mgetlin

I cut most of my 24" pickets to 18". I find that if the snow is good enough to hold a driven picket anchor then the extra few inches are not meaningful. If it's not, then an 18" deadman is probably not much worse than a 24" one and I don't have the thing hanging low off my harness and banging my knees all day long. But that's just me.... And yes...there was WAY too much snow.

Trip: Illumination Rock - East Ridge-ish Thingy Date: 12/13/2016 Trip Report: Timmy and I opted for a little winter adventure climbing and got all we bargained for! Our original plan had been to try Iron Maiden but the east ridge was too tempting to pass up. Our route followed the left skyline more or less. You can see me belaying about a third of the way up on a small flat spot. After a leisurely skin up from the lot, we switched to mountain boots and dumped our skis and all but the essentials. I opted for my BD Snagletooth crampons, which proved to be a mistake (more on that later). We also brought every known piece of climbing pro, which proved not to be a mistake (more on that later). We started just west of the foot of the ridge, inside the south chamber. Timmy led a crumbly rime gully up and onto the ridge top where we built something that was clearly meant to resemble an anchor. Staying just a few feet left of the ridge crest, I set out on the second pitch which involved quite a lot of tunneling through vertical/overhanging rime in choked corners. Without enough ice for screws, I did the gopher dance and dug down to the "rock" in search of placements which proved few and far between. My aluminum horizontal front point caused issues as it wouldn't bite in the brittle water ice under the rime. I had a few feet cut superman moments that made for some cursing and introspection about my life decisions. A KB, one stubby, a specter hammered into a seam, and a pink tricam later, I scummed my way to a ledge and built a bomber rock anchor. Looking back down the crux chimney After a good chuckle at the absurdity of our chosen form of recreation, Timmy set off on what became a moderately heinous two pitch top out. Timmy leaving the belay Apparently he meandered onto a large leaning rime cornice which, after thinking better of it, he downclimbed and circumnavigated to the left. This was followed by an unnerving 75 degree rock slab covered in 4 inches of fluff, and a crumbling chimney in which he ran out of rope, triggering a slew of obscenities that I could (fortunately) not hear. It didn't look bad from below...but it was. After topping out, we slung a big pile of snow and rapped off the bollard. The second rap was a rock anchor (and I'm not mentioning what we left cause I want it back). The second rap got us to about 10 ft above the snow slope. Going second, I got to the end, tied off the pull rope to my harness, and let the other slip through the belay device, sending me sailing down into the soft snow and pulling the rope at the same time! I felt so clever All in all it was a great outing if not a little hairy considering the lack of protectable ice. We did find decent gear but it required a lot of creativity and excavation. Go check it out! It's a gem with easy access and the added benefit of all your friends watching you suffer as they ski deep pow down the south side. On top Gear Notes: 6 screws (used 2), stoppers (used several), tri cams (used 2), KB's (used 1), spectre (hell yeah I used it!), hand size mastercams (used 3), chopped pickets (used 2), double 60's. Had we brought the kitchen sink, I'm sure we would have found a marginal placement for it.

Could be less. I actually didn't look too closely but given that I usually have to remind myself to keep my heels down to get decent feet on stuff less than about 60 (which I didn't have to do) that's my best guess. Maybe it steepened with warmer weather or warmer seasons back to back. Maybe I'm just soft as hell! The point being, if anyone is planning to do the route, I would recommend two tools

Very nice!

There...that should work

It's been a while since I've gotten around to writing up a trip report but this was a very cool route and definitely worth sharing. There's plenty of good beta out there so this is just a quick bit about our experience and the (quickly deteriorating) conditions on parts of the route. Timmy "Permacrux" (PC for short) and I did the Kautz Glacier from Paradise, car to car, descending the very nicely maintained DC route. It's been a few weeks since we had a heinous sufferfest together and the warm summer rock has been making us soft, so we hatched this hair brained idea and it actually worked! We left the parking lot at 11pm Saturday night and made our way down to the Nisqually. The lower glacier at night is a very strange place this time of year with pools and currents of black looking water winding through glass-smooth ice. We were a little dismayed at having to rope up so early but we crossed several crevasses that were not trivial. One required a couple-step down climb and a few vertical sticks up the other side. The bottom of the fan was completely dry and we had a little anxiety about the scree slog and exposure as we had heard it described when there's no snow. To the contrary, we thought the exposure to rock fall was pretty minimal (it's not that steep) and the scramble up the creek bed was mellow and secure. From the top of the fan, we headed up the roughly 5k ft slog toward Camp Hazard. As the moon set, we watched the tail end of the Perseid meteor shower tear orange and blue slashes through an ink black sky over the mountain. It was quite a show. As planned, we reached the rappel just as it got light enough to see that there was no sign of recent activity from the ice cliff. After a quick chat with a climber camped nearby (thanks for the great pictures Mike) we rapped down, racked up, and set off up the first ice step. Looking back at Mike above the rap PC lead up brittle and strange ice through the first step which we simuled on 4 screws. The angle was relatively low, but the ice plated and shattered. It was very secure, but definitely took some getting used to. The shape of the flow compresses the glacial ice in the middle making it incredibly dense. Every placement was bomber. Higher up on the step, a bus sized chunk of ice made a rather alarming sound when it settled a few inches under Timmy's weight. I was pretty stoked that he didn't have a screw in that thing! Timmy leading the first step. Photo by Michael Nied I took over at the base of the second step, which we also simuled on 4 screws. The angle picked up to about 60 degrees, and the ice took on the dark grey of the sea after a storm. Though not difficult, the pitch was quite sustained for volcano ice with no rests for the first couple hundred feet. After treating PC to an ice massage below me, we wound up our simul block in a sun cup of black ice that seemed to be custom sculpted for the perfect meat belay; C'est alpin! Belay at the top of the second step Just above the ice steps the angle eases As the morning warmed, we both new rapping the ice pitches on a 40m 7.8mm rope would be far from ideal. We quickly brewed up at the top of the second ice pitch and rigged ourselves for the glacier. Having been warned that the Nisqually cut over was probably out for the year, we were worried about having to climb all the way up to Point Success (which from there appears to be at the approximate elevation of the moon - not to mention the maze of crevasses barring the way). So we slogged up to the cleaver between the upper Kautz and the Nisqually, and crossed at about 13k. What we saw on the other side was a bit discouraging. At least it was to me, because Timmy promptly fell asleep mid-sentence as I voiced my concerns. Passed out on the cleaver The massive crevasses that arch across the upper Nisqually create a perfect defense for the summit crater. It looked like one or two of the bridges might still go, but we knew how deceiving they tend to look from below. The immediate problem however, was figuring out how to get through the ice nightmare that separated the cleaver from Nisqually glacier. The gnarled crevasse runs the whole length of the cleaver and varied from 20-80+ feet wide! It was a monster. Lucky for us, the remnants of the melted out snow bridge usually used for the cutover were just enough for us to piece together. Staring up the gun barrel at the detached house-sized serac directly above us was motivation enough not to ponder too much, so I set off traversing the vertical downhill side of one of the larger chunks. With some groveling and butt scootching, I was able to stem out with one foot to the next chunk, trying not to vomit into the void below. Luckily, the snice was a little more solid on this one and I got a decent stick on it and was able to climb across and up. Next came a little cowboy action and I straddled the crumbling ice fin for a few feet before climbing up and over, and then doing one more step across and stem sequence to safety. Needless to say, I'm going to propose that the cut over will likely be out for the year in the near future (like maybe, a week ago). Racked by the effort and sapped by the adrenaline let down, I came on hard times a little above 13k as we started the soul destroying slog up the never ending summit slopes. Fresh off his 4 minute nap, PC dragged me up to the summit like a cantankerous wheezing haul bag. He later admitted that he thought the tugging on his harness was the rope getting caught on the snow when in reality, it was his climbing partner flopping around in a failed attempt to keep up. I was ashamed. Just after 1pm, we had the summit to ourselves without a breath of wind. We snapped the obligatory photo for Timmy (this being his first ascent of the big old girl) and shuffled down the DC. Having been on the route a couple months ago, I was shocked at how much it has changed. The crevasses truly are awe-inspiring and some of the crossings were pretty serious. I tip my hat to the guides working the route right now. Timmy on top Out of water (of course) and too lazy to brew, we stopped briefly at the top of the cleaver to lick our wounds and ditch the rope and crampons. I think I remember having a chat with a squirrel, or a marmot, or...huh. The descent was as uneventful as it was unpleasant, but it was a perfect beautiful day and we made our way back to the car by 6:45. Gear and Notes: We took 5 screws, a Photon 40m 7.8mm half rope, two hacksawed pickets, 6 runners, and a couple beaners and tibs for the glaciers. Two tools each (I would not want to do this route in these conditions with one) and Dartwins (aluminum alpine crampons would have been a nightmare on the ice). We started with 3.5 liters of water and melted a couple more. The Nisqually cut over at the top is pretty much toast. The route will still go, but I imagine anyone wanting to climb it will need to head up to Point Success before cutting over to the crater. We took 19 hours 45 minutes car to car. I was definitely off my game a little, but we still felt like we were pretty efficient given our abilities and the conditions. The complexity of the dozens of crevasse crossings added many hours to the climb. I'm sure a fit team could do this in under 10 hours given good conditions and better skills than ours. That said, we were happy to pull it off. It's a magnificent route: complex, moderate, and big. I can't recommend it enough and it will definitely be one I remember for a long time. Put it on your list and start planning!

Bold! We were looking at that line when we did GS the other day. It's a beauty. Great work. Was the crux that mixed section after the right trending ice line (pitch 3 or 4 or something)? Good pro?

Trip: Dragontail Peak - Gerber-Sink Date: 4/17/2016 Trip Report: Timmy and I hopped on the Gerber-Sink send train following last week's TR (thanks guys...good beta) and thought we'd share some of the goods with y'all. The road is still closed so we started booting it at 11am Saturday, arriving at the lake at 2:15. We chatted with JR (I think) and three others, who gave us some more good beta (thanks) and then proceeded to absolutely crush the route just ahead of us, moving so fast that we didn't even eat too much of their ice on the way up! Taking our time in the morning, we started the route at about 5:30, with Timmy leading up some pretty heady ice in the dark to start what would be about an 800 ft simul block that lead us to the bottom of the crux runnels. After a quick conversation to take stock of our progress, we racked and stacked and headed into the business end of the route. I led the runnels in four-ish pitches, having wonderful luck finding good gear along the way. We had to extend one pitch and simul about a half rope length to get to a decent stance, but other than that it was very straight forward. There were some exciting bits of thinning ice that gave less than reassuring congo-drum reports when struck with tools. I quickly reverted to hooking the previous party's tool sticks, which was slightly less unnerving. Out of the runnels, we simuled the snow field to the top of the third couloir in Triples, and then cruised to the top, opting to skip the final 50 or so feet to the summit partially due to the warm and warming slopes we had to descend to get back to the lake, and partially due to my superstitious aversion to proper summit tagging. Perhaps the sketchiest part of the whole climb was the traverse under the summit to get to the backside descent. We swam through steep slush kicking "steps" that had all the stability of a snow cone in August. The descent was sloppy but uneventful, taking us a little less than two hours. All in all, we were 8 hours 15 min on route, and got back to the car in time for a quick swim before it got dark. You just can't ask the mountains for much more...it was a perfect day. Thoughts on the route and conditions: It really is a masterpiece of a line. When we first saw the route from the lake, we found it big and intimidating. But once we started breaking it down into manageable sections, realizing no single pitch was beyond us, we started to come to grips with it and before we knew it, we were climbing and climbing well. It was hard but safe, and the exposure was nuts! We came down feeling like we had been in outer space for a day. The route had a ton of ice on it and we didn't really climb much rock but for the occasional move here and there. No M-4 and no 5.7. That said, it also felt like it was changing quickly in the warm weather. I would suspect that it will still be in by the freeze cycle next week, but it will have changed a bit in favor of rock gear. Our route: Timmy leading the start: Looking down from below the runnels: Heading into the cruxy sections on great ice: The saddle at the third couloir: The traverse: Gear Notes: We took the new Metolius Ultralight cams 00-6, the small half of a set of stoppers, eight screws, two pickets and a KB. We used the pickets and screws constantly, the blue stopper once, the KB once and the 2,3 and 4 cams. With it all to do over again, I would have brought 2 KBs, a baby angle, 7-8 screws (nice for the long simul blocks), two pickets, and just the finger size cams. There was a spot for a bigger piece (BD #3 cam or similar sized hex would have been nice) but other than that we had more than enough gear. I would leave the small cams and take a couple more pins for those placements. Approach Notes: The snow starts about a mile from the end of Eightmile road, but we did the whole approach in sneakers which made for nice dry boots in the morning.

Very mellow at 6800 ft. We took off the skis and threw crampons on because it was dark and we couldn't see much past 20 ft below the cairn. We could have booted or even skinned it. Also, the ramp from 9k ft (below tie in rock) down to the Eliot looked easily navigable. Would have been a handful of turns on skis or a quick down climb.

Pro? What pro?! I was able to get two screws in above the cathedral saddle and then a horrible picket in cotton candy snow on that little snow knuckle below the summit ramparts. I mostly placed them for an excuse to catch my breath cause they would have held better screwed into a bag of popcorn. Then, all of the sudden, the ice for great on the summit block. The placements were a little creative but bomber. I sunk a 22cm screw to the hilt!!!!!

Trip: Mt. Hood - North Face Right (Yeah...another one) Date: 3/31/2016 Trip Report: Timmy and I took a little jaunt up the north side last week and I thought I'd throw some photos and a few highlights up here for anyone who's curious. Left the TJ trail head a little before 1am, got the the schrund at first light and topped out a few minutes after 1pm. Carried skies up and over, had perfect weather, decent pro, and widely varying snow conditions. 12hrs 15min car to top with another two or so hours to make our way down the south side. The bottom part of the TJ trail was already melting out last week and is surely a sneakers outing at the moment. We took our time getting to the schrund and tried first to cross all the way left, only to punch through a very sketchy section and rap back down to the flats. We then tried the middle but got shut down by multiple feet of sugary snow on the overhanging uphill side. Finally opting for a smaller gap near the rock rib on the right, we belayed and wallowed across. All in all, it took us nearly two hours to surmount the thing! Timmy led up to and through the first step, mercilessly crushing through waist deep snow and WI2+ inc like the rabid gorilla that he is! We simuled the step, dancing playfully with an assortment of debris sprinkled down on us from the upper mountain. In the gully, the going was slow and we alternated between insecure and crumbly ice on the left and deep, unconsolidated snow in the middle. We fired in a screw here and there but soloed most of it. The famed second step lived up to it's WI3 reputation but was relatively short and uneventful, if not a little exciting Above that the climbing stayed interesting with sparse pro. The steep slope above the cathedral spire saddle may have actually been the crux of the route and involved a crampon guessing game with a thin layer of uniformly sloppy loose snow over rock. The belay planb was to jump down the cathedral ravine, which Timmy would gladly have done had I peeled. I figured better him than me! We got spooked looking up at the summit rampart, with the cornice looming HUGE and overhanging in the disconcertingly warm midday sun. After a brief look at the Cooper finish convinced me it was no better, Timmy chastised me for being such a pansy so I set off up the middle, finding surprisingly decent gear in a couple places. It turned out the cornice was all of about 18 inches high, and not at all overhanging. It had been some strange optical illusion aided by no sleep, water, or food for quite some time. We plowed through wet, balling snow down to the hogsback where we donned the skies we had been carrying all day and cruised on down to T-Line through some perfect corn. Gear Notes: 2 Stubbies, 3 13's, 2 17s, and a long one. 1 Picket (which we complained about carrying but did use several times). If I ever had to climb this route when rock pro was the best option, I'd probably just shoot myself. Approach Notes: Eeeeeew

Trip: Mt. Hood - DKHW Right, Wy'East Traverse, Wy'East Ski Date: 2/2/2016 Trip Report: Cruised up the right variation (third from left) of DKHW yesterday with Randy. It was a bit cold but the snow was great. Had to wallow a bit in a couple spots but once we got to the bottom of the route it turned bomber. The climbing was easy and a ton of fun...less than 5min on route between the bottom of the headwall and the Wy'East ridge. Hit the traverse in deep but stable snow. We also went low (thanks for the tip on that one Jason) since we were soloing and the upper traverse that's in the book looked a little spicier on account of the feathers. Climbed up to about 15 feet below the summit ridge...felt like we had got what we came for so we down climbed to our skies which we had dropped before the traverse. Even though the huge wind slab that covered the entire Wy'East face was really well bonded, we figured there was no need to push our luck by letting the sun do any more work on the slope. The ski was strenuous as we were on breakable crust for the first 2000 feet or so, but it was a lot of fun. Left the car at T-line a few minutes before 5 and got down to HRM about 1...mellow pace due to the nice cold conditions. Sounds like the conditions were pretty similar to what Jason posted about last week but I think the snow is a little better bonded now. Super fun day and had the place to ourselves! Pics aren't great 'cause we're wimps and didn't want to handle phones in the cold. Gear Notes: No gear. Simul Solo Approach Notes: Chilly

Haha. This is a valid point. I think a lot of the lack of accidents is attributable to the fact that (relative to other times of year) the slide prone slopes don't see much traffic in winter. Plus the relatively warm snow pack up here usually stabilizes so quickly that by the time the weather windows open for climbing, the snow is pretty well bonded. That said, I'd hate to become fodder for the forums by being the only asshole to die in a slide on Hood in 30 years.

Digging the pit did a couple things....it gave us information about what the specific avalanche problem was (ie...F hard wind slab on a P hard crust) which let us make some decisions. We figured that, from where we were, there was possibly as much or more risk in down climbing as the temps rose in the morning as there was in continuing up. It also indicated that the weak interface between the slab and the crust which was causing the avalanche problem would probably become less severe as we ascended (since there was not likely to be the same crust on the upper portions of the mountain given the recent T-Line weather observations we had closely watched for a few days. All that said, it also coaxed us to climb on the sides of the main gullies as much as possible and to haul ass through the choke points! It also answered the question of whether or not we would ski Leutholds. That said, it was definitely on the edge of my comfort zone even given that we were able to avoid the worst terrain traps etc.

Yeah I will definitely go back later in the year

Trip: Mt. Hood - Reid Headwall Date: 1/25/2016 Trip Report: Took a spin up Reid yesterday in perfect weather and deep snow. Left the lot at 3:30 and skied down from the saddle to the base of the route. Mistakenly thinking we were already above the 'schrund I headed up toward the first step too far to the right which meant when we did encounter the schrund, it made for an interesting and time-consuming crossing. There were debris fields both at the bottom of the right gully on the Reid and below Leuthold's. Needless to say, we were a bit apprehensive which was not helped when I dug a pit and had my CT fail on isolation...twice. There was a hard rain crust about 18 inches down that was causing the problem. Needless to say, we stayed out of the main gully as long as we could and quickly traversed up and left once through the choke point. Above 9500 ft or so, that rain crust was gone and the slopes were quite a bit more stable. We found no need for belays and had no issues with the somewhat notorious route finding. Some effort was required in slogging up through loose snow which seemed to stick, chest deep, to impossibly steep slopes. Coming out of the second gully I was able to make upward progress by burying a tool sideways like a dead man, digging a trench for my forearm, and packing the snow down on top of the thing. Doing this time and again made for slow progress but with perfect weather and the route to ourselves, I can think of worse places to spend a morning. There was not much in the way of ice to climb as most of it was buried but there were a few short sections of steep rime (which was still feathery as nothing we saw up there has gone through a freeze-thaw cycle in quite some time). That said, it was a spectacular day and a ton of fun. After taking our time and lounging under a beautiful overhanging rime feature, we topped out a little after 12:30 and skied down Old Chute. Our original plan to ski Leuthold's was foiled by the (somewhat surprising) lack of stability. The snow conditions lower on the mountain were pretty scary despite the "moderate" hazard posted by NWAC. It's a beautiful route and one of my favorites on Hood. Here are a few pictures! Gear Notes: Two tools and warm mittens for swimming

That's the only time you can get on a rope! My number is 503.597.9795. Shoot me yours or send a text and we can coordinate. Thanks, Mike

Hey congrats guys! I'm stoked you made it all the way up. Nice work!

Trying to avoid the evening crowds. Anyone want to climb weekdays during the day? Come on...you don't really NEED your job.

Nice! You guys beat me to it by a couple days. I went up the South Ridge Tuesday and came down the SW ridge. I am still coughing up pieces of scree! Here are a few more shots of the traverse. I went high (above the snow) on the way up which proved to be a mistake. It was....sporty. Took the lower traverse on the way back and it was fine. Carried crampons all the way up there for nothing!

I actually don't have much ice climbing experience so to some extent take this with a grain of salt. Still, I looked very closely at all the beta I could and I am pretty confident that I just ran into a gnarly set of conditions on that day. I went an looked at the line two days ago on a quick Pearly Gates climb and the route is totally thrashed now. It looks like mid July up there.

Yeah I was really surprised by that! It was BRUTAL. Thanks man! I'm looking forward to going back and doing the other finish if the ice sticks around long enough.

Trip: Mt. Hood - Devil's Kitchen Head Wall (Left Variation) Solo Date: 4/26/2015 Trip Report: This is my first trip report so forgive any shortcomings. Also the pics suck because I had some trouble keeping my hands warm and wasn't much interested in fishing for my Iphone. I've been wanting to climb this line for most of the season. Cruising past it en route to the Pearly Gates at least a dozen times, it was hard not to notice it's aesthetic appeal. In mid-March, I was wallowing around on Hog's Back when I saw some dude cruise up solo from Crater Rock into the route as he might have waltzed into his neighborhood coffee shop. Thus the seed was planted, and I've had my eye out for good conditions ever since. I'd heard one is wise to wait until it is "in" before attempting it so I bowed out twice this season on concerns about the quality of the ice. As you can see from this (bad) picture however, it looked passable. It was cold, there was little wind, and the ice looked to be decent enough, so I dropped my pack and skis and headed up into the small couloir. I swam through waist deep snow. As the slope angle picked up I was sufficiently concerned about the whole thing cutting out beneath me that I climbed against the rime on the right hand side of the couloir, trying to keep at least one tool in the ice. It was exhausting and painfully slow, but I finally attained firmer ground as the pitch neared vertical beneath the first step. Looking at previous trip reports and photos, I had concluded that so long as there was decent ice through the first step that the route was "in" and wouldn't present any serious technical challenges. It looked fine from below, but as the line curves slightly left, the chimney through the first step that makes for the crux of the route was obscured. It wasn't until I was just beneath it and quite committed that I saw a large bulge of ice formed at the very top of the chimney. After a quick survey of my options I decided climbing out onto the vertical ice to the right of the chimney itself seemed preferable to trying down climb. Not wanting to give up so easily, she threw me another curve ball. As I whacked away for a decent placement with my tools, large sheets of the thin ice started spider cracking and coming off. It felt a bit like trying to climb a wall of porcelain dishes. The rock underneath wasn't much better, so I moved back left into the chimney. Luckily I found a space underneath the overhanging ice large enough for me to snake my left hand and the head of my ice tool underneath it. After cutting a couple very precarious footholds, I jammed my left hand under the protruding ice bulge, twisting the head of my tool to create some tension. This allowed me to step up and try to get a decent placement above the overhang with my right axe. Apparently I was not yet done paying for my presumptuous overconfidence. My clumsy and cold right hand managed to surgically remove a two square foot sheet of ice, laying bare the area within my reach above the overhang. High on lactic acid and low on options, I quickly discovered that extra 15% of endurance and cunning that apparently only shows up when one has been foolish enough to find himself in such a situation. Just as I thought I was going to take the fast way back down to Crater Rock and give PMR an opportunity to practice their new fumerol rescue protocol, I managed to back step with my right foot and stem against the rock on the left side of the chimney. This let me stand up into my under cling another few inches and sink a decent tool placement above the overhang. A few more shaky foot placements and I was through! Through the rest of the route I was treated to the full array of Mt. Hood cuisine including deep unconsolidated snow that clung to the improbably steep couloir, popcorn rime ice that seemed to disassemble itself if I breathed on it, and chossy mixed climbing that ended up being the best option. After a few stops to warm my hands and a fair amount of cursing, I clumsily flopped onto the summit ridge in a manner that must have brought to mind an exhausted walrus. That was FUN! Or something like it. I limped my way back to my skis and made it over in time to see my buddies rip a beautiful line down West Crater. I have one tingly blue finger, a pulled muscle in my back, and a whole new appreciation for technical ice! A solid weekend it was indeed. Notes: 5:10 car to summit, 1:30ish on route. There was no real chance for pro that I could see. Maybe some sort of deadman above the first step, but it would have been mostly psychological. The overhang that gave me such attitude was hard to see from below. I suspect though that a few more melt-freeze cycles will even it out and render the route in fine condition. I did not do the climber's right finish around the gendarme due to the very loose snow and my desire to purposefully descend the south side, not accidentally descend the east side. Here's what it looked like from below. The blue was very deep snow, the green decent climbing, and the red was the touchy part. Here's one my buddy took as I hauled myself up onto the summit ridge. Gear Notes: Two tools and not a lot of common sense. Approach Notes: A slow and lazy skin from the parking lot right to the route entrance.