Dasan

Great running into you guys there at the pull out! Excellent to see other Portlanders coming up to enjoy all the goodness. Looks like you guys got after it! And oh my, wasn't Wowie Zowie FAT!

Trip: Oregon Madness. - March Madness, Crown Jewel, Black Spider Date: 2/2/2013 Trip Report: March Madness, Crown Jewel, Black Spider I climbed March Madness and Crown Jewel this January, both for the first time and had great experiences. I climbed March Madness, and some other ice runnels, solo and found it rewarding climbing, spending time being extra attentive and purposeful about pick placements due to its interact nature on March Madness, sometimes having to dig beneath a layer of sun effected ice and insubstantial drips. As for Crown Jewel, not that its there anymore, was probably the most fun I have ever had climbing in Oregon and got to share it with good company. I found myself laughing joyfully the whole way up, mostly moving over 4"-8" plastic ice, thinner in spots and opportunities to sink a couple 16cm and a nice apron to cling at the top of out second pitch. Once we toped out, we climbed steep moss and mud to a ridge to the east and walk it to the road. Lastly, We, myself and two friends, went up the Center Drip on the Black Spider on February 2nd. Which, like Wayne said, is a very do-able route. No harder then say WI3 with some foot placements on rock here and there, with perfect sticks, seriously, the ice was fucking amazing. We soloed everything but the last pitch, which was the crux and was a very fun, airy lead. We started at timberline, up the palmer, and round under steal cliffs, around Wy'est. Eleven and a half hours round trip. Found a picket, a sling and a locker in the chute we down climbed after summiting, think it might have been the Mazama's Chute. Happy Climbing. Here are some pics. Gear Notes: Full rubber raincoat for Crown Jewel in the conditions we climbed it in. Approach Notes: For Crown Jewel there is a rail road pull out between Exit 22 and Exit 23 on 84 just before Mirror Lake that is the best access. Park and walk down the tracks to the base of the climb.

Good solo. However, I have got to say honestly, having been there and climbed that ice, on the second step, there is no way its 60' long and there is no way it was overhanging, it was steep say 70 or 75 with bulges. Good job though, I hope you had a good experience.

Trip: Mt Hood - Reid Glacier Headwall - Variation. Date: 5/26/2012 Trip Report: My good friend Conor came down from Seattle for his Birthday to get in an alpine adventure with me. With little time and limited means of transportation we headed to the Hood to explore the west side, looking at the Reid Glacier Head Wall. We knew the weather was not looking good, so we used that factor to amp up the climb, making for an interesting and more challenging adventure. We had a great time. Skinned/booted to top of Palmer in ice conditions with fluctuating 30 mile an hour headwinds. The traverse from the top of the lift line to the saddle was the start of the deeper snow, having to post hole knee high for much of it. The upper mountain was very socked in. At the saddle we cramponed up, and rested and refueled with continued strong winds and spindrift. As we dropped into the Reid and traversed up toward the bergschrund we enjoyed our last moments of vision. From there on we were socked in the whole time, visibility ranging from 15ft to fleeting breaks in the clouds were we reassess out position and made route finding decisions. However we manage to get off route. Most of the climbing was steep snow, ranging from 45 to 55 or so...But after #4 on our route, the black line, we climbed a few hundred feet of 65 degree mixed rock and rime which proved to be cruxy, due to the lack of good, protectable ice and lack of rock gear. We reached a snow ridge (#5) and rested while visibility deteriorated further making it impossible to know where we were and what type of ground lay between us and the next gully that led up. When the weather cleared briefly we saw it to be down climbable. From there, we climbed the gully upward, which was nice and icy, up to the ridge. We traversed the ridge, down climbed the old chute and navigated down to the Hogsback and down and around crater rock and to the top of Palmer in total whiteness. Then it was just the last leg down to the car. Thank god for compasses! Fun trip. The whole time everything was an unknown until it was right in our faces. Gear Notes: If I could do it again, I would have forgotten about the screws and brought a pare of pickets. A small accessible camera for better picture taking. Approach Notes: Some deeper snow, quite stable though.

Not very, we passed fairly high up, but there were a few around the base of the Black Spider wall at the top of the glacier, but they were all very safe and manageable. Lower down, I can't really remember paying too much attention to that area, but it certainly was NOT heavily broken up.

I forget the exact time we left but it might have been around 230am and we got back around 1130, so about 9 hours. Probably could have been faster if we had ski crampons, cause it was super icy.

Hey whats up NordicPunk!

You would need to be an excellent skier with large balls, its a few thousand of no-fall 55 degrees with mixed in icy patches. We also did not cross the shrund or touch the lower section cause we traversed into it so I can't tell you anything about the lower section. Course it has snowed a bit in the last few days since we did it....

Trip: Mt Hood - North Gully Right Date: 5/17/2012 Trip Report: We went and climbed the North Gully. Conditions were good and cold, though a little too icy for effective skinning while it was early. Since we started at timberline we traversed around the mountain providing a lot of great views and opportunity to cover a lot of ground. The Right gully was 55 degrees of ice and corn, some small rocks started coming off as the sun heated everything up and the corn started to loosen up too. The upper ice step was very in and phat, the ice was plastic where the sun was shining and very hard where it was in the shade. Wonderful climbing though the ice was over before it even started. We didn't rope up other then after I got up the step, I dropped a rope down to my partner who didn't feel comfortable soloing it. Good day out. Gear Notes: We were blinding hoping the Black Spider wall would be in, so we brought more gear that we never used like some pins, nuts, doubles, etch... As for the North Gully, one could use a couple of pickets, a hand full of screws and rope if it feels necessary. Approach Notes: Starting from Timberline, we skinned up to the top of Palmer, ditched the skies and then made the traverse across the white river and around the steel cliffs and all the way to the Black Spider wall to take a look. It was totally blank other then the rotten remnants of AmosFric, so we continued on cross the spur, into the first gully, over the rib and into the right gully.

Buddy and me going up tonight. Weather is going to a little gnarly, but we are just going to rage.

Last friday me a couple friends went up Hood Southside, got a great view of the lunar eclipse and all. My friends went up the Old Chute but as soon as I heard from a fellow climber that the Gates were chalked full of ice and it was "Dangerous" I knew where I was going. Armed with a pair tools, I also went up the pearly Gates to find the exact conditions you were describing, 55 moving into 70/75 degree ice. I was feeling the fire and though it was my first time climbing alpine ice, or any ice for that matter, I soloed the whole thing. It was a very lightening experience. The ice was super solid, giving great placements. However, there were these 2-3 foot high steps along the way that made you really work for postion to get up and over them. Definetly some zen moments trying to work out the technique, all in all great experience though.

Looks like a great climb. How solo-able do you think this would be? Any good spots to rest while on the west face? How was the climbing, bomber foot and axe placements? How many screws did you bring?

Hey guys, looks like a great climb, been eyeing it for a while now. I was wondering, how well do you guys think using 30meter twin ropes would work for the route? Its all I got right now