Thanks Bryon. The technical pitches wander enough and generally have good enough rock that rockfall was pretty much a non-issue in that section. I loved having three team of two. We stayed pretty close to each other. I think we climbed end to end in one big line for the first 4 pitches then we spread out a bit on the final 2 (more difficult) pitches. The last climber reached the summit 1.5 hours after the first team topped out but in terms of distance we were still fairly close together and it helped to have an abundance of radios to communicate.
We did have one close call from rock fall on the steep scramble section. I believe we were still below Long John Tower where it's harder to stay out of each other's fall line.
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What a great trip report and fantastic photos in the album.
I like the idea of three teams of 2 verses two teams of 3. Did you have any issues with teams getting spread out too much, or dropping rocks on each other?
The view of the lake in the background getting smaller and smaller really shows the perspective of this awesome chunk of exposed granite in the middle of Washington.
Those pictures of the hike in with the clouds sitting on the top really illustrate how a late summer, early fall climb in fair weather can result in challenging conditions...such as rim ice the next day.
Congratulations on the successful adventure everyone.
Bryon