Mount Maude/North Face

We hiked up to Ice Lakes the day before. The south end of the larger lake has a lovely area for camping right next to the water. No snow left in this area.
We left camp at 4 am and stood on the summit at 2 pm. The approach from camp to the base of the climb took longer than expected. None of the four of us had been on the mountain before so we spent some extra time on the route finding. We missed the notch immediately east of Marmot Pyramid and dropped onto the Entiat Glacier through the next notch east. There was also a time-consuming rappel (see below) on the traverse towards the North Face. We could have avoided the rappel by descending further, but that option had steep and exposed crevasse terrain this time of year, so not sure it would have been any faster. Roping on the Entiat Glacier is definitely recommended since traversing to the North Face goes through multiple areas with many wide open crevasses. Where the north ridge of the Marmot Pyramid meets the Entiat Glacier there is a rappel station allowing the traverse to continue without losing too much elevation.
The North Face route itself was straightforward mostly being a steep snow climb easily protected with pickets on the steeper sections. There were a few patches of ice where we could get screws in. Most of the route could easily be done standing but a few shorter sections had hard snow and ice where front-pointing was the best option. Towards the top of the route, the snow conditions improved dramatically and it was easy to kick deep solid steps.
By far the biggest danger on this route is the frequent rock fall at this time of year. In particular, we had one instance of a fridge-sized rock thundering down and intersecting the lower part of the climbing route. One climber in our party saved his own life by diving into a moat a split second before the boulder flew past where he was standing!
Pictures and GPS track: http://www.peakbagger.com/climber/Ascent.aspx?aid=445521