tooth

[glen]

Anyone been up by the Tooth lately? If so, how much has it melted out? Is the actual rock route still a snowy ice-axe fest, or is it a rock route again?

[Gary_Yngve]

We were at The Tooth Saturday morning. We rolled into the parking lot a little after 7 AM and got to Pineapple Pass where we merged into the middle of a Mountaineers group (who had left the TH around 6 AM). No snow on any of the pitches. There's some snow on the short scramble between the first and second pitch. There's a cute moat in the notch at Pineapple Pass. No snowshoes necessary -- there are nice steps in the snow going all the way up. I had an axe and my partner had poles, and we were each fine. As long as you didn't use the rap trees as anchors while climbing, the climbing went pretty fast. But the the rapping went really slow. Back on the trail, we ran into a pair who had planned to climb The Tooth after the Mounties had left. We told them that they should be gone by then but added that Washington Alpine Club was also there, to which they responded, "Oh no, they're the worst!" All in all, it was a gorgeous day and got a chance to really soak up the views.

[glen]

Cool. Thanks for the info.

Perhaps the ice axe is useful this time of year to clear mounties out of the way as opposed to snow?

 

climb on.

[slothrop]

Yes, bring your ice axe to remove Mounties (and WACkos!) from your path, but be prepared to endure a lecture from the Mountie leaders on how to hold the ice axe properly as you do so. The two leaders we dealt with that day were nuts... one guy was the most impatient person I've ever met, cursing and grunting his way through every pitch and belay. The other smirked at me as I started rapping, saying he hoped I didn't lose any skin or my grip on the rope as I went (I wasn't wearing the 145th essential, rappel gloves).

[glen]