jlawrence10

Well, so far so good. The pain never really came on strong despite my worst expectations. I would say later Friday night it reached its height at only about a 3, and has gotten better since. I've been off the pain meds now since about Monday, because they were doing worse things to me than the surgery. The incision looks to be healing well, and I'm pretty much out of the sling already, with about 70% use of the arm already. Overall, I couldn't have hoped for a better result, and I'm obviously pretty pleased with my decision. At this rate I hope to be close to normal after about a month, although I won't know what the docs say until March 9th. I guess in my case the break, while definitely severe, was contained to the collarbone only, and luckily I didn't have any of the shoulder issues like Maine-iac had. Hope everything is progressing well for you... Thanks again, guys, for the input, referrals, and stories. It's good to know what to expect, and in this case to have my expectations set for much worse than actually happened. See you out there! Josh

That would have been Goran Kropp, right? I know he died there, was it a bad placement? I only know about his mountaineering exploits...

depends on the weather, but for just about any climb above 20 degrees, i wear some tight nylon boxer briefs covered by fairly heavy duty full zip shell pants, like an arcteryx bib. the shell pants seem to be overkill, but keep me warm when i need them to, and then fully vent for when i heat up. works for me. i also carry some lighter weight long underwear pants, but run very warm and rarely bust them out.

Last year, around July 25th, there was lots of meltwater every day, coming from the rock area right as you enter camp, around where the glaciers split. We carried fuel just in case (which you'll probably have to) but didn't need it. In fact people were offering us fuel as we pulled in that they hadn't used. The water was running strong every afternoon, but again, if it's colder or cloudier it may not be there. So, carry plenty of fuel, and then carry it down.

Thanks for all the advice, folks. Opted for surgery, which happened this morning. It went smoothly, and after seeing how broken up it was in there, the docs are even more optimistic that surgery was the right choice. I had already been good with the decision, especially given how everything was pushing out, and the likelihood of a big bump, and weird healing. So far there is amazingly really no pain. I had a one shot nerve-block, and I fully expect that to wear off soon and for the pain to start at some point. But so far so good. Really appreciate all the input and stories. Little bit bitter about how nice the weather is right now. Josh

Thanks for the advice, and the doc recommendation. Just went in to see a Dr. Mirarchi at OHSU, and he recommends surgery for this type of break. It is broken into smaller pieces, and is also "shortened" by about a centimeter. He also said it heals just as quickly as not doing surgery, and with better results, better range of motion, and less long term discomfort. Of course, I could die as a result of the anesthesia, but that is less than 1% likely. I like those odds. I guess... As much as I hate to go under the knife, and as little as I trust modern medicine and doctors, it looks like the way to go. I did call Dr. Weintraub's office but he's unavailable until next week, and I think I want to get this done. I do welcome any other thoughts. Thanks again, Josh

Just broke my collarbone playing flag football (and my family worries about me climbing mountains?!). I've done the sling/pain meds thing for 4 days now, and go see an orthopedic surgeon today. Hopefully he knows what he's talking about... I understand for this sometimes they do and sometimes they don't do surgery. Not sure what that depends on, but I wouldn't be looking forward to getting knocked out and cut open. Any thoughts from anyone on where to go from here would be much appreciated. I'm a mountaineer, and get out on the rock and ice from time to time. With two winter climbs on Hood already completed this season, and some time before the summer season gets in swing, and crappy snow on Hood, I guess the timing is actually sort of good, in a way. Thanks, y'all! Josh

I'm in touch with the guy who might below to that crampon piece. Is it a Grivel linking bar?

Q: Why climb? A:

Great TR on our climb! Thanks for posting. That was an amazing climb - what a day! One quick correction: The route shown in the second picture is slightly off. We went up one gully to the right of the one indicated. I tried my hand at the whole "red-line route thing" but I don't know how to make the fancy dashed line. This picture is from a little further away and from a slightly better angle. The route is still mostly hidden in the gully walls. That was a climb to remember, but I'm trying to forget the slog up and back down in the deep snow.

I was just up there on Wednesday, and over the Hogsback up the Old Chute is the way to go. Very deep soft snow above Palmer, so bring snowshoes or skiis. Also very deep on the Chute itself. The one other thing to consider is if you come up the main, very wide portion of the Old Chute, you come up on a soft, narrow ridge and have to walk it to head over to the summit. Seemed stable and not corniced (at that point) but it was a little uneasy going. Here's a pic from Wednesday.

I like my Petzl Fuse 9.4 dry rope. It appears on steepandcheap quite often. Used it for glacier travel and cragging and it's holding up well.

Ski Bowl has a hostel with $20 beds. Don't know anything about it, and you're looking at about a 20 minute drive from there to Meadows.

First of all, condolences to everyone involved and all friends and family of the lost climbers. I can't even imagine how hard that must be. Is it inappropriate to speculate on what may have taken place up there to lead to this tragedy? If it were me, I would want people to learn from whatever accident may have happened, as well as collaborate to try to figure out what may have happened, and where I may be or may have ended up. If this is too soon, or inappropriate, please let me know, or close down the thread. I could picture a time where the combined knowledge in a forum like this one might lead to some sort of help up on the mountain. Apologies if this is in any way hurtful or inconsiderate...

Hey, those tracks on Wy'East were from us on Wednesday (see trip report)... Glad they helped, and glad WE went the right way. Question: As a less experienced climber, I was unsure about the "snow" conditions on the short traverse over those cliffs, just before you round the corner into the last push up to the summit slopes. Basically 2 inch ice crust over a foot of loose sugar. Did you have any apprehension about soloing that stuff, or did it feel ok to you? Or maybe our bootpack was so money you didn't even notice? Nice climb!

Hmm, yes that second pic would probably be just east of what you're looking for. I didn't take a good look at that because, at my level of expertise, I wouldn't consider it something to climb. (One of our books on the route said, "Do NOT climb directly up the Steel Cliffs." Umm, ok, we won't.) Anyway, here are three pics from the descent. Don't know if they show what you want. I would guess not...

Trip: Mt. Hood - Wy'East Date: 12/2/2009 Trip Report: TR on our trip up Wy'East on Wednesday. I didn't take notes and I'm bad with numbers, so any listed elevations are approximate. This was my first "winter" or off-season climb, and the first climb away from South Side for all three of us, and it was a REALLY good one. Very long day, and a bit more exposure than I was expecting (not huge, just more than I was expecting), but overall a great day. Started from the Lodge at 4 AM figuring the weather would stay cold enough for a safe climb and descent, and also hoping that some daylight would help us in route-finding on our first trip up this side of the mountain. We were right on both counts. Quick progress to Silcox, and from what we'd read we figured we had two choices for getting across the White RIver to the base of the route. Cross down low (about 7000 feet) or up high (above 9000 feet, just under the cliffs). I think one was listed as better for early season and one as better for late season, but we didn't really know which of those December 2nd qualified as. We chose low, and were very glad we did. Cutting east from Silcox, and only slightly uphill, we were able to cross each drainage without issue, and getting across the White River that low was no problem, just crossing low-angle snowfields. We were prepared to rope up, but never saw the need. This was a time-consuming process, so 6 AM found us still under 7500 feet (I think). Later we could see the Upper White River and could see the crevasses we had avoided. The full moon helped us find the correct snow field to get us up to the base of the climbing proper, and moonset was replaced by sunrise as we looked at the first section we had to think about. We wound our way up through the rocks then to the right, and took (I think) the second likely looking chute up to the left, which gained us the top of the Steel Cliffs. Coming up that chute: After this it was skirt the rocks, climb through some deeper snow, fall in a moat, skirt more rocks, fall in another moat, and eventually, after two wider snowfields, get up to the ridgeline proper above Steel Cliffs and Devil's Kitchen (is it called Devil's Kitchen, down between the cliffs and Hogsback?). From here we could see Hogsback, and most of the crater rim, but we were disheartened by how much we had left to go, and how difficult it looked (to me anyway). By now, we were past the point of no return. The sun had been hitting the lower route for a while by now, and we didn't want to down-climb what we'd come up, plus the sheer length of the approach made it much quicker and safer to head up and over. So we kept going, hugging the ridge line, through decent snow and more moats, until we got to this section (which luckily looks just like a picture we printed from summitpost showing a red line of the route). We headed up the ridge, staying on the snow, then had to traverse above those cliffs on what I considered pretty sketchy snow (two inch crust of bad ice over a foot of grainy, sugary snow). Before the traverse, we looked back at our route. After the traverse, it was up and around the huge buttress into a nice couloir full of good snow, with another hundred feet or so of nice climbing up to the summit snowfields. Not too steep, but really fun climbing on good snow. From there it was a couple short easy slopes to the top, and we were up at noon, under sunny skies and no wind. My first Hood summit with amazing weather, and on December 3rd! Pretty great. (Of course, I'd never been up there at noon before.) We enjoyed the sun for a little while, but figured we should get moving, since it was getting later. Two climbers coming up the South Side let us know that things still looked good and solid in the Old Chute, and in fact the snow over there was very nice. After descending about 200 feet on bootpack and solid snow, I was able to kick my own steps in styrofoam and then plunge step down to Hogsback. Looking back from Hogsback. The walk back to Timby was punctuated by a failed attempt at downloading onto the Magic Mile lift and not much else. Man that walk sucks every time, but after what felt like our first "real" climb on Mt. Hood, we didn't have any complaints. All photos courtesy of my climbing partner, Frank. Gear Notes: Carried two tools each but it wasn't solid enough to warrant both, in my opinion. We also carried some rope and gear, but on the only places possibly warranting protection, there would have been nowhere to place any. Approach Notes: Drive up Timberline Road. Park.

Agreed! Just came down it on Wednesday. There's a ton of ice and rime clinging to the high spots, so go early or go when it's cold, but we descended around noon on Dec. 3 (after climbing Wy'East) and the snow was perfect.

Can't comment on Leuthold's, but we were up on Wy'east on Wednesday, which was my first climb away from the South Side, so it might be something for you to consider. I think Leuthold's is next on my list. Wy'east was a great route, a little tougher because of rock moats around the edges, sheer length, and a few spots of questionable snow. Took 8 hours to the top, and we moved fairly well. Probably lost an hour or so on routefinding (to be expected), and getting over to the base of the climb just takes a long time. We crossed between probably 7200 and 7800 feet. I may try to put up a TR, but it may not happen.

Cool, when were you on it last? - Josh Portland, OR

These are AustriAlpine crampons that I lent to a friend, and he dropped them somewhere below 9100 feet on triangle moraine, between there and top of Palmer. If you found them, you probably don't want 'em. I just don't want him to have to buy me new crampons or give me $30, so let me know. They are bright green and rusty with a really annoying strap. But they got me up Hood a time or two, and served me well on Jeffy. So, sentimental value I guess. Thanks. Oh, they were lost on Sunday the 22nd.

Trip: Mt. Adams - South Spur Date: 8/28/2008 Trip Report: Quick report on climb of Adams on Thursday, August 28th, 2008. Morrison Creek is running strong and shows no signs of letting up. There's also plenty of running meltwater up around Lunch Counter, and probably even above (didn't need to look). The trail is free of snow up to about 8000 feet, when you hit the first snowfield, and then a short eastward traverse of Lunch Counter (on rock) brings you to the bottom of the main, continuous snowfield that leads toward Piker's Peak. From Lunch Counter to around 11,000 feet, the snow is consistent, but you have maybe 400 vertical feet below Piker's that is on pretty terrible scree. Once the snow runs out, look for traversing trails, or head over to the left where the boulders are bigger. It looks like the snow is receding pretty quickly, so that 400 feet is going to get much bigger pretty quick. From Piker's you cross the summit field, climb good snow on the first hump, but cut left around this (about halfway up) to avoid an annoying climb over that hump. The summit is very snow covered and the lookout cabin is pretty buried, with a thick coating of ice. All in all, the climb from trailhead to summit took us 7 hours (if you don't count the 3 hours we spent hunkered down at LC to wait for a cloud to lift) and the descent took about 3.5 hours. There was about 1000 vertical feet of glissading above LC, but it was wet, rough, and rocky. Won't last long. You can see pictures here: http://gallery.mac.com/jlawrence10 Gear Notes: Crampons necessary, axe probably wasn't given the snow conditions. Approach Notes: Easy trail. Look for the cairns. The trickiest part is crossing the Morrison drainage around 7000 feet, where you have to cut way left and gain the ridge. This is easily missable at night. Also easy to miss on the way down to end up on the wrong side of the drainage.

Trip: Mt. Jefferson - South Ridge Date: 7/17/2008 Trip Report: Went for a 3 day summit bid on the South Ridge of Jefferson this past week, and had amazing weather, great conditions, and a successful summit. Myself, Bob and Daniel are fairly new to climbing, and our guide Chris, from Timberline Mt. Guides, took great care of us. We set out Wednesday morning from Pamelia Lake Trailhead around 8:30 for the 7.5 miles approach. We hiked to the lake, then up north of the lake to join the PCT and head east toward our intended campsite near Shale Lake. We passed another TMG group coming out who had failed to summit two nights ago because of high temps due to cloud cover, and very soft, unconsolidated snow. Ran into snow on the trail around 5500 feet, and glimpsed a large dark shape moving through the distant woods, and about 3 minutes later came across fairly large bear tracks. We moved east to a great site near one of the ponds at about 5800 feet, maybe Coyote Lake (snow filled and covered, but a good water source), with a great view of the mountain and our route. A delicious pasta dinner, bedtime around 7:30, and fitful rest until wake time, 12:30 AM. Woke to crystal clear skies, a bright moon, and temps about 34 degrees at camp. Perfect. Departing about 1:45, we followed Chris's heading through the snowy woods towards the bottom of our drainage, which led directly upward toward the South Ridge. The snow got a little steeper, and then we went up a steep, hellish scree field for about 200 feet, until we were able to cut over to the right (east) through a level snowfield, and nearly gain the ridge, probably around 7700 feet. The going was little tough as the sun started to rise around 5:00 AM, moving up along the ridge, mostly in scree, some of which was very doable, some of which was very frustrating (step up a foot, slide back 8 inches). We'd had enough of this by about 6:00 AM, so headed up over the ridge and out onto the snowfield on the east side of the ridge (probably considered the top of the Waldo Glacier). We roped up around 9000 feet as the snow steepened slightly, and moved together on short ropes up the snowfield, paralleling the ridge on its east side. Around here we found deep, solid bootpack, likely from the TMG group two days ago (thanks guys!), and followed this to the top of the snow, cresting the ridge just below and east of the red saddle, around 8:00. Making good time, according to Chris, but things would start to slow down at this point, as we could see the very exposed traverse around to the west of the south summit, toward the area between the pinnacles that we hoped to scramble up. Chris lengthened the ropes at this point, and set out to protect the route with pickets. The bootpack continued out across the traverse, and the snow was staying very firm, taking vertical pickets quite well as we moved across the slope. It looked like a higher traverse, up closer to the rocks, had melted out quite a bit, and ended in some small crevasses, so we stayed low until we were about 3/4 of the way to the other ridge, and then front pointed up to the ridge that led up towards the rocks. Chris headed up to set up a belay, and then we followed him up the rocks. Really a scramble over huge boulders, checking for loose rocks with each hand and foothold. We hung out in the saddle between the pinnacles as Chris went up and set up our last pitch, a pretty easy scramble up about 75 feet and around, to the top! The weather was amazing, with light wind, a lot of sun, and very warm temps. We could see north to Hood, Adams, St. Helens and Rainier, and south past Three Fingered Jack and the Sisters. We were on top at about 11:30, and stayed up there for about 20 minutes. Photo below courtesy of Chris Wright. The register was suspiciously (and satisfyingly) empty of recent summit records, showing only one from 2008 so far. The way down was fun but uneventful, involving a rappel from the saddle between the pinnacles, and couple of lowers down the steeper snowfields. The sun was starting to warm up the snow on the traverse slope, so we wanted to move fast back to the red saddle. Once we were there, it was a long climb back down to camp, arriving back about 6:45, making for a 17 hour day! Very long, very exhausting, but hugely satisfying. We know it's the "easy" way up Jefferson, but still felt great about what we had done. We also couldn't have been more pleased with Chris's guiding, feeling safe at all times. To sum up, we got lucky with the weather, and were grateful for the beta from the preceding group, and for their bootpack higher up. As a beginning climber (2 Hood [1 solo], 2 Adams, 1 Shasta, St. Helens, etc...) I felt comfortable the whole way, and would have felt OK solo on most of the route, with the obvious exception of the traverse, and a little bit in the rocks. I was thankful for all the protection. Gear Notes: Crampons, axes, helmets, poles, with Chris carrying, and using 3 snow pickets, and some rock gear. There is a new yellow sling left in the saddle between the pinnacles. Approach Notes: 7.5 miles, from Pamelia Lake trailhead, up to the PCT, then over snow to the area near Shale and Coyote Lakes, with plentiful water and flat campsites.