diepj

The cliffs you are referring to (and in particular the traverse) is more commonly known as the Wy'east crux. Although I must admit I don't fully recognize the pic, I'm more familiar with it in winter conditions. I didn't realize it would melt out quite that much this early with so much rock visible. Heading up anything between 1d all the way around to the Wy'east route all will send you through the Wy'east crux. There is a way to split right off of 1c but depending on conditions it cliffs you out and you would have to rap and then join the red line up ahead out of sight in the mellow gully. The split is after where the 1c crux steps form. Thanks for the TR and pics! Way to get out there and do something a little different!

You bummed me out Bill! I don't usually look in partners... And then I thought WOW! Is this a thing!!?! If it revived I would probably try and check it out sometime. I know RB is a total shit hole anyway but is there an established "area for drytooling? (Haven't read the whole thread...)

Oh and watch the weather, if it looks bad or questionable before you leave check the Bend, OR forecast and bring your rock gear for Smith and you might avoid getting completely skunked. That said we've been in a pretty good weather pattern the last couple weeks...

In my opinion you will find all of these mountains in condition. Right now is high season for a lot of routes! IMO you should be able to tackle at least 2 things if the weather is good. I wouldn't go to Shasta unless that's the only place with climbable weather. Rainier I haven't seen any recent reports, but they have mountaineering rangers on staff you can talk to. Give them a call and see what they say. I would expect that ID might be out of condition. Its more of a winter route and become impassable pretty quick. You might be better off researching the Disappointment cleaver. Its a great route to break into Rainier on. Mt Hood you can do in a day and is recommended. Hogsback route is certainly in condition right now with several options and is the standard introduction to the mountain. If you're experienced you might check out Leuthold couloir. Its also easily done in a day and is a little more interesting. Adams glacier is probably in but this is going to take you several days. I.e. you'll probably be left picking between this and Rainier. I haven't climbed the route but I've had it recommended. Up to you but I'm guessing you'll pick Rainier if you have the option. Also this will be the overall most difficult in terms of approach/climb/descent that you have listed. This isn't to discourage but you won't find much recent beta and you probably won't see many other climbers. Definitely higher on the adventure scale that Hood or Rainer. That last statement excludes Olympus but unless you're trying to tick some list off stick to the other peaks. That climb will take all of your week and from what I've heard it's not really that interesting. Baker also should be in and you might be able to find a recent TR. Welcome and have fun!

Wow, I was imaging you off to the right on the actual glacier where you can see some knarly stuff in that photo! No way would I expect anything like that in the vicinity.

Glad you got hung up before you bought the farm! I think we've chatted a bit about it on here and I know I've traded some posts with Water about it for sure but more and more this is why I rope up on the White River and the Reid these days as a default. How the heck is that thing not buried deep right now?? I'm not picturing exactly where you were but I would have probably crossed solo without thinking too much about it, especially close to that big hogsback type of feature that starts up closer to triangle moraine.

Nice work!! Its a fun line and if it was closer to the lodge it would get done a ton. I'll bet it only gets sent by a couple parties a year. With good conditions and confident knowledge of the route a skier could climb the south side, ski it and it might not be too bad working back around to the south side. Would just have to climb from ~7800 on Yocum Ridge back up to I-Saddle.

Water, Our approach has evolved in time. Used to solo on the Reid (and White River) and not really think about it. Took a look at it one time and saw how cracked up it was underneath and started roping up. Last year (2015) was lean and we actually dropped a guy through what was probably a sub-bergschrund (not the main top one) heading up to the main Reid line (Mid Feb I think). He disappeared, right up to the brim of his helmet (Rope caught him). Honestly we kind of knew it was a bridge, but there wasn't another easy way. This happened probably higher than where you would have dropped skis. I also crossed the Reid in late Jan (again, 2015) heading for Sandy and there were tons of cracks we had to navigate. Right now you can't see any of this stuff like you could last year and the chances are really good that its buried deep. I wouldn't say a person was crazy right now if they solo'd it. Its hard to know when to cut it off though. Also we had just had a decent dump of snow at the top was pretty soft and post-holey. Its hard to know in that situation if something is just drifted over, especially at the bergys which tend to stay more open it seems. I like soloing better when there is a nice hard crust on top. I wouldn't say at this time of year there is a right or wrong answer. We rope up because as much as anything else its just what we do. We're not on skis so it really isn't that much of a hassle. And we're carrying rope anyway.

The top pic is awesome!! We followed you up and your TR is spot on. The route was super mellow, the hourglass could hardly be called ice and we didn't have any rock or ice fall. In the past we have traversed lower on the Reid and run straight up the couloir from a lower point, rather than traversing in so high. Given the fresh snow I think you took the best approach for the conditions. If you downclimbed a chute with no tracks in it then it was the Mazama chute. By the time we got over there there was only 1 set of tacks in it - the main bootpack was in the old chute.

We should have held a CC.com pub club event up there. My wife and I were camped at I-saddle and heard Catstack and MTHorman go by. We ran into Bedell on the Queen's chair. Awesome link-up! I think that might be the best approach to the Eliot. Leuthold might be OK too, a little more distance, a little less vert. Catstack - thanks for the booter on Luethold!! Definitely made things a little easier for us in the snow. We decided to carry everything over for "training" and appreciated the tracks.

Icefall of that variety seems to be a fact of life on the headwall routes on Hood, at least in my experience. Seem to always have pellets and a few fist sized ones coming at you on any of the routes with substantial rime formations above and around. Doesn't seem to have rhyme or reason with temps, sun exposure, wind, etc. it just happens. Maybe we're crazy but we just kind of got used to it. Sucks to take one on the hand or shoulder but I mainly only get concerned if a microwave flies by. This seems a lot easier to avoid using typical metrics for avoiding the hazard. Also have learned to avoid the small stuff better by climbing in the margins rather than right up the gut of the little runnels, to the extent possible. Often there is good ice right in the center though! Nice climb! I love Reid and have always done the left exit. I am looking forward to giving your variation to the crater rim a go for something different.

I don't know for sure about Powers 5-piece specifically, but give Portland Fasteners out in NW a call. They have tons of stuff and if not the Powers something else appropriate for your application. If you're wanting a 5-piece simply because you're familiar with it from climbing know that the construction and engineering community has moved beyond these for structural applications, particularly when fastening to concrete.

I was up there mid-winter last year on a real nice day and someone lifted an apparently pretty nice new snowboard right off of the hogsback while the owner was on the summit. It was apparently dug in pretty well and very unlikely it got dislodged and slid away...

No problem. Are you maxed on the long bars? Might be a cheap fix if it made the difference.

I have found a good fit between Mont Blancs (size 45) and Petzl Sarken. I've found the Petzls to be pretty versatile. They're a little heavier/overkill for snow and summer routes but they're lighter than a full-on ice/mixed pon like a G14. I've climbed WI4 and easy mixed with them. While I've found them to be a one crampon does it all item, I'd probably prefer at this point to have a G12/Vasak for alpine and G14/Lynx for more technical terrain. And a light Alu pair for the summer. So I'd think about your climbing goals/trajectory before committing to a crampon right in the middle if you think you might want eventually to get into more technical climbing. Lot's of opinions out there, mine is that there is no upside to stainless on a crampon and I avoid the BDs as a result. I'll second the idea to try moving the rear bail attachment to the other set of points. Also maybe try it again with the lower bar set a little longer than you think you need. I've sometimes found a good fit with a little more of a gap between the boot heel and the rear stop tabs. I'm not sure there's anything wrong with a gap there if the fit is otherwise solid.

What sort of beta? I think the route descriptions floating around are pretty good. Early May is a popular time and should be OK generally speaking. How is the fitness of your group? Its a long route (not as bad if you wait for the road) which may speak in favor of a bivy at snow dome. With Newbs consider a car shuttle and descend the south side rather than down climbing Cooper Spur.

That's pure Bullshit.

My browser stays signed in so long I need to reset the password whenever it kicks me out after guessing at all the usual suspects. I occasionally get other random errors which make the site unavailable but I just come back another day and everything is working fine...

How big of a print? It looks like the doc is only 8.5x11 and many of the pics aren't full page size to begin with. If you blow it up too much it might not look good anyway. I'm guessing you could crop and try an 11x17 to begin with.

We always stay at the Western Heritage Inn. It's convenient and close to MT Ale works. Call and talk to the manager Stephanie and you'll get a better rate than if you book online. Highly recommend Mackenzie River Pizza. Good pizza and beer, their cobb salad is a man meal.

In general climbing with a slight precip prob forecast or small accumulation is feasible. A big risk will be increasing avy danger from any new storm or wind slabs or the effect of increasing load on the existing snowpack. It doesn't take a lot of new precip coupled with wind transport to make for dangerous slabs. Your other main risk is losing visibility. Whenever you go out you should be prepared to get back in limited/no vis. This means knowing the headings you need to safely back down. Mt Hood south side is not a place to navigate by dead reckoning. What seems straightforward in good vis is actually quite deceiving in a white out. For this particular case I'm not sure what forecast you're looking at. Right now I see chances for light snow all day Saturday. NWS says little to no accumulation but mountain-forecast is calling for 5-8" depending on elevation. If you want to climb Sunday pay very close attention to actual accumulation totals. If precip comes through as forecasted on M-F climbing in the early hours on Sunday could be dangerous. As always have a plan B and allow for your objective to change with changes in conditions and your observations.

Yeah, 8 mile. Thanks for the beta!

Sweet! How far up NF 7601 could a person get right now with a 4wd vehicle? NF website says icicle creek road and 7601 are both open but I assume that means no gate but at some point the snow will stop you.

What city/town are you in?

Rare! Thanks for the TR and pics. Helps keep the stoke alive until the weather turns back in our favor.