Alex

another vote for Emmons. Plus you get the sunrise!!

When I tried it I was using Watermans's book. I don't think the books will matter that much, what will matter is your fitness and the weather you get. Sultana is a long route and you'll need to carry a fair amount of stuff and still move fast with it.

What are you looking for exactly? Aside from Al's TR, the route is covered extensively in several books. I've gone about half way.

Spent about 5 hours in a bivy sack at 9000 ft on N Sister in Oregon in 1994. It wasn't cold the first hour but I slowly froze and couldnt wait for dawn...literally. At 3am I had had enough and soloed the summit tower directly above Early Morning couloir by moonlight, which was as we say quite a formative experience. That was the trip I learned that bivys are not heroic and moving is the way you stay warm in the alpine.

it's been climbed, doubt it's ever really been named or requires one. conventional wisdom says that an 8+ mile approach for a pitch of WI3 isnt worth bragging about.

Was up at Alpental today. Wow, it's like mid-April up there! Great, warm, spring weather. Most of the snow is gone already.

Down Sunshine wouldnt be too bad, its far less of a slog over to Cooper Spur and the terrain is moderate, maybe just a little steep right off the top of Queens Chair. I think to make it stylish you'd climb SS, ski Sunshine, climb Cooper Spur again, then ski SS to the car?

Cool. Yeah you topped out TC via the N Face variation by that big tower, you probably had maybe a 60m pitch of mixed rock climbing to mid-5th to get into the third couloir. Looks like you had fantastic weather(!!) which always helps!

so chop them

Or split the difference and climb Wy'East. I think that if you were to really try to stick to your stated agenda, you'd summit via the SS, get to the base of Steele Cliff at the top of White River, look at the fucking miles of stupid and mindless sidehilling you'd need to do to get to the base of Cooper Spur, all the while watching the skiiers down below skiing lazily at Medows, and head back down to Timberline

Wont affect your sale but it seems like I say this alot lately: your screws are Turbo Express, not Express. Express have silver hangers and different tube geometry. HTH, Alex

Those are not Express, they are the older model, the Turbo Express.

Nice effort. The road is closed all winter and will be until the road completely melts out and dries, to prevent the rutting that would otherwise occur if you let a bunch of yahoos four-wheel it up there; it's always been like this. To allow enough time for the route, you should probably plan on leaving the car at 2am or so, which puts you at the lake or (if you are fit) at the base of the route at sunup. TCs gets done car-to-car alot, but I think you were wise not starting up with only half the day left. It will be in shape a while longer, go back in the next weather window.

New mixed route at Exit 38, to the right of CYA. It was climbed just a few days ago. Good Community Service project, some more details here http://www.wastateice.net/careful.htm Have fun!

the first route looks cool, though I've never done it. the rest are pretty good. I hope Honeyman and NightnGale make the list.

It's not called the dog route for nothing!

Thanks for keeping it civil pcg. My "grandma" and "insane" comment above was a retreat because alpine climbing can be complicated, even on the South Side of Hood. While Hood is just about the easiest thing I can imagine climbing that isn't a complete hike, even in Winter, there *are* dangers - the slope below Pearly Gates can slide wicked - and I acknowledge that. But it shouldnt stop people from trudging up there. I think I need to do something differently here on this thread. Oftentimes I offer advice to distill down my collective experience to the couple "key messages" to make for efficient communication. But it doesnt have the context and people have to rely on "reputation" to weigh its merit. I realize that the context in this might be more important and that advice isnt helping, so I'll just go to my own experience. I climbed S Side of Hood as my first ever alpine climb, my first ever Volcano, my first ever *everything* in Dec 1993. I climbed it solo RT from Government Camp, where I lived and worked at Ski Bowl, in around 12 hours. I climbed solo. Even back then I was already an moderately experienced ice and rock climber, having climbed in NY and New England since 1988. (That shit doesnt help on Hood, though.) I started in the dark and got past top of Palmer around dawn. The day was bluebird. The air at Crater Rock was still, and temps relatively warm. At Hogsback, I put on my harness, helmet, crampons, and grith hitched ice axe to harness. I used self-belay up over the schrund, which I inspected with curiosity, and through the Pearly Gates, which were just radiating heat. I summitted without incident, and hung out on top with two guys, one who would later become my climbing partner. They had a cell phone and were calling all their friends. At that moment I realized that all my East-Coast-ego had it wrong: this wasnt a "big tick".....this was just FUN!! We all laughed and had a grand time hanging out for an hour, not much wind. We started down and the crampons - Footfangs back then - were balling bad. I just downclimbed slowly and carefully, making sure my crampons didnt ball up much, using self-belay. I got to the base of the Hogsback again and de-geared. Everything was uneventful, even though I was a complete noob. I had just soloed Hood in Winter....and it was a non-event. It complete turned around my own perception -- that I had had as an East Coast-based climber - that "alpine climbing" was both important and hard. It wasn't, it doesnt need to be. It's mental. True you need some basic skills. True you need to have some instruction. But also true you can get out there with minimal experience and not die; I am proof. I've climbed Hood many times since on many routes. My most favorite were Wy'East in Winter with my wife the Steele cliff variation, and Sandy Headwall in October. I've always respected the mountain, and I dont fuck around on Hood with a marginal forecast unless I am just skiing the snowfield. But the first experience was very positive and it didnt require much more than the basics and a good forecast.

Used crampons are ok. You'll find yourself building a quiver of them over time, but a decent pair of steel strap-ons are very versitile if you take the time to learn how to effectively strap them on. My first few seasons I had them repeatedly fall off on steep ice leads (!!) until I sat my ass down and learned. If you are Seattle local you can go to Second Ascent in Ballard and they'll likely have something used for reasonable $$ and be able to fit it to your boot for you.

Cool. The slope can slide pretty hard, I was up once and there was an 8 foot shearline from under the Pearly Gates to the base of Crater. It was impressive. I have a picture somewhere. The left side "chossy ice" is simply rime buildup. Neat that you listened to you little voice inside.

Wrong. Again.. get educated. For example, we have had bluebird conditions on Hood, but I would not advise you to go up Hood south side thinking crampons and ice axe are all you need in these conditions. Why? Because conditions are so icy now that a self-arrest on a steep slope would be virtually impossible. This means you need to be roped up and belayed WITH PROTECTION. You're kidding me, right? What "better gear" are you talking about? Oh, a partner? Ok. Oh wait, but now you want protection because self arrest isnt an option. But wait, there is an option called self-belay. And solo self-belay will keep you safer than roped up to any other picket-poundin-fool on the terrain that makes up the last 1000 to the summit of Hood. If you have a partner, simul solo. Get educated. Cough. Ice axe and crampons for Hood, yes. Helmet must have. Harness maybe. I'm not trying to send the youth to his death but making the South Side of Hood out to be anything other than a begiinner snow route (in good weather!) is doing climbers an injustice. [edit] Alright, well I wouldnt send my grandma up there even in good weather. It's not for everyone. The place is a complete circus in the Summer time. I can't believe the stuff people do - I saw a dude carting a pulaski up. I think I am just insane now.

This thread is proof that you pretty much can't go wrong West of the Mississppi. I moved West from NY in 1993,....never went back, never wanted to.

Very interesting trip to see you make, as these climbs http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KMcddd6RZqo/TUpEhds9GLI/AAAAAAAAADs/UEIZQsdkH_s/s320/100_1445.JPG are the ice climbs on Lennox described in the WA State Ice Guide. Neat that you happened upon them, bummer they didnt survive the warm weather well.

Hood: glacier travel on South Side == bergschrund. Is it cold? Sure, its at 11,000. Will you get frostbite without plastics? Not in the lower 48 but plastics are fine and what I used for many years until I built my arsenal. Do your homework: its in Nelson 1 and Oregon Alpine by Jeff Thomas as well as Smoot and other books. Vesper: probably get away with runout 5.4. Its in Nelson 2? and Beckey

I can't help but notice the plumbline on the righthand side of the first pic, where the summit pyramid comes down to meet the glacial shoulder, nice narrow couloir there, perhaps same length as NBC, with a decent run-out.

What a day! You are soooo lucky!