YocumRidge

Trip: Mt. Hood - Devils Kitchen Headwall standard 1c left traverse Date: 1/27/2010 Trip Report: Mt. Hood – Devils Kitchen Headwall - standard 1c left traverse The original plan of our rad team consisting of 5.13 rock climbers (Frank P), skiers (Viviane) and others (Jlawrence10 and myself) included Leuthold Couloir with the Pearly Gates loop but we bailed due to the recent heavy snow accumulation and considerable avy potential. I succeeded to convince everyone to get wasted on something scarier than Leuthold and head up for the Devils Kitchen Headwall (the longer 1c variation) with more ice and mixed challenges. For a long while we were timing a decent weather spell on Hood. It always falls on a midweek as we all know it, so everyone took an "I am sick" day off on Wed and we left our wet PDX at 11 p.m. to arrive into the equally wet parking lot at the Timberline Lodge. We got on the slog at 1.30 a.m. and quickly realized the snowpack consolidation left much to be desired. 3 feet sinking deep into the snow was not a part of the game and required floatation on the approach. And although we did whine a little, we did not whine all at the same time so it worked out pretty well. Frank P however turned around before reaching the I-rock while three of us (with Josh being an equal opportunity climber who does not mind climbing with girls) painfully dragged our asses higher up. We approached the east side of Crater Rock at sunrise and were greeted with a magnificent alpenglow on Pearly Gates, Devils Kitchen Headwall and Steel Cliffs followed by bluebird skies and a big yellow ball. Was it a dream? At the base of Crater Rock: I quickly spotted the gully looking like a 1c variation on the west buttress of the headwall, got excited and rushed through the snowfield above the Devils Kitchen. The guys followed. Our route: The snow consolidation considerably worsened with the postholes now reaching more than 4 feet. What would’ve taken us 10 min under otherwise stable conditions, developed into 1 h struggle of getting to the base of the gully. Finally by 9 a.m. we were ready to climb. I got even more excited at this point: 14F (as opposed to 34F promised by NOAA) and 700 feet of vertical elevation on the headwall I never been before. So off we went. At the base of 1c: Josh and me starting out: The best part was we found some alpine ice up to III, both good and bad, as well as some solid 5.6 rock for stemming in the chimney. Although this was the second time ice climbing for Viviane and Josh, they both were very solid, confident with their technique and did exceptionally well. We did not use any pro on the entire route but could well have on the two cruxes of overhanging 15’ ice bulges. Josh is working his way up the first crux: I am through the first crux: The second crux was through the chimney with a nice alpine rock coated with rime ice. To our surprise, the quality of this rock exceeded our expectations of a typical volcanic Oregonian choss and turned out to be more superior to the dinner plating ice found on the right in the chimney. Viviane is looking good on the second crux in her sweet ski boots: Josh is half way through the chimney: Me getting through the chimney: Overall, a cool sustained section with interesting mixed moves and surreal exposure. Highly recommended while the conditions last. 400’ up the headwall, we noticed a good place to begin a sketchy traverse to the left below the rime iced towers and then headed up the steep (50-60 degrees) snow. Josh and Viviane before the traverse: The snowpack was in better shape than at the base of the headwall and when mixed in with some ice patches, made it for a painless gain of elevation. Next we hit a couple of mellow ice sections before getting to the debris field (that supposedly should lead us to the summit ridge). Viviane and me at the debris field below the summit ridge: Sleep deprived brains and physically wasted bodies - it is when people start doing weird stuff. Josh having a fatal attraction to the Wy’East route after climbing it in December, begun veering off to the right for reasons unknown to mankind. Viviane and I headed straight up. Apparently Wy’east exit did not impress Josh much this time, so he reunited with us on the ridge. Then we all had a pleasant walk along the ridge and reached the windy summit at noon. Josh is thrilled with the NF exposure on the summit ridge: Viviane and me on the summit: The descent was “straight forward” postholing via the dog Hogsback and at 4.30 p.m. we were back to the rig with the total 15 h car-to-car. A great winter climb with cool partners! Post-climb beer: This video is my first try with an iMovie and needs more work but for the time being here it comes. [video:vimeo]9084038 P.S. All pics and footage are a copyright of Viviane and Josh as my camera is dead. Gear Notes: Three tools (used), 40 m rope, 4 pickets, 5 ice screws - 10s, 13s, icescreamers (not used) Approach Notes: Floatation required

Hmmm....Just got back after skiing at the Timberline Lodge and it's snowing, windy and a whiteout.

My first try with an iMovie but cannot figure out the transitions.

Devils Kitchen Headwall variation 1c, Mt.Hood 01-27-2010 [video:vimeo]9084038

I have downloaded a bunch of pics and yes it does work better than before. It just does not look consistent with the rest of the website.

Yes, we made it on our descent after summitting via the Devil Kitchen Headwall. Totally agree about the postholing city. It was even worse at the base of the headwall. We used poles with no powder baskets as 5' pickets for self-belay. Perfect powder for skiing from the summit though.

What happened to "Gallery"? Why does it have an outdated blue format and a bigger font? Firefox runs updates every few days but it does not seem to help. It's been like that for the last few days regardless of what Mac I am using.

What are the improvements of the new Ergos over the old d/c ones?

I wish your "antagonist" climbing routine last summer included the advice of your climbing partners to slow down and not to overindulge yourself in climbing harder grades non-stop Arrgh!

The best part is the voodoo satanists is actually us, according to Maggie Koerth-Baker: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/01/13/haitis-real-deal-wit.html

Good job, Mark. Keep it up.

Would it prevent a male from having sex with her?

I doubt it would succeed in humans though.

IMO, that Classic Crack at Broughton would be a total bitch as a first crack climb. It is over-used and polished to the point the jamming sucks big time. So, I dont blame your gf for hating it. On the contrary, The Sheer Stress (also on the Red Wall, to the right off the Classic Crack) is a completely different ball game.

Not in P-town though. Not all of us are that lucky to reside close to Ltown!

Yeah, dismal week and no ice! But take a look at Sunday in Troutdale: http://www.climbingweather.com/searchResult.app?srch=97225 If it holds, Lodestone and me will be climbing some 10s on gear at Broughton Bluff. You guys are welcome to join.

Thanks to all for the thought-provoking thread that goes well beyond the DP risks. How far would you go in pushing the objective danger limits? You might get lucky and survive in an undoubted tour-de-force. Or not. Or would you always appeal to risk assessment? Or intuition, the sense that is not rooted in anything as concrete as physics or experience? The choice is yours but at the end of the day it all comes to the ultimate wish for the loss of loss.

"For the fifth year running, France takes first in our annual Quality of Life Index. No surprise. Its tiresome bureaucracy and high taxes are outweighed by an unsurpassable quality of life, including the world's best health care." http://www.internationalliving.com/Internal-Components/Further-Resources/quality-of-life-2010 In case you are curious, we are #7. We can't be bothered with Quality of Life; we have wars to fight in faraway places. The French ... well, read further: "Houses cascade with wisteria blossom; outdoor markets are everywhere. Foie gras, pink garlic, Armagnac, and crystallized violets aren't gourmet fare for locals. Rather, just another day's shopping." And here is the complete data set: http://www1.internationalliving.com/qofl2010/?field=final

We did not see any that are in or was it buried in snow?

Only if you gonna rap your ass off that - Touray! We might as well teleport you down on the safe ground.

Yes, and it is why vertical V-threads are a personal preference of locals in Hyalite. JoJo & co. did some strength testing of horizontal vs. vertical which was published in CAJ so he might elaborate more on that.

Thanks for the laugh! So, did your Female Companion enjoy the special olympics with rednecks and beer while you guys were skinning your butts up to 5500'?

Trip: Alpental + Leavenworth Ice Date: 12/25 - 12/26/2009 Trip Report: Day 1. Trying to utilize the dry cold spell that blessed us over holidays in PNW, Tom and I headed to Alpental to check out some ice. The original idea was to ski the approach and climb whatever ice we could find was in shape. My sprained ankle was still swollen and had been bugging me, so the skis were stashed en route. A nice try though! The Kiddie Cliff falls were half buried in snow, so we crossed over above the Source Lake to the Bryant Buttress area that looked more promising but not by much and climbed the Bryant Buttress left (WI3+) with its steeper and more solid start (P1) and not so solid P2 to the ice pillar and then mixed traverse to a tree anchor. Kiddie Cliff falls: Bryant Buttress left: Tom on the P1 Bryant Buttress left: Me on the P2 Bryant Buttress left: A Pro ornament called "Better not fall" on P2: Bryant Buttress P2 anchor: Chockstone falls: Day 2. We were curious about the conditions in the Mountaineers Creek Drainage and hiked up for a half hour on the road #7601 to find out the falls were not in. Got back to the gate and headed up to Hubba Hubba falls instead. What a gorgeous day! Leavenworth at its finest. We climbed a right variation in two pitches. The ice was excellent, V-threadable and took screws well, more often than not. We rapped off a V-thread atop the P2 and then off the tree on the P1. Hubba Hubba falls: Tom leading P1: P2: Rapping off the V-thread: Me ice bouldering on the P1: Gear Notes: Ice rack and doubles

I sneered at myself for being a lazy ass.