Alpinfox Posted November 10, 2003 Share Posted November 10, 2003 Inspired by some brave folks recent "walk in the freezer", Fern and I went down to Oregon to try and climb the North Face of Mt. Hood. We got down there on Thursday afternoon and hiked in towards the base of the mountain. The North Face looked SWEEET! However, as we climbed higher, the wind picked up (eventually reaching 40mph or so) and the mountain disappeared: We tucked tail and headed back to the car. The next day, we got up and headed up towards the Elliot Glacier for some seracing. Nice blue ice up there with a few spots about 20ft/6m (Fern taught me the metric system) tall and some spots had overhanging bulges: It was fun: Then we went to Smiffy and pulled down on some sick projects yo! The End. p.s. FERN !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunglehead Posted November 10, 2003 Share Posted November 10, 2003 Looks fun! Didja summit, or just a li'l ice climbing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpinfox Posted November 10, 2003 Author Share Posted November 10, 2003 We didn't get on the mountain at all. Conditions were not very inviting (see second pic). We just toproped the seracs, but it registered fairly high on the "SCHWEET" scale. Fern even said something like, "I thought seracing was only for bumbly-gumbies like Alpinfox, but it's actually kind of fun!" High praise from the normally-reserved "queen of the alpine". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken4ord Posted November 10, 2003 Share Posted November 10, 2003 Sounds like some fun. Too bad you two weren't able to make it on the route. Next time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain Posted November 10, 2003 Share Posted November 10, 2003 Well at least you had it better than last Saturday...snow's falling hard up there now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellsbells Posted November 10, 2003 Share Posted November 10, 2003 That certainly was a cold adventure...wasn't it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellsbells Posted November 10, 2003 Share Posted November 10, 2003 Very nice pics by the way... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunglehead Posted November 10, 2003 Share Posted November 10, 2003 Alpinfox said: We didn't get on the mountain at all. Conditions were not very inviting (see second pic). We just toproped the seracs, but it registered fairly high on the "SCHWEET" scale. Fern even said something like, "I thought seracing was only for bumbly-gumbies like Alpinfox, but it's actually kind of fun!" High praise from the normally-reserved "queen of the alpine". Riiiight....the photos! Well, it looked like you guys had a great time. That's what I was really attempting to ask. SCHWEET is good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mtguide Posted November 11, 2003 Share Posted November 11, 2003 iain said: Well at least you had it better than last Saturday...snow's falling hard up there now. "Dude,where's my car?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted November 11, 2003 Share Posted November 11, 2003 "Dude, where's my mountain?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mtguide Posted November 11, 2003 Share Posted November 11, 2003 Dru said: "Dude, where's my mountain?" Touche' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
browntoe98 Posted November 11, 2003 Share Posted November 11, 2003 is the road to cloud cap still open? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain Posted November 11, 2003 Share Posted November 11, 2003 it was as of last saturday, but it was snowing heavily as we drove away, and the road was packed powder. I can't imagine it will stay open much longer, if it's not closed already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpinfox Posted November 11, 2003 Author Share Posted November 11, 2003 Hey Iain, Were you up on Hood on 11/1 (Walk in the freezer) AND on 11/8 (last saturday)? If so, what route did you do on 11/8? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain Posted November 11, 2003 Share Posted November 11, 2003 Yeah both weekends. It's Mt Hood, remember? This last weekend we were hoping to get up to the ice on the cooper spur rim, but the weather kept us on the lower glacier for some cragging. We got a lot of stuff in. It was cut short when I slipped while I was leaning over to fiddle with something, my crampon heel caught on a piece of cord, and I slid off the ice 20 feet into a crevasse. Got really beat up cause it was solid ice down in there, but I count myself lucky right now with just a bruised tibia, smashed hand and shoulder. I was lucky to slid into the smaller crevasse and not the monster we had just been climbing in. Being airborne on a glacier is not a good feeling at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b-rock Posted November 11, 2003 Share Posted November 11, 2003 Yikes! Definately some cracks up there you don't want to slip into. Glad you're ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain Posted November 11, 2003 Share Posted November 11, 2003 Thanks, it was certainly a wakeup call, esp. when the weather really moved in at that point and we were in a blizzard. Would have really sucked if I couldn't limp out. I hate it when you know you just hurt yourself badly, but you're not sure how badly until the adrenaline and shaking subsides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fejas Posted November 11, 2003 Share Posted November 11, 2003 Yawozer... The kind that you can't see the bottom scare me just a little... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaee Posted November 12, 2003 Share Posted November 12, 2003 From the Tao: It is easy to fail when nearing completion, therefore, take care right to the end, not only in the beginning. It's interesting to note all the problems that happen when we're careless on "safe" ground. I remember that Reinhold broke his leg at home, dinking around his castle. Bearzi died within a few hundred yards of camp, on relatively easy ground. Mugs died in a crevasse while testing a snowbridge on moderate terrain. While certainly not in their league, I dropped deep into a slot a few years ago on the Winthrop just a few hundred yards from the safety of St. Elmo's while retreating from bad weather on Lib. ridge. I also just sustained bruises, but was lucky that I didn't break a leg or worse. I stopped after 20 feet or so and was just touching both sides of the slot. Another 5 feet and I'd have been wedged. I know my inattention caused my fall, as I was looking up the trail instead of in front of me. I missed the signs of a small crevasse that was covered w/ some new snow and wasn't probing as much as I had been while farther from the pass. Those tails are dangerous. While descending from Windy Corner a while back I caught a cord on a crampon spike and had to hop on one leg down an icy patch w/ my sled trying to drag me down. It's always fascinating to me that the hardest part of the climbs usually pass under such extreme focus that we remain safe, but the stumbling and bumbling happen near safety. Anyone else had a close call on easy ground? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted November 12, 2003 Share Posted November 12, 2003 iain said: my crampon heel caught on a piece of cord, and I slid off the ice 20 feet into a crevasse. i had the exact same shit happen to me on the matanuska glacier this summer...luckily i just faceplanted after falling 10 feet..no crevasse. maybe we should start carrying our prusiks differently? i was kneeling, and when i stood up the loop from one of my prusiks caught on my crampon, turning me into the amazingly retarded freaky robot, toppling over and sliding down, realizing at any moment it was gonna start hurting a lot... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshK Posted November 13, 2003 Share Posted November 13, 2003 ivan said: iain said: my crampon heel caught on a piece of cord, and I slid off the ice 20 feet into a crevasse. i had the exact same shit happen to me on the matanuska glacier this summer...luckily i just faceplanted after falling 10 feet..no crevasse. maybe we should start carrying our prusiks differently? i was kneeling, and when i stood up the loop from one of my prusiks caught on my crampon, turning me into the amazingly retarded freaky robot, toppling over and sliding down, realizing at any moment it was gonna start hurting a lot... Yeah, me three. Same think...a daisy chained piece of cord came undone and caught when I bent over to do something. When I stood up I went tumbling. Yay...real fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_Parker Posted November 13, 2003 Share Posted November 13, 2003 browntoe98 said: is the road to cloud cap still open? yes it is as of Wednesday. No problem, compact snow near the top. We had to hack away the end of a blowdown with our ice axes though. Just squeeked through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpinfox Posted November 13, 2003 Author Share Posted November 13, 2003 Hey DP, how about a trip report!?!? Were my pictures helpful? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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