Reinhart

I just flew over Hood on my way back from a week in the Mission Mountains. It's currently just a pile of rocks. Last year I climbed it about this time and there was way more snow. Currently the snow stops above the Palmer Snowfield is spotty up to the Hogsback and nothing above that. Might as well go knock of Jefferson if you're into dodging rocks. Pic was taken 8/16/2009.

Yep. Definitely open and the trail is in much better condition than last year. Still have to go work your way through the river, slides and debris, but its been cleaned up a lot from last year.

Panos - You're getting some good advise all the way around. Last year I climbed Denali and my setup was my mountaineering boots, Silvrettas and some old 190 telemark skis. Worked great on the uphill and messing around with no load on the downhill, but it was downright frightening going down from 14,000 to 7,000 with a full pack and a sled and I am an expert skier. I will never do that again. Ever since then if I feel I want skis for the approach or for a quick way down, I just wear my AT boots which are just a couple ounces heavier than my mountaineering boots and ski like a dream. Long story short, if you want to enjoy the skiing, then you will eventually need to just buck up and get a pair of high quality AT boots and just summit in those. The boots are the most important piece of equipment when it comes to skiing. Skiing in mountaineering boots feels like you have slippers attached to planks. Once you put any weight on your back all the fun goes out the window.

Winter is absolutely the best time to climb the south side: You can leave the parking at 8:00 am and have perfect snow all day, you can typically skin all the way to hogsback, typically the best time to ski from the summit, you don't get baked in the sun in the afternoon and there are hardly any people.

So I did end up climbing South Sister with a couple of friends and two dogs. Good exercise, but a climb of SS this late will be a once in a lifetime event for me. Basically just a long hike with a little skree thrown in at the top to slow you down. Damn glad that I didn't bring skis. Looks like it has been unskiable for a month or more. Wish I would have just worn running shoes.

Mike - Thanks for the picture. Looks like its out for the season from the pic.

If you go before Friday, please drop a quick report. I'm headed up Saturday with some friends and would love to bring my skis if it was worth it. Thanks in advance.

Just skied the SW Chutes on Adams this past weekend and they are in perfect condition, but its melting out quickly. We had to stop skiing at about 7,300 feet.

Temps at Thumb Rock were probably around 20 to 25, but we didn't measure them.

Decide if you are going on an expedition or if you are climbing alpine style. Don't go in between. Moving slowly up the mountain with 2 people in a 2 man tent or 3 in a 3 man tent with rationed food, nothing to read and no megamid or kiva is a recipe for getting home sick. If you plan on carrying more then about 50 lbs, then just go big time and bring all the comforts. Favorite things were the 5 person Himalayan Hotel tent for just three people, the Kiva that fit 12 people even though our team was only five people (lots of people would stop by and hang out in order to get out of their little crappy tents). A must have are skis. On the way out we made it from 14,000 feet to 7,000 feet in less than three hours. Also, on rest days you can carve up the freshies above the 11,000 and 14,000 foot camps while the snowshoers sit uncomfortably in their tiny tents. Didn't have a least favorite thing with me. One more thing. There is no reason to take more than two days to get from basecamp to the 11,000 foot camp. It's an easy two day push and most people don't have problems with altitude that low.

There was one guy from the Bay Area and his partner was from Seattle. Two from Portland, three from Salt Lake City and a three person guided team, but I never asked the clients where they were from.

Matopis - I was part of the Portland team. Our fault for following you guys, but I think it worked out for the better. Sunday would have been our summit day and that day the winds looked wicked up top and clouds hung around the summit. Knowing us we would have gone for it anyway and been in pain. As it turned out, the weather on Monday was perfect - sunny, cold and basically no wind. Sorry that you guys didn't have another day to join the party.

I was just up there and summitted via Liberty Ridge on Memorial Day. I used a 70 cm axe and a 50 cm tool. That worked well for me and I thought it was the perfect combination. Whoever leads the ice though will need two ice tools. Here's a picture of the ice.

Trip: Rainier - 10 Memorial Day Summits via Liberty Ridge Date: 5/29/2007 Trip Report: There were 10 summits via Liberty Ridge on Monday - two three person teams and two two person teams. All of the teams camped at Thumb Rock on Sunday night and then summitted. The conditions were good overall varying between firm snow and ice. There was no sign of anyone else previously on the route, so all new steps had to be kicked in. Anyone heading up this week will have a stairway straight to the top. From Thumb Rock, all four parties started out left and climbed at a similar pace all day. With all of the trail blazing it took about 10 hours just to get to the bergshrund. There is a couple foot wide snow bridge currently making passage fairly easy. My two person team went unprotected to the bergshrund (though there were many times that protection would have been nice!!), then placed pickets and screws as needed over to the ice and up from there. The ice is in good condition, but steeper and longer than we had expected. The general consensus was that it was over 80 feet at over 60 degrees, but I'm never any good at guessing that. I'd say that a team should bring a minimum of 2 screws per person and a picket per person. I've attached a couple of pictures so that people can decide for themselves what to bring. The crux of the climb was definitely from the bergshrund to a hundred feet or so above the ice wall. The weather was perfect on Monday and given that it took over 12 hours to top out, three of the teams spent a glorious night on the summit saddle. Gear Notes: 70 cm ice axe, 50 cm ice tool, two screws per person, one picket per person. Whoever leads the ice will want two tools.

Climbed Hood on Saturday with a group of three. The normal south route was packed through the Gates, so we took the Old Route from Hogsback. It gave us a great view of the Bergschrund and the really sketchy looking snow bridge that everyone was crossing. On the way back down we decided to climber in the Schrund and take some pictures to share here. Judge for yourself, but after getting a good look at it from underneath, there is no way that I would take that bridge. The Old Route is in perfect condition and had no traffic. http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/teamcoldandhungry/detail?.dir=d6f2scd&.dnm=410ascd.jpg&.src=ph