mammothclimbs

Another fun Spring route you could look at if you're looking to get some more mileage on steep snow on Hood could be the Cooper Spur. I climbed the route two years ago in June (would recommend earlier in the Spring), and found it to be an enjoyable step up from the standard south side route at the time. The route follows a very obvious line, and has ~2000ft of snow increasing in steepness to ~45 degrees, until you get to the "chimneys" section near the summit which can be a little steeper. There is some rockfall potential on the route, so it's worth thinking through start time, if you're comfortable soloing the route (as mentioned in above post, unchecked fall very dangerous, but attempting a running belay on snow for such a duration is often impractical), route of descent, ... Otherwise, looks like a reasonable progression of routes, especially if you're working on your ice climbing in the meantime.

Messaged.

Curious to hear how everyone's 2024s have shaped up compared to plans at the beginning of the year. I ended up spending substantially less time alpine climbing than I would have guessed at the start of 2024. I climbed the West Buttress of Denali with some freakishly good weather in late May, and then ended up spending 2 months out in Squamish as my biggest weakness right now is just pure rock-climbing. Pretty stoked right now to head to Hyalite for a month or so once ice/mixed season arrives.

Congrats on the climbs. Super cool to have succeeded after more than 30 years.

This is a potentially ignorant question, but what changes in behavior would be expected of climbers now that reintroduction measures have been approved? Would it basically be along the lines of carry bear spray and double down on responsible storage of smellables. From an admittedly naïve perspective, these two factors would seem relatively negligible, so I would see the potential negatives of reintroduction as being primarily focused on potential mismanagement by NCNP, rather than the factors inherent in the reintroduction itself.

My schedule is not finalized yet, but I'm planning to be in WA for a few weeks early May before heading to Denali. I was just looking at lining up partners, and I'd be super keen to get out to the enchantments if conditions are looking good then, so I just sent a PM.

Ok, great. Thanks to both of you for the advice. I think I'm likely guilty of just looking at when I have off, and hoping that some of the routes I want to climb happen to be condition, so it probably makes the most sense to just evaluate conditions and decide where to head out to at the last minute.

Hey everyone, I haven't seen many trip reports from the enchantments recently and wanted to pick people's brains (or crystal ball predictions, given the amount of time beforehand) for expected conditions this spring. I'd be secretly hoping that with such a low snowpack, routes such as stuart glacier couloir, ice cliff glacier, and triple couloirs would be in condition earlier than usual, and with acceptable avy conditions. In particular, I would love to hear if people thought that the routes listed above (or any similar suggestions in the cascades) would be reasonably climbable in early March, or if anybody would have any alternative suggestions of a similar difficulty for worthwhile early March objectives in the Cascades (or more broadly, anywhere in the western US). Happy Climbing!

1. Whatever subset of Curtis/Ptarmigan/Liberty Ridge/mixed climbs in the enchantments I can get done before Denali 2. Climb the West Buttress of Denali 3. Gannett Peak via Glacier Trail in a day 4. Consistently leading in the 11s on gear (at the crag) 5. Safely and consistently lead WI5 in Hyalite/Cody

I'd be super interested in the snowshoes. Sent a message.

Awesome. Thanks so much for the advice. All the suggestions look great, and this will definitely help my planning for these next upcoming seasons. Stoked to get after things.

Sweet. Thanks for the suggestions genepires. Below is my background for any suggestions bedellympian. In particular, any suggestions of ice/mixed climbs that would be good training on the west coast, that would be potential options in the May/June/July time period (assuming relatively standard seasonal conditions). I started climbing 2 years ago, so am still relatively inexperienced in mountaineering. Guided instruction: AMTL 1-3 with the American Alpine Institute (introduces basic skills in mountaineering and alpine climbing), 10 days private ice climbing instruction in Ouray/close areas. ----REST BELOW UNGUIDED---- Mountaineering: Summer 2022: Non-technical trade routes (Hood 2x, Adams, Glacier Peak, Shasta Casaval Ridge (only afterwards did I realize how out-of-season this route was at the time)), handful of basic trad leads up to 5.6 in WA pass and near Leavenworth (think along lines of Beckey Route difficulty). Winter 2022/2023: 10 days guided in CO as listed above, ice climbing in New England rest of season. Summer 2023: Lived in car in PNW most of June-July. Tried to get as much mileage as I could in the mountains, but all routes climbed fairly nontechnical. Basic Mountaineering Routes: Hood Cooper Spur and West Crater Rim solo, 2x Baker North Ridge (follow ice step 1x, lead ice step 1x), Rainier Kautz (2 day climb, carryover and descend via DC), Mount Olympus (C2C in 21 hours), Buckner Mountain, Goode Mountain, Eldorado Peak, think I'm missing a few, but none outside of scope of this list's difficulty. Spent some additional time at Squamish, Index, and WA pass. I am still relatively deficient when it comes to pure rock climbing, and am not sure to what extent I should be working on this, to provide hopeful carryover to harder ice/mixed. Planned Winter 2023/2024: January ice climb as much as possible wherever in western US is best training, Feb-Mar get as much mileage as possible in midwest US.

I definitely agree that getting as much experience as possible on routes as closely simulating the Cassin Ridge as possible (i.e. routes similar to those you've mentioned in the Alaska Range) would be ideal. My climbing in the next year is constrained to areas adjacent to the PNW, so I figured it would be helpful to make a list of climbs doable while based in the PNW, to lay out some sort of progression to work towards.

Hey everyone. This post was inspired by the WA bold and cold post. As I'm systematizing my training for this ice/mixed season and upcoming summer, I thought it would be useful to collate a list of climbs in Western NA (roughly constrained to WA, OR, WY, MT, BC, Alberta, or any area reasonably within distance for a climber loosely based in the Cascades) in a few different categories, arranged roughly within categories in terms of increasing difficulty. The goal of this list would be to serve as preparation for the Cassin Ridge, with the idea that one who has climbed most of the routes on this list in good style would have the skills and experience to (responsibly) make an attempt on the Cassin Ridge. I've pulled the ideas for many of these climbs from the below sources: blog.alpineinstitute.com/2009/09/prepping-for-cassin-ridge.html www.reddit.com/r/alpinism/comments/zgsw5w/cassin_ridge_denali_preparation_climbs/ climberkyle.com/2020/03/22/forgotten-cascade-alpine-ice-routes/ I have been training hard, and am super stoked on pretty much all of the routes on this list, and am hoping to get on as many as I can this winter/(late)spring/summer. I would love some feedback/additions to this list, so I can better understand what sorts of routes one should be developing one's skills towards, with the goal of becoming a solid climber in all of the disciplines needed for more serious technical mountaineering. Without further ado, here's the list(s): Rock Focused Objectives: Goode Mountain - Northeast Buttress Forbidden Peak - North Ridge Mount Fury - West Peak Mount Stuart - North Ridge South Howser Tower - Beckey-Chouinard Mount Slesse - Northeast Buttress "Pure" Ice Objectives: Think along the lines of a few big classic routes WI3-WI5 in the Canadian rockies (or potentially CO/MT). Would like input on some climbs on this list. Ice/Mixed Objectives: Dragontail Peak - Triple Couloirs Mount Stuart - Stuart Glacier Couloir Dragontail Peak - Gerber-Sink Grand Teton - Black Ice Couloir Mountaineering Objectives: Mount Baker - Coleman Headwall Mount Shuksan - North Face Mount Hood - North Face Right Gully Mount Andromeda - Skyladder Mount Rainier - Liberty Ridge Mount Rainier - Ptarmigan Ridge Mount Robson - Kain Face Mount Waddington - Bravo Glacier Route Altitude Objectives: One amongst Aconcagua, Denali West Buttress, or SA volcanos (the former 2 preferred)