DPS

I agree about the quality. Eric Sweet and I made what I believe to be the second ascent in November 2002, in 'sportier' conditions than currently and it is one of my all time favorite mixed winter alpine climbs. Up there with NE Buttress of J'berg in winter. I have some photos of our ascent on summitpost.org: https://www.summitpost.org/northwest-ice-couloir/688985 for comparison. The cruxes were climbing steep, thin ice past big chockstones. I even belayed in a cave formed by one. We were both climbing on Black Diamond Shrikes and Charlet-Moser S-12s, which did not fit Eric's first gen Scarpa Freneys. He lost a crampon below the the last steep ice pitch below the summit. Rather than surrender the fantastic lead, he climbed the rig with one crampon on the ice, the other boot scumming the rock.

Hiked up Colchuck Peak on Saturday, November 9th. There were a lot of ice smears but the usual suspects were not filled in enough to be what I consider in condition. Maybe the NE Couloir on Dragontail was in, but I could not see it from the lake. I suspect a party that left the TH at midnight may have been on it, but I don't know that for sure. Maybe they will post up. The smaller lakes were well frozen over and Colchuck Lake had a skim of ice, but Saturday had warmed up considerably and was raining on the summit of Colchuck. Hopefully colder weather will accompany these storm cycles and after they have had a chance to consolidate/melt/freeze the area should have some good early season hunting. It had been perhaps five years since my last visit to Colchuck Lake and I was shocked by how much the Colchuck Glacier had receded. At this pace in 5 years I suspect it will be completely gone.

Summer is the ideal time to practice climbing, when the rock is sunny and dry. Can one master anything perfectly without practice?

Nice work, I’m surprised the route was so well formed this early. Did you happen to get a look at J’berg, Cascade Peak, or Mixup Peak? I’m curious how the ice is forming on those peaks. Thanks, DPS

One pair of tracks you followed belonged to us. The other party was from Vancouver. We all looked at the lines you mentioned and we climbed up to the line you climbed but we were not super inspired and called it a day. The condition of the route in your photo looks like it is better formed than when we were there. FWIW, I've been calling this little peak Little Purple Nice Guy Peak, so named after the col between Colfax and the peaklet was named by Tvash in 2008. You have much bigger balls than me, I was very happy to be roped for the glacier.

Thanks for the report! It appears that it could take a few more strong storm/melt/freeze cycles to bring the North Buttress Couloir on Colchuck and the NE Couloir on Dragontail into condition.

A couple of parties trekked up to the Cosley-Houstan this weekend. The consensus was it is not quite in climbable condition. The first pitch is very thin and looked to be unprotectable, the first pillar was two skinny, unconnected icicles, the higher pillar a little better. The crevasse situation is the more difficult obstacle. While it could be passed by staying all the way climber's right, it would involve pitching out some scary terrain above a monster crevasse. Surprisingly, every pitch on the Polish Route was touching down and was better looking than the C-H.

Skis and ropes are spoken for, Thanks for looking.

The rope are spoken for. Skis are still up for grabs.

Cleaning out the closet and I have a couple items to give away: - AT skis: BD Havoc, 175cm. These are billed as all mountain skis, but are twin tips, which I discovered I don't like. Pretty good condition, drilled once for Dynafit binders (Mondo 27.5) - Double/half ropes. A pair of Edelweiss, Sharp, Everdry, 50m x 8.5mm ropes. Never fallen on, in good condition, but are getting to their age of mandatory retirement. One yellow/green, one purple. Would make a great woven rug, dog leashes, rope swing, etc. Pick up in Issaquah Please email if interested: daniel-p-smith@hotmail.com

I bootied a brand new # 0.75 Camalot C4 and a couple of carabiners off of Stuart and posted here to find the owner. Not finding the owner, I climbed on it until getting off route on the Ice Cliff Arete, got it stuck and ended up lowering off it. The mountain giveth, the mountain taketh. It's probably still there for all I know.

Damn, if I did not already own a pair of the aluminum version I would be all over these. Great tools and the hammer option is really nice.

Thanks! I was thinking with the cold rains followed by warm days and cold nights that NF Colfax and NF Hood should be shaping up nicely.

bigeo, we need to climb/ski something together. It has been too long since our last trip to East Willman's Spire.

I checked Cliff Mass' blog and the bottom line for me was 'no reason not to buy a season ski pass'.