DPS

You mentioned NH in your original post, my understanding is that New England ice climbs tend to be graded harder than continental or west coast route. Thus the 'NEI' ratings.

Hood River, Oregon is a very nice town to hang out in. Reasonably priced motels, good restaurants, art galleries, brew pubs. Nicely situated between Mt Hood and Mt Adams. I got stuck there on my way back from Mt Adams when my truck broke down. Not a bad place to cool one's heals for a day or two. I assume you are referring to the South Side of Mt Hood. There is no real crevasse/glacier risk other than the bergschrund on the South Side. You do want to hit Mt Hood early in the season, perhaps earlier than the road to Mount Adams melts out. Keep that in mind. Again, assuming you are talking about the South Side route. Camp at the Illumination Saddle. Period. Relatively short summit day, but rad place to bivi.

Avalanche danger could be very high during and after a significant snow storm. I think Fisher Chimneys is a fine route, but I think of it as a late season route after the snow has melted out of the chimneys. Better now might be the Sulphide Glacier. Should have lower avalanche danger. Also, you did not mention which source you are using for mountain weather forecasts, so it is difficult to say if you are using a good one or what. That said, I like this synoptic table - gives you an easy way to knowing where to go. http://lost-in-the-mountains.com/washington_climbing.php Slightly off topic, but if you find the weather in the North Cascades to be inclement, you could head east, over the crest, and possibly find better conditions in the Stuart Range and Enchantments.

I would speak to the clients themselves as to how their experiences were. Find out who the guides are who will be guiding your trip, and what their qualifications/certifications are. IFMGA or at the very least an aspirant IFMGA guide should be selected. This speaks volumes about the guide's dedication to their chosen craft.

The evolution of popular climbing cameras is interesting. When I started climbing the Nikon FM was the camera of choice because if the batteries failed it could be used fully manual. When point and shoot cameras came out, Olympus Stylus was quite popular due to its inherent ruggedness and decent image quality. With the advent of digital, I've been on trips where one partner has an IPhones, the other an expensive DSLR. The IPhone came back with better photos because it was easy to carry and deploy quickly. And Josh, yes, you do need to go to Alaska. Skip Denali and do a Ruth Gorge or Kahiltna peaks tour.

Having had to make the climb up to the Root Canal from the Ruth Glacier, I had assumed aircraft as large as a Turbo Otter could land and take off from the Root Canal glacier. I had assumed only Super Cubs could stick that landing.

I concur with JasonG. I have the LS Boulder X and have had previous versions of the Boulder. They seem to offer the best balance of hiking support and comfort vs. climbing performance. I also agree about his comment about boots. Doing a climb up and over Stuart in approach shoes, my ankles got mighty beat up from the scree on the descent. I have a pair of Scarpa Charmoz (very similar to LS Trangos) and find them very fine for summer alpine climbing in the North Cascades on peaks like Forbidden/Triumph/Shuksan and would do very well in the Bugs. They rock climb almost as well as my approach shoes, provide more protection for my ankles and climb steep ice surprisingly well. Bulkier if you have to wear rock shoes and carry them in the pack but still acceptably light.

I've read some good beta on all these routes here on CascadeClimbers in the form of trip reports. Some reports are quite detailed and have annotated topos. Also, both the route finding and climbing on both LR and RR are much more straight forward than on Curtis Ridge. Kind of in different leagues. Looks like an early opening of May 16 is expected for the White River road, which bodes well for both Curtis Ridge and Liberty Ridge. Dan

Try Colin Haley https://www.facebook.com/alpinistcolinhaley/?fref=ts or Mark Westman https://www.facebook.com/mark.westman1?fref=ts. Sorry, I don't have their current email addresses any more. You could try the Talkeetna Ranger station for Mark, he is a ranger there now, I think.

Just read their description, that sounds right. Cool! Looks like it's in much better condition now than when they did their FA! I seem to recall one belay of their's that consisted of a V-thread in frozen turf backed up with an ice tool planted in said frozen turf.

I believe this was climbed around 10 years or so ago by Paco (Eric Sweet) and partner. They named it 'Satan's Sidewalk'. Or it could be a different formation.

The one piece of kit I always bring and wear no matter the season is a lightly insulated wind shirt. In my case a Marmot DriClime, which can be found for around $60 on SierraTradingPost.com http://www.sierratradingpost.com/s~marmot-driclime-windshirt/sizefamily~general!l/. Extremely versatile, works as an outer layer in mild conditions, sheds light precipitation, layers very nicely in cold conditions.

DAS is way overkill for summer, I use a similar jacket (WT Belay Jacket) in Alaska and on Rainier in winter. Down will work, particularly if you plan on using it in the summer only. I have a Patagonia Micropuff hooded jacket (100 gram Primaloft) that I am looking to off load. The jacket has seen better days but is still serviceable. The elbows have been worn threadbare but have been taped with matching nylon rip stop tape. It is a size medium and is cut generously to fit over all layers. I am willing to sell it pretty cheaply. Email if interested: Daniel-p-smith@hotmail.com.

What Gene said, plus a lightweight, hooded synthetic belay jacket. For summers I use a 60 gram Primaloft jacket (Patagonia Nanopuff).

Hey, how about that Skechty Dan guy. He has skied to Muir in 90 minutes and would like to do something like a Tahoma Glacier to Muir carry over.

The gulley in the middle of the south face of the pyramid will likely be mostly snow. If you want set some belays or running protection you may want pro. The ridges on the pyramid are low 5th, so you may want pro if you plan on doing one of those. The Chimney's themselves should not require rock pro, but I have seen some parties belay one or two short spots.

In January or 2000, Nick Strait and myself attempted Gib Ledges. We ran into Loren and Sarah on the approach. We all stayed in the Muir shelter along with two Euros, both of whom spoke very loudly about the many 8,000 meter peaks they had climbed. The next day we started at about 3 AM, crossed Gib Ledges without incident and started the long hike to the summit crater. At about 13k, I fell into a crevasse. By the time I prussiked out, the weather had turned foul. Nick and I called it and headed down, running into Loren and Sarah, who turned around as well. Shortly, the four of us ran into the Euros on their way up. We told them it was a very bad idea to head up into a storm. They ignored the advice and ended up spending something like 5 days pinned down in the summit crater. I heard that once on the summit, they call the rangers with their radio and asked for a helo ride off the summit. I think that even very experienced climbers who have not climbing in the PNW underestimate the storms in this area.

I met Keith in 1997, shortly after reading Dude Boys in Rock and Ice when he was working at High Mountain Rendezvous. He asked how I had so much free time to climb and I told him I was working as a carpenter for the family business. He asked if I could hook his friend up for a job, so I did, and ended up working with LW for some time.

I do not have any recent beta to pass along, but I have climbed and descended Gib Ledges three times, January, March, and fist week of April. In the winter months descending Gib Ledges was fine, descending it first week of April we experienced significant rock fall. I personally would not be on the Ledges during the middle of the day this time of year. Descending via ID or DC would be safer from rock/ice fall.

https://www.facebook.com/keith.johnson.7140?fref=pb&hc_location=friends_tab&pnref=friends.all

I stopped building anchors this way.

This would work well where you have two solid anchors (bolts, good screws) but the Quad has the advantage of being able to equalize three or more pieces while remaining self equalizing.

I've never liked the 'Pre Equalized Anchor; AKA Cord-o-lette, instead opting for a version of the two-point self-equalizing, sliding X anchor backed up with a third independent anchor using sewn spectra slings. After reading this article, I am seriously thinking about changing to the Quad anchor, which seems like it is easy to construct, self equalizing, and plenty strong. http://www.rockandice.com/climbing-news/climbing-anchors-and-the-evolution-of-the-quad. I assume folks are using standard 7mm perlon or 5.5 mm Maxim Tech cord. What does the cc.com brain trust think about using a thin (7.6 mm) triple rated rope? The inherent stretch could be advantageous or it could be a problem with wear. Thinking about buying the 20 meter version of this and cutting down for a quad anchor https://shop.epictv.com/en/ropes/camp/isotop-76mm-dry?sku=CAM15_ROPISO_RED20. Thoughts? Downsides?

I will have to keep this trick in mind. I already have the rat tail file for ice screws.

Good points Gene. This one time I was descending off of a winter ascent. We had rapped into a gulley and were down climbing with two tools. I had rapped second so I pulled, coiled, and stashed the rope. My partner was at the bottom encouraging me to hurry because he was cold. So, while down climbing with two tools, I hurried and as a result slipped and started sliding, my two leashed ice tools (an REI/SMC 60 cm axe and a SMC Himalayan Hammer) proceeded to beat the shit out of me until I got one under control and was able to self arrest.