Talapus Lake to island Lake. Some people went further to the unnamed pothole about 1/2 mile west of Rainbow Lake, then met the rest on the way out.
Snow on trail is signficiant. Not advised for beginners or hikers not experienced with snow travel.
A successful climb of the South Ridge on a slightly overcast day; flowers were abundant.
Semi-drizzly day with damp brushy trail made the trip a bit wet, but still enjoyable.
Very long drive over 4th of July weekend, made longer by crazy Tacoma/Olympia traffic. Beautiful mountain though, and a good time of year to climb this peak.
The Alpine climb that has it all! Glacier, rock, "climbers trail", bush whacking, and some fun log crossings at the beginning, middle and end!
Rain, rain, rain, drip, drip, drip, wet, wet, wet. trail in good shape in spite of weather. Good time, 6 hours there and back.
A big loop of peaks with a variety of easy-to-difficult terrain. We climbed Chiwawa, Fortress, Berge, and Buck.
A delightful scramble of a seldom scrambled peak with wonderfully sticky granite rock to climb on and gorgeous views.
Successful climb of Olympus via Blue glacier, route is in great condition
Great trip through the Gorge with 10-20+ kt of wind and waves up to about 3'. Fun but exhausting due to continuous sprinting/surfing through spectacular scenery.
This is an amazing climb on the North (less popular) side of Hood. It included an exciting bergschrund crossing on the Elliot Glacier, steep snow up the North Face right gully, two nice WI2-3 ice steps, and even some mixed climbing to get through a rock outcropping just below the summit. We did it in two days camping just below Snow Dome with a ski approach and descent to camp. All in all a great route with lots of fun climbing and some fun skiing on the way down.
Route is still fairly direct and in good shape. No ladders at this time.
This is an amazing three day climb on fantastic terrain in a dramatic committing setting with very few other parties on the route. We climbed on 8 glaciers, ascended over 11,000' up steep snow, a full pitch of WI-3 ice, and climbed a short rock pitch at over 12,000'. On the last pitch of the technical climbing we used pickets, ice screws, fixed pitons, and nuts for protection. It was the best climb I've done on Rainier.
Route DOES NOT GO. Snow bridge / crevasse collapse at 8800 feet.
An easy and fun scramble to summit one of the Cascade 20 peaks. This was an add-on scramble to a trip to climb Mount Shasta which was a plan B after an Ice Cap Traverse trip on the North Cascades was weathered on. Very glad to have added this peak. Great prominence, stunning views and an easy rock scramble on a very fun ridge. At this time, only a few snow patches that could be mostly avoided. Great add-on to Shasta to make the long drive more worthwhile.
