bedellympian

Trip: Illumination Rock - West Ridge Trip Date: 01/18/2025 Trip Report: Damon and I went up the West Ridge of Illumination. We got to the West Gable quite easily but the rime mushrooms along the ridge were uninspiring. Here are some pictures... Gear Notes: Not much was useful. South side routes would take rock gear. Lots of rime on North side. No ice sufficient for screws was observed. Approach Notes: Standard

The end of a broken ice axe? That or picket would be my guess.

Yeah, like Jason said: July will not work, you can't land a ski plane on the glacier in July and need a heli which triples(?) the price and the hazard and conditions will be pretty f'd. You want late April to late May. June works if you're going to higher elevation (Denali), but even that season ends in late June.

That's a good suggestion. Newton Clark Headwall is listed in the 50 Classic Ski Descents of North America. My guess is that's (directly or indirectly) motivating DFMedia to tick that line, as supposed to a partial line or something less known.

I've descended the route and think it would be fine. Granted this is as a person with lots of experience on snow. Obviously your own comfort relative to the conditions you encounter may render a different opinion. Regarding self arresting on the traverse, if it's firm/soft enough you could fall you then the chances of self-arresting are limited. Don't just assume you can stop it. Either have conditions and know-how that you will not fall, or don't do the traverse. Worst case scenario for the traverse should be, it's not in your comfort zone so you back off and still get to tick the ski line.

Wy'east is a great way to summit and leaving your skis at the highest point you plan to ski from makes sense. Starting at Timberline is less elevation, Meadows has more prohibitive uphill policy if I recall, you should check. I would think the main pro/con would be getting to ski directly down to Meadows vs having less vertical to gain from Timberline. If you're already bringing a rope then the glacier travel is pretty short and chill in good ski conditions. Check caltopo to see what elevation to cross the Whiteriver if you're headed from Timberline. On the traverse there is no rock or ice that will take pro. Pickets or maybe terrain belays are your only options. TBH I would plan to solo. You will have to reverse it anyway, and the E aspect means good ski conditions might not mesh with good pro options as you return along the ridge.

I would not put much stock in the commitment grades, or what is listed on MP. I would look at total vertical gain for the route, number of technical pitches, and skills involved (water ice, rime, glacier travel). For example, Sandy is a ski run most of the season and basically just involves high daggering or kicking steps for 1500' which most competent people can climb in under 90 minutes, but getting there is a pain the butt. Yocum is going to involve a bit shorter approach but the route is going to involve complex and tedious rime climbing and will take many hours regardless of how "good" you are. TBH though, I would focus on Snoqualmie if that is a closer drive. The approaches are not any longer than back side of Hood and there is more interesting technical terrain to choose from.

Yocum should not follow N Face R Gully. N Face R Gully is WI and Yocum is rime ice. If your goal is Yocum you should climb mutliple variations on the Reid Headwall first. Some time on Illumination (W Ridge or similar) would be good too. I would go over the top and climb Elliot HW before you climb N Face R Gully, it's logistically easier. RE WA climbs, here is what I've experienced, but as MThorman describes above, conditions fluctuate a lot... Colchuck NEB is mostly snow, if you can climb Cooper Spur or Reid HW on Hood you'll be more than fine. Triple Couloirs stacks up like N Face R Gully... maybe a little harder crux pitches, if it's in good shape. Kautz is more glacier travel, if you can do that and climb some ice + have the fitness you'll be fine. Sunshine route might be a good trainer on Hood, but by no means a pre-req. Baker N Ridge is like a combo of Cooper Spur exposure with N Face R Gully schrund/ice climbing (but the ice is glacier ice so different, usually pretty easy ice climbing if you want it to be). I assume you're closer to Hood if you want to focus on it this much?

This is one of the better surveys I have seen posted on this site. I still think it misses some key points... Hypoxic training systems frequently rely on pumping out O2 but leave the other gases. At altitude the overall pressure is less, which creates the hypoxia. My understanding is that the pressure is more important than the amount of O2 available for adapting to altitude. Last I read from people who know more than me, was that pumping out O2 was not very effective, thus I don't put much stock in this. Makes me curious to go scroll through pubmed etc. and see what the latest thinking is.

Link: FBI Press Release Quote: "This Russian activity is part of Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the U.S. election and stoke divisions among Americans, as detailed in prior ODNI election updates." But the FBI is just liberal propaganda, because that's what you say for "anything we disagree with or doesn't fit our worldview." It's a two way street I'm afraid. And there is a difference between donating to a PAC for documented campaign expenses as any American can do (not that I think it's fair how much any billionaire can spend or agree with the amount of $$$ in our elections) vs. Musk firing thousands of moderators at X and throttling websites he disagrees with to drown out alternate view points. If "The solution to bad information is good information." then I guess he thought he'd just get rid of the good information. So much for "setting the truth free" as he so eloquently fibbed. Link

Hoping for a good local season! There is snow on the ground at 4k' and more coming. Some warm temps in the forecast bringing rain. Hopefully that's followed by more cold and then some things are in really nice shape! 🤞

FYI: this Saturday there is a weather window above 7k' that NOAA is not showing due to low cloud layer. Maybe someone can snag a lap on Hood or something else before it closes early pm. Highlighted in purple from the current Troutdale forecast...

More accurately: "Russian government AI bots and billionaires who own media corporations made up a bunch of lies and used their massive wealth to make sure that was all most Americans heard. So we should probably limit foreign influence and corporate powers so that actual facts are findable and the voices of American citizens are at the heart of political discussions determining the future of this country." I found this video to be helpful.

Love it. The sped up climbing sequences with the mic picking up all the grunting is pretty funny.

Sad stuff. I did like the photos though!