Water

Thanks for the TR. I'm honestly impressed with the amount of snow still and that the tarn was still crusted over. It must fall off dramatically after the 3 sister. Shasta had so little left a month ago, and two weeks ago at crater lake there was very little compared to year's past. Also heard that pool called Lewis Tarn. USGS has it unnamed.

same response from mazama land. good intro when your baseline is only backpacking, and solid route to meet folks. My first climbing partner we were in class, did a 'sanctioned' climb then said hey, wanna screw this whole bureaucratic bs and go climb together? ok yeah! my wife did a pretty in depth member/non-member survey and analysis for mazamas and it sounds like they are not too far afield from mountaineers in a lot of attitudes.

at the very worst, you leave your board stashed behind some rocks a hundred or two foot above palmer lift. Hike back down to it and still have a 2.9k or whatever 'groomed' run back to the car. Many a time a climb of mine has gone like that as the upper mountain is not always amenable to skiing no matter the amount of sun (rime/chicken heads/breakable crust/etc).. Have fun with it.

hmmm... if you've never bc'skied or boarded before then I'd be a hesitant to endorse bringing it up. But otherwise the ski or board down from the hogs back is killer, waaaay better than trudging down. I hurt my foot this winter and haven't gotten out otherwise I'd have more concrete advice about conditions but I'm going to say there has got to be a really healthy corn cycle going. I bet its good riding once it warms up a little with some sun on it (9-10am??) depending on wind and such. if you haven't ridden off piste corn snow is a very good first intro, fwiw.

maybe they went right up the gut..which to me is a death trap even without waterfalls, due to the terrain trap. The way i have gone is to veer up to climbers left (north) on n. fork milk creek and wind around up to the rib that way. There is a climbers trail when melted and if snow should cover up the short vegetation--you never need to go close to water-features that can present hazard if snow covered. imo. fun route--nice blog share--

pulled the eBook up on my phone today!!! AWESOME!

but god damn don't you skirt a rule or do something untoward or you might 'ruin' it for the rest of us... heh (tongue in cheek to be clear)

agreed on all counts. Adams access should be dandy then. Certainly not technical by the south side but it is a long climb, great views, and a solid outing among friends if you mostly want to just have a good time vs. climb a specific peak/route/level of difficulty. cheers, hope the weather is solid for ya'll.

Yasican, I think what Major Major is trying to say is: continued at: http://www.effectiveapology.com/pdf/EffectiveApologyExcerpt.pdf

i've been on it when due to both start time, then encountering a group of 10 crab-walking mazamas who moved as if they'd had no experience on anything other than hood were in front of us... we were on the traverse (and especially the short one before the main one) where it felt quite iffy given how soft the snow was getting. we aborted. But you don't necessarily need a low freeze for the snow up there to 'set' and harden. Just get on and done with the shiz before much sun hits it--its on the west side so you have a good number of hours before the sun hits there (noon-1pm?)--you could use google earth time of day/sun cover and check to make completely sure, useful tool. this is retreat from the (still shaded) traverse. The area the guys are on was getting really sloppy quick, we knew the time to top out and come back would take too long for our group to make us feel ok about going back on that. And the traverse is a wee tiny bit steeper than this section, fwiw. It was too soft to protect.

generally agree. If over-nighting I might bring a shovel for camp's sake.

Dimka, You're smart to ask these questions, so thats a great first step into being a competent and safe climber. Mt. St. Helens would probably be a much better mountain to cut your teeth on. Not that it is absent risk, but, it is certainly a more mellow mountain and will allow you to dial in your fitness capacity and gear use. Look at the community colleges, I thought PCC had a hood-prep class. Also you might consider asking your parents or your friend's parents if they know anyone who participates in climbing. Not so they can guide you up hood, but so they can go over gear with you and answer questions/educate you more on climbing. You could even ask a teacher or two--with all the mountains in our backyard there are a lot of people who climb, I'm sure someone you know knows someone who climbs or used to at the minimum. Cheers

pro: fast. never fiddle. should never need to snug up. con: requires toe and heel welts. does not function with 'light' boots.

you may benefit from spending some time in a body-builder's gym. Not getting stronger there mind you, but observing the grunt techniques used during squats and bench presses. I think with some careful observation at the gym setting, you can find the secret to out crushing most of the other crushers you hear all around you.

You'll have to see the costs quoted to find out the value, but the AAC is on this, looks like they work with a group that will differentiate 'climbing'. http://www.nicholashillgroup.com/lifeaac This is a good source too, policies that go up to 15k (ft), speaks to denalidave's reference about time period and some help with making sure if it ever got paid out it doesn't get taxed. http://www.mountainproject.com/v/life-insurance-if-you-rock-climb/106078054

James Kelly, 48-year-old landscape architect from Dallas. Brian Hall, 38, a personal trainer also from Dallas. Jerry "Nikko" Cooke, 36, a lawyer from New York City. Not from NJ. Sympathies for those who knew and loved Rev. Robert J Cormier--sounds like a great guy, very unfortunate, cruel twist his partners turned around just shy and this was supposed to be his last significant mountain foray..

if you're climbing to get out then maybe fri-sat but frankly looking at the weather it isn't much of a question--if you're from the area at least. I understand when things are set in stone due to travel, unfortunate as that is. If you work during the day one benefit of going sat night is it isn't after a long day of work and barely getting any sleep. You can sleep in saturday and get try to nap in the afternoon/be all prepped. Yes, looks like up to 2ft~+ of snow could fall the higher you go.. keep an eye out for any alerts from NWAC. If anything Sunday will allow more time to stabilize but sun could cause wet slides--dont want to be going up the old chute while it's baking at 10am. sunrise summit.

the "trail" has some blowdown around mile 16.. and the bridge is out over the steel cliff river, so you have to ford it or set up a tyrolean traverse. Also kinda muddy between miles 4-7. so.. at my cursory glance the weather looks quite nice on sunday...am i missing something? Though I'd be wary of fresh snow up high as it relates to avy hazard. The link below is from a recent report: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1123797/TR_Mt_Hood_South_Side_Route_5_#Post1123797

very nice, glad that you were able to thread the needle with a micro window of weather--thats pretty neat. Always enjoy days like that. I've always done this when it's mostly melted, the potential of finding bunk rime or verglas in the bowling alley has never been high on my list.. but seeing this in winter--I can tell in some respects it standardizes the mountain--holds it together a bit better--as you know in late summer n. sister is probably best candidate of mountain located in mordor.. baked, parched, red, crumbling, and all sorts of weird phallic lava-tube gendarmes, esp. on the west face of the s. ridge. So.. to answer your question, I have one of my own as well.. I was a little unclear about your access. In summer from Soap Creek there is a turn-off/climbers trail that takes you up along Soap and basically allows you to go up the gentle apron of the SE ridge. Maybe that is what you are calling the E ridge? Maybe just in my circles/sources but have not really heard N. Sister get called as having an east ridge. Unless you mean just going up thayer glacier headwall? [EDIT I see you mean the Glisan Pinnacle] [Other way I've done it is stay on trail over Soap and continue on chambers lake trail and veer straight west off it around 6600ft into the treeline and moraines area--a very nice place for camp for a climb of North and/or Middle. From there gain SE ridge by going straight north, again better to get onto the apron of the ridge than trying to go up it further west on either the north of west side of it.] edit: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/140145/North_Sister_Direct_E_Butt

if you want to borrow my stand-alone GPS from garmin you can, I am thinking of selling it. Mostly because I use my phone exclusively. Rmaps is a free app I use on my Razr M--with my separate SD card with space I have USGS vector topo, google terrain, google satellite images, and bing/microsoft sat shots all downloaded of any area. I put my phone on airplane mode then turn on GPS. it works great everywhere I've used it (rainier, steens mountain, hood, adams, etc.. GPS is GPS. My phone probably has a more advanced GPS system than the garmin 60csx I have which was designed in 2006 or something. Battery is another story, but for quick reference it works great. paying for any map program is a rip off imo.

I dig the report a lot! very nice pictures. if I may piggy-back a question or two as it appears there are some folks familiar with hawaii here.. I injured my foot req. surgery earlier this year so climbing and backpacking are out for the summer--wife and I are planning our first trip to hawaii for fall (sept-oct). looking for nice beaches to relax on/swim at and snorkeling. Maybe a pretty drive? Probably won't do much in the way of any hikes almost on account of the foot, though who knows how close to 100% I am by then. Accommodations can be basic. don't need top star eateries though places to get breakfast or basic meals, we'll cook a few nights if we can wherever we stay. Have been told kauai is our style and been told the big island is 'neat'. Maui seems to come up for beaches but we sure as hell dont want to do any 'shopping' on vacation or any of the upsell/upscale experience.. thoughts?

As you know the lighter the gear = the more expensive it tends to be. The TLT is a premium cost for fairly slight weight savings, and a nearly identical design. Dane has done some posts at TGR and his blog about getting a One PX down to TLT weight with a few mods. In my case I went with a One boot last year due to that price/weight/performance thing being pretty close on the map, and still being a huge upgrade from what I had (garmont axons). Boots in person would be your best bet.. but that could prove to be very difficult as jake said. You can always order from SAC and then living room fit the boots and eat the $7 shipping return charge if they're a no-go..

that is a cost-effective setup for $ at end of the day but I would generally recommend going dynafit (or similar brand) direction due to the weight savings. Lets be realistic though, what is your cost object? $1000 max? If so you might be able to swing that.. can probably find a dyna compatible boot for $250-300..i saw a mastraeli RS for $299 or something I think recently. Could get the bindings at around $300.. leaving you with $300~ for skis and skins...can be had with used or blemished/new skis. Basically it will take some shopping around and time. If your top end budget is $1250-1500 you can probably buy all new and not have to 'shop' it as much at all basically, just look for 'ok' deals or sale, dont buy a semi-custom or cottage ski for $600-800+ or a new boot for $750.. but if you want to spend $500, the setup you listed is probably more where you're at--it will be hard to find a light weight tech-binding setup for 'cheap'.

http://www.nwac.us/avalanche-forecast/current/mt-hood/

Yes. You should have a shindig when it's published! Sell them, sign them. And get all the drinks you can down bought for you. And a DD or taxi ride home as needed.