Hello climbers,
We enjoyed a great week in the mountains and weather continues to be stable throughout the Pacific Northwest moving forward. Freezing levels will float around seasonal norms for the upcoming week. Combined with forecasted sunny skies and low to moderate winds, everything should shape up for another stellar week of climbing all across the Cascades.
Mount Rainier (Tahoma)
The Muir route up Mt. Rainier is still in great shape and is holding up well. Recent teams installed a ladder on the route slightly above Ingraham Flats. The route continues to climb the Disappointment Cleaver and then traverses over to the Emmons Shoulder. The cleaver is currently about 50/50 rock and snow and continues to melt out fast. Mellower terrain and straightforward travel exists from the Emmons Shoulder all the way to Columbia Crest. The Kautz route is also still holding up well. Guides have remarked that the ice pitches are in great shape and feeling like they are climbing slightly lower angle than usual for this time of year. Meanwhile, on the Emmons, climbing is still very direct and in good shape. The route is heading through the Corridor before traversing over to the Winthrop Shoulder.
Mt Baker (Koma Kulshan)
Not much has changed on Mount Baker’s Easton Route. The route jumps onto the glacier right outside of Sandy Camp and takes a direct line up to the Roman Wall. The Roman Wall is still in good shape, too, and hasn’t melted down to firmer conditions yet. Sandy Camp is now almost completely down to rock with only a bit snow still holding on. Chairs are now at camp to increase comfort and relaxation (we’ll call it summit climb preparation) while hanging out. The North Ridge continues to see ascents as well, with stellar conditions on the upper mountain. The approach to the ridge via the Coleman is starting to break up and expose move crevasses making it a slightly longer approach, but with no impact on the summit portion of the climb.
Across the Cascades
The theme continues throughout the rest of the Cascades with great summer climbing. The approach hike to the lower bivies on Shuksan’s Sulphide Glacier route is almost snow free and bivies are melted out so climbers can sleep on dry trail. A few crevasses are exposed on the Sulphide Glacier but the current route easily avoids them. The Shuksan Pyramid is now snow free and our teams are ascending the classic SE Ridge and descending via the gullies. Over on Mt Adams, snow is quickly disappearing from the lower mountain and dry camping and running water can be found at the Lunch Counter. Finally, climbers continued to find perfect mid-summer conditions on the classic North Ridge of Stuart. There was a little bit of snow left at the notch if planning to bivy and still a some snow to manage coming off of the false summit down Cascadian Couloir.
Photo from climber Brendan Bennett on our recent Olympus climb!
