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[TR] Mt. Hood- South Side 3/28/2004


skyclimb

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Climb: Mt. Hood-South Side

 

Date of Climb: 3/28/2004

 

Trip Report:

Started climbing at 2 this morning. Put the boot track in on the hogsback. High avy danger. Lots of WHUMPS on the way back down. Lots of death cookies on the summit ridge. Bergshrund is slightly open on the right side of the hog.

 

Approach Notes:

SKIS, and man did that kick ass

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there is a solid layer of ice with approx. a foot of unconsolodated powder on top. THis unconsolodated powder is forming a breakable crust.

I posted the way I did to inform people of danger on other routes.

If you read the avy forecast it is primarily for north-east east aspects. This obviously doesn't negate the danger on other aspects, but west facing routes would be very dangerous right now due to the death cookies higher up, and avy conditions.

bigdrink.gif

END

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Lots of WHUMPS on the way back down.

 

On the traverse between the Hog and Crater Rock on the descent I experienced the same thing. The slope settled giving off the tell tale 'wump' sound. I was already running down the hill and after hearing this I was not going to break my stride to analyse the snow pack. This was at 1pm.

 

Just down the trail there were 8-10 folks coming up in 3 groups. I told one person in each group about the settling. To my surprise nobody gave any concern. wtf?

 

I've never heard of an avi on that slope and have never seen avi debris there either. My guess is that avi conditions would have to be off the chart for that slope to actually slide.

 

Skiing the Palmer Gl was awesome. The wind pack was softened just right. thumbs_up.gif

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Yikes! Don't people read the avi report?!? Or just choose to climb anyway? NWAC certainly called for dangerous climbing conditions. True, they pointed out the wind loaded NE slabs as being the most likely trigger points, but still indicated overall dangerous conditions.

 

I've never seen any slides there personally, but I've heard that the slope below Hogsback and Crater rock does avalanche periodically. Hood's South Side route normally has lower avi danger than surrounding areas, but it is not immune.

 

Ballsy going up with a forecast like that... I guess wazzup.gif

 

Glad everyone made it down safely, and thanks for the avi beta bigdrink.gif

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I'm possibly going up there sunday morning (or st. Helens). Any advice in terms of gear needed apart from crampons and an axe? Are you getting all your Avy info from NWAC? If I were to ski down from a spot below crater rock, but only have alpine ski gear, would it be prudent to just pack it along to the top, and carry it back down to where it became skiable? Or do you not think it would be worth the haul to bring them along? Thanks for any info.. going to be the first time up there after looking at it a million times.

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Blake - it is definitely worth it to be able to ski back down to timberline. But are you talking about actual heavy-ass alpine gear and ski boots...?

 

I'd leave the skis at the bottom of the hogsback - you can pretty easily ski down past crater rock from there.

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Carry 'em until it isn't fun anymore. Good places to ditch gear: Triangle moraine, ~9500', Devil's Kitchen 10200', Hogsback, 10700'. Their all pretty obvious when the vis is good. If it's bad, rethink stashing your skis if you want to find them again.

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Blake - it is definitely worth it to be able to ski back down to timberline. But are you talking about actual heavy-ass alpine gear and ski boots...?

 

 

I sure am.. some nice Atomics I bought from a guy on the CC classifieds too. I know there will be a million people, but maybe if we leave early (late?) enough we'll beat the crowd to the pearly Gates. Is the bergschrund a "non-obstacle" at this point? I'll bring the skis and boots along, and assess stashing them as the conditions warrant.

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If you do the mazama-style midnight start it will definitely be bulletproof up high, but still worth it to leave the skis somewhere above the top of the palmer and avoid slogging all the way down the ski area. Of course, this assumes the extra... I'm guessing at least 35 lbs of skis, bindings, and downhill boots on your back doesn't make you want to call it off at the silcox hut on the way up.

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