Jamin

Trip: Mt. Hood south side - Date: 3/16/2007 Trip Report: I and my friend Ryan went up the southside route of Hood. We got a late start and headed up to the summit at about 7am. Because we were both really affected by the altitude and were carrying about 40 pounds of gear apeice, it took us seven and a half hours to summit. We ditched most of our useless gear a few hundred feet before we reached the hogsback because we were both gasping for air. The climb was sheer misery. Every 50-200 feet we would have to stop and rest, and I felt like going to sleep for most of the climb. The hogsback is in pretty decent shape. The bergshrund is only about 2 feet wide, and we just jumped across it. At the top of the hogsback, we traversed right, and then we went up a shute with an easy step of AI2. We did some boot axe belays on the way down, but it was not technically difficult. I fell once on the slopes below the step, but I was able to easily self-arrest after 30 feet. Mount Hood was probably the toughest climb that I have done in the past year. Going from sea level to 11200 feet in about eight hours is not something that I would recommend. Give yourselves plenty of time to summit. Approach Notes: Not enough air up there

That is what I was thinking, but the chute we did was the shute in the picture up above. Where is the old shute supposed to be located.

Hey, I might have seen you up there yesterday. We summited at about 2:15. I am sort of confused which shute we took. What we did is climbed the hogback and then traversed right a bit until we found a shute with about a 8 foot high step of easy AI2. Was that the old shute or the pearly gates.

My friend and I are going to do Hood tomorrow. We are going to be at 11009 14th ave NE, sEATTLE, WA at 1AM on friday (tomorrow). If you can get all your gear together by then, meet us there. The weather is supposed to be 20% percent rain in the morning and 10% in the afternoon. And mostly cloudy.

I was using the topo program available here on campus, and it doesn't have the angle of declination marked on it. Unfortunately, my compass cannot be set to true north, but I have been using a compass without that feature for years so that doesn't bother me too much.

Thank you very much. I am grateful for your input.

What is the angle of declination on Hood? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

I have been trying to find partners who will go up there and check it out sometime, but I have not been able to find anyone. I want to attempt Liberty Ridge this spring or summer, but right now it is 11 miles to wrcg and 6 more miles to the base of Liberty Ridge. Unfortunately, I don't know anybody who is up to doing a reconnaisance.

I have known altimeters to be off by 300 feet of vertical. I think that my partner did forget to calibrate it, but they are still not always accurate. They are still a useful tool, but do not follow them blindly. With decent visibility, a good map, and a compass you can sometimes pinpoint your elevation better than an altimeter can. Check out this site. http://www.thealtimeterstore.com/howtheywork.html

Go do an off-trail hike. Take it slow and take compass bearings frequently. If you become really good with a map and compass, you may be more accurate than an altimeter. You can navigate off of the angles of hills and any visible landmark, but if there is zero visibility, you will just have to guess. Remember that the angle of declination is about 20 degrees here in Washington.

So what is a bowline used for. Why not just use a figure eight.

I have used leathers on Rainier, etc. I have also used them for ice climbing up to WI3. They are plenty warm and dry down to below 20 degrees. I have used them for many winter climbs without regrets.

Well, what I meant is that if you are climbing roped and are doing everything right, you will have a tiny probability of dying. I realize that climbing is dangerous, but as far as toproping or even lead climbing go they are generally safe. Free solos on fifth class rock are not safe. I would agree with this most of the time, but sometimes you end up full of adrenalin or summit crazy and you don't have very much fear.

I totally agree with you guys. I got used to free soloing 4th class rock unroped mainly because my brother and I didn't have any gear. Now that I do have gear, roped rock climbing doesn't seem very scary at all. If I fall, I know that I will not die, whereas before I would have died. As a result, I am not afraid to test my limits.

Hey, I am a really nice guy too. I sort of scare my partners half to death unintentionally sometimes, but in the end I am still a nice guy.

I think most of you know what I mean by an ice axe becoming a part of you. By the way, I guarantee that I am not a noob when it comes to 45 degree snow slopes. http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=13209&highlight=Duke+of+Kent

Thank you, Kurt. I look forward to learning from you. Let me know when or where you want to go somewhere.

I totally understand your concerns Kurt, and I am grateful to have learned a good bit from you guys. I even have a belay device now. I never had anybody else teach me anything before I met the alpine club. Thank you for letting me come with you on that climb. I appreciate it. I would like to climb with you again sometime when I get more experience, and I hope to see you Monday in the climbing gym.

I warned him guys. All right, my participation in this topic is over.

Hey, you learned your lesson. I sure most of us here have had a minor or major accident at least once. Thankfully, most of the time they aren't as bad as yours. Eventually your ice axe will become a part of you. Good luck with your battle scars, and get well soon.

When are you planning on doing Hood.

I only would have fallen about 4 feet if my belayer had failed to hold me. You can almost reach the stopper from the ground. The way I practice leading is to just place excessive amounts of pro. One of them has to hold. I yank downward on every stopper to make reasonably sure that it is a solid placement. Thank you for your input and concern guys. I have learned a good bit from you. I will learn all this stuff eventually.

Whoa, guys. Personally, I am against gun control. As has been seen in Britain and Washington D.C, it does not lower violent crime and merely lets criminals know that every honest person is practically defenseless. It doesn't help anybody.

Thanks for the info Kurt. I was practicing an easy pitch that I would rate at about 5.2. It was only about 20-25 feet high. No, I didn't have a toprope. I fell on the chock to test my belayer, who I had never met before. I think that I sort of know where layback crack is, but I didn't have any gear for that.

I was practicing lead climbing on Granite Point on the Snake River. The routes there are all bolted, but I wanted to practice lead climbing on one of the easy routes where I knew I would not have problems placing pro.