[TR] Mount Hood - North face 5/3/2004

[flatnose]

Climb: Mount Hood -North face

 

Date of Climb: 5/3/2004

 

Trip Report:

Climb: Mount Hood-North face/Cooper Spur

 

Date of Climb: 5/3/2004

 

Trip Report:

Had an outstanding weekend on the North face of Hood this weekend. Ivan and I had originally made plans to do the North face gully but he unfortuantely had to bow out at the last minute due to illness. I decided with the weather being so nice I'd give cooper spur a shot and enjoy some good quality time with myself for a weekend.

 

Got to tilly jane trailhead at about 9 am packed up and was on the trail by about 9:15. I decided to leave my board in the car rather than pack it in which proved to be a good decision since the trail is mostly dirt all the way to treeline.

 

It was boiling hot by the time I got above treeline only to realize I had left my sunscreen in the car. Brilliant. Luckily I ran into some tele-skiers on the way up who were nice enough to loan me some.

 

Hoofed it up the spur and made it to 9200 ft by 2 pm where I dug my little gnome hole for the night. I looked at the face for awhile and scoped a line roughly halfway between the cooper spur route and the south gully that meanders up the face and traverses to the slope above the left gully. Both gullies on the face look to be in shape but probably not for long. Both rock bands still have a thin layer of snow so gettin past the schrund would probably be the most difficult part.

 

Usually I can't sleep for sh8t in the mountains but after brewing up and eating dinner it was lights out by 7 pm.

I got woken up at 1:30 by gusting winds flapping my bivy sack and couldn't get back to sleep until abot 10 min before my alarm went off at 3.

 

Woke up to clear skies, full moon, and amazingly the winds completely died by the time I headed out at 4. Not a single headlamp headed on the trail behind me; apparently I was the only one climbing the spur this weekend.

 

Headed up the slope that leads to the upper cooper spur before traversing right at about 9600 ft. I climbed right for aways, crossing over the rock rib and headed up the headwall. The snow on the face was pretty solid. Pick placements were pretty much nil, but I had solid feet and secure shaft placements. I'd say the slope was around 45 deg. with maybe a spot or two of 50-55. I'm not a good judge but I'd say it was comparable to the reid headwall perhaps a bit steeper. Picked my way through the rocks and traversed above the second rock band on the left gully and front-pointed up the slope to the summit. I was rewarded by about 15 ft of alpine ice just below the summit. Yippee!

 

Made the top at about 5:30 and after taking a picture of the sunrise I headed down the cooper spur route. Had to front-point most of the way down the spur and made it back to camp at about 6:30.

 

By the time I started for the car at 8 the snow was already too soft for glissading so I had to plunge step all the way down to treeline. Made it back to the car by

10:30 and stopped at the Mcdonalds in hood river where feeling so deprived of salt I proceeded to eat 4 cups of catsup while waiting for my food. MMM delicious. Anyway I guess thats it.

 

Ivan if youre interested in doing the n face or coe icefall this weekend I'm totally down.

 

Here's a few pics.

 

 

Approach Notes:

Shuttle from t-line is best option as tilly jane trail is unridable below treeline

[flatnose]

Oops the date of the climb is actually 5/2

[ivan]

nice...that's 2 fuk'n climbs in a row i've been ill on...i think maybe i'm turning into a huge baby

 

lost my voice halfway through the day today...makes being a teacher much more enjoyable; that's when i downshift into jedi mind tricks

 

hoping this weekend works and that my wife somehow forgets its mothers day (isn't this my daughter's problem, after all?)

 

coe icefall or n face it tis

 

i like the variation you took on the spur...the standard way doesn't take advantage of all that exposure

[texplorer]

Great TR,

I like the non-spray like reporting that was to-the-point and fun to read. Nice job, Sounds like you had a sweet day on the mountain.

[Lady_SkyTramp]

We plan to go there this weekend, I have two questions about this route:

 

1. Is there a place to set up a 2 persons tent somewhere at 8,000, there is only a room for a 'gnome hole' on the ridge? We would rather camp higher then at the campground.

 

2. Do we really need ice tools, or these 15 ft of ice were 'extra'?

 

Can anyone answer? Thanks a ton!

Maria

[ivan]

stick to the true cooper spur route, left of his line in the picture and 1 axe is enough (probably would be fine on his route too, but a little training weight never hurts, right?)

 

there's plenty enough space to camp at tie in rock, right at then end of the spur before the angle turns up. the whole spur has flat areas along it so you can camp just about anywhere.

 

enjoy the route. it's the old standard and i've been alone both times i did it. makes emerging onto the summit mall-scene more amusing.

 

looks like clouds and rain this weekend...

[seatosky]

Nice variation on the Spur! The pictures help your TR. You picked a better time to start out. We left T'line at midnight and were caught in poor visibility. Had a difficult time navigating over to Illumination saddle and onward to Leuthold's. We probably saw you at the summit however. We were the three guys parked on top for sunrise.

[fourteenfour]

such a great route.