wannabe

I was just up this morning and will give my $0.02 on conditions: Nice icy crust up to the hogsback. Crampons are fine. I can't see using snowshoes unless there is a dump of new snow. Things did not freeze up like they did a week ago and there was a constant rain of small ice chunks from the rim. I opted to stay out of the line of fire this time. The photos from last week look the same as it did this morning. As soon as a few more parties go up the Old Chute, I would imagine that there would be a pretty good boot pack. If the showers of ice chunks do not bother you, it looked very reasonable today.

I was able to make it up without snow shoes last week, but there was soft stuff in a few areas. The morning crust helped too. My crampons balled up so bad on the way down (no anti-bots) I took them off since that was safer. Of course things could change at any time so be prepared.

Any considerations to take into account with anti-balling plates? I recently had an experience on a trip that leads me to think I should get some:

Thur was a great day to be on the mt. Surprised there were not more people heading up. I saw some roped and unroped teams go up the Pearly Gates. It looked steep from the hogsback. I decided to check out the old chute. From the bergshrund (which is starting to open), I cut left, then up. Soft snow in the last 200 ft was tiring, but the climbing was strait forward. However, I would be hesitant to take a novice up that way on their first snow climb. Will be interesting to see what route the April/May climbing hoards will choose. As always, climbing Hood is a lesson in humility. I was humbled by the team that had just climbed the Reid headwall, the Sandy headwall soloist, the two guys from New York going to Bend for the AAC bash who stopped to climb Hood on the way, the gnarly skiers coming down the old chute from the top, and the central Oregon school teacher on spring break who smoked my ass up and down. *sigh*

I was up there on Sat camping at Timberline with the intent of a climb Sun a.m. Nice afternoon lounging until the rain started at 5pm Sat and did not stop by the time I was back at the car Sun a.m. Wonderful view:

Leslie Gulch http://www.nawwal.org/~mrgoff/photojournal/2001/winspr/3-24lesgul1.html

Wow, thanks for the replies! I showed my navigation ignorance too. I always got by with "dead reckoning" in the past, but I know my luck with that would run out at some point. Looking to buy that unit this week I hope. On a side note, I found some webpages where people detailed a home-built data cable for the Etrex: http://www.geocities.com/eTrexkb/cable.htm?20076 and http://www.aac.uc.pt/~seabra/etrex.html and http://www.pfranc.com/projects/g45contr/emap/diy/ and http://www.jens-seiler.de/etrex/datacable.html

I have never owned a GPS unit, but am looking to get a Garmin Etrex based on user feedback on this forum as well as user reviews. I was looking at the Etrex user manual available online and something is not clear that someone here might be able to clear up: When you select GOTO and pick a waypoint, the manual says the Etrex will show you how far to the waypoint as well as display the "pointer" on the screen which after a few steps will line up with the desired waypoint. Does the unit also give you an actual heading (mag or true) on the screen so I can dial that into my magnetic compass, put away the GPS unit, and then navigate to the next point by mag compass alone (my preference)? The Etrex user manual seems to indicate that the only heading info comes from the "pointer". Thanks for the feedback.

I soon will be acquiring some two and three foot pickets to use while leading some steeper snow pitches. Since they are obviously too long to clip to a harness gear loop, what is the preferred method for carrying them so they are accessible while leading but not dangling down by your legs (or collecting them while following for that matter)? I had envisioned some kind of quiver on my pack as if I were shooting arrows, but that may not be the most practical.

Here are some pics from Thur, Feb 1. The wind was knocking us off our feet so the hogsback was our high point. Looks like most people are crossing over the saddle and then heading straight up the old chute. Would have been fun had the wind not been blowing so hard. We also noticed several day-pack sized solid water chunks that seemed to have tumbled from above.

Anyone have thoughts on what gear, if any would be needed this time of year for Monitor Ridge? Would a ski pole be enough? I am guessing that most of the snow on the route is now gone.

We went up via Green Lakes last Fri. The view down to Moraine Lake showed plenty of snow, but easy travel. The crux from Green Lakes was crossing the high water of Fall Creek on a shaky "log" bridge to get to the bottom of the climb. Approach trail was still covered in snow requiring fun tree well dancing. Slogtastic final trail to the summit:

I was on a recent trip and thought that a snow shovel blade that would mount on my mt axe would be very handy for some basic camp duties rather than packing in a seperate snow shovel. Anyone know of a good maker of such a device? I might have to rig a lame home made version if not. Thanks in advance for any feedback.

Was up on M Sister N ridge today via Pole Creek. Got out before the thunderstorms unloaded. On snow most of the way except for a few scree sections above the col. Nice crust in the early a.m., slush by noon. One snow section above the col was steeper than the rest. These guys felt the need to belay up it: Monkey enjoyed the summit view:

I need some advice/opinions on some questions regarding snow pickets. 1. Is it possible to hammer in pickets with only a "standard" mountain axe (i.e. no hammer head)? If so, how? 2. What size picket is most useful, 2 ft or 3 ft? 3. Which is better: sling or carabiner through the picket hole? I am looking at getting several to use as anchors for a running belay on those stretches where needed. Thanks!

Just got back from a look-see this morning (5/11). Snow was in good shape but it did not appear that things got as cold last night as there was copious ice coming down either side of the hogback from above. The bridge seems VERY thin now and we decided not to take the giant step sans rope. Had we come with rope and anchors, it would have been a quick hop over and on up. Another party of two made the same decision. Attachment is looking down into the shrund from the "bridge" (about 20 ft down or more). Monkey had fun at the hogback saddle.

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