B Deleted_Beck

I think this year will be pretty similar to last year, given similar snowfall totals and late storms. People were climbing well into late summer, and I climbed it in the last week of August.. Rockfall hazard goes way up, but that doesn't necessarily mean the mountain is closed or anything. Just keep your head up. Right now, I'd imagine it's still pretty mid-springish up there.

Did he have any kids?

Sounds like he tumbled down to Hot Rocks from up on the crater rim, or close... Icy, that could be a gnarly ride. Though he probably went a lot sooner than he would have wished, he did likely go in the way he would have prefered... doing the thing he loved most. I hope I get many, many, many more years here on Earth with my wife and family, but I can't think of a way I'd rather go, meself. God speed.

I always take them, and have needed them several times, just on Hood.

www.mountainproject.com Great used gear hub. You down for the solo? I'd go with you, but I've been forbidden from alpining again till the new baby's born... He's due in the middle of July, so my spring climbing is fucked.

Tried... didn't go so well. Curled up behind a snow-drift in fetal position, being quickly buried in spindrift, holding our hoods closed against the sand-blast with faces ducked behind arms, we agreed, in screamed, protracted pronunciations, and between "what?s," to descend. Post haste. The stuff of epics... probably would have been, if we'd ever made it off the resort.

That's a pretty rad idea, especially when you expect bad visibility and/or bad weather. I've been on Adams when the shit hit the fan, and it's a little too big ass a mountain to wander around on blindly groping for landmarks unaided.

Did you get a solid partner lined up for that, or are you still playing it by ear? Being a huge consumer and fan of used gear, I'd see if you can snag a Smith off someone on MP. My current goggle is a Smith Airvent I bought from a guy for like $20 shipped, and my buddy just grabbed a basically new Oakley gog for $25 shipped. I pretty much never buy new gear... Climb in style, for less!

I never knew.... good call. --- Lately, I've been staying here- But some buddies have stayed here a few times, and recommend..

My partner and I left two quick draws on the chains above Robotics on Video Bluff at Rocky Butte today... wire/solid gates with fat, striped 9" dogbones Our bad... wanna meet up and do a couple laps? We'd be happy to send you a few bucks to mail 'em, too. Thanks -Ben

Thine own NF solo served as pretty big inspiration. I read your TR and was struck- I had no idea people could do aggressive routes solo. I'd attempted a solo of Pearly Gates just before, and was rejected by the little 15' moderate step in there... then you posted a successful and even pleasant looking solo of "the hard side"... rearranged the way I envisioned the progression of my climbing. Thanks for breaking trail, so to speak

Right. I'm sure you'd be really happy if your "SO" went behind your back on an internet forum and made you out to be some moron who'd DIE if it wasn't for her/his meddling. You take the last wurd- I make it a point to come here for beta and TRs only... can't believe I let myself get sucked into more spray.

I knew that pack was gonna be a hit. --- Forgot to post the route pic... Photo credit forthcoming (member here)... I just added the dots. --- Anybody know whose pic this is? I thought I stole it from the Hood thread, but it's not in there...

http://www.summitpost.org/phpBB3/two-man-roped-team-w-novice-on-rainier-good-idea-t62323.html Hey Ben how about a link to the SP conversation?

All I can figure is people are trying to stay "spray free" with this one... I saw this chick's post over on summitpost, and everyone over there was playing right into this bullshit. I saw the thread here and thought CC commers will surely put this chick in her place. Sorely disappointed. OP... please see my post on SP, if you haven't already.

There's no way two climbers' mental inclinometers will ever line up. The route's had no shortage of sends this season, and I'm sure it'll have more yet- let the consensus be the majority opinion. But anyone planning to go up- know that I'm telling you to prepare for 60' of steeper than 75 degrees with a little bit of overhang at the top. If you find I've exaggerated, be relieved at the time. ;-)

Trip: Mount Hood - North Face - Right Gully - Solo Date: 6/3/2012 Trip Report: Yes, another North Face trip report. Nothing special, this season, I know... but despite all the activity this route has been getting of late, it was still a very cool and important climb for me.. so I'm gonna post mine anyway. And in typical verbose Ben B. style... --- I'd wanted to climb this route basically all year. I'd talked to a few people about it, posted in a partners' section, even had it tentatively scheduled with a couple of people, but nothing ever panned out. Once again, I realized, if I wanted to climb it, I was probably gonna have to get it done alone. I'd originally wanted to round the mountain from the south side, as it saves over 2,000' of gain and several miles of approach from the north side, this time of year. But this would necessitate traversing the Newton-Clark, and once spring came into full swing, things started opening up and getting thinly covered up- scratch that, for a solo trip. I'd just have to suck it up and come up through Tilly Jane. A friend and frequent climbing partner, Ian, called me a few days before, looking to climb something that weekend. He wasn't looking to do anything that grueling, but I invited him to join me to "base camp" at 9,000'. Beginnings Coming up the Coopspur trail from TJ We took only 1 litre each up, to save weight... Didn't last long! Somewhere above the tree line, on the spur.. We arrived at the TJ trailhead at about 15:00 on Saturday, expecting forecast windy/gusty conditions, poor visibility, cold, and precipitation. Packed and moving up the trail by 15:30, we maintained a healthy, moderate pace up to Tilly Jane, paused to melt some water on the snowfield next to the spur, and were comfortably bundled up and enjoying dinner in our tent by sometime before 21:00. The weather was bizarre. Clouds would roll in and out as fast as you could watch them, and we'd get hit by the occasional STRONG gust, but it was otherwise completely calm. By midnight, even the occasional strong gusts (and I mean junk-in-your-throat strong) pretty much died off, and we were able to sleep pretty soundly. My Suunto went off at 4:15... I reset it for 4:30. I reset it for 4:45. I reset it for 5:00. Finally, I just shut it off. Packed and ready to go, I gave my basecamp support officer one last grin, and was moving up the mountain at 5:55. Despite roiling clouds coating all sides of the mountain but ours, I set out under high steel skies, NO wind, perfect visibility, very moderate temp somewhere between 20-25f, and absolutely perfectly hard snow. How could this get any better? Heading out... Goodbye, Warm and Comfort. Already at 9,000-9,100' or so, my plan had been to attempt to slide down a 200' snow ramp leading from the last saddle on the spur down to the Eliot Glacier, and follow the normal line up the Right Gully from there. But conditions had changed drastically since I'd made this plan, and I was now faced with a very crevassy glacier, a big bergschrund between me and my snow ramp, and then a DOUBLE 'schrund between the main glacier and the entrance to the gullies. Screw it... I'll just side-hill over to them, above the cliffs. I'd also noted, just before I left camp, what appeared to be a ski-mountaineer heading up toward Eliot Glacier Headwall. But seeing the skies strapped to his back, I pretty much just discounted him and gave it no further thought (those guys usually just hike up the hill a bit and ski back down). The traverse... Got pretty steep in some spots- good thing the snow was frozen The side-hilling got old pretty quick, but in high-dagger, I was across and looking up the LEFT gully within 20 minutes or so. Coming up and over a rock feature, I was disturbed to see that I was actually about 20' above the first ice-step, and that there was a pretty gnarly rock pile separating me from the Right gully. Really having my heart set on the Right gully, and doing the WHOLE route, I decided to downclimb. Fortunately, the Left Gully's first step is pretty tame- 15' of very moderate ice, and I was back on snow and making my way down and around the little cleaver toward my route. First step during the downclimb (obviously tame enough for me to stop and pull out my camera) Moat! Lots of rushing water noise, coming from this thing at the bottom of the Left Gully first step... I felt a big smile creep onto my face when I looked up and saw the first step of the Right Gully.. Not the most intimidating piece of alpine landscape, but it was a damn sight better looking than the Left's first step. First step below - It looks like 45 degrees from the pic, but, tame as it was, it was actually 75ish More representative - Looking back down from the top I made short work of it, and was moving up the 900' or so of field/gully between the steps, on solid snow. I was glad for the hard snow (better than the slush I'd been wallowing in on the last couple climbs), but it quickly began to take a toll on my poor calves... you could kick a step in if you really needed a rest, but it generally took more energy than just slowing down for a minute. Breaks didn't really happen. At one point, I started getting hit by piece of ice. Just little guys, but some of them were straight up zingers.... It seemed like climber debris, and I started to wonder if someone was above me. The snow was too hard and too BLUR to show me any climber tracks, but as I made my way up and over the rise under the second step- sure enough, some dude with skis on his back was slllooowwwlllyyyy soloing up the second step. Wow! Guess I was wrong about him! I stepped out of the fall line and let him finish getting up, sipped some gatorade, took a few pics, and then it was my turn. Approaching the step, I was definitely disappointed. It appeared to be maybe 15-20' of sticky moderate ice. This is the famed second step? WTF. I almost took the snow/rock line that curves up around climber's left, as it genuinely looked funner, but decided the ice step is the route, and I'd come to do the route. Gratuitous self-portrait under the second-step.. yea, it doesn't look like much- but it lies! But after I'd climbed not quite half way up, I realized the mountain had deceived me- this thing was a LOT bigger than it looked, and while good ice, even a bit bulgy at top. Ack! I had to push my comfort zone a bit to finish that guy, but I made it, and it wasn't the hairiest thing I'd ever done... but surprise, surprise! Crux of the route, for sure. Now just another 600' or so of clean point/daggering... up and around rock features, up to and past the Cathedral Spire col, up past rocks that probably have names but remain nameless to me... and then I was in the bowl directly under the summit cornice, and then I was on the top. Snow fields and features above the second step On top, at last... Man oh man... what a thing, for me. Not for some of you beasts, but for me... big deal. Best climb of my life. Perfect day, perfect conditions, perfect route... I was so happy. I started my alpine climbing less than a year before, and had had to teach myself everything. I'd been forced to solo the technical and committed routes I wanted to climb through the winter season, for lack of partners interested in such routes. And now, through sheer determination, I'd crowned my first year's alpining exploits with the apple of my eye... North Face, Right Gully, and I'd done it alone. Such a wonderful feeling... I love climbing. There were three people on the summit, or rather, off the summit, hiding from the horrible winds ripping up and over from the SW... the mountain herself had shielded me from those winds, for my climb. One of those at the top was the guy that had preceded me- I was excited to meet him, as solo climbs of die Nordwand seem to be rare enough that people who do it should be interested to meet each other (I'd think, anyway), but he was a pretty hardcore dude from Wyoming and our little Hood North Face wasn't much to impress him. He dismissed the route as facile, trying to kill my buzz... so we traded summit pics, and, uncharacteristic of me, I decided to go down pretty quick. I was descending the Cooper Spur, and wanted to get down before it slushed up anyway. I started in piolet canne, basically facing out, but the snow just wasn't plunging enough to do that safely, and opted to just high-dagger myself down through Chimney Rocks. I did opt to descend directly through, rather than to climber's right, so's to scope them out- Hey, man... that's a pretty neat little spot! I'd totally written Cooper Spur off as a lame walkup, but if you caught Chimney Rocks in condition, they'd be a fun little crag session on the way up. Anyway, I "toe-glissaded" most of the way down, slid down some more in self-arrest position, and then walked off the rest, and was back to camp around 9:00. We packed up, took our last pics, and headed down. Back to the car around 13:00, we were off to gorge ourselves and chug coffee. My tent and partner, the little gray blip 2,200' below, to the right of the ridgeline in the saddle below Tie-In Rock (that's Tie-In Rock, right?) Gear Notes: I brought a 10cm screw, a couple micronuts, and 30m of 5mm cord, just as backup in case I needed to bail something (my standard solo kit). But as it was, there wasn't anything that couldn't be down-climbed, if you really needed to get down. The second step is NOT safely down-climbable, but you could easily take the alternate snow/rock line to climber's left, coming down. For partners with rope and a desire to belay - I'd take 60m of twin and 2 or 3 pickets for the field between and above the steps, and 3 shorter screws for leading up the steps themselves, and double the rope up for fixed belays. Pickets will make better belay anchors above. Approach Notes: The trail from the lot to TJ is about as broad and defined as any "trail" I've ever hiked, but the trail from TJ to Coopspur was the exact opposite- know your route, and a GPS will be helpful... 'cause that trail, at least right now, covered in snow, is completely unmarked.

OK... figured it out. The other pics were still there, you just had to re-enter the photo uploader by uploading MORE to "process" them. Weird. Whatever. Hope this helps someone else.

Your wife is taking the kids and leaving for 6 weeks? How the crap did you pull that off??

I'm trying to upload some pics for a TR. Twice I've gone through and selected all the pics, clicked upload, and waited FOREVER for them all to upload, only to be greeted by an error message telling me I'm exceeding some limit, and having it abandon ALL the photos I uploaded. Seriously? Can't the stupid thing just exclude whatever is "exceeding" but still process those that aren't? Freaken A! What's the picture limit, so I don't go through this for a THIRD time...? Thanks -Ben

I think "runout" is more a state of climber condtion than a quantifiable rope:pro ratio... everyone has mentioned how their mindset and physical endurance plays into what they'd consider "a runout." I'd say it's not the section of route that's "a runout," it's ME that's runout... be it 3' above my last piece, or 30' above my last piece when it happens.

Howdy Like new, never used (no tags, but will come with bag thing they come in) Brownish tan Size S Check your size- I don't know when Petzl changed their sizing, but apparently I'm not an S anymore. If it's been a while, get on the Petzl site and look at sizing and make sure you're still an S. $55 from me to you -Ben

Super. Totally jealous, as I've been wanting to do this one all spring, and keep getting shut down due to crappy visibility once I'm up there. To see you guys rock it anyway is inspiring, and is what adventure's all about. How was the 'schrund??

How crevassy was the Newton-Clark?

Important article... very relevant. Thanks for posting.