dyerh

Its not a climb, but its closely related. I'm planning on doing the Timberline trail this Saturday, the 13th. However, per the request of my parents, they want me to have a partner. So if anyone wants to join, please send me something. I'm shooting for around 9 hrs, to give you an idea of pace.

Trip: Mt. Hood - Devils Kitchen Headwall Trip Date: 04/20/2019 Trip Report: I probably should have posted this a few days ago, but oh well, better late than never. For all you Hood-rats, the mountain is in great shape. Had a friend go up the North face on the same day and it was great. He also sent a few photos, and the ice on the Elliot and it’s looking super fat! Back to the route I climbed. Conditions were looking good during the week, so I decided to make the quick trip up to Hood. The plan was climb Devils Kitchen Headwall and get some nice aerobic work in. I got to the lot with a rain sleet mix and the temp hovering right around 33/32. I was hopeful that as I gained some altitude, either Id be above the clouds or it would turn to snow. I started at 3:30 from Timberline, I cruised past the Mile and the clouds stayed low and the precip stopped around 6500ft. I made it up to Palmer in less than an hour and a half. Once above the clouds, I turned my headlamp off and the glow of the moon lit the way. Saw a giant group of 10+ skiers coming down at about 4:30, which was a little odd, but I just assumed they were going for a midnight ride which they were. At this point, just above Palmer, putting crampons on, I realized that I was going to be climbing the headwall in the dark so I slowed down the pace a little. I’ll also note that the snow was pretty firm, but not icy. There was only one other person in front of me and lots of little white dots following behind, a very peaceful morning. There was no wind up above Palmer and that held true all the way to the summit. I got to the Hogsback right at sunrise and rested below the route while the sun rose. I’ve never climbed this route before so in prep, I’d read a bunch of old TR and checked the guide book just to make sure I know what I’m getting into. At the base of the route, I inspected it from below and it looked stellar so I continued up. Anyone else like to get artsy mid route, I must be the only one Also being solo added another layer of delicacy, so I was in no rush once I got into the technical stuff. The ice itself was stellar, there was only one section that was a little thin, but I could always swing into the rime and it would hold pretty well. There was also no spindrift coming down the chute, so that was quite nice. On some older TRs there was some exposed rock probably near middle/ bottom, not quite sure, but when I was up there, it was all filled in. Right before the crux section, I took a quick break and the barfies ensued. That was not a fun 2 minutes. The final crux section was in super fat, it would definitely take screws. It was a little brittle, but once a pick was in, it was super solid. Topped out that final couloir or whatever you want to call it and found steep snow all the way to the top. Route finding was not hard at all on the upper portion. From the base of the route to the summit was under an hour and made it to the top around 8. I could have descended via Pearly Gates, but there were a few groups at the base so I opted to go down the Old Chute. It was in prime condition for skiing and I was able to plunge step all the way back to the Hogsback. I’ll also note that the bergschrund around the base of the Old Chute was fully filled in, no signs of it even being there. Rested at the Hogsback right as the masses arrived to the fumaroles. I took my crampons off at the top of Palmer and found some soft snow to walk through back to the bottom. The snow around the Mile was already turning to corn around 9:30 and the skiers were heading up in full force. I think there was some skimo race happening later in the day. Was back in the car, leaving the lot by 10am. C2C was something around 6 hours. Not sure how conditions are going to change this week, but the route was in excellent condition. Gear Notes: you could bring screws/ rope if you want em Approach Notes: straight forward

Trip: Mt. Hood - Reid Glacier Headwall Trip Date: 03/03/2019 Trip Report: With clear skies in the forecast, my partner, Landon Lim and I, decided to head up to Mt. Hood and check off the Reid Glacier. Last time we got turned around by bad weather before the saddle, so this was our first attempt actually on route. We started from Timberline at around 3:30am at a nice leisurely pace. With no issues, and lots of white dots below us, we made it to the top of Palmer by 5am and continued to the Saddle just before 7am. There we put harnesses on, but didn’t rope up and met a few groups going to Leuthold and another who gave us the opportunity to break trail on the Reid. We’d seen images the prior day of some serious swimming in unconsolidated snow on Cooper Spur, so we were prepped for a full day. Illumination Rock basking in the morning glow Dropping down to the glacier First tracks on route, always a pleasure Dropping down to the Reid Glacier we found the path boot packed but still very soft at 9000ft. After getting on route around 7:30am, we thought we’d bypassed the bergschrund until I post holed into it. It kind of traverses from the visible spots at the base of Leuthold, all the way up to the base of the West Crater Rim. With no effort we traversed around it, finding a more stable snow bridge. The snow, starting at the base of the route, was knee to ankle deep, which continued until after the first ice gully at 9800ft. If you look closely, you’ll see 2 holes, thats apart of the bergschrund that we missed, keep an eye out The gully itself was kind of tricky, a short AI2 at best, but passable. It begins with steep snow that turned to snow covered ice. In the thick of it, the ice got really thin and under it was rock so placements were rather precarious. It was low angle enough to where the secondary points on my crampons weren’t engaged, but if they were and I dropped my heels, I felt like I would just pop off because of the conditions of the ice, probably just my own bad technique though. Maybe if you stick right in that first gully, there would be better ice, just a tad steeper. looking down at the first gully looking up, above the first gully the rime shroom that sucked us in, also next to where we down climbed and traversed to get back on route looking down before we traversed, we probbably should have trended left begening at the first zig zag, but the crux is route finding, so expect to do some. Above the first gully is where we should have trended left over the ridge and dropped into another chute, but we continued upward on the right side of the ridge towards a singular giant rime mushroom that sucked us in and forced us to downclimb and then traverse to the left. As we entered a second gully of steep snow, we were surrounded by giant cliffs coated in rime. This section looks like a majority of other photos you see, in a steep couloir. Didn’t experience any rock or ice fall on route, just debris from my partner who plowed through the upper sections. In just about all of these areas, you could kick in deep to rest. Above this section we were to the right of ridge where you could look over and see a few groups on Leuthold and the Queens Chair. Landon checking out the ridge we were about to traverse End of the traverse where we were funnelled into a maze of giant rime shrooms making our way through the rime shrooms our buddies behind came into earshot right before we crested the ridge. Final moves before pulling the ridge, but the route wasn’t done yet. Basically at the ridge I was talking about. You can see, on the left, where we were funnelled back into. The ridge leads you right there. At that ridge, looking over the way at several parties climbing Leuthold and another group chilling at the Queens Chair Above the ridge, we were funnelled back into some more rime cliffs where there was another section of ice, less than 10 moves of AI2, but it was quality ice. From there it opened up again and we moved left at the base of a mushroom where we took a break and put on glacier glasses. We were in the shade the entire morning and didn’t hit sun until we linked up with summit ridge. Around this corner/ mushroom around 10,800ft we were presented with two options: a steep pitch of ice probably 15m in length or a traverse around another mushroom in steep snow, we choose the ladder. In the guide book, it shows a traverse like we did, but I’m sure the pitch is possible. Small gully where we cruised through a few techy moves, but nothing difficult. Looking back at the second gully with some fun moves Continuing up, we navigated through more snow with a tech moves. We crested the summit ridge where we found a great view of the Cathedral Spire and ran up to the summit around 11:15am and chilled for a lil. There were a few other groups up there, much different from the serenity of the Reid. the last bit, before linking up with the summit ridge, not too far over from the old chute. Cathedral spire looking real nice from the summit ridge Summit Ridge Obligatory summit photo, the stoke is real! The descent was rather forgettable, we down climbed the Pearly Gates where there was a lil bit of ice and cruised down to Crater Rock, making it to the car around 12:30pm. 9 hours in total and my 2nd trip to the summit. Gear Notes: 2 tools and horizontal points would be sufficent for the conditions. You could bring gear and a rope and not place anything like we did, always nice to take the gear for a walk. Approach Notes: Pretty straight forward, if you’re unsure, it might be useful to have an image of the route. Always trend left.

I’ve had my merino wool base layers for just over a year now and they still look new. I’ve used em quite heavilly with rather minimal washing and all that. I usually have a few layers above them so never had any durability issues. Essentially from fall to spring, these are the first thing I always bring regardless of the activity. My experience with synthetics and I’ve been hooked on icebreaker ever since.

Im curious, this may be a dumb question, but how do these paid services/ people get their models. Do they use info that the public has access to or do they have their own stations/ instruments?

I think I know what your looking at and I think that the main reason no one really climbs there is because of how bad the rock quality is. Lots of loose rocks and you can plan on doing some landscaping if you do go up. I had a friend try and climb Cougar Rock which is somewhat known, theres at least info on it, near Multnomah Falls and route finding was disasterous, their rope was covered in soot from the Eagle Creek Fire, and they actually turned around because a loose block fell on his partner, he was VERY lucky to escape with some deep bruises and scrapes. And you can expect that and alot more if do some adventure climbing there. There are a few kind of developed areas like Ozone, Rooster Rock, theres a few routes up Crown Point, and a few road side boulders, but one could say there’s some potential. It also rains alot especially right now, occasionally snows in the upper reaches of the gorge so not ideal. As for land ownership I have no idea. Theres a posibility there could be a few trip reports somewhere on here. Best of luck to you

I can also back the Ambit 3 Peak. I really enjoy the alti-baro feature as well as the compass is also nice ot have on occasion. The battery life is good, lasting a week or two without GPS tracking and GPS tracking, when in use is quite accurrate. Works great for climbing as well as tracking just about any sport you can think of. Never had any durability or weather issues with it. The size/weight is also nice, not too big and annoying, with a decent size screen. I’ve got nothing bad to say about this watch, it just works great.