Teleconvert
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Update on Hood conditions from 1-1-2013:
A group of us climbed up on New Year's day with the hopes of summiting. We got to the hogsback and dug a pit on the east side of the hogsback just below the bergschrund. We were hoping to skin or climb up the old chute- no one had done it recently, and the snow looked inviting. It was a little late in the day, around 2 PM. We planned on digging two pits because of the way the aspect changes as you traverse and ascend. The second pit wasn’t necessary- we got a CT 11 Q2 on the first pit at about 8-10 inches down. Interestingly, we also got a Q1 2.5 to 3 feet down, but it was well past CT 30. Our thinking was that it would take a lot to get that layer to go, but if it did go, it would be quite catastrophic. The CT 11 layer was a no go (in our opinion) as well, so we skied down the lower angle side of the hogsback to Devil’s Kitchen, and down from there. I was personally surprised because the snowpack had a chance to settle over a few days with no new snow, but with a CT 11 we skedaddled.
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This quote came from an attempted climb early today:
"Got turned back at upper triangle today, low vis, winds and snow but the big issue was a CT13 Q2 at 12 inches SF at 28 degrees and a CT21 at 30 inches, failing on needles and crystals, maybe by Sunday the mountain will settle out."
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In my PMR friends' defense, it was later determined that they were late trying to catch a snow cat, so no "cold shoulder" was intended.
Great day on the mountain!
- Dave S
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I was on the South side Sunday and the pearly gates are still steep (probably 50 to 55 degrees or so), with sections of water ice and a 10 to 15 foot vertical rime ice step at the gates. Along the summit ridge, there was a significant difference in temperature between the north and south sides. After coming up the sun baked south side, the north was positvely frigid. Nice work!
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Dr Dre- that must have been you that I talked to just above Silcox while my group was "skiing" down (survival descending may be a better word than skiing). Sorry to hear that the conditions didn't warm up any as the sun hit the south side. Hope your next day off gets you something a little less painful.
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Just to add to the note by Gapertimmy, I went up to the top of the Palmer yesterday (Tuesday) and all of that slushy snow has now turned to bulletproof water ice, windblown into blocks and chunks. It is the worst backcountry ski conditions I have ever seen.
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If you do all 14 pitches of solar slab (some are just scrambles so its very doable), just make sure you get an early start. I was there in the late fall and was descending the gullies until way after dark; looking for rap slings in the dark sucked.
Also look at Olive Oil (5.7 moderate, rated R but not bad)and Frogland (very fun 5.8).
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Very sweet pics- nice work!
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I am a volunteer for PMR (but do not represent their views). This suggestion will not necessarily help those of you wanting to help right now, but if you are interested in helping or supporting PMR long term, you can go to www.pmru.org and find out more. There are links that describe the application process.
PMR is a well-led organization and a great way to volunteer if you are a climber (or even if you’re not and just want to help with the mission of the organization). We always need strong climbers and I have found it to be a very personally satisfying part of my life.
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On every trip I forget something. This time it was the camera.
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Trip: Heather Canyon - Timberline, across the White River Glacier
Date: 12/3/2006
Trip Report:
Since the washout of Highway 35, I have been fantasizing about skiing freshies at Meadows with no one else to compete for the lines. With the recent heavy snow, it seemed like a no-brainer to make this trip, if nothing else because it would be a fun romp across the White River Glacier and unique to ski Meadows with no one around.
First, I paid a quick visit to “Dave’s blog” to find out if any ski patrollers would be doing avalanche control and tossing charges into Heather canyon. Dave is the president of the area and we thought we might get some good beta from his blog. Dave gave us a very lawyerly response to when and where they are doing avy control: “YOU ARE PUTTING YOUR LIFE AT DANGER. WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU NOT SKI IN THE MT. HOOD MEADOWS PERMIT AREA AT THIS TIME. WE ARE CONDUCTING AVALANCHE WORK IN MANY AREAS. PLEASE CHOOSE ANOTHER AREA TO BACKCOUNTRY SKI. THERE ARE MANY AREAS AROUND THIS MOUNTAIN OTHER THAN THE MT. HOOD MEADOWS PERMIT AREA!!! USE YOUR HEAD!!!” Understandably, Dave has other interests to protect, but we decided to proceed anyway. It is public land and we thought it would be fairly obvious to detect people with backpacks, in an otherwise deserted canyon, throwing charges that exploded.
Using our heads, we set off from Timberline at around 7 AM. The conditions were quite wind-blown, with lots of ice on south and west-facing snow. This didn’t bode well for freshies, but maybe Heather Canyon was in better shape.
There’s a nice slot into the west side of the White River Glacier at about 6,800 feet, and we crossed the glacier, working our way though the many moraines. The east-facing sides of the moraines were all firm snow, and the west-facing sides were all frozen scree. Skinning was out of the question, so we put on crampons and made slow but fairly easy progress across the glacier. After a bit longer than we expected, we arrived at the Meadows ski area and skinned up the cat track to the top of the Vista chairlift. From there, we traversed over to Heather Canyon for our possible freshies. Sadly, and expectedly, the conditions were wind-blown chalk. Our freshies were not to be today. Having come all this way, however, we skied it anyway. From the bottom of Heather Canyon, we skinned out and back up to the top of the Vista chair. After a little lunch, we headed back to the White River Glacier to cross and go home. The return crossing was significantly more strenuous, as the sun had melted the top 1 inch of the west-facing scree and the east-facing snow was sloppy and avalanche prone where steep. We wandered the glacier looking for lower angled routes through the moraines, and eventually came back out at the 6,800 foot level slot.
Overall- if you’re only interested in making turns, this trip wouldn’t be worth it for you. It took us about 7-1/2 hours from start to finish. If you want a mini adventure with a little skiing in it, it would be worth it, more so on a powder day. You’ve got about two more weeks before Highway 35 opens up.
Gear Notes:
Wear a helmet- the scree slopes were constantly raining rocks when we came back through at the end of the day.
Approach Notes:
The White River Glacier is easlily navigable right now above 6,800 feet.
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I am planning on doing it Sunday. I'll post a trip report if weather, avy conditions etc all cooperate.
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Does anyone know the shortest or most convenient way to cross the White River Galcier to get to Meadows from Timberline? The thought of having the entire ski area to ourselves is too much to pass up.
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PMR took him down without injuries other than a bruised ego. Apparently he got out mostly under his own power.
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The West Crater Rim will be spitting rocks constantly as well, and will be until the snow starts falling. I don't think its much safer than the pearly gates or old chute.
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ScaredSilly- I was called to the rescue with PMR that day and also initially wondered whether it was an axe/crampon or rope burn that cut through the other team's rope. The rope, when cut, was cleanly cut and starting to unravel into its individual strands, but it did not appear to have any characterisitcis that I would have ascribed to a rope burn. However, I have never seen a rope burned through by another rope, so I am still left wondering if my assumption is correct. My gut feel in looking at it was that it was cut by a crampon or ice axe.
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Idaclimb-
You can easily ski from Muir (10,000 feet) to Paradise. It would make the descent much more enjoyable. As the DC starts to melt out, skiing it could be troublesome. There are some who do, so it will depend on your risk tolerance.
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I talked to several people coming out of the Whitewater trailhead on Saturday. The highest anyone got on the Jeff Park Glacier was up to the bergschrund. Snow was extrememly soft (high temps last weekend). Of three parties, none went higher than that.
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Ditto to all of the above. We will be a party of three on the route over the same time period, having turned around this same time last year due to high avalanche conditions. The route was in great shape, other parties earlier in the weeks before us reported no ice in the chutes above camp hazard. See you there...
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Looks like we missed it by about a week or two. Next year I'm going to do it in June, or as soon as the road is clear.
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Skied the SW Chutes on Friday July 16th, and would have to advise to anyone else interested in doing it this year that the route is pretty much out of shape for enjoyable skiing. The sun cups were getting to the point where the run was like a mogul run, with the extra pleasure of lots of dirt to give your skis a nice base grind. It's a beautiful line, and JoeMack gave some great beta, but overall the skiing was toil. Running shoes a definate plus for the hike out- thanks JoeMack!
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Does anyone know if the road is open yet to the base of Adams? I was thinking of skiing the SW Chutes this weekend.
Beta on Hood Conditions
in Oregon Cascades
Posted
I probably posted this on the wrong thread a few minutes ago, but here is the update from 1-1:
A group of us climbed up on New Year's day with the hopes of summiting. We got to the hogsback and dug a pit on the east side of the hogsback just below the bergschrund. We were hoping to skin or climb up the old chute- no one had done it recently, and the snow looked inviting. It was a little late in the day, around 2 PM. We planned on digging two pits because of the way the aspect changes as you traverse and ascend. The second pit wasn’t necessary- we got a CT 11 Q2 on the first pit at about 8-10 inches down. Interestingly, we also got a Q1 2.5 to 3 feet down, but it was well past CT 30. Our thinking was that it would take a lot to get that layer to go, but if it did go, it would be quite catastrophic. The CT 11 layer was a no go (in our opinion) as well, so we skied down the lower angle side of the hogsback to Devil’s Kitchen, and down from there. I was personally surprised because the snowpack had a chance to settle over a few days with no new snow, but with a CT 11 we skedaddled.