Thursday afternoon (got the ticket 2 days before), banged out two respectable routes on Hood in two days and was home Sunday morning into time to have breakfast with my wife . Would have done Rainier but did not have enough time.

IMHO coming down from Schurman is easier than from Muir when it is pissing about. Just get on the Inter-Glacier and slide down to the creek and follow it out. Also given the predicted winds once down by the creek one is more sheltered. It is much faster drive back to Seattle and beer.

Go to Stoney Point and boulder yourself silly.

Get some new friends, human ones that are not so rigid (pun intended). I have gear on my rack that is 20-30 years old. It is just as reliable as the gear that is 2-3 years old. In the mean time tell your partners that they are free to buy their own rack and use it if they do not like yours.

Props to Will on that one. However, it is just not charity climbs that are BS. I pissed some folks off by speaking my mind about an AAC presentation regarding a "first" on Everest and calling it just another Everest stunt and that it had no place being Friday night after dinner talk. Now when the first nude snowboard circumnavigation of the South Pole is completed while singing "God Save the Queen" I'll take notice.

Nice shot of the SGH. As of 19 May, the headwall is in great shape, firm nevé with some ice in around the pinch. The traverse over from Illumination Saddle is also in fine shape with only one minor crack to worry about - just as you descend onto the Sandy Glacier proper. The same can be said for Leuthod's Couloir, which we did the day before - nice firm nevé. All other cracks on both the Reid and Sandy Galciers can currently be avoided very easily.

Nice shots, the rime looks fun. Probably much of it is gone with the nice weather this week.

I see what your are saying. The route 7A drawing does not match the 7A description very well. Whereas your route match the description perfectly. Jeff does a very good of getting the description correct. As such, I would put more weight on it and venture to say that the way is is drawn is not correct as it is too high. Especially, as the last part of 7A goes into a rock buttress. Hopefully this photo montage will help. What is overlaid in red I believe is not drawn correctly in Jeff's book for both route 7A and the top part of the North Face Gully and North Face Cleaver. What is drawn in green is what I believe are the correct finishes the the North Face Gully and the North Face Cleaver. What is in yellow the left side finish which is what I have done. Your line is drawn in blue (with dashes to show the hidden part). Notice that it parallels what Jeff drew for line 7A just a bit lower. Given the description of 7A I believe the route drawing is too high. It is also unfortunate that there is not any dot lines, like I used to to demarcate the hidden portions of the route. Now what would be interesting to know is how others have finished the North Face Gully when they have gone right. The natural line would be what I have drawn in green. Which is what you did. Continuing to traverse further right does not seem logical. I remember looking over that way and thinking that.

While it can not be seen in Jeff's book but what you climbed matches the description perfectly. 1. Gain the col behind Cathedral Spire - your pictures show you coming up right at the col. 2. Climb the last 500 feet or so of the N. Face route which dumps you right on the summit. Your summit picture that I compared to mine from 2010 is most certainly the North Face "direct" finish. I say direct because where the North Face (Route 5) splits one can join Cooper Spur on the left or go right. However, above the split to go around the rock outcrop one can regain the ridge from either side and continue directly to the summit. Which what we did coming from the left and you did coming from the right. So in my mind you climbed 7A albeit under lean conditions and was undoubtably different from the conditions in 1958 which would have probably been a very steep snow slope. I will also add that I think Jeff has the route (7a) drawn in a bit high. In the photo shown below you topped out on the summit block which is rock out cropping on the left. In fact if you look carefully you can see the summit cornice. The face to the right would have you top out approximately 50-100 meters to west of the summit. So that is something completely different and appears to me to be the top of the North Cleaver Route but seems like an odd finish as going directly to the summit like you did would make more sense.