DPS

The weather has been warm and wet, but I suspect the higher elevations have been getting snow. Has anybody taken a look at the NF of Hood recently? Anything to report?

Is this below NF Hood/Elliot Glacier? If so, did you get a look at the NF of Hood and how did it look? I'm particularly interested in the Right Gulley.

I thought of that when I saw it written out. How can you tell the difference between a waste water engineer and a drinking water engineer? A drinking water engineer washes his hands after using the toilet, a waste water engineer washes his hands before using the toilet.

I called and Kyle said he could do the work for a very reasonable price and will even pick up and drop off my pack. I'm excited to see how the project comes out and I will report back.

Thanks for link, they look like just the people I need! I went ahead and contacted them. They make a nice little alpine hammer holster I will have to buy too. My tool holster is too big for my little hammer I bring when I climb with leashless (and hammerless) tools.

Does anybody know a sewer who could work on packs and clothes? I have some repairs and modifications and I don't want to pay Rainy Pass $75.00 an hour because they have F'd up every project I have brought them.

That is better than I do. I feel Iike 90% of the time I just take my gear for a walk and I always think to myself that it would have been a nice hike if I had not had 25 pounds of climbing gear in my pack.

I took a couple of explorarory hikes this weekend and here are my observations. Cascade Pass, my favorite early season hunting ground, is very bony. Mixup and Sahale will probably go, but it will take a couple of storm/melt/freeze cycles to bring the big, sexy un-climbed and un-repeated routes into condition. Snoqualmie Pass. Alpenthal Falls, Chockstone Falls, and Source Lake Line will all need one to two weeks of cold temps to come into shape. NE Buttress of Chair would go, but very thin and mixed. East and North Faces will need a couple more storms cycles to bring them in. Nothing else looked very appealing.

Really nice photos. I'm always impressed by folks who climb difficult routes and bring back great photos. Its not easy to do either, and especially difficult to do both. I attempted this route in February 2007 with Rob McDaniel, before Dane Burns, Craig Gyleselnik, John Frieh, Dave Burick et. al. climbed it and put it on the map. We hiked up Aasgard Pass and started traversing to the couloir when the entire snow pack made a 'whump' and settled beneath us. We looked at each other and hightailed it out of there. Reading the trip reports over the years I don't know if it would have had more ice that late in the season or if we were lucky and dodged a bullet, 'cause it looks really, really hard.

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.

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.

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'.

Does anybody know what type of winter to expect this year (e.g. El Nino, La Nina, Pineapple Express)?

Where are you located? Check your PM box.

Shuksan is a great late season suggestion and IMHO one of the most iconic mountains in the Cascades. While you cannot summit Shuksan without some rock climbing, the last time I climbed it we found an easy 3/4 class route that was more solid than the usual gully system and easier than either of the 5th class ridges. I personally prefer the Fisher Chimneys route to the Sulphide, however, you would be well advised to bring a second ice tool and a couple of ice screws for FC if you decide to climb that route. Sulphide has no steep climbing on it, other than the summit pyramid. On Baker, the Easton, Boulder, and Park Glacier Headwall (in order of difficulty) are all good late season climbs. Or used to be, have not been on that side for a few years. Personally, September in the Cascades means alpine rock, not volcanoes, but it is your trip. If you are mainly interested in glaciers, perhaps Eldorado would turn your crank and would be in good shape. The elegant snow arete summit is really quite unique, and the climbing pretty straight forward.

HAYDUKE LIVES! A former Green Beret would certainly have the skills to pull this off. Mystery solved.

A little C4 would do it. You can buy military grade plastic explosives in Canada, right?