B Deleted_Beck

Welp... Guess I'll just plan to solo a south-side route. If anybody wants to join me, I'll be the yawning, lonesome dude in the red F150 with the ladder rack.

I know the de-facto leader of the party... she's bruised and battered, but not as bad as they made her out to be on the news. She should make a full recovery, soon. Some busted ribs and sprains. Apparently one of the rescuers almost bit it trying to get down to her too, falling about 25' before arresting. It was starting to get turtle-shelly friday on descent in that area- I imagine after two more days of hot sun and cold nights, it's probably about the texture of an obsidian flow I'll be soloing the south side tonight... I seem to be very sure-footed and feel confident, even on shitty re-freeze ice, but I'm taking both my phones. :-D

I'd even be down for a dog-route, so long as we move FAST. I do have to take it easy on descent, though- I've got some jacked up knee thing that kills me on descent right now. No more running off the mountain for me, at least till that's solved.

Howdy.. A buddy says DKH V1 isn't in yet, but the other Variations look in-ish. Also thinking about Coopspur, which is apparently in very fine condition, but I've never been on that corner of the mountain before and not willing to solo it yet. Can be ready to climb anywhere between 11:00-2:00 tonight. Can meet at T-line, leave a vehicle, and shuttle around to TJ, for a south-side descent, also Please be strong and fast 503-410-4090

Indeed... I just sold a pair of used-once Ergos for $240. Surely a couple of tags and 1/2 gram of parkerizing can't be worth $160? And they took a bit to sell..

Looks 100%. Might be a little crusty by the time you get up there, but the snow should be stable and the top is steep but pretty well swept- no cornice or anything. Grab it while you can.. this time of year, that whole corner of the mountain is generally unstable with brief periods of stability.

That fucking IT band... I was just noticing my ITB was really tight the other day, and couldn't remember the last time I stretched it. Guess I'ma gunna get myself a foam roller. Thanks.. I'll start stretching that sucker out and go super easy on descents for a few weeks. I can't not climb- not with this bright ass orb floating around in the sky for almost 9 hours out of every day lately. Must carpe diem.

Good job to you up there, Nick. I hadn't talked to either of you guys, so I didn't include names in the TR. Obviously Nicholas was my Pearly partner. He's a good guy with a great attitude and ERW sense of adventure. Partner up with him with confidence. Make sure he's got a helmet, though... he'll try to sneak that one past you.

Howdy I did a 12-mile hill run, gaining about 1,200' and descending the same, about 2 weeks ago, and had some decent knee-cap pain during the run, mostly on descent. It hurt a little afterward, but not badly. I then did 7 miles with 700' of gain and descent about a week ago, and had worse knee-cap pain during descents, but also basically went away. I climbed Hood yesterday, and had some slightly worse knee pain on descent- I ran about half way down.. and about an hour after finishing and changing clothes, I had knee cap pain in my left knee so bad I could barely walk, and it just got worse and worse for the rest of the afternoon and night. Last night when I went to bed, it was almost unbearable to even move my leg, let alone hobble around. Today, I woke up with NO pain... but the ache has come back gradually throughout the day, and I can tell it's just one descent away from exploding. Are we talking about a tendon thing that's gonna take a month of no vertical gain to heal? Should I get it x-rayed? Anyone had this before? Thanks

What do you mean by summit ridge? From Pearly, we went straight to the actual summit plateau, bypassing the south ridge.. on descent, we crossed the ridge that connects the summit plateau to the west crater rim- was plenty wide and level, as usual. The knife-edge that connects Old Chute to the main ridge was beyond our path, but didn't look too bad. Knife-edgy, but needing sharpening.

Apparently mine partner did snag a couple pics - here's a better view of the crater rim: Filling up nicely

Trip: Mount Hood - Pearly Gates up, Mazama Chute down Date: 2/3/2012 Trip Report: I figured an update on South Side conditions is in order, so I'll bust out a quickish TR for today's Pearly send. The only pics we took were a couple summit pics and a crappy self-portrait with the HB in the background, unfortunately.. but I'll be descriptive. My DKH partner bailing on me on approach, I ended up doing Pearly Gates with a member here, a young, eager, inexperienced guy I've been talking to off-and-on about getting up Hood. He'd asked to join us into the crater, then split up, and wanted to attempt Pearly Gates alone. I'd originally talked to him about DKH also, but he wasn't equipped for the route at all- using my loaner Mont Blanc Compacts with shitty home-made leashes, flexible leather boots with 10-point contact straps.. perfectly adequate for most south-side routes, but no bueno for DKH. So my DKH partner loaned him a harness and a carabiner, and I figured I'd give him a belay up the step in Pearly Right Chute. Moving up the mountain, the forecast 5mph wind for early Friday morning didn't come till right before dawn, so we fought sustained 35mph from the NORTH with gusts to 55+ all the way up, basically. Snow was good, however, being most neve with a few soft spots here and there above 8,500. Cautious of wind-slabs from the wind direction change, we picked our route carefully up the side of Crater Rock, rather than the more typical wrap around toward Devil's kitchen. So we topped out right on the Hogsback, rather than having to climb it. Self-portrait ended up being the only beta shot I took the whole climb... no Bergschrund. The Hogsback is big and steep, with tons more snow on it than 3 weeks ago (surprise surprise), and the Bergschrund, which was wide open 3 weeks ago, is now completely filled in, with nothing more than a broad shallow depression to give it away. We slid around the far-middle right side of the 'schrund, and took a diagonal line across a patch of styrofoam into the bottom of the main couloir. The snow above here seemed extremely loaded, and spin-drift was still pouring all over it from the summit ridge above, so I was pretty sure it was pretty recent transplant. Shooting up the main couloir at 45-50* of mostly styro with some patches of soft pow, we veered right and took the lesser of the two steps. It's less steep and not as long as it has been so far this year... estimating, from recollection, maximum 70* good ice for 6-8 feet, easing up to maybe 45* good ice for another 8ish feet, to the finish above, which is like 35* good ice. I soloed up with the rope, set anchor, and brought my partner up. The landing directly above the step is basically straight up hard ass snice that will not accept a picket.. I only had one screw, a POS titanium "bail screw" I generally keep with me, two pickets, two slings, and two tools... I was able to get it bomber enough, but a better anchor would have been all screws. The "bail" screw coffee grinder handle burned out before the screw was fully embedded, so I decided to leave it for the next guy, or as a nice semi-permanent last-clip for a leader. If you want it, feel free to try to pry it out. I left the carabiner on it and everything. The snow slope above the step was very steep, and a mix of unconsolidated powder and ice chunks for about the first 50', then just becomes rime crop and neve to the summit plateau. After screwing around on a very windy summit taking a couple pics and eating, we discussed our line of retreat... we could rap off that bail screw still above the step, or we could just heal plunge down the Mazama Chute. I personally thought down-climbing a steep snowfield would be funner (faster and less messy) and a better experience for young Nicholas, so we took that route. The Chute was a thin, not-difficult ice step at the top that we faced-in to down-climb comfortably, to fairly loose snow for another 100-200' down to the main snow-field, which was basically kick-ass styrofoam all the way down to Hot Rocks. Be careful of all the little wind-slabs- the whole thing is basically just layered wind-slab, but seems to be solid and stable.. at least before the sun cooks it. Gear Notes: Pickets are worthless for belay anchor above the step, and not really needed elsewhere, unless you want to do a running belay across the field from the 'schrund to the couloir. 10-16cm screws for protection on lead, if desired (not needed, for anyone halfway experience with ice climbing) and for belay anchor above. Approach Notes: Gonna be re-freeze solid conditions through the weekend, at least. GET UP THERE!

Dood..... HANG GLIDE OFF THE SUMMIT... I'm your wing-man, if you can loan me a glider

Yea, I'm almost positive it's July.. And now that I think about it, again, it's probably July 1. I was up there attempting MGH when they closed up, and I think that was Oct 31, so it would stand to reason.

Howdy The Rangers at TLRS must be busy busy... not having any luck getting anyone to answer the phone. Anybody happen to know when they unlock Bird Creek gate? The current info on SP is not accurate... I remember that much. Thanks -Ben

There's some guys wanting to go up this week... not a ton of activity, mostly because I haven't known what I'm doing (and every barely organized group seems to need a leader, or nothing gets done), but everyone "going" climbs and has climbed Hood SS. http://www.facebook.com/events/357019137659610/

There have been a couple times I thought to myself "ack.. snowshoes would probably be helpful right now," but I've never bought any, and if I did, I think the odds I'd actually strap them to my ruck are pretty slim. Post-holing sucks and all, but when you trim and cut and opt-out just to save ounces, deliberately throwing on another 5lbs that you probably won't use just isn't ever going to sound like a good idea, during the pre-climb pack. To me, at least. Just my humble opinion, though.

Nicely done... been reading up on this route myself, lately

It's not the board, dude, it's your adsense. Google only shows you what it's bagillion doller self-aware ubercomputer has computed you really want to see, even if you don't consciously acknowledge it. I get climbingsingles and cougarlife and chinesematchmaker and the occasional AAC or Nissan ad. Never once seen anything political up there. Do you feel a tingle in your pants when Newt debates?

Driving in to work this morning, it looked like it'd been neatly wrapped in a nice thick blanket of cloud, and I wondered if any brave souls were fighting up hoping to climb through- the clouds went all the way up.

Well if you don't get a mate by go time, check back in with me. I could always start the night before and meet with you at camp on the way up. I do a lot of climbing networking on Facebook.. feel free to "friend" me: Benjamin Beckerich

I'd like to do Shasta. I'm not much into snow camping, though... people always seem to fart and snore, and I sleep poorly at altitude as it is. Were you thinking about spending a night at Helen Lake/elsewhere?

Really wish I'd gotten up last night... ended up doing a 12 mile hill run instead, so at least I get to feel like I climbed. How was wind/temp? Forecast was showing -8 with WC at the summit.. brrr..

Well I won't see you up there... my clutch is still broke. I'd ask somebody for a ride, but I'm all the way out in Saint Helens... generally about 100 miles round trip out of the way for most folks 'round here. You soloing?

The inside of the western crater rim has a rep for avy, as does the upper field below the old chute, so I'm told by other local Hoodies. I'm always paranoid coming up the eastern side of the Hogsback, myself- that thing's always wind-loaded. I'm also a little leery of the short snow field between the top of the pearly/DKH couloirs and the summit plateau- would need to be a pervasive NE wind to wind-load that spot, but if it happened to be, it's struck me as a potentially hazardous spot.