Jarred_Jackman Posted February 12, 2004 Posted February 12, 2004 Well, six people including myself attempted Yocum yesterday, needless to say none made it very far. The weather was warm, the rime was dry and crumbly as only rime seems to be, and the first gendarme was downright scary. Anyhow, I think Tim and Karsten might have a better story regarding retreat, their's took a little while. All, in all, a great day on Hood, beautiful morning, and great snow conditions for routes like the Sandy and Leuthold's. Quote
iain Posted February 12, 2004 Posted February 12, 2004 the funniest one is of the runner coming straight out a pile of rime. sucker's truckstop for sure haha Quote
Crackman Posted February 12, 2004 Posted February 12, 2004 After attempting G#1 direct, Tex and I decided to try and go around it. The climbing was a lot of fun, definitely engaging and constantly varied: hard gully ice, dry unconsolidated snow, exposed rock, neve, you name it. I’m not certain, but I think we traversed much higher than the route shown in Oregon high because we ended up back on top of the ridge at the base of G#2. Continuing on looked extremely difficult, due to the soft snow and things warming up considerably, now that the ridge was in full sun. Party over. We decided it was time for us to bail. A full double rope rap off a horn, followed by downclimbing and another short rap got us down safely. I would sure like to return when the conditions are better. With firmer snow and ice this would be an incredible route. The big mistake was not bringing any rock pro, assuming everything would fully covered. Sure could have used it in some key places. Guess that’s what I get for judging route conditions from Portland. I’ll post a few more picks, when I get some time. Quote
ivan Posted February 12, 2004 Posted February 12, 2004 in addition to the lack of rock gear, i must complain that, given that we're all cc.com-ers, there was a appalling shortage of beer...would have been nice at the first gendarme cluster-fuck Quote
bunglehead Posted February 12, 2004 Posted February 12, 2004 Looks like you guys had fun!! Great pics, made my day too. Nice to see somebody's out there havin a good time. Quote
iain Posted February 12, 2004 Posted February 12, 2004 uh, just HOW many of you were up there? starting to sound like a siege Quote
cluck Posted February 12, 2004 Posted February 12, 2004 Climbing without beer???? Nice work guys... Certainly more exciting then my day at the office Quote
ivan Posted February 12, 2004 Posted February 12, 2004 uh, just HOW many of you were up there? starting to sound like a siege we were running w/ your "flavor of the month" idea, iain (and i believe the answer you seek is the first line of the first post) i was amused to discover i wasn't the only teacher on the ridge skipping school Quote
billcoe Posted February 12, 2004 Posted February 12, 2004 (edited) The weather was warm, the rime was dry and crumbly as only rime seems to be, and the first gendarme was downright scary. Ummmmm, Warm rime: (..pause's to check between legs) YES, shrinkage for sure, no question, SEVERE shrinkage. Glad you made it down fine and with nothing hitting you on the way down too - even better. Great pics, thanks for sharing Shred: Bill Edited February 12, 2004 by billcoe Quote
rbw1966 Posted February 12, 2004 Posted February 12, 2004 I'd recommend taking a spectre or two and some pins next time you go, regardless of how rimed up you may think it is. What looks like rime may often just be sugar over rock. Not that pins will help either. Sounds like a fun day in the hills fellas. Quote
catbirdseat Posted February 12, 2004 Posted February 12, 2004 I am becoming convinced that Oregon climbers know how to have more fun in winter. Quote
ivan Posted February 12, 2004 Posted February 12, 2004 I'd recommend taking a spectre or two and some pins next time you go, regardless of how rimed up you may think it is. at least 2 of our groups had pins (KBs) but there was nothing at the base of the first gendarme that would take them. a smallish cam would have worked in a crack beside that wierd bolt though. Quote
chucK Posted February 12, 2004 Posted February 12, 2004 That's gotta be the scariest climb to ever attain "cc.com flav-o-the-month" status . What could possibly top it? Nice report. Thanks! Quote
rbw1966 Posted February 12, 2004 Posted February 12, 2004 What could possibly top it? Same route in the summer. Quote
iain Posted February 13, 2004 Posted February 13, 2004 That's gotta be the scariest climb to ever attain "cc.com flav-o-the-month" status The fact that any climb is "cc.com flav-o-the-month" alone is scary enough. Triple Couloirs at the tail end of primetime last spring was a stimulating day in the hills. Quote
mattp Posted February 13, 2004 Posted February 13, 2004 When I climbed the route, there was absolutely nothing that one could call "solid" anywhere on it. Ice screws in rime and the occasional tiny drip of water ice over snow are a joke, and pickets in rime ice in warm sunshine or buried in colder snow beneath it weren't much better. We could get fairly secure belays by stomping a big hole and sitting in it, though, and actually there was one solid anchor--at the rappel point midway, we chopped down around the top of the pinnacle to be sure our anchor sling was around actual garbage rock rather than simply sunlit rime. It is still a fun climb, though. 'Hope you guys are able to go back and find it in slightly better shape next time. Quote
JoshK Posted February 13, 2004 Posted February 13, 2004 That shitty kind of rime is exactly what we found on the entire west ridge portion of the stuart glacier coulior climb last year. THat crap is *scary*. I think half of the time the only reason why I kept going up it was because we had NO other option. Quote
iain Posted February 13, 2004 Posted February 13, 2004 I think half of the time the only reason why I kept going up it was because we had NO other option. I seem to find myself in that situation on hood all the time Quote
rbw1966 Posted February 13, 2004 Posted February 13, 2004 Mattp-- Did you climb all three gendarmes or did you traverse around them? Quote
mattp Posted February 13, 2004 Posted February 13, 2004 I don't remember which gendarme was which. We went over the first one, if I am not mistaken, then started looking for ways around them. I'm pretty sure we traverssed around the second on the S. Side. For the upper tower, above the notch, we traverssed shortly right to gain a steep gully/chimney and then another bit of traverssing. I believe we counted 16 or 17 pitches. Quote
catbirdseat Posted February 13, 2004 Posted February 13, 2004 Does anyone ever bring fluke on climbs like that, or are they every bit as much of a joke as pickets under those conditions? I already know Iain's opinion of flukes. Quote
ivan Posted February 13, 2004 Posted February 13, 2004 a fluke would have been a useless annoying piece of crap on the part of the climb we saw, in the condition it was in... Quote
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