B Deleted_Beck

It's starting to fill in, and wasn't as high or steep as it was a few weeks ago. Was all decently consolidated powder from the Bergschrund to the ice step, then 65 degrees ice for about 13'ish feet. I would not recommend ice axes, if the ice step is still exposed when you guys go up- it's only 13' of the whole route, but really calls for technical picks. Somebody experienced could do it with an axe and a tool, but I don't think too many guys would want to do that solo.

re-emailed you! --- Still haven't locked in a partner 100%. Would love to try out DKH tonight, also... like, would really like to try it. So if you have contempt for the South Side, tromp up with me anyway, and we'll do one of the forgotten classic ice lines on the mountain. I'm headed out here in about an hour... will bring a full alpine rack and rope, as well as an extra set of tools. If anybody wants to come, and do either Pearly Gates or DKH, give me a call. If I don't hear from anybody by go time, I'll leave my gear in the truck. 503-4one0-4zero90 -Ben

The NWAC report only covers up to 7,000'... why is that? Will the report for 7,000 typically be representative of conditions higher up? Are conditions higher up simply too unpredictable to accurately predict? Do climbers really pay much attention to the NWAC report, or do you trust only your own pit assessment? Thanks -Ben

Looks like the clearer looking weather for Friday has shifted to Saturday... still looking to go up, still need a partner.

Howdy Thinking about going up for this expected clear weather. Thinking about Thursday night, climb Friday morning, or possibly Friday night, climb Saturday morning. I'd prefer to climb on Friday, myself- especially if we do a south-side approach. Also still wanting to do DKH at some point... I'm still fighting off a long lasting cold and feeling a little weak, so I don't know if I'll be up for it this week, but might be. Facebook is probably fastest, Benjamin Beckerich, followed by email bkb0000 at comcast.net, followed by PM here -Ben

I brought gear in the off chance I'd run into other climber(s) willing to try DKH with me. Alpine rack, harness, and 60m rope- ready for war. Actually carried all the same all the way to the summit, 5 days later.. once again soloing, and once again not using any of it.

Me either. I called him an "SOB" above, but these kinds of situations aren't just somebody behaving badly.. it's a person experiencing a moment of crisis. Put 2 through his chest and 1 in his head, if necessary to save lives, and it probably will be, when all is said and done... but I'd rather see him taken alive.

Uhg... prayers to the Ranger, and those still hunting the SOB.

To answer the question, though... From what I can tell, unconventional climbing often calls for unconventional start times. 10pm, 7am, 2am, 3pm... You start when you need to achieve the objectives you're aiming for, taking everything into consideration- to include weather and temperature. Sometimes it's so cold that even bright warm direct sunlight doesn't ever soften the snow enough to plunge. Other times a warm front might soften snow with or without daylight. Etc.

But the most likely scenario is that you'll come down with problems sometime in the wee hours the following day. All the gnarly AMS stories on 14ers I've read about have been with guys who ascended rapidly and then stayed the night above 14k. Remember that guy on Shasta in the winter of 10? Very experienced climber, and halfway acclimatized from a week of climbing before, to boot. Getting up and down in a day is one thing, but going up and staying up is totally different. Nobody is gonna tell you not to do it, but if it goes against conventional wisdom, don't expect a lot of support.

this sounds familiar

There are a couple-few routes up the crater rim to the summit that you can take from the Hogsback. Traditionally, I think, when people say "Hogsback," they mean Pearly Gates- but Pearlies have apparently become a technical climb in the last few years (much to my surprise, recently). Most guys are taking one of the chutes up the steep snow slope to the left of the Hogsback - Old Chute being the most well known, Mazama Chute seems to be the popular pick right now. You probably won't have any trouble finding somebody to go up with... but keep in mind, for most guys with a lot of experience, the South Side is just a long, slow, boring slog up a big hill... So if you want somebody with a lot of experience, you might have to hire a local guide. Which isn't necessarily a bad idea, and not necessarily expensive. I'm not a guide, and still consider myself a pretty big noob... But I have a handful of Hood climbs under my belt, and climbing more frequently all the time. Feel free to PM me later in the season, maybe I can go up with you guys.

What route are you looking at? Some don't have any crevasses. Hood is super tame, relatively speaking, when it comes to that sort of thing.

Yea, it was pretty gnarly wind/cold wise. I figured the wind-chill in the crater to be around -15... And, in fact, I didn't mention this in the TR, but I actually had a brush with frostbite on this trip. When I got to the bergschrund, some of my fingers were getting pretty cold, starting to go numb at the tips. I'd been wearing a pair of OR Verglas mitt shells over some "butterglove" liners, a combination that's served me really well through fall climbing so far... But, of course, 5 degrees with a 20mph wind is a different matter entirely. I figured I'd switch to the OR Baker Mod Mitts in my pack when I put on my down jacket. I stripped my pack, got my glove bag to the top and open, located the warmer mitts... took off my mitt shells, took off my soft shell, put on my down, took off my right glove liner and tried to jam the hand down into the new mitt's glove liner... my fingers went numb amazingly fast. I couldn't get the hand into the mitt, partially because it was frosting over (the previous liner was sweat soaked), and partially because I pretty much immediately lost all hand function and sensation. I couldn't tell if my fingers were going into finger holes or which ones, if they were. My other hand, shell-less but still wet-liner gloved, also started to go almost immediate numb. I fumbled, trying to get my hand into the stupid glove, and finally, once I really absorbed that my hand was literally freezing before my eyes, just tore my base top out of my pants and rammed my hands under my armpits. It was several minutes before I began to regain sensation, and my right index finger was last to come back. When it did, the pain was excruciating... burned like I'd stuck it straight into hot embers. My fingers all came back after about 7-10 minutes, but continued to feel strange for the rest of the morning. Once I got my warmer liners/mitts on, I had no problems.. but exposing my wet, already numbing fingers to that windy frozen air was a learning experience. Winter climbing is a different beast, for sure.

Oh snap... you're right. We're going up again tonight- that won't qualify either. I forget that Winter is not the same as "winter." Good looking out, pauls...

que pasa going up to do Pearly Gates.. was up there monday and got shut down by steep ice steps just short of the summit.. want to get back up there with a belay and finish the job. up friday night, sleep a few hours, head up around 2:30 saturday morning. gonna be warm, so we should probably make good speed, try to hit the summit right at dawn (about 7:40). conditions are steep and icy... bring a second tool. i have screws and rope, if'n you dont. bkb0000@comcast.net -ben

aahh, gotcha. i was on the south side monday morning. started very calm, but by dawn, the wind whipping over the summit from the northeast was shooting powder well out into the crater. was wondering if anyone was on the flip side, and how they might be faring. it'd obviously calmed down quite a bit by the time you guys got up there mon night.

what time did you top out, and how was wind over there?

thanks for the encouragement, gentlemen.. i think i'm heading back up this weekend.. finish the job. Kenny - I-Rock was basically bare, BTW... some small patches of ice at the top, but unless the west side looked better than the east and north, there wasn't any ice climbing to be done on that guy this time around

inspirational... can't wait till i'm confident enough to solo ice steps like that. awesome TR, crackman

have you tried mountainproject.com? most those guys seem to be from colorado.

weather is supposed to be pretty gnarly up there on thurs.. 30-35mph wind, cold... no bueno.

Trip: Mt. Hood - Solo Hogsback to Pre-Season Pearly Gates Date: 12/12/2011 Trip Report: For you Grand Masters of Alpine, this TR will probably not be very interesting. I wasn't even going to write one, especially considering I didn't summit, but because of some personal firsts, and the unexpected conditions of the route, I decided somebody might find it worthwhile. This climb was a couple of firsts for me- my first winter ascent of a glaciated peak, and my first solo attempt of a glaciated peak. A finish at the top would have been cool, obviously, but overall, despite turning around a mere 50' from the summit, I really think this was probably my most enjoyable climb yet. I originally wanted to climb Devil's Kitchen Headwall (DKH), and tried for about a week to get a partner. Monday looked to be the best weather day, and I prefer to climb on weekdays anyway, but that obviously limits partners, who frequently work. By Saturday, I still had no partner, and started posting in the partner's section of the boards. By Sunday night, still no partner... so I figured it was time for a solo. I didn't know what route I'd take, once I got up there, but I knew it would be a South Side route. I wanted the security of an easy bail, in case of surprise weather, for my first solo foray. But I hoped I might run into another soloist, or even a team, who'd be willing to give DKH a try with me... so I packed my harness, a length of 60m twin, and a light ice rack. Arriving at T-Line at 22:00 (I don't use 24-hour time to be pretentious, I've just decided that it makes a lot more sense, for mountaineering, when normal sleep and daylight patterns tend to raise the question), I found conditions less than ideal. The wind was blowing me all over the road, it was snowing sideways, and visibility was maybe 100m. I trusted the forecast, however, which called for clearing in the wee hours, and set my watch alarm for 2:00. When I woke at 1:55, I noticed the wind had died down significantly, and by 2:00, was almost completely dead... how bout that?? Though I felt bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, it took some time to get my shit together. Plus, I really wanted HOT gatorade... and the hot gatorade I'd brought up was now COLD gatorade, so I let the truck run for well over an hour to try to heat it back up. I finally swung my ruck on at about 3:30, and was up the Climber's Trail by 4:00. 'Bout ready.. Winter hiking through the resort is frakkin awesome... no dirt climbing, and snowcat tracks that take you right up to Palmer. Was above 8,500' in no time at all. It was very cold, but I was moving fast, feeling very strong... no need to stop and get chilled. No partners to stop and wait for every 500'. I kept luke-warmish gatorade in my tube, and forced myself to take a sip about every 5 minutes to prevent freezing. Wind was very light, actually pleasant, all the way up the slope toward the crater. A pair of Adidas "Cross Trainers" my buddy Dan and I found on a boulder at about 9,000' back in October. They'd looked like somebody had just cashed them for the trip back down, so we didn't fuck with them... but a month and a half later, frozen in time! The eastern horizon started to light up about 6:45, just as I was starting up the spur toward Crater Rock from the top of Triangle Moraine. The wind started to pick up about this time... expecting 20mph wind at the summit, I wasn't too surprised, but was definitely disappointed. I considered finding a place to sit down, out of the wind, somewhere in the crater, and wait for the sun to come up. But I just kept climbing, and I never did find a place out of the wind... next thing I knew, I was at the lip of the bergschrund, ripping my sweat-frozen soft shell off my fleece to put my down on. By this point, it seemed the Pearlys was probably the best course of action. I didn't want to try DKH alone, I was obviously the only guy in the crater, if not on the mountain (I later saw another guy descending from the Wy'East side), I'd done the Old Chute already, and it really just looked like a pretty straight shot up. So I dropped some gear I knew I wouldn't need... pickets, trekking poles, a stuff sack full of more layers... pulled a basic ice ax off of, and re-shouldered my pack. A couple steps across a small snow bridge, and I was above the schrund and heading up again. Snow bridge over the right edge of the 'schrund.. taken on descent I was surprised by the condition of the "Gates." It wasn't the easy 45* snow the route is known for... it was a fairly bare, very icy, deep couloir network without an exactly obvious path up. Everything looked technical, and after about 50 or so feet up, not even in the main couloir yet, I had a second tool out, and was sticking mostly ice, with some snow. There were several steep sections, approaching probably 55*, but nothing exactly scary... in fact, it was a hell of a lot of fun- my tools and points stuck very well, and, best of all- NO WIND once inside. Mouth of the couloirs a couple hundred feet up, I was confronted with a couple of options up... the one to the left ran into a very steep, 20' or so high ice step. The ice was good, but I was free-soloing... so I barely even stopped to consider it. But I feared I might find exactly the same in the couloir to the right... a few dozen more feet, my fear was confirmed. Doesn't look like much, I know... and to you Grand Masters of the Alpine, it probably wouldn't have been. But to me, a technical noob to begin with, and on my first ever solo attempt, without a belay.... 15' of 75ish degree ice was probably not gonna happen. Checking my altitude at 11,175', my first thought was just "oh, lame.. this is gonna be scary," and I started up. My tool strikes were clean, and I was sticking very well. But after about 5 or 6 moves, a tool stick shattered on me, giving me a slight start, and I looked down to see a short fall to 50 degree hard ice, dropping away 1,000 feet to the bottom of the crater.... my concern wasn't so much that I couldn't ascend, but mostly that I would never be able to descend it safely. I thought to myself "well, this is why you brought that 22cm screw, remember?" and then also remembered that I'd forgotten to pack my v-thread tool... and so I very sketchily down-climbed the 5 or so feet I'd climbed. Anchored in to rest for a bit, staring at that damn wall, I eventually surrendered to the fact that I would not be summitting. Yea, Walmart Remington. So what? Just a shot back down the main coulior Down-climbing back down to the schrund, I regrouped, and reconsidered my options. The Old Chute was still there, obviously, and I still had some energy left. I munched a Powerbar, gulped the last of my Gatorade, and tried to estimate my time... by this time, it was around 9:00... I figured, factoring my inevitable rapid strength declination, probably halfway up the snow field, it would be another 2:30 to 3 hours till I'd be back to the schrund, with still another 2 hours to descend. Looking back down the slope, I observed a semi-startling sight- a HUGE blanket of clouds was cooking in from the east. I couldn't quite tell the elevation, but it looked to be between 5,500 and 7,000'... possibly complicating my descent. Once again, soloing for my first time, I decided I should probably just go ahead and pack it up. I began descending pretty quick. Despite warm sun, the snow was staying firm, and heel-plunges were out of the question... 'pons stayed on, and I got the quad workout of the season. Once below Crater Rock, I observed the cloud blanket was still "rolling," but had stopped forward progress... Odd. I'd estimated it would absorb the mountain in 45 minutes, but after an hour, it was still stalled out about a mile from the base of the 'tain. My guess is that I was observing a weak cold front running into the shield wall of a high-pressure zone... like a brick wall. Whatever the case, the remainder of my now lazy descent was in the sun. Got some good glissades in, too- something I'd never had much luck with on the mild South Side slopes. The clouds that never did come in All in all, it was an awesome climb. Soloing, I waited for no-one... moved at my own pace, and moved up the mountain faster than I would have guessed possible. The "lame" hike to the top I was expecting turned into a pretty neat little ice climbing 101, and even though I surrendered maybe 50' from the summit, I think this was my most enjoyable Hood climb yet. I see more solo attempts in the future. And this is what I came home to... and that's all he was wearing. Rock on, young Otto. Gear Notes: A belay would have got me up. Remembering I had a "bail screw" in my pack might have, too... but I really can't say, from the safety and comfort of my desk, if I would have had the balls... Approach Notes: It's the south side... just go up!

i bailed 50' from the summit on a measly 15ish-foot ice step 'cause i had no belay. good ice, too. otherwise.... very high quality climb, IMHO. if it wasn't for my personal need for belay on steep ice, i think i'd probably solo everything from now on. left the truck at 4am, was eating breakfast in the crater by 7:30. i've never moved that fast with a partner.

what is it? keep reading about it, but only in obscurity