Camp_Chef Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Trip: Mt Hood - Reid Headwall Date: 2/18/2010 Trip Report: What an absolutely wonderful day to get lost on the mountain! We had a great time though. 11:30 pull into the parking lot. Wind is at 20mph sustained. Seriously thinking about either taking a nap in the car hoping the wind calms down, or going back home. I should mention, I hate wind. I can stand all other weather conditions, but wind is my nemesis. After much deliberation we muster up the motivation to give it a go. The wind never let up all the way to the top of the Palmer. It blew us down a couple of times. My partner was on skis and had to ditch them at the top of the magic mile due to poor snow conditions (ice covered). Just before 3 we made it around to illumination saddle and realized the wind had died down. The mountain was creating a nice wall of protection from the infernal wind. Later in the day we talked to some climbers that mentioned the wind didn’t die down until 5. One of the reasons we departed early was because it was going to be warm. We didn’t really want to have any ice and rock to be raining down on us. So, we were trying to be Mr. Sun. Unfortunately, that also required us to do our route finding in the dark. No moon. It was a little tough. We ended up heading up the mountain too quickly. We made it to a dead end at 10,150. We had been kicking steps into our shins and knees most of the day. It was exhausting. After a little deliberation, we decided that we really needed to go on. We had to retreat down to 9600 to get around a large ridgeline and take the next gully over. I had several photos from other trip reports in my pocket, and this time I knew we were on the right path. It was really hard work going back up, but it was such a beautiful day. If we were going to get lost, this was the day to do it. The path felt really right, so I didn’t pull out the route guide again. I should have. We missed a sharp left near the top. We ended up topping Mt Hood’s shoulder and connected with the West Crater Rim route at 10,800. We looked down at the Hog’s back to see several climbers sunning themselves. My partner wanted to summit. I admitted that I already had a great day. I didn’t need to summit. I’d been there a dozen times and knew what it looked like. I was completely content with the climbing we had done and didn’t want to ruin it with additional slogging up the chute. I descended to the hog’s back to join fellow sunbathers. Ahhh what a wonderful day. Gear Notes: tools, rope brought - not used Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddipoo Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 Sweet! Way to go Viviane! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Cascade Kid Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 hm. that last photo looks a lot steeper than all the others. where is that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinner Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 also, it looks like you are indeed using the rope in that last photo... looks like I'd want it on in that spot too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OffTheSteppe Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 nice photos. Good trip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YocumRidge Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 hm. that last photo looks a lot steeper than all the others. where is that? Castle Crags west Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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