kjack

I'd tend to say that's quite a bit of snow. Looks like things are much more closed up than when I was last up there on July 4, 2006... Let's just hope for an overnight freeze.

That's definitely what we're hoping as well. Kinda surprised to not see any TRs for the route (or the Spur) up yet...

I was planning on skiing the Sunshine Route on Hood this weekend when in the area - does anyone have any info on snow/crevasse conditions above Snowdome? Thanks, Keith

I agree with basa. Over the past couple years it seems as if more and more traffic has been finding its way to 240. While it certainly might be more desirable to continue using this, like basa said, we should restore the watershed and just use 2730 with a new trail linking it to the crag. One bonus of this would be fewer (i.e. zero) large families/groups camped at the top of the crag leaving broken glass, trash, and food remnants.

Here's a bit of info from a Crag Rat friend of mine, sent a couple hours ago: The situation on the mountain today was such that with today's weather it was the best opportunity to find the two men who were returning down the Cooper Spur route for help. They concentrated on the timberline of pretty much the north side from Newton-Clark Glacier to the NW side of Coe Glacier and especially your area on Eliot (I do research on the glacier). They were unable to climb to the area where the cell phone signal was located at the top of the Cooper Spur route because of 80 MPH winds and poor visibility. The bad news is that the weather forecast starting tomorrow is going to be real bad until Saturday. Friday will be the worst of the season with 100 MPH winds in the higher elevations and heavy snow Thurs. and Fri. Not a whole lot of new info, but a bit.

P.S. We are in Portland.

Meadows has a deal on season passes (all times, unrestricted) when 4 people purchase together. Our group is 1 person short. If anyone is interested in paying $400 for a season pass, let me know. Thanks, Keith

Hi John - I'm Keith Jackson, and am working on Hood glacier change with Andrew Fountain here at PSU (we've gone through our fair share of your photos recently - thanks!). I thought I'd throw my 2 cents in on image 017. I'd place a good sized bet that it's the White River Glacier (as others have suggested as well). And by "good sized" I mean all of the money a grad student has, which is not a lot, but is SAYING a lot... -kjack

John, just saw your inquiry (after I put up my t.r.). Feel free to ask me any questions about conditions.

Climb: Mt. McLoughlin-SE ridge Date of Climb: 6/3/2006 Trip Report: Headed down to McLoughlin friday evening with 3 friends. We made it 0.7 miles inward on the road to the trailhead before snow patches stopped us, so we set up camp on the road. We left the cars at about 5:30 a.m., and booted it for the first couple hours until we hit solid snow worthy of skinning. But before long, we were booting it again either because of slope or windblown areas free of snow. We summited a little before noon, and enjoyed an almost wind-free summit experience with great intermittent views of Shasta, Lassen, and the Trinity Alps. 2 of us started skiing down the SE side and myself and one other started into the east bowl. However, on about my 5th turn I started a good sized avalanche, and we thought better of the east bowl. Too bad, it certainly looks gorgeous in there. We skied down into the trees on the SE side until we literally couldn't ski anymore, then booted back out and to the car around 4 for some High Lifes resting in a snow patch. Pics can be seen here: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hbasagic/album?.dir=/617bscd&.src=ph Gear Notes: nothing special necessary Approach Notes: trail-finding is a bit tricky on the way up with snowy sections. A GPS location or 2 around treeline would be beneficial if you don't want to bushwhack for a long time on your way out like we did... Hitting the trail a couple hours earlier would probably grant access to the east or NE bowls for your descent.

Is the highway closed past the ski resort or just snowy? Nice pics.

Nah, I don't think that's necessary. Conditions are soft enough that even if someone did fall (which is unlikely) they'd be able to stop themselves before any danger. I think a quick "here's how you self arrest" would suffice.

Climb: Mt. Hood-South Side Date of Climb: 4/23/2006 Trip Report: Headed up the south side sunday. Not a cloud in the sky but horrendous winds. Slept in the cars saturday night as it was too windy to put up a tent in the parking lot, got up at 3:30, hit the trail by 4. Snow conditions were good, but a little icy for skins on steeper stuff. Once the sun hit things it felt like things were softening quite a bit. Summited around 11:30 - I did the south side last year and it took about 5.5 hours to get up in no wind, so the 40+ mph winds this time certainly slowed us down. Winds on the summit weren't too bad, but from about 9000 ft to the lodge they were really bad (Timberline closed the lifts as a result). Skiing down was pretty shitty as the wind kept everything iced over. But all in all a good day and nice to have the south slope to ourselves instead of hundreds of resorters. Photos can be seen here: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jackson_km/album?.dir=/d0ddscd&.src=ph Gear Notes: Skis/skins, crampons, ice axe. No need for anything else. Maybe a helmet if going through the gates after noon.