DPS

Good one.

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.

Good deal on a great boot, in my size no less. If I did not just buy two new pairs I'd be all over this deal.

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.

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.