nonbasketless

...not to mention hardwoman. http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12193010600/print The modern human wussy is (sipping americano at Stumptown) me.

nice, nice

Whoa, amazing! Tell us more about this Sisters/Broken Top traverse. Never heard of someone including Broken Top.

thx for the compliment and yes to both!

Well done! That's real interesting; I saw a photo of the crevasse from a month ago and was also really surprised. I went two weeks ago and couldn't see much (white out) despite thinking about it, but I did cross over someone's footstep that seemed bottomless. Went pretty much straight up, definitely not left. I wonder if it's opening and closing as the glacier flows. Topmost climbers in your second photo look like they're humping.

Trip: Mt Hood - Old Chute Trip Date: 06/16/2018 Trip Report: I know what you're thinking: "Old chute? Lame". Yeah, I'll tell you what's lame: How dead this forum is. Old chute will have to do (and I want to see more lame reports!). I'd been feeling extremely itchy for an interesting outing for a while. I was encouraged by the weather forecast and looking forward, but then this happened I caused this: Remember to drive with not bald, well aligned/balanced tires, especially if you go (tastefully) over the limit after fresh rain. It's much worse than it looks: the frame deformed about two inches and one of the engine mounts failed (though, very surprisingly, the engine still runs fine). The displaced engine broke a CV joint. Oh well, cars are for wussies. Invigorated, I eventually settled on using the bus to climb a new to me route on Hood: west crater rim. I started walking toward the transit center at 11:30 on Friday. Soon, civilization fades and I get my first view of the mountain: The slog was great. I don't get how people can be disappointed with it. Do a little zigzag on your way up, there's so much to see! I get AMS at the drop of a hat (literally, dropping a hat decreases air pressure around it and makes me sick) and I'm generally weak so I shared Illumination Saddle with a hardcore duo that just did Reid, a mountain rescue person and his bro, and a big group of energetic residents from Legacy who surrounded me with tents and snored all night and played my least favorite music and didn't offer me any of their alcohol despite me doing minor favors for them. Bless everyone's souls. The weather forecast called for calm clarity followed by PM clouds, wind, and snow, so I was a little surprised to emerge from my tent at 5:00 and find the upper reaches encased in angry clouds. Seemed foolish to try a new route off the beaten path above fumaroles in a likely white out, so I very loosely decided to try the Old Chute instead: familiar terrain. I hastily packed up my stuff, imagining that the visibility would only decrease (the clouds were usually about 1000 ft above us) and navigating back to the saddle would suck. Seems like I was correct, as I could hardly see anything when I left my tent and sleeping bag on some random rocks at 9300 ft somewhere between the saddle and the edge of White River glacier. I talked to a few unhappy climbers on the way down, but for some reason every interaction bumped my inclination from "prolly not" toward "this'll be extremely fun". Visibility remained about as bad as it could be up to the summit (well, it can be worse when the wind blows ice around your glasses into your eyes, thankfully none of that), and the snow conditions were excellent. It took an unexpected amount of mental energy to stay on the boot path, but it worked and it made for my favorite mountain experience so far. The contrast was so weak that I had a scary moment realizing I had to stop climbing at the summit ridge. On the way down once I was near the bogshack the clouds lifted very dramatically every now & then. Anyway, that's my hyped up ho hum story. My loveliest climb yet! Gear Notes: I think I get curved axe handles now Approach Notes: Watch out for house centipedes on your way out the basement apartments

What an awesome report, congrats & props! I love that you waited out the weather at home and opted out of the beaten path :->.

Welcome, and thx for the unique report! I've always wondered why more folks don't start from Meadows.

Woooooooooooo, well done! Not sure what I'm more excited about: an intriguing FA or just the fact that a new Oregon trip report has been posted. Either way, awe ya!

Welcome to the area dude! I admire your cowboyish inclinations to figure this out yourself. I highly recommend you spend a few hours combing through trip reports through all seasons. You might notice certain patters, like the rarity of October reports. When you go, the singly most important thing is for you to be willing to turn back when things get stupid. I made six solo attempts before finally getting up there, in a mess of AMS, and my own cowboyishness has a way of unsettling others. I haven't observed rockfall in early snow, but I'd be surprised if it's worse than late July (when there is still much climbing). I'd be most scared of poking into a poorly covered crevasse, and there will be many in unusual/unexpected places this time of year. The slopes are also more slopey, and even in optimal conditions the Old Chute is unsettlingly steep for most noobs. I hate to say it since going with the flow is so lame, but if you want to be safe your best bet is to go when there are a lot of others present, not only because you probably aren't all making the same mistake (ha), but also because if something happens you will be immediately helped. Happy climbing!

Thank you! I aspire to someday write as well as mitochondria. That's a deer that kept clumsily wandering near my tent and then thundering off. Annoying. Oh well, I was sleeping in its home, uninvited.

Trip: South Sister - Hodge Crest Cliff & Scree Fest (east) Date: 7/17/2017 Trip Report: Hello! I'm excited to post! Lurked this great site for years. So, I climbed South Sister a couple weeks back and figured it was interesting enough for me to want to share with ya'll kind strangers. One fine, calm, cool Sunday I left Portland for Green Lakes. When I got there, there were only two other camping parties (?) and I got a pristine spot. Unfortunately I was afflicted with a severe headache which made enjoying things hard, but that passed overnight. My plan was to ascend the east face directly up to Hodge Crest, which is the peak of a former, older South Sister. I pieced together a plan using Google Maps and some inspiration from Jeff Thomas' Oregon High, which says: "The top of the ridge is fairly broken up. Try to avoid treeing yourself by skirting low on the south side." (labelled 18) Sounds/looks easy, though "skirting low" contradicts the picture. Whatever. I spent some time on Google Maps and was mainly worried about gaining the crest, which seemed guarded by cliffs. After identifying from my campsite a delightful route up which exploited snow covering the aforementioned cliffs (a bit more north than what's in the picture above), I was walking at a leisurely 9:00. Getting to the crest was uneventful. The snow was just starting to form a deep moat against the crest, so I guess my timing was lucky. I gained the ridge, sighted the summit proper, and began my leisurely walk to it, until I was stopped by a little cliff not visible from my campsite and not visible from Google Maps. Though totally visible in a photo taken by an awesome pilot I once flew with, which I should've consulted. It was big enough that a fall would, umm, hurt, but otherwise pretty small, and someone had left a rappel sling. If I had no kid and less respect for life, I might've attempted to go over it, but opted instead to lose about 500 ft and go through a slot in what turned out to be an almost continuous cliff band to the glacier below. It was really demoralizing. Then it sucked worse. The slopes across the mountain here are of a firmer, heavier version of awful scree, right at the repose angle, crowned at the top with alternating bands of heavy (grey) boulders supported by, what's the technical term? Loose lava foam (red)? Boulders were coming down once every few minutes. I ran across it nervously, and hated the experience, occasionally yelling things like "moommmmmy!" and "my daughter needs me!". Getting to the summit was uneventful. Getting off... ideally I'd avoid the crest and its approach entirely for mellower slopes down, but I'd brilliantly ditched my crampons and additions to my rock collection right near it, which means (assuming I value my things more than my life) I need to get back up there. Bleh. I made things initially nicer by descending the standard south route, then crossing the Lewis glacier, avoiding the scree field but now needing to ascend a different slot on the cliffs, which look to be made of firmer rhyolite. Maybe? Should be better, right? No. No no no. So much loose rock. Tastelessly long. My right hand is hurting too, and climbing occasional easy/breaky 5th class like that... at least it was type 2 fun, unlike the scree field gamble. I got my crampons/rocks, and enjoyed the longest/best glissade ever. Got home in the middle of the night. No regrets. Gear Notes: One teensy little rope for the cliff would've made this trip sooooo much nice. Approach Notes: No, you're not bleeding all over, those are just remnants of mosquitoes which are so abundant you can't not accidentally smoosh them.