WageSlave

Yeah, that was me. The traverse over to Sandy was kinda spare on the snow, so we gave a variation of the Reid a shot. Got to some bigass buttress at about 10400 and the rime falling off made us bail down towards Leutholds and into a very long epic day. I'm just glad that there wasn't a second helicopter picking us up at the end of the day.

I was wondering why that Blackhawk was coming up over the mountain when I was near the top of what should have been the Reid Headwall. The ice fall was super nasty yesterday, especially down all the gullies that go to the Reid Glacier. Some really big stuff was coming down. The wind picked up last night as soon as the sun went down and it was bringing down even more icefall.

Hows the elliot headwall compare to the sandy headwall?

I was wondering if any of you folks have secrets to share about how you deal with your gear rusting up. I've been using steel wool when I can, but is there anything preventative that works well on crampons and picks?

jfs, anyway you could post those pictures of the Reid and Yocum to get us having some fantasies before the weekend comes?

Any luck with it surviving another week? Best guesses?

There's rumors of ice that you can top rope around Bachelor. Unverified reports at least.

lolz...indeed

Well that trip report made me stop regretting spending time with the family. Nothing like 35 degree rain to make you happy and numb.

That kind of tactic usually only last until the second jab, from there on, I chain smoke Camels and drink beer while laughing at the poles shoved up you ass! Haha. Camels and beer, that sounds like a high quality mountaineering trip to me. Where are the massive Slaveway sandwiches to go with it?

I was planning on the kind where I walk behind you and jab you in the ass with poles to hike faster. I'd be up for some cc.com gangbang on Hood action. Time to switch from alcoholism back to climbing.

But photos? I mean, NOAA has good weather forecasts too, but it ain't got no photographic evidence.

Is there a good internet resource around with recent/regularly updated photos of any aspects of Hood to judge conditions by? I'm drawing a blank here.

Yeah, thats a safe assumption for sure. Hell, there's probably a bunch more ice up there right now. I'd say just go for that hike up the ski track and check out whats up on the mountain.

I'm looking at these cold temps Sunday night and the lack of precip thats expected and thinking that maybe that North Face might be in condition. Anyone game to go check it out and climb it Sunday night/Monday AM? I don't have a car, and only have a couple screws, but will make up for that by doing most the trailbreaking and being obnoxiously awake at 2 am C'mon, you know you folks want to get out of Portland and swing some tools... Either PM me or gimme a call at (three 6 oh) 723 three three 44.

The easy answer is that climbers drink to fortify courage for later endeavors. And put some training weight on the gut.

I'd be game to do some scouting with you one of these weekends. Hopefully we'll be getting some cold weather and precip up there. A week and a half ago it was a shitfest with rocks coming down off of everything and hardly any ice anywhere. It hasn't been that cold since then.

You just aren't trying hard enough. The rain at least shifted all the broken glass around so it wasn't where I remembered it.

I'm with you on that one. Goddamn school. good thing highschool finals are easy! Yeah, high school doesn't really count. Just go to Montana.

I'm with you on that one. Goddamn school.

Sat (11/1) around 10 am I'll be out at RB. Come one, come all. Rain or shine.

I'm no Hood expert, but I've been up on it in winter before. Check conditions before you're out here cause right now its pretty barren. 5 weeks of snow and freeze-thaw cycles might give you something to work with up there. 1. If its during the week, you'll be alone once you get above the resort. Plus, you probably won't see anyone on the slog up to the Hogsback. 2. The South Side is pretty devoid of crevasses, but there's a berg at the end of the Hogsback that might be covered with loose powdery snow in early Dec. 3. Like danielpatricksmith said, get some GPS or compass bearings for Timberline so if there's a storm you can get down fine. Don't just go downhill cause it'll cliff out after a long while.

As of this morning there's not one bit of decent ice left up there. Its all gone for a while. Stupid warm temps.

Trip: Mt. Hood - Leutholds Attempt Date: 10/12/2008 Trip Report: This cold snap after some warmness made it seem like alpine ice might actually exist in Oregon. Got up at 2 am to drive up to Hood with Aili (sisu) and scout out the West Side of Hood and maybe go up Leutholds or the Reid Headwall. Got up to the Illum. saddle around dawn, roped up and headed down across the Reid Glacier. Everything is nice and open, but blown around powder has filled up some of the smaller crevasses and Aili got a leg into one of them. Everything is covered in nice fat blue plastic ice. At the bottom of Leutholds, we watched some unexpected watermelon-sized rockfall come down and the clouds closed in. Decided to wait it out for 15 to see if the winds and clouds went away at all and it only picked up. We turned around cause we're wusses that don't like rockfall or whiteouts. No photos from the adventure cause the camera batteries don't like the cold one bit. But holy crap, so much alpine ice everywhere! The Reid Headwall and the Leutholds are in and are looking plenty thick. If anyone from PDX wants to go back up next weekend, shoot me a PM. Gear Notes: Brought a bit, only used a tool each and the rope. Approach Notes: Dodge snowboarders in plaid unitards. Seriously.

They have the Wild Things guide jacket (the one thats lighter than the Belay Jacket) at 2nd Ascents for 150 last time I was there. I got one and its toasty and small.