mthorman

Nice job man! Looks like a great trip.

I am not a local to the Hood scene to I can't comment too much on your progression. But I can help compare to some other routes in the Cascades that you listed. First off I want to say that many of these routes can be in a wide variety of conditions based on the year so take that into consideration. I have climbed S Side Old Chute/Pearly Gates as well as the Reid Headwall on Hood. I have also done NE Couloir on Colchuck, Triple Couloirs on Dragontail, Kautz on Rainier, N Ridge of Baker and NW Ice Couloir on Eldorado. Obviously you are familiar with the Old Chute on Hood so I will base things off that and go through them in order of difficulty. The Reid Headwall I solod in good condition and felt very comfortable. We roped up for the glacier down low then solod the actual route and skied off the summit (down the south chute). I felt like the actual route was similar to the steep section of Pearly Gates route just for a lot longer. It felt very secure soloing with 2 tools. NE Couloir on Colchuck was similar to the Reid Headwall in terms of difficulty. I did it in May when it was in good fat condition. I took my wife who wasn't comfortable soloing and we did a simul with a couple points of running pro in places. Just good steep snow climbing. NW Ice Couloir on Eldorado I did in April of a fat snow year. As such it was all snow and zero ice. I would not recommend. We simul-climbed the couloir in 1 block and found the crux to be at the top where it was vertical snow the consistency of cotton candy. Not hard enough to climb well but not really easy to clear either. Very challenging conditions for 20ft with marginal gear. Most of it was similar to the 2 above routes but with a much steeper/scary exit. Kautz Glacier was done in June. We had great condition and a fair bit of steep snow and less ice. I think it would actually be a fun ice climb later in July but by then the other parts of the mountain are typically so baked. We simul-climbed as two parties of 3. The leader on the first rope put in screws and the last person on the 2nd rope pulled them out. It was only a couple rope lengths and it felt pretty casual. That said I am very comfortable on vertical ice so this was chill in comparison. It might approach a WI2 pitch in thin years in July/August but in June it wasn't even close to that. Triple Couloirs on Dragontail I climbed in March of a fat year. We solod all the steep snow couloirs. They are steep but the snow was great and felt very comfortable with 2 tools. As I remember, the 1st couloir had the steepest snow sections particularly getting into the entrance and 1 point halfway up where it narrows had a steep section. We pitched out the ice between the 1st and 2nd couloir. This ice felt very much like WI3 climbing. Plenty of good ice for gear or nearby rock. Lots of places to rest but terrain I would not want to solo. We did solo the mixed step between the 2nd and 3rd couloirs. We probably shouldn't have but we weren't really paying too much attention (just going up) and didn't realize that we should have pulled out the rope until we were in the middle of it. At that point it felt easier to just keep going then try and reverse course and pull out the rope. North Ridge on Baker I climbed in July. I feel like this route changes from year to year as the ice cliff changes. We found lots of steep snow climbing below the cliff (similar to above mentioned climbs) that we solod. Then we had the actual proper cliff and terrain above and below. We did 4 pitches of pitched out climbing. We could have done it in fewer pitches but we didn't have enough screws. We had assumed it would be a short steep step but it was much longer. Here are a few notes from my journal I wrote 10 years ago. "Made it up to the crux ice step and had to take a 2nd look. The easier left hand variation is supposed to be a 60-70 degree ice ramp. What we found resembled rock. There were cracks and corners, ledges and ribs and all of it on 100 feet of 80° ice! He [my partner] led a short pitch of 60-70 degree ice up to the steep part. We only had a 30 meter rope and 6 ice screws because we thought it would be easier. This meant we could only place 2 or 3 screws in between belays. I tried to run things out and led two pitches of ice. Then he led a little more to the crest and onto the steep slopes above." Anyway hopefully that helps compare them a little. Good luck with your climbing progression!! Just remember that a lot of people (myself included) solo a lot of steep snow on these types of routes. But everyone needs to evaluate the pros and cons of such a move. There are lots of places were a fall would be very painful if not deadly. However if you have to move through 2000 vertical ft of terrain pitching out that much will take a LONG time. There are pros and cons to everything and just because somebody does it one way doesn't mean that everybody else should follow suit.

Cool! I see a checked box on the left for elevation bands....did you make all this? I have often wanted a way to highlight only certain elevation bands but haven't figured out a good way to do it without a huge amount of manual work.

Great job, looks like you had great weather! This brings back many memories from years past.

Looks like a great trip minus the bugs!! Thanks for the stoke. Someday I would love to get in there.

Just FYI, the Cascade River road is closed due to a fire and doubtful it will be open in a week.

Just did a quick check and I would agree with your concerns. Freezing levels are forecasted well above the summit, with it getting warming each day this week (looks like a real heat wave for the weekend). This could definitely lead to some soft snow which makes travel slower. The biggest risk is rockfall.....with the red bands you have to pass on your route there is definitely rock fall potential. Usually climbers accept that risk on the way down because they can pass through an area quickly but being exposed to that risk on the way up because it didn't freeze at night definitely adds to the danger. The other thought is winds. Winds make the potential for rockfall much worse. Windy.com point forecast allows you to compare the different models. 3 out of 5 models are forecasting winds of 35-40mph. The other 2 are more in the 10-15mph range. NOAA point forecast for Shasta is gusts to 50mph for Tues and it dimishes to gusts for 40mph for Wed. So while they aren't in perfect agreement I think it is safe to say it will be pretty windy on the mountain. Those 2 things together (wind and high freezing temps) would make me rethink my plans. Of course that is my decision and everyone is going to have their own. I am just trying to lay out the things that would factor into my decision making. For me if I can adjust my dates and minimize a bunch of risk I often will.

I climbed Glacier in June 18-20, 2020. We had great corn snow a few hundred feet below the summit about 9am. Walked in hiking boots until we hit snow in the switchbacks before meeting the PCT, then skinned from there to where we camped at the base of the mountain. Put crampons on ski boots for the morning ascent and skied down. In general I prefer a lighter boot for Cascades in the summer (June-Sept)....something 3 season like the Scarpa Charmoz or La Sportiva Trango etc.

2nd vote for your phone. In my opinion Gaia has a better phone app than Cal Topo but Cal Topo's website features and layers are way better than Gaia. If you only get one I would say Cal Topo. Either way they are way better than my handheld GPS....it now just sits on the shelf collecting dust.

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I haven't climbed Mailbox Peak, nor have I done Glacier Peak in a day or the Bulger List but I did climb some ice in Banks today. Most routes are not in but we found good ice on the Corner Route at MP 9. Left MBI 1 was also in. The cable and H2O2 are trying but not really close. We climbed U1 and U2 at MP 14. Peewee #1, 4, and 5 all looked in. Zenith wasn't even close although it is trying. Most other lines were either non-existent although a few of the brush routes were trying.

Yea everyone should be commenting. Also just a point to remember that there are actually 2 different proposals. One is for the NPS and the other is for the USFS. You can probably just copy and paste your comment but make sure to hit them both. Both proposals are both linked in the 2nd paragraph of the article above.

Wow! Thanks for posting, and great effort out there. So many things broke or went wrong but you still managed to get it down and have fun in the process!

I am a huge fan of CalTopo personally.

If the money from these permits actually went directly to salaries for climbing rangers, I wouldn't be too upset. But like most government bureaucracy I am sure it will just get sucked into all sorts of special projects.

Thanks for the report! It looks so beautiful over there. I love Caltopo. There are so many great features and it can help so much in the planning of a trip.

I think it might depend on when in the spring. If I were going in early/mid April I would plan on double boots. If it were a mid or late May trip I would lean towards single boots. Sometime late April or early May and I would probably bring both. In 2016 I took Spantiks on a 2 week trip in early May and was happy to have them. In early May 2021 I took both Spantiks and Nepals and never put the Spantiks on as it was a warm trip. However a week prior to the 2021 trip it was -20F and I would definitely have worn the doubles. Personally I am a huge fan of overboots as they definitely give you more latitude in your boot selection. They also work super well to wear around camp over your down booties (it keeps the snow out and the down booties dry).

Wow that is impressive! Did anyone else notice the caption on the 2nd photo? Since when is Eldorado a "Chilliwack Peak"?

Yes it definitely looks pretty melted out already. This is similar timing to when we did it back in 2014 but in general I think those routes are coming into shape earlier and earlier now. Go give it a go in April and let us know how it goes!

Thanks for writing this up, it was a good read. I have thought about the Price Glacier route for awhile but this report makes me want to go and do it! My partner and I were the "two climbers" you saw camped at the base of the summit pyramid who descended the Upper Curtis at the end of your Day 5. We climbed the Northwest Arayete on your Day 4 and camped near the base of the summit pyramid. Then we climbed the summit block on your Day 5 trying to follow the old Labor Day route (wouldn't recommend) and came down the standard Fisher Chimney's route. Sorry about all your navigation troubles....I can see how if you hadn't been down the Fisher Chimney's route it would be hard to know where to turn off because the main track up there goes down the Sulphide. Good job on holding it all together through the epic and figuring it out even if it took an extra day or 2!

There are several steep snow traverses and the later in the year the worse the conditions typically (harder snow/ice). I did it in late July and was very happy with my light mountain boots and contact strap crampons and 1 ax. If I were going in late June or early July I would probably consider just using approach shoes. Anytime in August and I would definitely bring some kind of light boot.

Wow...I initially was led to believe this was a super obvious error in judgement based on the avalanche forecast. But after reading that report, I would say that was not the case. I could easily see myself and many of my partners climbing that route or something similar on a 2,2,1 day. It is a good reminder that even a low avy day can have serious consequences. My condolences to all those affected.

Avy hazard is pretty minimal. There are a couple of avy paths on the approach to the lake that can be avoided if the danger is high. The approach from the lake to the 3 tiers is no issue and there is no overhead hazard on the 3 Tiers or Thunderdome routes. The only place around the climbing areas where we have seen any avalanches is in extreme conditions in the main gully between the 3 Tiers and the Thunderdome. You would need to go a little way up this gully to access routes like Mad Max or Road Warrior. Also there is good skiing in the bowls around/above the lake but those are definitely in avy terrain.

Look into Granite Lake ice climbing in the Cabinets Mts of Montana. It is a fat year this year and typically the end of March is pretty good in there (baring we don't get a crazy warm up in the next couple weeks).

Nice! I haven't been as active as normal on Strava recently but great idea of getting a group going there.