Ladd Glacier Redux, May 10 2013

This year Goldilocks and the Three Bears morphed into Snow White (still with golden hair) and the Seven - er 6 Dwarves.

Our route from last year that gained the ridge above Pulpit Rock from the Ladd Glacier, via an ice pitch on the west face of Pulpit Rock, was melted out for 20 feet or so. So we went with plan B: a snow chute on the East Face of Pulpit Rock, next to the Coe Icefall. Appears to be the Pulpit Rock route in the guidebooks, but they are a bit vague as to exactly how the Coe Icefall is surmounted. 7/7 summit, magical combination of warm and cool (no rockfall, stable if soft snow). The Sunshine west descent was a bit more difficult this year, had to go all the way to climber's right to pass the bergshrund and take a 5 foot jump down over the closed crevasse!

Ascent route:

Pulpit Rock route  

Al's photos

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