WageSlave

Wow. I'm surprised by the volume and intensity a little TR on some neat, dry granite has stirred up. It was a fun reason to get away from the rain out west. Billcoe, you're right on about the weather. Driving 4.5 hours isn't so bad if the other options are Smith or sitting in the rain storm back in PDX. That hanging snow/ice sounded like it made that way more interesting. We just found silt and small rocks where that used to be. LostCamKenny, we went out there for the same reason: granite in OR. It seemed novel enough to warrant a drive out east. Plus it happened to be more fun than the shitstorm is seemed to have brought up on the interwebs. Shapp, no one is making you drive out east so no reason to bitch about us doing it. The guidebook was crap, but at least we got the library's copy, so we didn't have to fork over any money for it. All the historical info about the area is awesome and interesting. I knew that there was a lot more climbing out there after some locals gave us beta & history on the area. Having a guidebook to the area would have kicked ass. There's not really a resource for those who don't already know someone out there.

Trip: Anthony Lakes - Various on Angel Peak and Lees Peak Date: 9/5/2009 Trip Report: My buddy Michael and I drove out east from PDX Friday afternoon to escape the coming rains and find some of that fabled eastern Oregon granite. Drove up to the ridge leading to Lees Peak just in time for sunset. We scrambled up the north ridge of Lees in the dark and decided to rope up right before the shelf Michael led out on collapsed about 500 ft down the mountain. No injuries or actual falling involved, so we scrambled up and found this great quality 5.6 handcrack on the other side of Lees. That was enough for the night so we crashed out in the dirt. Dawn was a treat. We hiked over to Angel Peak and found the short cragging that is listed in the Falcon guide. Its lots of fun all fairly easy. The Falcon guide had no routes listed along the north face of Angel Peak, so we decided to do some adventure climbing. We climbed two pitches above Michael in this photo and found old rusty bolt belays, the top one sketchier than the first. Fun moderate climbing with ok gear and super featured granite. Next up was Free Ride to Heaven (4 pitches, 5.6) which goes up the slab in the photo. We simul-climbed the this as one long pitch and found it to be fun friction climbing, though the top pitch was a bit dirty. That could have just us being a bit off route. Michael is a pitch up and I snapped this before starting to climb. Good gear in bomber granite all the way up. All in all, a great mellow granite climb in a beautiful alpine cirque. We scrambled over to the saddle with Lees, back up Lees, and down to the ridge to make a big loop out of the day. Weather rolled in that night and we failed at finding a local crag in La Grande, so we rolled back to PDX happy to have gotten some dry, warm granite climbing in. Bigger/high res photos can be found @ http://colinbohannan.blogspot.com This is a great spot for Portland climbers to escape the rains and gloom. Lots of moderate climbing, especially if you're willing to do some cleaning. Mostly putting this out there so more folks go out and climb the neat stuff that's out there. Enjoy! Gear Notes: Light alpine rack. Some slings to replace the old stuff on bolts. Approach Notes: Short, but no belaying from the car.

The Sphinx in MT or higher stuff in the CAN Rockies. Just two ideas, but its way too much driving for most.

Awesome to see a TR of a rarely done route on Hood. Nice job to you all.

If John doesn't want em, I'll take em. I'm in Portland too.

There's usually some copies of Oregon High at Powells if you're already in Portland.

Does the drill keep him warm enough he doesn't need a jacket? I need answers.

North Face Descent!

Sounds like you brought up the idea of beer and pizza... I expect to see you in the parking lot with said provisions around 1-3 pm... (saturday please) And I WILL be thirsty and hungry. Next weekend? I'm down in the lowlands for tomorrow.

Haha. Oregon CCers are just one big South Side lovefest. Who's bringing the pizza and beer up to the top?

The Old Chute can slide in bad avy conditions. This was back last month (when the avy conditions were HIGH). If you zoom in, 80% of the Old Chute ripped at once and the crown was about a foot and a half deep...

Sent you a PM, korup.

Dane, it looks a lot like the Grivel matrix tech. How's the swing from a straighter shaft?

Devil's Kitchen HW cuts off most the slog around the mountain but shortens it up some. Looks like you got a good day up on there.

Congrats on the sweet trip up to the far north! Beautiful shots you got there.

I'm new at this game but wondering how stretchy ropes that lower impact forces on your pro are bad news. I can see how hitting a ledge would negate that argument pretty quick, but what else is the downside of them? How much longer of a fall are we talking?

Why not a pair of Axtars? They're somewhere in between Vipers and Aztarexs. A bit heavier and more burly but still mostly an easier-alpine tool. My partner Joel was using a pair last weekend and liked 'em.

Sounds like you're already minimizing the problems by starting at midnight. At worst, it looks like its gonna be cloudy for you folks. The 'shrund at the top of the Hogsback is opening up (as of last Sun), so if its low-visibility don't fall in. Other than that, have fun and take some pictures of the conditions.

Ivan, look what you've unleashed! Is nothing sacred anymore?!?

That wasn't me. I climbed Devil's Kitchen Headwall with a buddy and ran into the guide on the descent. Climbed Leuthold's the week before and was curious how the conditions had changed. It was pretty loose and fluffy a week before. -Colin

They stopped updating NWAC last week... Up on Hood, everything is nicely consolidated. Some easterly slopes have small windslabs (6" or so deep) but everything else is hardpack or rime. One exception is stuff on the E Face as its more windloaded and fluffy. The SS is in great condition with the 'schrund at the top of the Hogsback just starting to open up.

Sounds like you guys got a good dose of rime. Both Leuthold's and the Reid HW are funnels for everything coming off the top of the mountain. Glad you got back in one piece.

Trip: Mt. Hood - Devil's Kitchen Headwall Date: 4/26/2009 Trip Report: Last minute, my buddy Joel and I decided that we wanted to get up on Hood again. A week of freeze-thaw cycles could only help things up high. Joel had never climbed a route other than the South Side and wanted an excuse to use his shiny new alpine tools. At Timberline you could see the clouds below and the stars above. Got hiking at 2 am and kept a good clip. The wind was nuking on and off so we were kept on our toes. I remembered that I never packed any food. Oops. We watched a SnowCat deposit some well-monied climbers at the top of the lift and snuck up on them in the dark. Some well-timed monkey screeches confused the hell out of them. Got to Devil's Kitchen and geared up but kept the rope in the pack where it stayed for the day. We took the right-most gully on the Headwall cause it was the only one that was completely filled with ice. Super easy and fun low-angle ice (45+ degrees at the top, but mostly around 40 degrees). Best part was flopping yourself up onto the ridge in the blasting sunlight. Joel learning the ropes without one. Sunshine in Oregon! It really exists! Some nice person had climbed the Wy'east earlier in the week and gave us a path to follow. The traverse around the gendarme was long and exposed but it was on solid sn'ice. Once around it, steeper and less-consolidated snow (55/60 degrees) lead up to the summit ridge. Trying to look like we're climbing in the Alps. Time for a sunny stroll in the park. We reached the summit at 7:45 and quickly headed down the South Side. This is a super fun route though the difficulty is more in the exposed traversing than anything technical. Getting out onto the E Face of Hood was awesome and the terrain is so much more gnarly-looking. Gear Notes: Two tools & 'pons. Brain bucket. Bitchin' shades. Brought a 30 m rope, 2 screws, and 4 pickets but didn't need them. Approach Notes: Huff it. No Cypress Hill this time.

Awesome! Too bad about that camera though. Looks like you two are getting out a bunch already this spring.

I ran into a guide (Timberline?) that had taken a client up Leuthold's this morning. He was carrying an axe that looked very similar... You could give 'em a call and see if they found anything.