AlecE

Trip: Mt. Adams - North Face Northwest Ridge Ski Trip Date: 06/11/2019 Trip Report: There's a good amount of beta out there already on this line, so here's a short conditions report. Left Hood River around 4:00 PM on Monday, hiking around 6:30 PM. We hit patchy snow about halfway to the camp, but decided it would be faster to keep the skis on our back and just hike it. Made a nice camp just short of the typical high camp ridge and enjoyed a nice sunset. Got a leisurely start the next AM, moving around 6:45 AM. We could almost ski to the base of the north ridge, just one or two short carries before hitting the ridge proper. Looking towards the ridge. Looking up the North Ridge with another climber ahead of us. The goats tracks went almost all the way to the top! From this vantage point, the ridge seemed really straightforward. We booted our way up for a while, and then hit a section with two option: either up a short chimney/scramble or over the ridge (we were on the left side) into a really loose chute. I headed up the chimney, which didn't go anywhere, and had to come back down and around. This didn't seem to lead anywhere: We did a bit of downclimbing and some traversing on frightening rock to get onto the N. Face proper, and followed some snow patches to get back on the N. Ridge. Once back on the ridge we slogged up for what seemed like eternity. Sloggin As the photos show, the snow was pretty wet and sloppy, and we saw some good sized naturals come down the Lava Headwall on our way up. I was pretty skeptical that our line would be in condition, but we figured there was only one way to find out. We topped out on the ridge around 1:30, and melted some snow and ate snacks, and were treated to views of Rainier, Goat Rocks, Baker, Glacier Peak, and the Enchantments (we think). Both of us commented on how much of a slog the N ridge felt. We both climb Hood pretty consistently in good time, but were amazed at how painful this route felt. From here we put skins on and headed across the ridge to get to the top of the Pinnacle, where our line started. Trevor is smiling because there's skis on his feet. Rainier in the background. Skinning across the top. That black dot in the middle is Trevor. We skinned to the top of the Pinnacle and dropped into our line around 2:30. The snow was excellent. Slightly grabby up top, perfect corn for the majority, and a little wet on the bottom. The line is truly amazing, with thousands of feet of fall line skiing that only gets steeper and steeper the farther you go. Trevor cruising on the upper section: Getting steeper: The choke is pretty wide, and had the best snow of the day. It took a little scouting and traversing to piece together the exit onto the Adams glacier, but it was cool skiing next to the seracs and crevasses. The Line: Overall, amazing ski line. I don't know why you would choose to climb the N. Ridge unless you're going down another way. If I were to do it over again, I'd probably find a different way up. Gear Notes: Axe, Crampons, Skis (why would you walk down a volcano?) Approach Notes: Beautiful hike through the forest.

Ah damn, was looking to ski. Figured I was late. Thanks!

Cool! Looking for some recent photos of CJ, but thanks anyway. Looks like a nice day out.

Nice TR! Did you happen to get any photos of J-berg?

It's in good shape, likely will be for about 2 months. Was up Sat and Sun.

Super sick!

Nice! We were that group chilling at Queen's chair. Didn't see you guys, but saw the group behind you hauling skis up. Leutholds was in good ski shape, BTW.

A partner and I had to leave some screws in the Pearly Gates on Sat. Not holding out too much hope, but if anyone makes it up there and gets them I would happily offer a sixer or two for their return.

I agree on this. Unless we get a gnarly rain event that decimates our snowpack, we might have that persistent layer for quite a while.

Nice write up, Dave. Also, at least we know I had that picket up until the last snow arete photo was taken... Some more photos: Typical 'Schwackin View from the bivy Snow arete: "Your best option is probably to jump into the moat" Traversing a hanging glacier on the downclimb More downclimbing

Awesome photos and a sweet looking trip!

Thats....thats a lot of vert. Very nicely done!

Trip: Wine Spires - Silver Star and Chablis Spire Trip Date: 06/23/2018 Trip Report: My roommate and I had been looking to get into the North Cascades for a while but hadn’t been able to put a trip together. We finally got the chance this last weekend and drove from Portland up to Mazama on Thursday night. We got warmed up on the Liberty Bell and Concord Tower on Friday and decided that we wanted to camp somewhere high and pretty Saturday night. After a lot of back and forth, we decided to camp up near the Wine Spires and climb Chablis Spire. We started around noon on Saturday and make the trek up to the Burgandy Col. It took about three hours from the car to the camp, so we dropped our stuff and went over to Silver Star Mountain. View of the Liberty Bell group Not a bad campsite. There was still snow up on the east side of Burgandy Col, but it was pretty soft and made for easy going over to the Silver Star glacier. We didn’t know too much about the glacier, so we decided to rope up, which probably wasn’t necessary. Made it up to the top of the glacier and had a nice view into the Cascades. Snagtooth Ridge from the Glacier We opted out of the scramble to the true summit and turned around and headed back towards camp. We made some dinner and enjoyed a beautiful sunset and the view. You can see Glacier Peak hanging out in the distance. A few goats also decided that they liked the col campsite, and kept us company throughout the night. Not too early of a start and we headed down to the base of the Chablis Spire. There were a few cracks open on the snowfield below the base, so we roped up again and headed up the snow to the base of the route. The detached block is center left of this photo. The snow was still fairly high, so the “handrail” at the base of the route was still covered, so we started at a hand ramp up to the detached block. After an airy step-around (very awkward) and a cool short finger crack we headed up three pitches of wandering easy climbing. There’s a short unprotectable slab in the middle of the second pitch, to which Carmen managed to find a 5.11 finger crack variation. The last pitch ends at the notch between the bunny ears summits, and we climbed up to the true summit still roped up. It turns out there’s some rap anchors right at the summit, so we were able to rap off the top, which was nice. Looking down from the last pitch. Obligatory awkward summit selfie. 5 wandery 60 m raps brought us back to the snow. We headed up to the col, grabbed our overnight gear, and suffered through the long descent back to the car. After a quick hop in the Methow River and a burger and a beer in town, we made the haul back to Portland. Gear Notes: Single rack to 4, 60m rope, glacier gear Approach Notes: Park at the mile marker 166, find a log to cross the river, and then hike the well worn path to Burgandy Col.

Haha, fair. I assumed the glacier would still be there, was thinking about the rock. It looks mighty tempting....

To sorta hijack, what are the odds that Goode is snow free right now? It's been pretty warm, but most of the TRs I've seen are July-Aug.