SummitPost.org

Here's a photo I took with annotations of the Reid (the green line).



If you click on the link below, it'll take you to where you can link to photos at the numbered points. Berg is between point one and two and like EB said is the only crevasse over there I've ever seen in probably 8 to 10 climbs there.

http://www.summitpost.org/west-side-routes-annotated/203354/c-764768

Nice topo. I realize my response might seem flip, but once under the face it is kind of obvious which route is Luetholds, and which is Reid Glacier Headwall. The above photo is a nice illustration.

divnamite,
I'd consider getting onto the Reid HW to be pretty low on the "crevasse exposure risk scale"...if there were such a thing. I've soloed the route (in February), when everything was closed up nicely, and it was fine. The 'schrund was slightly open in places but was easy to inspect and cross safely.

ymmv...of course. i hesitate to publicly recommend anything that the local news and bbs blowhards might classify as "extremely irresponsible mountain hiking" in any post-accident feeding frenzy...

not that i'd anticipate said epic...but this is Der Hoodwand we're talkin about...shizz happens.

edit to add: the traverse over to the turn up onto the Reid HW generally stays close to the lower buttresses of rock and generally off of the Reid glacier proper until heading up below the bergschrund.

Nothing on this mountain is obvious in poor visibility. A number of people have gotten lost on the west face.. getting stuck in Castle Crags trying to take one of the WCR variations of RGH, getting stuck on the RGH turning up too soon while looking for Leutholds, waiting too long and accidentally climbing Yokum Ridge and getting stuck, getting lost on route on RGH, etc... Shitty visibility makes that side of the mountain a maze.

Ben B. wrote:Nothing on this mountain is obvious in poor visibility.

This is true of all stratovolcanoes in the PNW.

Fer sher, absolutely. My point is that I wouldn't go up without a plan to get up in poor visibility. Every time I've been whited out, it's been forecast clear skies.... Turning around for no better reason than poor visibility is a lame way to finish a climb.

Ben B. wrote:Fer sher, absolutely. My point is that I wouldn't go up without a plan to get up in poor visibility.

I think it is more important to GET DOWN in poor visibility, hang the summit.

Ben B. wrote:Turning around for no better reason than poor visibility is a lame way to finish a climb.

Turning around in a white out is a good way to stay alive.

Infinite wisdom tells me that the same volcanic summit will be there next week OR next year. Why the RUSH ... chill out and always plan for the worst ..

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ivnvKIu4mg[/youtube]

Well I guess we're wandering into the realm of individual comfort.. I wouldn't have gotten hardly any climbing in this winter if I'd been afraid of a little shitty visibility.

My last 3 climbs in a row... and these were taken during brief moments of clarity

Take a GPS, NO PROBLEM! Just hope you're in bright sunshine at the top.

and again today...

Well... hope the skiing is good!

I wish I skied... that was just some dudes coming up as I was heading down. But those who did have skies said the skiing was amazing- a few remarked that it was some of the best back country skiing they'd ever done.

Which is awesome... 'cause those same conditions made for some of the worst wallowing I'VE ever done.. 60-65 degree bottomless powder- literally more swimming than stepping.. uhg.