Alex

Never getting over the epic amounts of snow up there! I did this route once Memorial Day weekend back in the mid-90s and it had way less snow than this year.

For? I wouldnt lead on it, personally.

Whoh! Rain CLUB!

Raindawg became Rainman but the song remains the same

Don't mess with the Yeohan!

Martin Cash took me there once. It actually IS in a guidebook, as he had it with him, but I do not remember which one. You approach it by walking through a huge storm drain under the highway. We climbed a few routes, all quite stout(!!) but the area sees little traffic so everything a bit dirty and run down.

Very cool!

I'll echo what I think a few folks have said: you climbed the North Buttress Couloir, which ends at a small rest on the ridge crest but still hundreds of feet below the summit, then you traverse a bit right and up, and finish on the North Face of Colchuck. This is the traditional route for the "North Buttress Couloir" route in it's entirety. The NEBC is one very major couloir system to the left. I climbed it with DPS and mattp one winter seems like long ago, and it's got a very different character, starting with a very narrow (6 feet wide) constriction above the 'schrund, a hard left half way up, and steep ground with few rests and little pro. Still, highly recommended!

wintertime crossings of the Wenatchee river in 30$ rafts.

Thanks to Jens, I now have 2 Petzl full body harnesses, for my 2 year old and 4 year old. Sat: Our first car-camping trip of the year we headed to Der Worth. But we only were able to leave the house at 2pm Sat.... oh well. Got to 8 Mile CG and despite the sign saying "Campsites Available" there were none left....except at the group site, where The Mountaineers graciously allowed us to become honorary members for the evening! We walked across the street to XY and my kids climbed the low-angled gully to the immediate left of the climbs there, 4th class. The 4 year old did one lap, and the 2-year old did 2 laps, second lap going real well! Sun: Woke up and after some breakfast at the Rennaisance Cafe, went on a hike up past Hammerhead Rock. It was nice but the 2-year old gets tired fast hiking uphill so we returned and climbed the obvious route at Hammerhead, for the kids first legit "5.6"-ish ascent! This is a good route for small kids, and we'll return again for this one. Yay team!

Some of the routes we've put up on this complicated piece of rock are quite stellar! There is still more to do. I'd be up for giving some guided tours this summer as well, PM me if you are interested at some point.

AMAZING milky way shot!

You'll be fine. TR here, which includes the gully to Silent Lakes you are talking about.... http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=499825

I think I went through this phase, like alot of climbers, where my "big walling" was just climbing routes at Index in the rain with aiders in the off season. That single-pitching eventually led to doing a few legit aid routes, like Town Crier. Town Crier is a good first aid line. Eventually, the next step was Yos-like territory. At that point I decided I liked hauling not so much and focused more on higher-end free climbing, to help me get up my objectives in the alpine faster and with better style. I was at a point where alpine 5.8 was all good, but I wasnt up to alpine 10d. I love the technical aspects of aid climbing, they made me a MUCH better trad climber.

I've actually always hated the second pitch to Princely, it's always felt dirty and insecure to me compared to the first pitch.

mito, good on you for taking it on, and getting out. As I looked at your pics and read the story I also was taken back to when I climbed Sandy Headwall (Spring 1995?) but we had less snow and I was with friends, so just a casual adventure. But the similarity is more between your trip and my solo up N Sister in June 1994? where I dabbled in bivys with no bivy gear for fun and solo night climbing for not-so-fun when the bivy "pleasure" wore off well before sunrise and I was freezing my ass off; I had decided that moving was the only way to stay warm. But night climbing made me take risks I wouldnt take in daylight, and I kind of dropped the whole agenda from my plans for becoming an alpine grandmaster. Still one of my most memorable trips, though, because I learned alot about myself and what was important to me. I bet you did too, hope you don't regret your Sandy trip.

Epic snow!

That looks in to me.

Its debateable whether the route will be in, but less likely even that the approach will be "in". The route is routinely climbed from the TH as a day trip later in the season, but you're going to be lucky or really good to do that in late May.

Nice trip. I'm looking at the pics and then looking at my calendar going ... "it's May, right?" That's alot of snow up there!

Aluminum crampons on 55 degree snow slopes and glacier travel, ok. I've never seen a 55 degree glacier. But define "ice". I've rarely if ever seen real 55 degree ice; the only place was N Face Athabasca in the Canadian Rockies, and AL crampons on that would have been absolutely worthless. Sabretooths for real ice all the way. If you're trying to figure if AL campons will work for Rainier, they will. However on very rare occaisions the upper portion of Liberty Ridge can actually form serious and very hard water ice. In those conditions I would hesitate to climb.

Is that the real lummox or just an impostor?

impressive pics!

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What Fate said. The bailout option isnt to retreat, but lead the WI3/3+ ish ramp to the right, bring your bud up, taverse to the top of the pillar, and TR it from trees. It's not hard to set up. The climb looks in ok shape, it sometimes fills in fatter. The approach is an avalance slope, PLEASE be careful in the upper valley, closest I've ever come to dying in the mountains was with DPS approaching this route.