billbob

Yep, great to hear they are gonna keep the TJ trail open. For a while it was sounding like the FS was going to close it down, a most sad and inconvenient prospect. Thank You HR Rangers!

Thanks for the update !

There is also the flip side to consider, whereby an honest and forthright noob with all good intentions as the incipient mountaineer, hooks up with the vastly more experienced and confident climber willing to mentor, only to find the noob in conditions substantially over his level of competence and holding tightly onto the rapidly diminishing concept of once more standing on level ground. Not that anyone here might have ever known something like this to occur

Great TR and pics, wondering WTF I'm doing sitting in front of my computer instead of being there. I called the Hood River Rangers office last week about the Cooper Spur - Tilly Jane area. Ranger said they will prolly close the TJ trail for the summer, along with the whole Cooper Spur area including Cloud Cap campground to allow for the re-forestation growth. Also noted the road to CC will not be opened this year at all. What worries me more is that they might not open the TJ / Gnarl Ridge / Cooper Spur area for next few years as well. Call them at 541-352-6002.

Kid, Monty- Good on ya for posting above, looks like an honest assessment of the situation. I support the Mazamas in their goal of educating new climbers and am grateful for their good work, even if it means crowds on the SS. Newbies have to learn sometime. Being a climb leader (or guide) of a big group has to be a damn tough job and particularly so when the inevitable SNAFU occurs. Must take a lot of patience. Organized groups are always going to be on this route during the peak season, Rainier sees a similar situation, if not worse.

Funny that. We wait and wait for good weather and then it seems a bit too much of a good thing. Maybe we need more semi-crappy weather with consistent overcast to block the sun but not enough to snow?

Gear Notes: Glacier gear, 2 tools and Jared Too funny !

Setting up the tent properly makes a huge difference but can be a real challenge in a shitstorm. I didn't think that internal guy lines made a difference until winds on Hood shredded my freestanding MH Trango. While publicly humiliating myself with admissions of stupidity I should also mention that the same Trango tent, after repair, failed to remain on the ledge it was placed due in part to gusting winds but mostly due to my defective logic in thinking the tent would just stay right where it was until I could place my pack inside. I guess my point is that you can have a really great tent and still be a dumbass... uh, no, wait.... I mean that if you are camping above treeline and the weather takes a turn for the worse as it so often does, then you had better know how to set up your tent properly regardless of type.

The site is asking for pics, etc of "blue bags", are they !? Mike, are you a being a trouble-maker ? Folks, do not forget to secure the wrist leash before attempting to photograph your blue bag.

Thank You, NWS people ! At least the warnings are posted, hopefully they are read and understood by all.

Smart lad, but how many others will go regardless, because they planned it for this w/e or because they simply follow the climbers in front.

Great pics, thanks for posting !

PM Sent

Get some.

Shoulda used a filter and not shot thru the tinted window. Alpine, anyone?

We made a couple circles at about 12K, Cooper Spur was clouded up from about 9,500' and below but otherwise no probs. Will post a pic or two soon. Used a 10 meg Canon owned by pilot extraordinaire Doug Cox.. Outside air temp was 10F :-( A bit windy up there this morning but still a nice one. Someone said it was "brutal" on the summit, I turned back at Crater Rock because I'm a grumpy old man.

Hi Jen, I had posted a similar inquiry two years ago with only a couple interested replies. Ended up booting up in calf-deep crust. Met a few climbers coming down today that had the cat ride up (the bastards! :-) and they had a few skiers help pay for the ride, don't know how they all met up. Regards, Bill

Check out the Timberline webcam for currents, looks great now, am on the way to jump in a cessna and shoot aerials of Hood at ca. 11:30 am today. Them hope to drive up tonite to reach 11,239' the hard way tomorrow am. See ya.

Way to go get some !

I still wear the earplugs, not taking any chances !

Thank you MK !

Ivan is a climbing ANIMAL, definitely not your average climber. Don't let him fool you. He can sing all the way up to the summit of Hood, only stopping to eat a frozen cheeseburger or two on the way. Henceforth I have taken to including earplugs in my pack.

Walk up the snowcat track climber trail on the E side of the Palmer to the end, where it hits the East-West snowcat track at the top of the Palmer. Normally one would then turn left (W) and follow the cat track over toward the Palmer lift. Instead they turned right (E) towards the WRC. I followed their boot track only about 20 yards as it begins to slope downwards to the canyon but then thought it stupid to proceed alone and unroped into a known crevasse area. Couldn't see where their boot track ended.

Try using a nice-smelling baby shampoo and offering free beer to the babes ?

Was walking up Hood SS on Sat morning, met up w/ two guys still dealing with massive adrenaline levels; their Easterly detour at the top of the Palmer glacier for a look down into the White River canyon was abruptly terminated when they fell 20 feet into a crevasse. They were fortunate to have gotten themselves out given that the crevasse was not visible from anywhere near the climber trail. Also pls note there are significant cornices over the WRC and there are significant crevasses opening to the E of the SS climber path up to ca. 10,000'. Early season with fat snow and high temps brings increased avi and crevasse danger. If you don't have current knowledge of a route or portions thereof, if there has been recent snowfall, if the sun is well up in the morning sky - you might want to be a bit extra careful out there and remember well that the dangers less obvious have killed better climbers than you.