Trip Report

Nine of us met at the Thielsen trailhead at 7am and started hiking at 7:45am. There were also eleven Mazamas at the trailhead. They started hiking about 15 minutes sooner than we did.The smoke was thick, and we went slowly at first as a couple people were feeling the smoke when breathing hard.
As we transitioned from hiking to scrambling on the ridge, one hiker decided that she was uncomfortable with the exposure and turned back. We talked for quite a while, determined that she was comfortable hiking back down by herself and waiting for us at the PCT intersection.
Eight of us continued.
When we reached the top of the ridge, the Mazamas were just setting a fixed line up the left side of the standard route. I knew the leader and co-leader well, we're friends. So I chatted with them about how we could both have our teams climbing on the pinnacle. I set a fixed line up the right side (through the chimney) of the standard route and set an anchor just below the summit, since the Mazamas had set up on the summit.
Rick Hoffman, my unofficial assistant (the one Mazama in our group), stayed below and did a safety check on each climber. All seven climbers summited easily, and it was the first time summiting Thielsen for all seven! We took pictures at the top, then down climbed the same fixed line. I left a webbing as an anchor at the top with a retired personal carabiner. We hiked back down, picked up our ninth climber at intersection and headed back to the cars. The trip, car to car, was 9 1/2 hours.