Tower 1 Gully 

Of course, one could continue to the summit of Mt. Helen in addition to, or instead of, Tower 1.

Hi there,
I climbed this route early september, and it is one of the most beautiful moderate ice routes I have ever climbed. The reason I am posting this, is because the descent info should be updated. My climbing partner and I started at around 12:00 and did not top out until around 8:00. Let me back track a little here! When you actually do get to the gully, be sure when you take the right to go up the gully, that you climb the left side of it. The protection on the right is almost non-existent for nut or cam placement. I would recommend you follow this left wall all the way up. Back to the descent. So, we finally top out, and we are getting ready to rappel. There was no sling at the top, no worries, there must be some down a bit further we thought. It turns out there were no rap slings anywhere. We were rapping off of prusicks rapped around chicken heads, snow bollards etc. We did bring extra webbing slings, but eventually ran out, and there are super sketchy rappells going down the south couloir. Here is what I suggest. Rap down the north gully (the climb itself), using Abolokov v threads, and sling some of the pinches. This route is much safer, with rock fall hazards being pretty low, and no overhanging rappells (opposite side I counted 3 free hanging rappells). This is, in my opinion, a much safer way to descend, especially if you are tired and have had a long day on the climb. I hope this helps, oh yeah if you find a 22cm BD turbo express ice screw please mail it to me, I will give you an address.

This is a great climb. Just enough adventure to keep you focused but not enough to be desperate. My partner and I did it many, many moons ago. He broke a rigid Chouinard crampon in the middle of the crux and had to finish out with it hanging from his ankle. We walked off the North face with no raps. A lot of work and a little chossy but in those days raps were last resort.

Tried climbing this in early october 2012. I tried to do this route in 3 days from Elk Heart Park, bad idea! I was out of shape for sure! We ended up climbing the main couloir on Mt Helen. But the ice was fantastic. When I looked up the Tower 1 ice gully I could see a rock band around the second pitch. Looks like part of the ice is melted out. Who knows what the top is like. Here is a link to a video of our trip.
https://vimeo.com/51018862