Julian

Trip: Mt. Hood - Reid Glacier Headwall Date: 11/29/2009 Trip Report: I did my first big alpine route this Sunday on Mt. Hood, climbing the Reid glacier headwall almost entirely with my friends Kimball, Zach, and Thomas (Maine-iac on here). We got some good info from Joe (rocky_joe) on conditions, and ended up climbing the central gully (a line or two left of the one he did earlier in the week). The snow was a bit deep after the I-rock saddle, which made the climbing slower and a bit more tiresome than desirable. Otherwise the route was quite good, a continuous 50-60 degrees and very sustained with almost nowhere to stop. There were a few spicy bits (basically places where the snow wasn't deep enough for a solid plunge but the snice wasn't thick enough for fully comfortable tool placements), but for the most part it was steep snow climbing. The exposure was impressive, especially given that we soloed everything. We exited on the right which put us just above the Hogsback. Another guy who we met at the start of the Reid and climbed with us joined us after trying to exit via a rime-crusted gully that he backed out of after almost taking the big ride (his words: "at one point I had tool placements that didn't feel solid and my feet had cut loose and were dangling in the air"). By this time I was seriously out of it for essentially two reasons: 1. I didn't drink nearly enough water, or take in nearly enough calories, and bonked pretty hard once the hard climbing was done. 2. This was an off-the-couch ascent for me after spending the last 6 weeks working on job applications (I haven't even climbed at the gym in over a month). Once I passed 100 apps I decided it was time to reward myself with some alpine goodness, but it may have been a bit much to jump right back into things like this. The rest of the group went for the summit while I took a nap and drank water to refresh myself for the descent. So I missed my first Hood summit, but I didn't really mind. It gives me something to gun for if I do the South Side sometime in the future, and besides, we were there to climb the Reid headwall, not to bag the top. Once upon a time I cared about that sort of thing but now if I learn something and get to do some good climbing I'm perfectly satisfied. It's much more rewarding to let the climbing define the experience rather than the summit. The descent was straightforward since the weather was gorgeous and there was a huge boot track the whole way up/down the south side. We stopped for dinner at Calamity Jane's (damn this place is good) and then burned it back to Eugene. Now I'm really psyched to get back into shape and do some more hard alpine stuff this winter and spring. A painful lesson was learned about proper hydration and nutrition, which is something I really need to work hard on in the future. No pictures unfortunately since my camera's POS battery died from the cold (I really need to get a new one that doesn't use a dumb proprietary battery but plain old AAs instead). Maybe if I get some from one of the other guys I will add them later. Gear Notes: Used: 2 ice tools (Petzl Atzars - I love this tool) umbilical cords (snagged the Black Diamond Spinner from Backcountry Gear, if you are looking to pick one up they have a few in-store that I don't believe are on the website - it worked very nicely) We picked up some cheap roll-able foam sleds from Target on the way up for the descent, but they ended up being useless due to the softness of the snow. They were nice butt-pads at some of the breaks though. Not used: 30m 8mm ropes, ice screws, pickets, other assorted unnecessary stuff Approach Notes: Boring slog to I-rock, then side-hilling down to the Reid in deep snow. There's tons of options for climbing once you are there (we ran into two guys who were gunning for the upper part of Yocum with the option to bail onto Leuthold Couloir instead).

The only problem with Flagstone is the retro-bolting of established runout routes like Hydrotube (that really would not be all that scary to lead with the original bolts because if you fall you can slide down). The grid bolted area around to the left doesn't bother me because it's all easy 5th class anyway (at most, a lot of it can just be walked up), so who cares if there's a bolt every 5 feet, you don't need to clip them all. In fact, I think it's a good area to stick people on lead for the first time, so that they can: 1. Lead up without feeling freaked out 2. Learn the concept of "rope drag" first-hand and realize that they don't want to be clipping every bolt. 3. Learn to climb multipitch sport routes I put one of my friends on his first lead there, and he quickly ran out of draws and was complaining about the rope drag. On his next climb he clipped every 3rd bolt and had learned a good lesson. It beats learning to lead at the gym.

Moolack looks absolutely nothing like that. I'd have killed for some huecos and pockets anywhere close to the size of those in the picture you posted while climbing at Moolack. Aside from the odd flat edge, dimple, or divot, your hands are in the cracks the whole way up.

I got to go to Moolack this summer with two regulars, we put up what might have been a first ascent (or at least first lead ascent, the route was probably toproped before we got on it). It's definitely a different style of rock than any other crag I've climbed at in Oregon, and of a very high quality. It was almost like climbing granite. A lot of it was mossy sure (and the lower half of the crack we climbed was incredibly dirty, it felt like adventure climbing), but higher up things were significantly cleaner, with steep hard climbing (we did an overhanging offwidth that led to a flaring chimney). And yep, that's a #6 Camalot hanging off his harness. It got placed too, so if you are looking for somewhere to bust out your big gear Moolack certainly fits the bill.

Any access issues for the north face at the moment (assuming the weather breaks)?

Don't bother with crampons or technical gear of any sort, you can do the entire thing in shorts and running shoes right now if you want no problem.

The "disintegrating rope" was a Petzl Zephyr 10.3mm (I have a friend who owns one and has had no problems, even putting it through lots of abuse). As for REI, you can return anything. If you return climbing equipment, they are forced to destroy it.

Most of the complaints and horror stories I have seen/heard have been with the Zephyr. I have friends with the Nomad and Fuse and have never heard anything bad about them. Plus, it's REI so it can be returned back at the first sign of abnormal wear if need be. I plan to use this rope on ice this winter.

I was up on the north side of Baker for an attempt on the Coleman Glacier/North Ridge route with rocky_joe on the August 7-9 weekend, and it's a bit of a horror show up there right now. We ended up bailing just before the cutoff while, as we debated how to get across the (wide open) bergshrund, a massive stream of debris came funneling down our planned ascent route. Whiteout conditions on the descent made getting off the Coleman into a bit of an epic, with some really sketchy snowbridge crossings. I can't imagine things are going to be any better over Labor Day weekend, to say the least. Also, if anyone with extra-large balls does want to give this route a go, I would not recommend the high approach from the base of Colfax Peak. We ended up having to make an unprotected traverse across the Roman Nose which in addition to being dangerous was incredibly annoying. Stay on snow and ice at all costs.

Just picked up a 70M Petzl Fuse 9.4mm dry rope from REI's super clearance for 95 bucks, no idea if there are any more left by now.

As mentioned, you want "Selected Alpine Climbs in the Canadian Rockies" by Sean Dougherty Just keep in mind it's one of the most notoriously sandbagged guides around. Expect many of the climbs to be harder and the approaches longer that what is described in the guidebook.

So I'm looking to upgrade from my basic glacier walking crampons to something more technical, and REI currently has both the Cyborg and Sabretooth crampons from Black Diamond on sale. I'm wondering what people think about these models as far as an all-around crampon that can be used for both mountaineering and more technical mixed/alpine ice. Are the Cyborgs too technical for all-around use and purely for water-ice and hard mixed climbing, or would they be good (if not optimal) for that sort of climbing with the bonus of being there if I move into harder technical stuff later? Can the Sabretooths handle steep alpine ice such as the North Ridge of Baker, the headwalls on Hood, etc.? Any advice, past experience, or recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks!

I'm looking to go out to Smith Rock from Eugene on Sunday (May 10th) just for the day, nothing overnight. Is anyone planning to go out there tomorrow, who would be interested in taking an extra passenger. I'd be happy to chip in for the cost of gas. I'm willing to leave at any time of the day; the earlier, the better. Cheers!

Hey everyone, I was supposed to take a group up South Sister a few weeks ago and had good info with regards to the snow conditions, but a few of them had to reschedule and so we are planning to go up this weekend. Has anyone been in that area recently (within the past week or so)? I'm mainly interested to know how deep the snow is both on the approach and on the south ridge, and if axes and pons would be advisable. Thanks

Awesome trip report and great photos! I actually logged on specifically to ask about South Sister conditions and now most of my questions are answered. Any avalanche danger, especially on the descent? I want to drag a group of semi-newbies up the south side route but not if conditions are dangerous.

Anyone tried taking the trail to Thielsen lately? I'm trying to organize a day-trip with some newbies and remember Thielsen being pretty easy a few years ago (minus the summit block which we simply didn't bother with), but obviously the trail was fairly clear. Has enough snow packed down to cover or mostly cover the fallen trees?

My buddies and I are looking to squeeze in a daytrip a few weekends from now before we all head off for spring break, and I was wondering if anyone has done the South Sister south side route at this time of year and can comment on the length, route-finding difficulty, and potential hazard? In particular, I'm looking for mileage between the Bachelor parking lot and Devil's Lake trailhead (and any opinions on the feasibility of doing the whole thing car-to-car in a day, if the trail to Moraine Lake is at all difficult to follow in the winter (I've done it in summer/fall where it's dead obvious so I've never bothered to look for any markers), and what kind of snow conditions are likely on the ridge (bring axes and pons or leave them at home?). Any beta would be much appreciated.

I've been floating the idea of a SS trip with some of my friends, is the Cascade Lakes Highway still open and any word on when it will be closing? Yea or nay on bringing snowshoes?

I'm not saying that the Russian ascent on K2 is a "capsule-style" ascent, not at all. But those types of ascents, when made on El Cap, Mt. Thor, Paine Centrale, etc. frequently employ at least some rope fixing, bolting, etc., and are rarely criticized to the same extent as the Russians. They also seem to catch a lot more flack than American climbers who have made ascents of hard big walls in a similar style (Bridwell, Beyer, Child, Ogden, Synnott, etc.). I agree with you to the extent that it's certainly not the way I would want to climb something, but I don't think it's a worthless endeavor as some of the climbing community and press present it.

The feature that Steve House called his dream on the west face, the Sickle, isn't actually what the Russian team climbed. If you look at any pictures detailing their route, to the left of the rock pillar there is a curving couloir/icefield; that's what House wants to climb (and Kobold/Morawski/Hamor were gunning for that very objective but had to switch plans due to bad weather). I always wonder, when reading criticism of Russian climbs such as this one, why the Russians seem to get singled out for using seige tactics to complete what are essentially big-wall aid climbs? Does "alpine style is the only acceptable way to climb" only apply to walls in the Himalaya, and not Yosemite, Baffin Island, and Patagonia? Has any "wall" of any sustained length and difficulty been climbed in "alpine style"? When a hard A4/A5 route is established in Yosemite Valley, they typically take several days, climbing capsule style with portaledges and fixed rope. The Russians do the same thing, on walls that are several times larger, in a much harsher environment.

Thanks for the responses guys. We are planning to hit the glacier towards the middle of the day since we are aiming for a one-day push (leaving Eugene at around 4am or so) so it sounds like the crampons can stay behind. Thanks for the info on the highway, guess it's a detour to Sisters or bust.

Hey everyone, I'm wondering if anyone has any good beta on the Renfrew Glacier route to the North Ridge of Middle Sister. I've climbed Middle from the south via the Pole Creek approach, but not from the north. In particular I'm interested in the following: 1. Are there any major technical difficulties on the North Ridge? 2. Does the Renfrew Glacier have any crevasse danger? 3. Are crampons required/recommended for this one, or can they be safely left behind? Similarly, is an ice axe necessary or will trekking poles be sufficient? I've read the description for this route on summitpost.org (which I always take with a grain of salt) as well as several old trip reports here, and there seems to be some variation in opinion. Any recent info would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Marko Prezelj is probably the best living and active all-around climber in the world, particularly since the death of Jean-Christophe Lafaille last year. Big mountain alpine, big wall, fast technical alpine, hard sport and mixed, this guy can do anything.

I was actually going to use Phil Jones or Seahawk but figured I already had enough entries devoted to the Mt. Hood nonsense.

kevbone it was just a gag. You were getting flamed a lot today in that "without seahawk" thread. And no, I'm not him. If you check I've been registered for a while and mostly lurk. I'm not one of these idiots who signed up doing the Hood thing.