ivan Posted November 3, 2003 Posted November 3, 2003 4 esteemed gentlemen (iain, rob, pat, n' meself) climbed the right gully of the north face of hood saturday a day that produced delirum...left portland at midnight after hitting the halloween parties, walked out of the cloud cap parking lot at 230. light powdery snow covering all the talus below the elliot made for a royal pain in the ass, but eventually we were up on the glacier and slogged over to the base of the north face. some of the cracks filled over, but still a lot of places to get screwed in. the gullies of the north face looked inviting enough, but the incessant spindrift pouring down made it look like a frozen waterfall, set in motion. freezing stop to gear up...my hands are still cold. rob n' pat led off & the fun began. seemed like we climbed up and up forever, not takinga break until we were about 400 feet below the summit. the climbing wasn't too hard, a good constant 60 degrees with several invigorating steps...sure glad nobody fell as protection was placed few and far between. everything was covered in good ice and the climb passed w/o incident. the first party moved a good deal faster than my slow ass, and elected to skip the last steep ice step, going around on the rock. beating us to the summit, they got too cold sitting around and descended the sunshine route. by the time iain and i were up, the weather had changed and visibility was dissapearing. with dark not too far away, we were unenthused at descending a route unknown to us in bad weather, so we elected to go downt he south side, which was great fun in it's super icy state (great picks in the frozen mud though) made it down to timberline and caught a ride back round to the north by 7 p.m., making it a very long day. hopefully some of them camera-having fools can add some pictures and say something more interesting than i Quote
rr666 Posted November 3, 2003 Posted November 3, 2003 great pics, great report. Looks like fun was had by all Quote
iain Posted November 3, 2003 Posted November 3, 2003 shredmaximus said: Approaching the base of the NF (to the right) I was still in my halloween SWAT team black outfit as you can see. Quote
Sabertooth Posted November 3, 2003 Posted November 3, 2003 Nice climbing guys. Sweet pics. That is a lot of ice! Quote
Crackman Posted November 3, 2003 Posted November 3, 2003 Nice climb! Glad you got down alright. Texplorer and I met the other half of your party still waiting at Cloudcap at around 11pm. They were a bit cold and wondering where the hell you were. Rather than doze in the truck, we decided to hike up a little ways and see if we could spot you. No such luck. After a few hours of sleep up on the ridge, we stashed or bivi gear and started to head up around 3:30. We didn't get too far before poor visibility and increasing snowfall turned us. Weather is looking clear again might have to make another go of it. Quote
iain Posted November 3, 2003 Posted November 3, 2003 Thanks for checking for us, it was very much appreciated. Quote
rbw1966 Posted November 3, 2003 Posted November 3, 2003 The climbing was challenging. The spindrift made for a spicy lead. Just getting to the base of the actual gully was an exercise in wallowing. 100 yards of waist-deep snow took me almost an hour to cover. As you can tell in the pics above, I skirted to the side of the ice fall to avoid the deluge of spindrift and because the snow looked too soft. As it turned out it was bomber ice. The climbing was sustained and pretty steep in some sections. There is a lot of ice forming to climbers right of the right gully and looked magnificent. If one wanted to go just cragging that would be the place. Shred and I skirted the last ice flow on the rocks because the ice looked brittle and aerated. I found out later it wasn't. Go get it folks. Its a lot of fun. Oh--and from what Iain said, the south side is looking pretty desperate right now. Quote
iain Posted November 3, 2003 Posted November 3, 2003 the south side chutes are solid blue water ice, and I was placing screws on descent. really nice in there, but short. the approach slopes above the bergschrund are a strange, tedious "gravel ice". Never seen anything like it. The slopes below crater rock are almost completely snow-free. Extremely tedious icy boulder/scree hopping in crampons in the dark. Highly not recommended. Quote
ivan Posted November 3, 2003 Author Posted November 3, 2003 iain said: Highly not recommended. another way of saying it would be that it f@cking sux! Quote
Fejas Posted November 3, 2003 Posted November 3, 2003 NICE! Iain, I though I read some where in a post that you always take your skis... Quote
Winter Posted November 3, 2003 Posted November 3, 2003 Great job guys. Gettin it while Coudcap is still open. I'm jealous as hell - spent the weekend in Carmel for a wedding. Cool but not much ice there. Quote
texplorer Posted November 3, 2003 Posted November 3, 2003 Yea, I thought this was a freshiez post at first. Glad you guys made it down ok. It was a bit nippy out there to be just hanging around. Nice job to all. Quote
glassgowkiss Posted November 3, 2003 Posted November 3, 2003 too bad you guys are not as fast and strong as we were over the weekend, because you could simul-solo this easly as we did Quote
bunglehead Posted November 3, 2003 Posted November 3, 2003 Great job guys!! looked fun, but cold! How much pro did you place? Quote
iain Posted November 3, 2003 Posted November 3, 2003 A screw in each of the steps, and the odd sling on a rock. We simuled. I took along a few nuts, a hex, and pink/red tricams, but I used none of it. Quote
glassgowkiss Posted November 3, 2003 Posted November 3, 2003 iain said: A screw in each of the steps, and the odd sling on a rock. We simuled. I took along a few nuts, a hex, and pink/red tricams, but I used none of it. wtf- what's wrong with you. do you think i was a bit serious? Quote
iain Posted November 3, 2003 Posted November 3, 2003 say what? someone just asked how much pro we used. I NEVER take you seriously bunglehead said: Great job guys!! looked fun, but cold! How much pro did you place? Quote
rbw1966 Posted November 4, 2003 Posted November 4, 2003 No matter how hard I try Bob I know I will never be as badass as you. Sunrise on the Eliot Glacier: Quote
Paco Posted November 4, 2003 Posted November 4, 2003 Nice job guys!! I'm glad to see some people went out and climbed this weekend. Looks like a sweet route. It's been on my list ever since I saw it early this summer. Quote
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