After spending the night at the hut above Tilly Jane campground we crossed over the Elliot glacier (below the large ice-falls visible on the lower left) and attempted the Sunshine route. This route generally follows the large slope angling up to the right from the middle of the photo and gets its name from it's lack of shade throughout the day.

(Click to see the full-size image.)

You might notice that I've left the summit pictures off this page. That's not an oversight, we didn't make the summit. We did have a very beautiful climb on an excellent route on a totally clear day. The crevasses on the Elliot Glacier were many but negotiable, rockfall danger areas were easily avoided, and the angle of the slope was fairly moderate (it did increase to about 50 degrees the last 800 vertical feet below Horseshoe Rock).

In the photo above Robert enjoys the view north toward Mt. Adams (on the right) and on to Rainier. This is what I like most about mountaineering -- just being high on the flank of a large peak taking in the vistas around you. At times like this the summit goal can seem very insignificant.

Quite the consummate mountaineers: John Muir the South Texas music teacher, and Mack Muir the Virginia video editor...

Progress had been very slow and we had already decided that if we made the summit we would have to go down via the south side if we hoped to get off the mountain before dark. We turned back at the bergschrund at the top of the Coe Glacier. Above is John just at that point.