diepj

Yeah, booted up to Pine Creek Headwall. Climbed some easy low stuff over on the left hand side. I'll have to research a little more if I go again to figure out the extra mile to the Rock Creek buttress you mention.

Thanks for the update, looks like all of the Hood environs are coming into nice shape. Now if only the weather would hold until the weekend!

Very cool! I have looked at those routes in OR high a few times and wondered about the possibilities... Thanks for the report.

I was able to check it out last weekend. Very cool setting and some nice ice flows in there. Lot's of opportunity for interesting looking routes to the top in an alpine flavor. Concur 100% on the access. It was very rough. With a full-size 4x4 we made it across the private land but decided to stop when we had to chain up to get out of a tricky spot. There were (Mark's?) jeep tracks to the top but not knowing what was ahead we didn't want to continue alone. I always prefer using chains to get out of trouble not deeper into it! The road is steep and rough. There are not many places to turn around... A small high-clearance vehicle (like a jeep) is ideal. Full size truck is a tight squeeze (too tight if you like your paint) and some of the turns are pretty tight as well. Right now there is not much snow which makes the drive possible for such a vehicle. Suby? No way! Mark is 100% right that there are some HUGE slide paths on the road! Bottom line, I could see going back, early season when the snow is light. Fun, interesting spot. But it's a long way from the west side and a lot of effort getting in.

Awesome! Looks like another place that will cut straight from "I've never heard of it" to a conga line on the road in next weekend. The internet - can't climb with it, can't climb without it...

Sweet!

New forum software has busted the google link but here's a cache of an old TR: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:z5c5xJqfK1sJ:cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php%3Fubb%3Dshowflat%26Number%3D518874+&cd=14&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-b-1

Yes, more info, please! I love that area and would love to check out some ice there.

My first concern was that all the old emoticons would be lost. Glad to see those are still rocking. Although, unless you have the syntax in order to search, the entire palette does not appear to browseable. Only the "default" emoticons are visible. Unless of course the emoticons will serve as a secret handshake among the "in" crowd of old?

I hammer away with a petzl Quark. Its a little awkward with the curve but seems to do the job. If you want to really weld something a standard hammer and a little more head weight would certainly be the better option.

How quickly does this thing form up in the fall? We've had some moisture and some freeze-thaw. Got me thinking...

No summit, only the top of the face, if I understand correctly. Not that it diminishes the accomplishment.

Although I have never had a clog I have done the fuel line cleaning preemptively and it is pretty easy. Basically there is a cable that sticks out the end of the fuel line a little bit. It sticks out of the end that plugs into the pump. You use the service tool to grab it and you rip it out. (Might have to pull rather hard.) They you can wipe it down or even soak it in solvent if it was really gunky. Then you reinsert it into the fuel line. (Getting it all the way back in can be the hardest part.) If it was really nasty you could repeat the process a few times, scouring out any crap from the line. If you find the service instructions in your gear bin (or PDF online) it should describe this process. As far as the pump it is also relatively easy to break down although I have never had clogging issues in the pump, just pressurization issues if the seals or pump cup dries out. Also good instructions from MSR on that process. While you're doing the cable ripping take off the primer cup and jet, etc. from the bottom of the stove. With the cable out and the jet off you could blow through and see if anything seems like maybe it is partially clogged. At this point you could run some solvent through the line and/or let it soak in some for a while. While it is apart use a fine needle (They include a tool in the expedition kits) to make sure the jet is really clear. You can also use the shaker thing while it is all apart if it its all you have. I would recommend taking a good luck at the jet. Different fuels use different jets and maybe the tar sands you were running through there were supposed to have a bigger jet to prevent plugging. You can't really break any part of the stove or pump if you use reasonable force and methods and it goes back together quite easily too. As I said MSR puts out very good instructions that are hard to bungle too badly. The best part is you can do this for next to nothing. (Free if you already have a kit of parts or 3 rolling around your gear bin or you don't need to replace o-rings or jets.) You will have a ton more comfort and confidence in your stove, knowing if it goes haywire in the field you've got the skills and you've done it before. Everything I am telling you was learned through preemptive maintenance before AK trips where I didn't want to try and figure any of this out in the middle of dire straights. What I am really recommending is even if you get a brand new one for $35 you should still try all of this with your brand new stove in the comfort of your garage and in the company of a few cold ones!

A quick point to add - use caution relating the routes to the hogsback, or interpreting descriptions that do. The hogs back has at times pointed directly into the pearly gates and has also at times shifted well over toward the base of the old chute routes. It seems to commonly split the difference although the last couple years have trended toward the pearly gates.

I'm sorry to hear about the loss. I also hadn't heard about the other skier over the 4th. To be fair it sounds like he may have been lower on the mountain and broke through into a creek. Similar concept I guess but I never really thought of the two in exactly the same way. I am surprised it doesn't happen more... Not really skiers specifically. But the number of people just walking around up there is astounding. Had never climbed Emmons and had some time over the 4th so went and checked it out. As you transition off the ridge and on to the Emmons below the camp Schurman you can see HUGE crevasses that the route passes over on bridges. No way to not notice this. There were plenty of people continuing here unroped. Also plenty of skiers skiing down there. Not exactly taking it wide around the cracks either. Won't happen to me maybe? Camped at Emmons flats. Even assuming that people probed their sites, many just walking back and forth down to Schurman. Definitely crevasse potential in the area. If there is a boot pack there all will be well, right? Saw some of the same between the flats and the corridor although most were roped up here. Except the people glissading. And some skiers. It seemed like a pretty good snowpack but there were some cracks below for sure. I mean there are glissade tracks starting literally 2 steps below narrow open cracks. And then a group which shares with us the pacific shores. Descending on foot, roughly spaced out as if on a rope. Except no rope. I was first exposed to this concept on Denali and saw it all the time and all over the mountain. I mean WTF? Why are these guys (and its always middle aged guys) always climbing with a team but doing their own thing? I guess that's not solo, right?

Thanks for the TR! Getting permits was hard enough as it was. Now it is ranger roulette for if they even understand their own rules?? I had a lot of fun on this route. I thought the rock was pretty good but agree that there was really only about 5 fifth class moves on the route and 3 of them were coming down the W ridge...

I agree 100% with Water. I don't consider them different routes but refer to one or the other to specify which specific way I came to the summit ridge or slopes.

Thanks for the post and update! Didn't know you were running a blog for the area. I really like what the NPS is doing with blogs for climbing in other parks and look forward to following along with NCNP as well.

Greta TR! I'll throw in a vote for the N ridge! That was a great climb although my only one (Descended the W ridge). Maybe NW face and E ridge are better in which case you can't go wrong on this mountain.

Nice!! Wish it was going to be 20 degrees cooler...

A couple ideas I haven't seen thrown in here. These are all snow routes with either no or basic glacier/crevasse hazard. Provided you are feeling good about your CR strategy as a team of 2 it seems like you could tackle these on your own and build some experience as well as your resume. No particular order 1. Mt St Helens (May have permit issues at this point) 2. Standard south route on Adams (Nice 2-day/weekend climb) 3. Glacier peak (Great 3-day trip. I climbed this in a very similar position as you are now - highly recommend) 4. Middle Sister. I would combo it with S Sister if you make the trip. I'll second some from above: 5. South side of Mt Hood. (Getting out of season, keep it on your radar for this coming late fall/winter/next spring) 6. Mt Baker C/D Based on your posts I think you could tackle any of these. IMO a lot is gained early on by just getting more and more mileage in the hills. Get this experience and all of your systems will improve. It will help you make the next steps. The more experience you have the more you can take away from guides and/or experience partners/mentors when you get those opportunities.

Thanks for posting the report and sharing the beta! CS is a route I haven't done yet and a lot of it stemmed from the fact that the route didn't feel like a worthwhile return for the investment of a north side approach. I think I might have to try it this way.

Agree that the Dragon + hard shell is perhaps not the minimum weight system as noted by all in both threads. But it worked well (enough)for me. Aside from the first 3 days and the last day I wore the softshell continuously. I wore the hardshell for about 8 hours on the whole trip and could have left it at home.

Mountain Hardwear Dragon worked great for me. The one I have is in my normal size but it fits really big. Which is what you need to layer it properly for those conditions. Fits like crap for wearing around town, which helps make it last for climbing!

Doesn't really matter... Bring a wide variety. Snickers are great but keep it in your coat pocket (i.e.warm). We had a huge variety of stuff - snickers, M&Ms, trail mix, jerky, fruit stick things, cheez&PB crackers, Cheez-it, rice kirspy treat, nutri-grain bar, chocolate, good&plenty, who knows what else. We established n planning various combinations to provide the calorie load we needed for a particular day, together with breakfast and dinner. Most of that stuff can be eaten frozen, something to consider. Pack your snacks up in daily rations and try to get through it all. That way you're getting the calories you need and also eating the stuff you really like and the stuff you're sick of in equal measure. If you have everything all combined for the whole trip you won't keep track of how much you "should" eat each day and also you'll favor the good stuff first and be left the gross stuff on the second half of the trip. (When you need it most!) If you find you brought something you don't like find someone who does and trade. You'd be surprised what people might want to give and take out there...