This aerial picture taken in Winter shows where the “easy” route takes a long detour around to Hell's Highway before traversing back to climb the Summit Pyramid.

We (Tom, Dave and I) had taken the Hell's Highway route as part of the University of Washington's Summer climbing seminar. Upon reaching the Summit Pyramid, we found it covered with verglas and too dangerous to climb.

After the seminar we decided to try again, hoping a late August ascent would be less prone to icing. Although this was our first year of climbing, having just graduated the Beginning Climbing Course in May, we decided to take the more technical but shorter Hourglass route (thin red line). For a picture of what the route might look like in Fall, click here.