bmurphs

Trip: Mt Hood - South Side - Hogsback - Old Chute Date: 5/4/2015 Trip Report: First trip up Mt Hood! We left Timberline around 12.45 under the light of the full moon (I didn't even need to turn on my headlamp). We were planning on going up through the Pearly Gates, but another climber we talked to advised us to go up the Old Chute, as it would be safer given the conditions. We hit a bit of hard blue ice that was just barely covered by crumbly icy snow in the uppermost right part of the chute, just below the summit ridge line, but that was the only slightly sketchy part of the whole route. We generally encountered snow of varying degrees of iciness the whole way up. Small pieces of ice rained on us the whole way up the chute, even before sunrise. (We also occasionally got bombarded by larger pieces of ice...) Summited at around 7. There were a surprising number of people up there for a Monday morning; I'd hate to see what it looks like on a weekend... I've included a picture of the Forest Service conditions report from the Climber's Cave for those of you looking for beta.