Nolan E Arson

@zaworotiuk@kadyakerboband I climbed it a couple years ago. Cool line, steep, with a big fun move up the rime step. But, as is usually the case, the exposed rock section at the base made for somewhat sketchy climbing. Here’s the report (I hope)

Nice. I totally agree about the quality of the route. So many weird rime formations to wander through, and so much fun and low-stress ice to play on. (Just enough heads-up “work” on the snicey traverses to make the rime tower maze all the more chill.) It is a lovely route to go off by yourself and clear your head.

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Sweet! Great to run into you guys!

CC is looking quite dapper! This site is a rare gem. Endless depths of stoke, comedy, beta, incredible (and otherwise unpublished) photography, world class TR’s; there is so much of value here. To me and my partners and friends, this is the place where so much of the historical record of the last two decades of regional climbing lives—and in the glory of its full context: flames, bruises, smart-assery, warts and all. Sincere thanks to all involved for the hard work you do to make and keep this place. Fuck the socials. Long live CC!

Fantastic! What a sweet line! Strong work, gentlemen. I love how rich and varied the climbing is on Mount Hood. There is so much to do up there! The crux photo is gnarly! Looks both exhilarating and terrifying. Get that pic into Alpinist asap!

Nice work and a great read! Sounds like you guys had so much “fun.” Never heard the term “soft epic” before—love it. I confess that it took me more trips than it should have to stop having those.

Voted. Will keep voting. Thanks PMR for all you do.

I’m having trouble with the link. Is it just me (and/or my mobile device)?

Haha, that Right Gully really ties the mountain together.

For EHW, here’s a shot of @ktarry heading out on our third pitch (of four). The exit chimney is visible above. This is also the exit taken by others (notably @ACosta and @bedellympian) in recent CC reports.

Hilarity always ensues when you surprise the crowds on top. @The Real Nick Sweeneypulling over with an audience: And @ktarry breaking trail on the direct cornice move:

Great day out! Big fun exploring the mountain in perfect conditions with fantastic company. Thanks @zaworotiuk for yet another day of both mountain fun and mountain “fun”. Really great to meet you again, @The Real Nick Sweeney! And what a cool way to finally meet you, @ktarry! Big thanks for the bonus round on the Eliot HW.

Awesome! Incredible work.

Strong work! What a great solo day out on the lonely side of the mountain. And it sounds like the conditions were keeping you on your toes. Thanks for the great info—you’ve got me psyched to go explore this route.

Nice work! I enjoyed your trip report. Haha, caveat emptor to those who follow the steps of @zaworotiuk! I’m going to try your tool/picket combo the next time I find myself doing battle with the steep sugar snow.

Very nice! Great shots as well. Way to get creative and get the twofer. I’m with you, the alpine cragging possibilities on Hood are fantastic. (I think we were synced up on most of the approach to the DKH. Dropping back into the crater I tried to get a shot of you in the route, but my shitty old iphone gave me a blur.) Also, I was booting Saturday so my own walk of shame went all the way back to the car, haha.

Slightly wider shot, worse lighting—probably not super helpful:

Glad we could get this done, @zaworotiuk! Thanks for writing up another TR of our climbs. And thanks, @wayne for all of your pioneering. What a fantastic route in an intimidating setting; it felt bigger than Mount Hood. Haha, maybe 10, but you do all the trip report heavy-lifting, so I think we’re even! I agree that although the climbing was never that hard, the generally thin conditions we went up in often made for tricky tool placements. But the moves never felt desperate, just very engaging. And the exposed rocks were consistently “unhelpful.” All part of the fun—like the streams of spindrift that would flow down, get caught in the wind, then blast back uphill and into your hood and face. A novel experience!

Nice work! It was cool to run into you yesterday on the way back down to the Palmer. I feel your pain on the Wy’East ridge traverse. It’s spectacularly beautiful up there, but it seems like it’s always a longer and deeper slog than it looks to get to the gendarme——a slog punctuated with the occasional adrenaline surge as hollow snow over a steam vent collapses and you take a mini ride.

Alpine cragging on a beautiful sunny day—gotta love Mount Hood! Only one other party of two made it to the crater on 2.28. Not sure what happened to everyone else, but we weren’t complaining!

Thanks for the great write up, Matt. And thanks for suggesting we check out these lines. The climbing on both routes was sustained, engaging, and surprising secure—mostly. Both routes are great diversions from the standard, documented lines up to the Wy’East ridge, but ”Flying Buttress Direct” is particularly striking. Given the right rime conditions, I think the route is potentially the best on the south side of the mountain. Just don’t bank on abundant protection. Here’s an annotated shot from the Hogsback (taken 3.3.21) that shows the routes from a different perspective:

Nice—thanks for the comprehensive report, Bob! The gully conditions look fantastic! 10 days ago it was mostly wading and battling the spindrift firehose between steps. Still good fun, but now it looks like it should. How was the bergschrund crossing?

While much of the Wy’East route is essentially just walking up a long snow slope with an axe and crampons, the crux is often very exposed and can involve some actual climbing and committing moves to get around the rocky gendarme—whichever way you go. Bailing from here means either walking all the way back down the way you came, or rapping down the second variation of the Devil’s Kitchen Headwall or down Flying Buttress. (Sometimes both are down-climbable, but there are often undercut rime steps.) One reasonable alternative might be to climb up Flying Buttress, as it can be quite moderate when conditions are right, and a picket or two might offer you a chance to protect or build a belay anchor. Then you would have a familiar descent route ready if you don’t like the gendarme.

Did a quick lap up this week (July 22). The bergshrund is quite open, as one would expect this late in the season, but easy to end run to climber’s right. Both left and right gates are pretty crappy. Expect a steepish mix of hard ice, shitty soft late season snow, and flowing water. Lots of gravel and small rocks litter the surface. You would not want to linger here. I didn’t see the Old Chute or Mazama Chutes up close.