Hood, West side Beta anyone?

[Alex]

Timcb said:

So for Sandy, what kinda pro would yall recommend? I take it that all the new snow eliminates the need for ice screws.. but then how many pickets? And this is a two tool climb, yes? Thinking about heading to illum saddle saturday, then picking between south side and sandy headwall for a sunday ascent.

 

Unless your really set on camping out, dont. SGH is an easy day trip. Take 1 axe, light crampons. 1 picket/fluke for the glacier travel (easy). You wont need to rope up for the SGH, as if you fall it will be very hard to arrest and you'll just take your buds with you. Take two tools if you get nervous self-belaying with one. Take ski poles for the hike up to illumination and across the Reid, traverse high on Yocum, descending traverse to base of SGH. We had to jump 1 large 'schrund on the decending traverse. The traverse after Yocum is longer than you think, dont head up too early!! Otherwise, we de-roped at base of SGH and it was casual to top of Queens Chair from there.

 

Honestly the climb itself was boring (never really got particularly steep, and is pretty wide) compared to the traverse across the Yocum, which provided some interesting exposure above the cliffs!

 

Just my .02. YMMV.

 

 

[rbw1966]

I'm not sure if Alex is thinking of something else but DO NOT get suckered into the common mistake of crossing yokum ridge high. If you do you will have to contend with some manky downlcimbing/rapping. I know it sucks to lose elevation but crossing yokum lower (as the guidebook suggests) is truly the easier and faster way to achieve the Sandy Headwall. I agree with everything else he has to say, although the conditions do vary substantially.

 

Right now I'd bet that its not terribly steep and that one alpine axe would suffice quite comfortably. Soloing it makes better sense unless you are sketched with the exposure and in that case bring plenty of pickets and do running belays. When I did it before new years a couple years ago it was very steep on the upper headwall and I was glad to have an extra tool. It was perfect styrafoam to that point and we soloed the entire route. The exposure was exciting and the views breathtaking.

 

Have fun and check the avy reports.

[iain]

Alex said:

traverse high on Yocum, descending traverse to base of SGH. We had to jump 1 large 'schrund on the decending traverse.

 

that shrund can be deceptive, it extends the entire perimeter of the glacier and last year I fell in to my waist where there was a slight depression in the snow that looked good to cross. my partner did not dig holding me on the steeper ice above the schrund. it is definitely a more interesting climb on that high traverse. agreed on the hw itself, it's just a fitness test for the most part. enjoy.

[texplorer]

Both Ian and Alex gave great beta. I think you can cross the Yokum via a narrow traverse at about 8600ft or descend 500-600ft lower and traverse a much easier ledge system. You will also probably deal with descending crevasses on the Reid when heading down next to the Yokum ridge. Once you cross over be aware, as Ian said, of the shrund and other large crevasses on the lower Sandy and don't be lured into going up too soon. Basically keeping traversing until you cant and then head up the obvious wide shoot. It's more of an endurance effort that technical however. Good luck and have fun. It makes for a long day of climbing.

[Desey]

okay, here's the short version.... YOU GUYS SUCK!!!! thankx for the terrific beta (NOT!)

 

after working our asses off to try and get to the Sandy headwall, we had to bail on the route, turn around and post hole back up underneath the west bowl. This included climbing in snow up to our thighs and about the consistency of quicksand. This was a royal pain in the @#$%^&.... ended up going the south route.

 

the whole mountain is just one big ball of very soft snow.

thankx again for the great info (NOT)

[skykilo]

Seems like everyone gave good beta.

Next time, take skis and skin that shizz. Then you can ski that sucka and make the climb worthwhile.

[iain]

it snowed a bunch and then became warm. the route is a 10hr jaunt in good conditions w/o belay. do the math.

[Off_White]

Getting beta on other people's experiences does not guarantee your outcome. It's the mountains, it's not the same as asking how many bolts are on a pitch somewhere. FYI, YMMV = your mileage may vary, as indeed it did. There's worse ways to spend a day.

[ryland_moore]

Desey, the only people that suck is YOU! Everyone gave excellent beta. Too bad you weren't in good enough shape to tough it out or deal with the elements handed to you. Don't blame other people for factors that are only controlled by you, your partners, and the mountain. Hey, you still got to climb didn't you? Better than sittin' around and eating ho-hos all day!

[thegreatwhitegangsta]

dude, I don't know man...ho ho's are the shit

[ivan]

thegreatwhitegangsta said:

dude, I don't know man...ho ho's are the shit

[ivan]

so desey, why did u bail? just b/c of soft snow on the sandy?

 

no judgements here, last time i was up at illumination the snow was balls deep, probably was worse down on the reid....still, seems like you'd a figured that out by the time you hit the gap...how far up the route did you go?

[iain]

he turned around at queen's chair

[MtnHigh]

Desey said:

okay, here's the short version.... YOU GUYS SUCK!!!! thankx for the terrific beta (NOT!)

 

after working our asses off to try and get to the Sandy headwall, we had to bail on the route, turn around and post hole back up underneath the west bowl. This included climbing in snow up to our thighs and about the consistency of quicksand. This was a royal pain in the @#$%^&.... ended up going the south route.

 

the whole mountain is just one big ball of very soft snow.

thankx again for the great info (NOT)

 

Sounds like Desey wanted the climb handed to him on a silver platter. Hopefully he will learn something about current conditions.

 

To add: thank god conditions on a mountain vary dramatically. Otherwise, mountaineering would be no different than sport climbing.

 

 

[gapertimmy]

you are all so suck (NOT)

[ckouba]

Desey,

 

I don't normally get on a bandwagon after it's left, but dude- suck it up.

 

You weren't serious with that post were you? Get a grip and realize what you're doing. Conditions change with the wind- literally. All the beta in the previous posts seems awesome. If you don't like the conditions, make your choices. Don't go slinging mud at those who were only trying to share their beta. Get real man.

 

Did you expect the yellow brick road? Handicap access? IT'S MOUNTAIN CLIMBING, in the WILDERNESS.

 

Chris

 

PS - Whoever made the analogy of alpine being sport-like was right on.

[iain]

hmm, funny that it looks like the mazamas had a SHW trip planned for last weekend...I can only assume.

[b-rock]

Ooooh that's rich.

[ivan]

iain said:

hmm, funny that it looks like the mazamas had a SHW trip planned for last weekend...I can only assume.

they musta been heading up the s. side last night too...passed a humongafuckload of folks all wearing the same packs carrying the same 10 tons of hi-tech gadgets on my way down this morning...none of them planning on going to work today either...damn, they can't even work right?

[Timcb]

Hey Desey- was that you I saw saturday during mid-day while I was skiing and you were descending under the lift? you folks definitely didn't sound too happy.

 

But fair enough- me and my buddy heard both that the snow was really deep and the crevasses were opened up on Sandy, so we decided to go for leotholds. Which didn't really work so well either, since we ended up getting suckered into the first gully up the headwall and, after climbing 50+ degree snow, we arrived at a small notch in the castle crag buttress, overlooking the south side route with a cliff. So that was the end of our day. Still a very positive experience. The mountain is absolutely beautiful.

 

The mazamas? They were up with us at ilum saddle on sat night. The 8 of them said they were also planning on climbing leotholds, but apparently they never even started the route- complaining when we saw them when we got back to camp that the skies were menacing and overcast (which I don't think they really were until about 9:30). So I think they finally started their way up the south side. half of em turned back, but I don't know what happened to the other 4.

[iain]

maybe those were the sherpas

[Billy]

Sorry Desey, snivel away you little trailbreaker. You'll get no sympathy for even venturing over there. Maybe you should hone your seemingly supernatural powers of observation.