UKC

Does anyone have experience climbing the big rime formations you find in the Andes or Pacific Northwest, notably on Mt Hood?

Like the pinnacles towards the end of this sequence of photos http://www.treadinglight.com/adventureblog/2011/hoodpearlygates05202011/

Climbing these things looks super-fun but is it advisable? How do you protect it? I can't imagine getting a screw in there, for example...what else might work

In reply to jhw:

What you need is a pair of 'wings'.... http://www.mtbuckland.com/joomla/en/blog/101-enice-axe-modification.html I have very limited experience of climbing rime but used a snow stake to make progress rather than axes. I would say its unprotectable. Somewhere I've seen pics of some 'wings' that could fold back when not needed, which looked quite nifty.

Haha, thanks - this looks sketchy as! Like Dover chalk on acid

In reply to jhw:
We get a bit of that down here in NZ - it's not that fun to climb, very difficult/impossible to adequately protect. Here in NZ the rime ice is often quite heavy on the water side of the equation and you can get good sticks without "wings" on your picks. I certainly wouldn't go choose to climb a rime-ice route just for the ice.