Snowman_Jim

The following is excerpted from the archives in avalanche-center.org Note that: 1 - This was in May 2 - This was on the south side standard route 3 - Climbers were almost dumped into the bergshrund 4 - It was a clear weekend following a period of snowfall 5 - This occurred at 2:30 pm, not early in day The following week it continued to snow. The next weekend it was nice again, and that was the weekend a Mazama group had a serious avalanche incident on WCR with one fatality and at least one seriously injured person. The point here is not necessarily that you shouldn't climb, that's your decision. But make an informed decision and don't assume the south side route is immune to avalanches. If you decide to climb then carry beacons, shovels and probes and climb early in the day. AVALANCHE (5/23/98) Mt. Hood, Oregon Description: "At approx. 2:30 PM on Saturday 5/23 a two layer class 2 avalanche was reported on the south side on Mt. Hood. This avalanche was triggered by a group of climbers descending the standard South Side climbing route. The slide initiated on the West side of the Hogs Back, and traveled approx. 500 ft with about a 30 ft wide path. 4 climbers below the trigger point were caught in the side. Fortunately the slide stopped prior to sweeping the party into the burgshrund crevasse." Weather: "Saturday 5/23 was a nice day on the mountain. Though whited out at Timberline lodge, once above about 8000 ft there was good visibility and it was sunny. This was a layered system though, and above 10,500 on Hood visibility dropped again to about 200 ft." While Saturday may have been a nice day, it followed over a week of stormy and unsettled weather in the Oregon cascades. Unofficial and unconfirmed reports from the previous weekend gave new snow amounts of 25 cm or more. Additional snow probably accumulated through the week. The snow level had been forecast at about 5000 - 6000 feet, so temperatures at the crater elevations were probably cold. Snowpack: "Several people had dug pits on the mountain and the results did show an unstable condition existing on this aspect." There are no additional details on the instability but the significant layers of new snow had fallen in different storms with different atmospheric conditions, and the sun was warming this new snow rapidly. Terrain: Climbers often believe, mistakenly, that the South Side climbing route has no significant avalanche terrain. Until Crater Rock is reached the terrain is not steep, but from Crater Rock up there are a number of areas where slides are possible and do occur in the right conditions. There are also terrain traps such as bergschrunds, and this group was very fortunate not be caught in one. Defining avalanche terrain is easy and is done in essentially any book or class. Recognizing it isn't always so easy and takes experience and awareness. Summary: Winter conditions can occur above treeline at any time of year, and are not uncommon in spring. Because the sun is more direct and the days longer the snowpack will absorb more energy during those first nice days than in winter. Mountaineering routes, even those such as the South Side of Mt Hood, should be approached as climbing endeavors and objective hazards such as avalanches should be considered. Avalanche beacons and shovels should be carried, especially if there have been accumulations of snow recently. Climbers should be off of slopes early in the day before they warm up. (2:30 pm is not early!) Numerous people had traveled in this area earlier without incident. While that may or may not have been wise it is likely that the increasing energy from exposure to the sun continued to weaken the snowpack until at some point people did get caught.

About three weeks or so ago it was possible to drive maybe half way up Pioneer Gulch. This was during the heat wave we had. I skied up the road to the wilderness boundary but the snowpack was slush to the ground in the clear cuts even in the am so I bailed out. The paved road as far as Indigo Springs is in fine shape. There are a few places where washouts are being fixed but they are set up with one-lane bypasses. Just past Indigo Springs but before Pioneer Gulch there were some downed trees blocking part of the road that were easily passed. But if its dark drive slowly. Pioneer Gulch had some trees down but they had either been cleared enough to get around, or they could be driven over/under. I'm guessing it was just under 4000' where I hit snow. From there up the snow on the road was nearly continuous and mostly pretty deep. I don't know how much has melted since then, but I doubt all of it has. It wasn't all that much extra distance, but leave some extra time to ski/walk up the road. There was very little snow left in the forest below at least 5000' at that time. It was all on the road, and the clearcuts had a shallow but continuous snowpack. Despite the snow on the road you may end up carrying skis from the wilderness boundary up a ways where you are under a think canopy. Remember this was about 3 weeks ago. Jim

I need to be on my way by the 17th, I'd do something a day or two sooner. Probably not O-S though. Go to the AAC climbers ranch when you arrive, if you don't stay there they should have a bulletin board you can leave a note on. Or find a note on from somebody else. This time of year you should have no problem finding a partner there. The only problem with 2 days this time of year is that the camping in Garnet canyon is probably limited by a permit system that fills up. Routes are not limited or permitted, just the camping. Unless things have changed, but I don't think so. Jim

The north side of McLoughlin and the east side of Diamond both have lots of snow left. August is probably a possibility on either or both this year.

Halliday. From the USFS website directory: So there is a Halliday in the agency. In Colorado. GSHC is probably a troll, but one could call Melissa and find out if they really wanted to. In the off chance that this directory entry is correct maybe GSHC could explain what the hell that title means and what we're paying them to do. Sounds like another bureaucratic position to me.

The area on the left looks a lot whiter in your photo than it did yesterday, the warming must be causing a lot more rockfall. The area where you rounded the first shrund is covered with rocks, and a lot of the approach line you took up the left side is also littered with rock. Some from the left side, some coming all the way down from straight above. The refreeze had been marginal and even at dawn there was a layer of enough wet snow to ball up on crampons. I got a late start, but there was rockfall even before dawn. I heard a large one while hiking in, although it may not have been in that spot. Looks like you hit it at a great time.

Great report, great photos. I was up there yesterday (july 3) though, and it's changed a lot. (I'd considered a few options and this was rising to the top of the list anyway, before this report. So my trip wasn't based on this trip report, although it did add some inspiration.) It looks like this report only covers one bergshrund, there are really two. I'm guessing the first (lower) one was covered or bridged on June 27. It isn't now. I got to the lip of the first bergshrund, which is about a foot or two wide with the lower side where you climbed up dropping off one way and holes in the sinking snowcover on the other. Even if you dared to cross the remaining snow the uphill side is a wall of ice. This is typical, and usually the way around is on the left. But making an end-run on that side puts you under a rockfall path that is quite active right now. I witnessed quite a few rocks fly down that corridor, moving fast and bouncing. From fist size to torso size. I thought about it a little bit, but not too seriously given the risk, and then I went back down the glacier. The right side of the lower bergshrund is a small icefall. If you could find a safe way to pass under it you could climb up the right margin but it's steep and exposed to some rockfall also, although not as active as the left end. Just a heads up for anyone thinking about it. Glad you guys found it in the condition you did, it really is a great route. Perhaps one of the finest in the Oregon Cascades. It's often quite possible in the fall, around Sept. The rockfall you need to cross under becomes less active and the end-run is often more straightforward and therefore quicker. It's often necessary to then make an endrun around the right end of the upper schrund, which might involve weaving through some blocks of ice that sit above the little icefall. Jim

This was one of the first routes I ever did in Oregon, probably about 8-9 years ago. Like the majority of what I've done it was solo. Since it was a long time now I don't remember too much detail. Being new to the entire range I made a few errors. I did this in early to mid July which worked out ok that year but was a bit on the late side. I also followed the ridge beginning down very low and ended up at the top of a notch which required a rappel. (I was one move away from traversing to the notch but every time I grabbed the necessary boulder anywhere it peeled off in my hand. Thus the resort to a rappel.) As I recall it was still mostly snow but getting wet and soft. In one place a foot stance gave way and a basketball sized rock took off down the mountain. But that doesn't seem all that unusual for Jefferson via most routes. I descended the SE ridge but on another climb up some variation of the east face we met a solo climber from Colorado who ascended and descended the north ridge, with skis stashed on Jeff Park glacier. That was fairly late too, probably July. I believe he may have had 2 ice climbing tools, I'm sure I would have used one axe. But I didn't downclimb the route either. The week after I did this there was a fatality involving a solo climber via the North Ridge. However, the fall apparently occurred on the summit ridgeline and not actually on the N ridge route. From the summit log or something they seemed to know the guy had made the summit and had some concern about getting back down. After so much time I don't really remember it as one of the more noteworthy routes I've done but it was a good climb and worthwhile. Feel free to contact me if you want any more information, although I'm not too sure I can recall much more than I've summarized here. Jim