Mt Hood North Face

[Chriznitch]

for those who have climbed either gully in the fall (Sept-Dec), what conditions did you have?

[iain]

Ice and rock

[ivan]

perfect conditions...rain and snow in the week before the climb, followed by extreme cold snap (30 or so down here in vancouver, 'round zero in the gullies themselves). the upper mountain was not terribly covered in snow, and the whole gully was glazed in ice. all sand/pebbles/etc were frozen solidly together and could be hooked and stuck while climbing. descending off the south side was far, far more entertaining then ever it had been before though.

[iain]

http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/267776/page/0/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/1/vc/1

[Chriznitch]

[Gaper_Jeffy]

Bring skis ;-)

[texplorer]

We had a mainly steep snow with a few nice thick ice steps mainly grade 3 but a short section of 4. It can vary drastically from week to week and even day to day though. What your waiting for is some consolidation after the first snows and then a nice cold snap with good weather. Good luck, I waited 3 years and 4 attempts before getting the thing. It was the best climb I have done yet on Hood.

[Chriznitch]

it sounds like the route that could provide the icing on my Oregon "cake of experiences"

[Chriznitch]

by the way Tex, I caught the Willie Nelson show the other night. You'd be proud...

 

[texplorer]

Willi would fit right in with climbers - Half shaven and lots of weed.

 

Momma, don't let your babies grow up to be climbers.

[David_Parker]

here's a story with link to photos. One of the best climbs I've done recently. Wait for the right conditions. You'll know!

 

http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=UBB7&Number=274416&Forum=f7&Words=Chainsaws&Searchpage=0&Limit=25&Main=274416&Search=true&where=sub&Name=&daterange=0&newerval=&newertype=&olderval=&oldertype=&bodyprev=#Post274416

[badvoodoo]

Willi would fit right in with climbers - Half shaven and lots of weed.

 

Momma, don't let your babies grow up to be climbers.

 

"Climbers ain't easy to love and they're harder to hold

And they'd rather give you beta then diamonds or gold

Gortex and fleece and old faded Carharts each night begins a new day

And if you don't understand him and he don't die young

He'll probly just climb away"

[Hanger]

"On the road again

Just can't wait to get on the road again

The life I love is going climbing with my friends

And I can't wait to get on the road again"

[billcoe]

Bring skis ;-)

 

Damn ??!!! skiis???! -you sure?

 

Maybe were thinking different routes or I must just be a weak pussy.

 

 

Well, hey, I am a weak pussy, so what - but still, are we thinking the same route?

 

 

whew, .....mefrigganowwwww all I can say.

[iain]

I believe doug coombs skied it, but rapped the crux pitches. so maybe that's not skiing it. I'm not arguing with Sir Coombs myself.

 

A line through Eliot HW has been skied. Several lines on Reid and Sandy HW as well.

 

I posted a photo in the oregon section showing the condition of the face as of Sunday. This of course has been thrashed by the hot wx now.

[cj001f]

From Alpenglow.org:

1971: Wy'east route, ski descent by Sylvain Saudan: chronology.

1992: North Face (right gully), snowboard descent by Stephen Koch: chronology.

1997: North Face (left gully), ski descent by Doug Coombs: chronology.

[iain]

I'm sure Wy'east was skied before that famous descent. Check the Hoodoo bar

[Gaper_Jeffy]

I'm sure Wy'east was skied before that famous descent. Check the Hoodoo bar

 

My understanding is Sylvain Saudan skied from the summit--not just the Wyeast face. Did folks prior to Saudan do this as well, or did they just ski the Wyeast face sans summit? The Saudan descent was very hyped, it'd be interesting to learn if it wasn't a first.

[Gaper_Jeffy]

Maybe were thinking different routes

 

Ohh I was being sarcastic--though skis would be convenient for descending an alternative route. Hood is incredibly white and boasting excellent turns right now (skied on it yesterday).

[billcoe]

Maybe were thinking different routes

 

Ohh I was being sarcastic--

 

 

Whew-

 

Yup, actually, when Anselm Beau (spelling?) - the French climber dude who specialized in both climbing and then skiing Noth Faces in the Alps came to time to do a North Face of Mt Blanc film show, he and his buddie skiied the north face of Hood then, which was in @1982. Not sure what route.

 

That was quite a film, watching him solo unroped - front point and dual tool up a very steep wall, knowing that was his descent path. It was unfrigganbelievable.

 

Funniets part to me was sitting around after BSing with him and his buddie, and I say, how do you stay in shape ?

 

They both looked at me with utter confusion.

 

 

They were French Guides whos only job was to climb and guide steep ski descents (probably for gapers like me). They didn't do anything to stay in shape, they just climbed and skiied all the time and had no idea what the question was refering to.

[cj001f]

I'm sure Wy'east was skied before that famous descent. Check the Hoodoo bar

 

My understanding is Sylvain Saudan skied from the summit--not just the Wyeast face. Did folks prior to Saudan do this as well, or did they just ski the face sans summit? The Saudan descent was very hyped, it'd be interesting to learn if it wasn't a first.

 

Sylvain choppered up to the summit then skiied down. "Wild Snow" attributes the first walk up ski down from the summit to a then teenager from hood river.

 

bill-

Do you have any more info Anselme Baud's visit?

[Gaper_Jeffy]

On an unrelated note: Anyone know why this thread is scrolling horizontally? There are no large photos, and my resolution is at a nice 1280x1024.

 

Edit to add: I guess it's the large link pasted in by David Parker. David could you edit that link adding a short label using the [ url ] syntax?

[David_Parker]

Teach me how and I'd be glad to. I just know how to copy/paste a url. I don't know how to change the name to something like "click here" and still make it work.

[billcoe]

bill-

Do you have any more info Anselme Baud's visit?

 

You know, a quick search on the net shows that he acompanied Saudan in 1971. So, I probably already know a hell of a lot less than than I think I do, and signifigantly less than the internet always does. Some days I'm just happy my head stays on from all the spinning it seems to do to accompany my open mouth gaping.

 

 

Anselme did come in 1982-83 or so, That I am sure of. I thought they climbed the south side and skiied that (probably the very same) route. I see that although he was here in 71, he didn't ski with Sylvaine, perhaps he left his skis at home then? It was not something he mentioned at all to me in 82, ie, that he had been the gear boy for Sylvaine on a previous trip, and I only learned it right now surfing the net. It does explain why he was so low key about it. Real good guy BTW. So the bottom line is I really don't know shit, which is what my wife has been trying to convey to me for some time now. Fuenos will back her up on that if you need corroboration -you can ask him yourself - seems I forgot his friend we had just climbed with together a short while ago. Anyway:

 

Here's the link and story:

 

In the early 1970s the south west face of the Eiger, the south face of the Grandes Jorasses and the couloir of the Tournette on the south west side of Mont-Blanc all fell to Saudan. Then in the winter of 1971 he was invited to The Meadows ski area in North America. The technical director thought he might be interested in a certain Mt Hood. This 3419 meter volcano, flanked by 8 glaciers and situated just 175km from the Pacific coast and its weather systems, had only been climbed 20 years before. Now Saudan was considering a descent by a challenging couloir on the Northeast side where nobody had yet set foot.

 

On the 3rd of March, after two weeks of delay the weather cleared and a helicopter was called. Meadows had already received over 17 meters of snow and a climb was impossible. The small, two seater Bell, finally arrived at three in the afternoon. The pilot had been busy with a film production on the coast. Sylvain climbed aboard. “We’ll try to go up, but there’s not much chance, too much wind”, the pilot screamed over the noise of the rotors. The flight gave Saudan his first good look at the couloir. Four times the pilot tried to land on the small, snow capped dome, finally succeeding on the fifth. The pilot returned to fetch Saudan’s partner, the Avoriaz guide Anselme Baud and his gear. The summit temperature was –35C, it was already late in the afternoon and the sky was growing dark. A cup of hot tea then Sylvain said goodbye to Anselme and entered the 50-degree – 55 in places, slope. “For the first time in my life I felt my legs freezing… for the first turns I couldn’t feel my skis… I was worried about windslab avalanches, meters of snow had been blown by the previous days blizzard”.

 

The first couloir was 300 meters long but the descent was blocked by cliffs, Sylvain had to traverse to a second couloir. But he entered too high. On the diamond hard ice there was no chance to turn or even make a conversion, he would have to back up. Digging the edges of his over 2 meter long skis as hard as he could, his pole tips barely gripping, the operation took the best part of 30 minutes. To reach the second couloir Sylvain once again had to cross this icy trap then below him the slope opened up, 1500 meters of vertiginous descent to Clark Canyon. The start of the couloir was too narrow to turn, rock walls loomed on either side. Could he stop himself if he got up speed at the start? “If the snow was hard I’d be in trouble…this was the key to the whole descent” He threw a rock, the snow was soft, a couple of turns and the couloir began to open. In the solitude cold was forgotten and he began to relax. He made short turns, trying to avoid triggering an avalanche. A further surprise, there were numerous crevasses and a Bergschrund then Saudan was on the gentle slopes of the glacier. At the base a hundred people were waiting, journalists, ski instructors, photographers and fans. A big round of applause, interviews, photos. The Skier’s Gazatte wrote a huge piece about the “Superman on Mount Hood”

 

In 1982 Saudan descended from the top of the 8068 meter Gasherbrum I in the Himalayas. Today he runs Himalaya Heliski based in Srinagar offering heliskiing trips in Kashmir region.

 

http://www.pistehors.com/comments/48_0_1_0_C/

 

 

Theres some more if you want it:

 

Regards:

 

Bill

[kurthicks]

north