Mount Hood, Illumination Rock. In May, I soloed the eastwall of Illumination Rock, a columnar-jointed spire, jutting out from Mount Hood’s Reed Glacier. After attempting the wall earlier, I used the Barnett System for the 5.11, 160-foot initial dihedral. The ridge eased back to a 5.9 prow. I continued up the knife-edged ice arête to the blocky summit block.

Robert McGown