goran

pm'ed

We met you guys at the lake and ran into you on the descent. Rad work and a proud FA, and thanks for posting the report!

We found a piece of non-climbing gear at (roughly) the base of the Direct East Buttress of South Early Winter Spire. Identify it and I'd be happy to get it back to you!

Hot damn, gents, way to crush it! That sounds like a hell of a three day weekend, to boot.

Nice work persisting in the wallow! What route were you going for on Dorado Needle? Is there a good winter line, or just some adventure on the rock routes?

+1 for this. Last year (see here for TR) we found exactly 0 ice screw placements and a couple of pitches required every one of our 5 or 6 pins (many of which did not inspire confidence). I can't imagine it would have been a good intro alpine climb in those conditions. I think it was Jim Nelson who described TC as spanning a spectrum of difficulties; he has experienced it as everything from a 3 hour cruise on neve and fat ice to a harrowing near-death epic. So, could it be a good intro alpine route? Absolutely! But it can also be a scare-fest with avy hazard, marginal gear, etc.

Incredible images. Thanks!

Heh, that leftward traverse was an entertaining scene for us on Dragontail, as well. me: "@#%$, I'm 6 feet to the right of the notch!" partners: "Awesome! Nice!" me: "Not awesome. Not awesome at all." I agree that it's a 10a/b traverse, and certainly exciting. I also agree that the third couloir of the triple is lined by the most heinous arrangement of boulders in playdoh I've ever experienced. Nice work on making it up and down safely!

24hr Seattle-Seattle. Nice work, and thanks for the TR!

Send train! Nice work!

Thanks for the stoke, JP, and I look forward to reading your and Marlin's next TR as well --- the last one definitely inspired us to get after it! Let me know if your paths will cross the bay, it'd be great to get out with you sometime. The word on the street is that Jeff's planning a trip or two to the Sierra for alpine ice in September/October. Stoke!

Another great TR, Jeff, and a fitting end to April! TC has been on the radar for a long time, and it certainly delivered. A few route notes: It's amazing just how much this climb changes conditions. We never saw ice remotely thick enough to take even a stubby, and during the first runnels pitch I didn't feel comfortable climbing straight up steep (80+ degree) snow to the alcove belay since the only sticks seemed to be in a thin ice crust over a bulbous snow mushroom. In other conditions, that would likely have been a straightforward 10-20 foot section of steeper ice. Instead, Jeff led out left and then back right in a small left-facing corner system in what was perhaps the technical crux of the route. That said, the traverse left from the alcove belay was casual, and the icy chimney system above was manageable but hard to protect (both are often noted as cruxes of the route). I'm still figuring some things about pitons out. For instance, does anyone have tips for the "hammering a pin in behind my back" thing? In the second to third couloir transition, we stayed high and right far too early and got a pitch of extra credit drytooling on slab. That is, once we scraped away the foot of overlaying sugar snow. Half of our progress through this section was due to a sick and efficient lead by Jeff, while the second half came from perhaps the slowest 60 feet of progress I've ever inched my way through on the sharp end. Ouch. The best pro through the slabby step turned out to be hammered-in nuts, one of which remains for future TC suitors. Sorry to litter, and you're welcome! Finally, a shout out to Andrej (sp?) and Abraham who were great company on the route all day and also successfully tagged the summit. We did not envy your walk out on Saturday night --- burlfest!

Impressive effort --- glad to hear you made it safely back!

Thanks for another great TR, Jeff! A few special notes with this one: Jess wins the perseverance award after working all night Friday before taking a 6a flight from Oakland to Seattle and leaving from the airport straight to the trailhead. Badass. Also, the summit chocolate easter bunny? Genius. Kelsey takes the cake for cheerfulness; after feeling like total garbage and being unable to eat on summit day, she hiked back down to the tents (a very significant distance), only to hike back up to meet us on the moraine as we descended. I think she actually climbed many more vertical feet than the rest of us did, and then drove the entire way back to Seattle as we passed out. Jeff takes the trail-breaking and TR-writing MVP prizes. When I shivered something to the effect of "I can't seem to breath and I'm *#@$% freezing," he kicked more than a thousand feet of steps like a boss, and when I said I'd get a TR out a few days ago and missed the mark, he provided one. Gracious and baller. Thanks!

Dave, Alex, this trip sounds like it was pretty damn burly. Nice work on the summit, and I'm glad to hear y'all made it out safely after a >30hr day! Ouch.

Thanks for posting the TR, Jeff, and for being the consummate partner. While this went as smoothly as possible, I'll admit that I'm looking forward to an adventure which does not involve postholing along Mountaineers Creek past the Colchuck junction!

I think we talked to y'all at the gate on Friday night --- thanks for posting a TR and congrats on a great send! Looks like we were walking out only a few minutes apart on Saturday night and if the timing had been a bit different, we'd have all shared the zombie slog together.

I pulled over the would-be cornice on top of the ICG and the bootpack you left was less than 10 feet away! We followed it to the summit and back down; while it didn't offer much physical help as the previous night's snow had totally filled in the steps, there was enough trace of passage on the otherwise smooth snow slopes that we didn't have much (any) routefinding. Which was glorious. Regarding avies, the ICG didn't show signs of instability, but fresh snow on the S side of Stuart seemed to be forming more of a slab in the sun. We didn't see shooting cracks or anything really terrifying, but did see the recent snow beginning to adhere to itself and move as a unit. Getting into the wintery Sherpa was a relief.

On Sunday, Sherpa was consistently firm/chalky for the top ~800 feet, but below that, it was knee-deep, light powder.

Massive congrats, and sick effort! We thought your day sounded pretty hardcore, and you convinced us that attempting SGC and making it all the way to the car in a single day was not a good plan. Put mildly, with fewer expletives than I used swimming up unconsolidated snow, the Ice Cliff Glacier was extremely physical. Progress up to and over the ice cliff was reasonably efficient and not terribly technical, with only 1-2 pitches of WI 2-3 that we simuled. Above that the wallow began, as the bit of rain/sleet that fell at 5300 feet (camp) fell as a significant amount of light snow (12+ inches, in many places) in the ICG and all the way to the summit. The occasional shin-depth step was a relief from more typical knee-to-hip deep swimming. We owe you beers for taking the routefinding stress on the upper mountain away with traces of your descent path. With your steps leading to the Sherpa Glacier, we made it back to camp quickly and reached the car before dark. Thanks for stopping by our tent on the tail end of a brutal day, and, again, congrats on the send!

On the way out today, a party that climbed NBC today reported that they climbed a bed surface of styrofoam. The story they told was that a solo climber headed up the couloir yesterday after you guys took off. Apparently he was at the top of the couloir and went for quite a ride when it ripped, but was able to walk out on his own. I can't confirm what happened, personally, but I'm fairly confident that's the story as it was relayed to us. I regrettably didn't ask what type of avy.

Lib Ridge was, in my experience ( http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1106687/TR_Mt_Rainier_Liberty_Ridge_6_#Post1106687 ), technically easy but extremely physical, with many hours of knee- to hip-deep wallowing spread over multiple days. In a year full of long days in the mountains, carrying skis over Lib Ridge in unconsolidated snow was unequivocally the most exhausting. That said, it certainly sounds like you've done plenty of preparation --- just be prepared for a struggle! If I were to do it over, I'd (1) Do more research on the standard Emmons route (having not been on it previously), and consider climbing it a few days or week prior to learn the route and acclimatize. That descent, in waning light with winds strong enough to bowl us over, was a definite mental (and crevasse hazard!) crux. (2) Consider not only the weather window, but also how supportive the snow was. I don't know if we could have even made it to the base of the ridge without skis on our dates, and wallowing up to and above Thumb Rock with skis on our packs was outrageously brutal. (3) Down booties. Because camp.

Based on other peoples' experiences, apparently the falling ice we experienced was not uncharacteristic. For perspective, my helmet may well have saved my life on this climb (and is completely wrecked); if that's normal, count me out for a round 2! Do the North Face gullies have similar objective hazards!? We spent 15 or 20 minutes on top of Palmer, shuffled over to Illumination Saddle, and shivered through the roping up process. In total, we probably spent about 1:20 not moving before sunrise. Originally we planned to melt water at Illumination Col, but (a bit ironically) we were ironically too cold and wind-ridden to be bothered heating water up.

"...hell of a bowling alley..." is what we experienced. 1 broken helmet, 2 lost ice screws, and 3 guys lucky to pass (mostly) unharmed: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1118853#Post1118853

Trip: Mt. Hood - Reid Glacier Headwall Date: 1/5/2014 Trip Report: Dan, Dave and I took off from Timberline at 3:40a on Sunday morning. We were on top of Palmer at ~5:15a, After some shivering as we waited for morning light, we departed the saddle for the Reid Glacier at 7:15a. Only a strong breeze coming from the east prevented conditions from being optimal: clear and cold, with secure, firm snow. I led across the glacier, staying as high as possible. We turned back uphill at roughly 9k'. There were no crevasses to cross except the 'schrund, which was well-bridged. There wasn't a significant amount of debris coming down from above --- all signs were positive. Progress was fast up to the first gully at 9,600' or 9,800'. I continued to simul up through the gully, placing 3 10cm or 13cm screws in shallow ice. The ice was aerated, and made for solid, one-hit-wonder sticks. There was occasional exposed rock and dirt, but navigating it was straightforward. As I placed a stubby just before a 15' section of steep ice, I felt a large, jolting impact on the side of my head. Fortunately, my stance was secure; once I finished placing the screw, I felt at my helmet and found a significant gouge. Crap. After belaying Dan and Dave up to the , I took off through the next gully. In an open snowfield just below it, I glanced up to see football-sized ice chunks only 50 feet up, coming down straight for me. I jumped to the side and landed in self-arrest position just in time as a chunk of ice hit the side of my thigh and sheared my ice clipper, scattering a few screws down the face. The rest of our time on the face was a blur: I'd lead out as far as possible and we'd simul until I was through the steepest steps, at which point I'd establish a belay in the most sheltered spot possible and bring Dan and Dave up. My overwhelming concern was that the sun would hit the rime above us and create a bigger shitstorm than we were already experiencing. Fortunately, though we were pelted by many smaller pieces of ice, those first two impacts I described were by far the largest. Being on a rope together may or may not have added safety --- if any of us had been struck by ice and fallen as we simulclimbed between belays without gear, we would almost certainly have been unable to arrest the fall. At the same time, being on a rope meant that two of the three of us were on belay through the most technical and exposed sections of the climb. At any rate, we topped out on steep snowfields above the danger zone at or before noon. Looking down at the Hogsback bathed in warm sun was a welcome sight indeed. We topped out, lazed around, and made it back to the lot at 4p. In retrospect, I suspect that the uncharacteristic easterly breeze was knocking loose the large volume of rime we were bombarded with. It was cold on the face, and the sun didn't touch the ice above us all morning. I'd like to think we made the best of the situation by moving fast, making route-finding decisions to avoid the worst of the debris, and staying solid physically and mentally. We were also very lucky. Dan and Dave were consummate partners, and this wasn't an adventure any of us will forget soon. The climbing was enjoyable, and if it weren't for the excessive objective danger, I'd give the route a solid 4-star review. That said, if this was a cold day on the hill, I can't imagine what a disaster zone the face would be had the day turned unexpectedly warmer. I don't think I'll be back. Gear Notes: 60m double rope, way too many screws (only placed 3), a few pickets, 2 tools each. Approach Notes: Boot to Palmer, crampons from there. Rime ice embedded in snow between Crater Rock and Palmer on the descent.