I took a couple of friends from work up the Kautz in 1980 when it was still mostly hard snow and only a ten foot step of ice. Even crossing the Nisqually was trivial. The original Camp (Joe) Hazard was still in use. It's a much different route now. I wished I had done Liberty too.
Thanks guys, I really enjoyed that. I would love to lead that route. I've been winter climbing in Scotland for 8 years but rarely managed a trip that coincided with good conditions. I'm hoping for a better season next year.
Nice video - I try to solo Pinnacle most years on Xmas night, and was there on Jan 1 after the warm spell and it was too thin for my liking. Would you mind sharing your GoPro settings? Much higher quality than mine, but I'm often in lower light. Also, was that a chest mount you were climbing with? Cheers.
Was using it to keep the tools and crampons on my bag on the approach, and it seemed easier to leave it wrapped on then having to dig around for it. There's probably a better solution out there, but hey it works
@@willindsey It was a couple of weeks after the infamous 2021 heat dome that cooked Western WA in late June (so I guess it was 2 years ago, not 3). We were still in a pretty significant heat wave when we went up, and the hot conditions left the Kautz chute pretty much bare ice all the way up. I was surprised how little "dinner plating" there was. We didn't have to fight the ice too much - it was pretty easy to get a good stick, even if you had to strike a couple of times. I think there's normally a fair amount more snow at that time of summer most years.
Enjoyed your video, but why do you only mention Switzerland? The Pollux summit is on the Italian border, and you spent the night in an Italian rifugio.
