Projects...
This couloir near Snoqualmie Pass (across from Mt Catherine), as a ski descent.
It's straight, it's steep, it's narrow, it's long (1600ft high). This has been on the list for years, guess it's not all that compelling or anything. It would be good for a short day.
Spire Mountain... 4000ft of constant 30 degree open north-east-facing
terrain (once the brush is coverted with snow). Just need to get
across the North Fork Skykomish near Bear Creek Falls:
and then bushwhack for a mile to get to this:
North Ridge of Baker... second time's a charm I'm sure,
and hopefully I'll be able to lead the ice cliff portion.
Ever since that time this summer helping guide newbies up the standard route, when the snow
was cold, hard, and the Coleman Headwall looked in great shape, I've wanted to climb it instead.
Just visible on the right side of this picture. Of course, the North Ridge would be good too, but
you can only take so much Baker in one season.
Klickitat icefall on Mt. Adams... a (Beckey) grade III, it climbs through this steep
icefall. Some objective danger. This isn't a good picture of the route, but anyway... The brown crap is the October 97 debris avalanche (USFS photo).
Tahoma Glacier on Mt. Rainier. Maybe I should try climbing the mountain via one
of the standard routes first, but this one certainly looks nice.
Another climb with a long approach, since the west side road is closed. This side of the
mountain sees very few ascents each year. Picture stolen from some volcano website. The Tahoma is on the right, and
is not supposed to be technical in early season.
Okay, so now that I've climbed Liberty Ridge for my first time up Rainier, the next objective
is Ptarmigan Ridge. Perhaps a little less committing, but more technical. In red in this photo:
Now - check this out. There is a hole on Mt Rainier. This is a close up of the slide above. At first, I thought the white spot on the ridge was just a spec of dust or something. But then - I saw the sun shining through the hole, projected onto the snow. Holy cow, that's cool! A natural arch on Rainier! It's been around for a long time too, since it's visible (just barely) in page 108 of the Beckey guide (old edition with bumpy cover). Is this reason enough to try Mowich Face instead of Ptarmigan Ridge? Probably not, but it's still pretty cool. The central route described in Beckey goes right by it, but it is not mentioned. Also no mention of it in The Challenge Of Rainier. Suprising.
North Face of Vesper. Grrr...
The NW couloir on Eldorado. Seemed crazy hardcore when I first heard about it, but after reading
more about it, and seeing it, it looks like a pretty moderate ice climb if you get it in good
conditions... on the list for fall '01?
The northwest face of Welch Peak in the Canadian Cascades. Looks like it would be a great
winter ascent, topped with 900ft of snow to 50 degrees, then a few mixed class 4 moves to the summit.
A photo taken from "Hiking Climbing in southwestern BC":
Ski crap
Secret projects