sean_beanntan

I have heard that there was no whistle blowing at all, is this true? Given the distance, it might be even impossible for a whistle to be heard. I know that press reporting has many errors and there is a sign that this is another one. It seems very probable that he died on impact. On the subject of self rescue and partner responsibility, its complicated. For example, I know climbers who multipitch on rock that dont know how to escape a belay Tie off with a munter/mule descend to subject and treat with first aid Asscend rope, convert to raise/lower Tandem rap All executed in a timely and organized manner!!

Adams Glacier in great shape, climbed it Monday and Tuesday, good, stable bridges

Cool thanks for the PAPA info. The only issue with your anchor for my climbing is that in the event of having to escape the belay to help your partner, its gets a little more complicated and time consuming. But then again how many times does that really happen. I also tend to multipitch in blocks so I would still need a power point for my belayer

Hey a big shout out to wsix who not only found my client's axe but also came by my house to give it to me. Another good karma point for pdx climbers

Climbed West Rib Monday and Tuesday, great conditions, there is still snow at the milk creek crossing but a little bush bashing up the left fork drainage harshed the buzz. Still camp at 6400ft was excellent and good snow and access to summit tower. Still some rime/and rotten snow for the last 20ft but that is what made it fun. I will try to get some pics tomorrow. Should stay in good condition for the w/e.

me again, I just remembered that a client of mine lost a Stubai in the practice area just east of the mudlot in the canynon

We left some (4) ski poles just to climbers left of the Hogsback at about 10,700ft on West Crater Rim. We could not find them on the way down. They may be still there having been covered by the rime/snow coming off the rim, or taken by accident. If anyone has any info can they contact me. Thanks

Hi, I lost a Grivel Evolution axe, yellow 58cm on the Reid Headwall about 4 weeks ago and posted it here as lost, actually dropped!!. Hopefully that is the one you found

How was the west rib looking like for climbing, thanks

my 2 cents, Traversing high above the hogsback below the headwall/cleaver with all that rime with previous reports of ice falling is not my idea of a climbing route in condition yet this is the route most climbers are choosing..."since it has a bootpack, it must be safe" sorry but I was referring to ice falling down from the rim itself. It seems that climbers have a very short term memory, (comes in handy sometimes!!!) but, like yes this has happened before at the same location and it will happen again cause guess what? the same conditions will appear again. But I still see climbers on the high traverse when warm temps are present and ice fall is reported and evident. I have traversed high myself but not under present conditions and much prefer the drop down off the hogsback through the fumeroles to the WCR

yes someone got hurt on the Mt Hood today and PMR was activated at 6.40am this morning. Subject evacuated by helicopter and PMR was placed on stand down at approx 1pm

I summited the wcr route via a castle crags exit onto the west side to avoid all the ice fall. Most of the larger ice fall was in my opinion climber related. Climb the Pearly Gates to avoid the crowds and the ice Fall. I am observed that although there was ice fall coming off the rim most folks were still doing the high wcr traverse, directly under the huge rime formation. My advice is to have a plan in case you see lots of people above you kicking ice down on you. Also today in these conditions if you are going to climb directly beneath some expect them to kick ice down, choose a different line and wear a helmet

I was at the top of palmer on Tuesday morning at 4am. Winds gusting to 70mph with avg at 45mph. Wind direction was all over the place with major wind transport and slab formation, check out the telemetry data for that time http://www.nwac.us/products/archive/OSOTIM.2 and this is current http://www.nwac.us/products/OSOTML Regarding the Hogsback, I have had many snow pits fail on the slope between crater rock and the hogsback due to Low CT and HQ shears, columns jumping onto my lap after being isolated!!. It may not slide as WCR does, but it still can since in theory all the conditions for a slide are present quite often. I think this may in part bedue to the constant bootpacks that may have an anchoring effect on the slope, comments anyone?. I suggest you still go down and play in the snow, you will learn nothing by staying off the mountain, just be prepared to turn around if conditions warrant.

Thanks for the email, are you the threesome on Luetholds?. How was the climb?, pretty awesome conditions, Yea, the guide is a friend of mine and pretty much all of us use the same axe. I think we met earlier, I am Joe,

dropped from high on the Reid Headwall on Friday, may have gone the whole way to the glacier. i will gladly pay a reward or swap you some other gear from my basement collection. Thanks

Sorry Folks but no pics yet, just to say that conditons were excellent there today, cold and no wind meant for perfect climbing, stryoform and neve with a little ice mixed in. The water ice off Hawkins Cliff is looking very inviting. My partner dropped my Grivel Evolution 58cm axe, if you find it, there is a reward as I would appreciate getting it back, Thanks

Offwhite:. I was on the mountain over the w/e camped at base of snowdome and saw the two climbers climbing the Sunshine route. Regarding Steve's comment on the missing helmet. The fact that the helmet may not have saved the climber from injury is a mute point. The fact that they did not have helmets means that they did not consider rockfall to be a issue and that speaks to their perception of the exposure present on the mountain at the time. I am very familiar with the route they chose to descend and I saw it from the summit on the Thursday and in my opinion it was totally out of climbing condition, (up or down). I am simply stating facts and I am just sad at another unnecessary death on the mountain.

Good TR on the climb, but did you dig any snow pits given the described conditions? Just want to put it out there to keep checking the snow layers, bonding, stability and shear values. If you dont dig, you really dont know what you have underneath given the recent weather on the hill

Thursday 17th April: Sorry to post this so late but only now on a PC. Dug 3 snow pits Thursday Morning above crater rock at 10,240ft - 10, 450ft. Timberline reported 10 inches of snow for the previous 72 hours. Snow Pit showed 58cm on new snow on top of the ice crust. Tap test failed at 5!!!! Shovel Shear test failed on Easy. 2 weak layers, first failure on 12 inch wind slab, second failure 4 inches further down. Bonding to ice crust was pretty good. Lots of wind and snow loading and boot infill meant that a boot pen of 12 inches took about 15 minutes. So stability pretty low. I guess with this new system this w/e, things will change again. Hope this helps someone

........ok so I found a post that i wrote a while back about Reid versus Luetholds, maybe it can help. In short, the bergshrund on the Luetholds slope is lower elevation than on the Reid which is what you can see from the Illum gap. To access the Luethols slope you have to go around or over the Reid Cleaver which can look like part of Yocum from the gap. If in doubt, keep heading west until you have to turn North, it should not be that difficult to find .......the big mistake that people make is in low vis. There is a cleaver on the reid that in a white out looks like its part of Yokum....I know hard to believe in clear skies. When climbes reach it, they immediately turn right and head up onto the reid. You need to drop around the toe or climb through the ramp in the middle. I will post a pic if someone needs one...sometime

The green line is part of the reid Headwall but still not the Reid headwall DIRECT climb since the green line heads east and exits on the West Crater rim. So to complete the headwall, take the smaller gully at the start to the left of the green line and go straight and then slightly left to finish either on the summit pinnicle or above the queens chair. Hope this helps

Climbed South Side on Wednesday morning, leaving the top of palmer at 5.30am. Good surface condtions to Upper Triangle with boot pen around 3", no crampons. Same boot pen to crater rock with isolated surface ice crust. Crater rock slope loaded with loose snow but passed shear test but not by much. So decided to hug the left side of crater rock to the hogsback, boot pen up to 12". Climb to Pearly gates good with traverse in fine shape. left gully great WI2 for 10ft. to summit. Decended West crater to Hogsback, snow on decend was soft but consolidated.

The Grotto is an easy first well protected lead 5km from canmore, otherwise I agree Balfour and Haffner are great

I second the suggestion, using two topes, loop one over the head of the axe to "toprope" while you place your screw. Then when the screw is placed, clip the other rope to the screw. Is it aid??, well you aint hanging on the rope unless you fall. Just dont use a daisy, not enough dynamic in the system no matter how tight you get the chain. Either way, you cant be messing around wasting time and energy. I read a lot aboutl ice climbing on this page but how many of you have fallen on ice screws as compared to rock pro. I am guessing the fall ratio are 50:1. And Mike, the real crux is placing screws that will HOLD. That is not a given, so do what it takes to put them in good, if that means resting, so what!!

You need to know the wand location in a big whiteout. Sounds strange but you need to have an idea where the wand is or you will just spend tie wandering for it. You place wands every rope lenght in some areas so when you find a wand, your partner goes out a rope lenght and goes till he finds the next one. You know approx where you are looking. On big mountains you may elect to wand by elevation ie every 200 vertical feet. Again you maintain an elevation until you find the wand.