harrai

Nicely done! Would have been fun on Thursday if I'd had a second tool. Thanks for the photos.

Thanks. I was a nice moment for sure, and I am glad we were able to make it happen even with a few challenges along the way. A big lenticular cloud had formed, hiding the summit, during the morning on Christmas day, so we were grateful that that didn't repeat during our climb.

Thanks all. Sometimes dark humor helps keep things in perspective. Cheers everyone.

Trip: South Side Hood Conditions - Old Chute Date: 12/26/2013 Trip Report: Left Timberline at 4am. The snow was firm and made for bad skinning, even on the groomers--it would have been great to have some splitboard crampons. The sky was clear and temps were in the low 40s. Got a great sunrise. As soon as we left the resort, the snow surface turned to a variety of large ice formations and rime, and skinning was nearly impossible, so we ditched the boards there, and lost hope of any good turns on the way down. The Hogsback was firm, but without ice. The east aspects up high looked like the only halfway decent skiing on the south side. There was a lot of ice falling off of the Steel cliffs, and occasional pieces coming down through the Pearly Gates and the Old Chute. I am more into touring than climbing, but of the few times I have been on the summit, this time definitely presented the spiciest summit ridge experience. Gusty winds out of the south, and a very narrow, rimed, and warming ridge made for some careful travel. Don't feel like this quite does it justice, but here you go: It just so happened to be the three-month anniversary of my mom passing away after a hard fought battle with breast cancer, and the strong winds were happy to help commemorate her life. Things were warming up quickly, and we got some ice dodging practice on the way down. All in all, a beautiful day, and my first "winter" summit. Crossing my fingers for some snow so that I can put away the crampons and get back to touring. Hope you all are having a great holiday break. -Har Rai

Great photos!

Thanks, sepultura. The terrain truly is stunning. As it was my first time to the area, I don't know how common those bluebird days that we were getting are. From talking to some of the others there, it sounds like they might be a bit few and far between. Definitely try and get back there, there is a lifetime's worth of options to explore. While we worked through all of the major guidebook-type of tours, there were thousands more variations and lines that could be explored, and then on the last day, when we headed north behind the hut, there was a whole 'nother zone with lines that could have entertained me for weeks. I guess the only trick is that you have to roll the dice when booking, because it fills up early and you never know what you are going to get. One thing that we found out, is that a lot of the reservations are done by guides before they have their trips filled, and then cancelled when they don't fill up. So sometimes there are last minute openings. Take photos when you go!

Trip: Stanley Mitchell Hut - The President, Mt. Kerr - Date: 3/31/2013 Trip Report: Did 6 days at the Stanley Mitchell Hut in B.C. from 3/31-4/5. We had amazing weather the first few days, and the stability was good. Even though it hadn't snowed in at least a week, we found great snow on north aspects--definitely what I would call powder after begin raised on Hood. The place was packed the first night, but then we had the whole valley to ourselves starting on Tuesday. The approach is a slog at 14+ miles. I hear some people split it into two days, we did it in about 8 hours one day, which isn't too bad, time wise, but it was a lot of ground to cover. One guy brought along a home made pulk sled, which was definitely more trouble than it was worth. I would recommend just packing everything on your back. We had a group of 5, so we split the cost of portering in about 100lbs of food, which meant eating great and having plenty of energy for big tours every day. The hut itself isn't very expensive, so it was nice to be able to do. The trip was mostly about skiing/riding, but we did a little bit of peak bagging as well: the President and Mt. Kerr. We took a ton of photos. I'll post some of the alpine shots here, and if you want to see more of the touring, you can find that at: http://splitboardingoregon.blogspot.com/2013/04/stanley-mitchell-hut-33113-4513.html Also, I went up into the crater on Wednesday. My partner was having some issues and weren't making very good time, so just below the hogsback is as far as I went. Traveling up, the snow on top was great, but there was a lot of ice and texture below, making for a less than perfect descent. It didn't look like anyone had summited by any of the standard routes, but there were two folks who were coming off down off of a route on the east side of the crater around 11:30, if you know them, I've got these low-quality phone shots for them. On another side note, how's that photo contest coming? Gear Notes: Touring gear, glacier travel, positive mental attitude, no pulk sled. Approach Notes: Go for a long enough trip that you'll forget about the approach day.

Airing into Newton Canyon, Mt. Hood.

Awesome! Great video!

That looks like an amazing trip for sure!!!

Great photos!

Saw this on TAY, but again, damn impressive.

Thanks for the video. Very helpful to compare test results to actual accidents.

Thanks for the photos Iain! Let me know the next time you are looking for company--always happy to break trail in exchange for picking your brain about snowpack. Hopefully Greg passed on my contact info with those shots.

Yeah, I remember you guys. Bummer that your trip stopped there, but it looks like a pretty decent weather window, so hopefully you get redemption soon. See you next time!