[TR] Mt. Hood- Leuthold Couloir 11/4/2004

[Chad_A]

Climb: Mt. Hood-Leuthold Couloir

 

Date of Climb: 11/4/2004

 

Trip Report:

Three of us (me, vw4ever (Chad), Jeff (JeffH), and Lon (?) ) decided to do something on the western aspect of Hood; Jeff had his eye on a couple of routes, mainly Sandy or Leuthold. I tried to talk him into the NF, but wisely, he insisted that he do something else, first. I gladly agreed to do something else, as simply to get out, was the bottom-line prime directive. It didn't seem to matter what we did to Lon. He was happy just to be climbing.

 

We left the car shortly after 1:30, and it was easy to boot track up the Palmer on the wind blown turf. Icy in spots, but sticking to the edge of the groomed trail easily awarded good footing. The moon saved our headlamp batteries for us in the bitter cold. At the top of the Palmer, Lon gracefully opted out, stating he wasn't feeling well. He went back down to await our return, and Jeff and I silently prepared.

 

At I-Rock, I dumped the rope out of the pack, and quickly managed to puncture my platypus with my crampon. Nice. Spare platypus connected, and continued fidgeting with gear (thanks to Jeff for his patience).

 

Upon dropping over the edge of the saddle for the descending traverse of the Reid, it was decided that, since we were a two man team, it'd be a more wise, and safe, idea to stick to Leuthold, rather than traverse Yocum to get to Sandy, and deal with yet another glacier with hidden crevasses.

 

I'd made my first mistake when proclaiming that the cramponing was excellent. It was, at first. Then, it became unpredictable between sugary powder and rotten water ice under a thin layer of snow. The second tool was out and in use. Thinking of pro, I didn't think that a picket would be any good (it wouldn't), and that an ice screw would be worthless. Roped together, questionable footing, with no pro. Bad idea. Worse idea to stop and unrope, since stuff was starting to rain off of Castle Crags above us. Answer? Move, suck it up, make sure placements are bomber, and get it over with.

 

Soon we were traversing the Reid on easier ground, with a few inches of powder on top of blue ice, with varying quality. I'd only brought one screw just in case, because of all the fresh snow recently, and the lack of a freeze thaw cycle. Hmmph. Anyway, the footing had become more secure, consistently, and I wanted to save the one screw I had, in case I really needed it. Soon, we were traversing up into the base of the couloir.

 

I set a quick anchor, and prussiked Jeff up to me, and we ate. It was just becoming light (barely). I suggested that we unrope from there, and he concurred. The rope was stashed, and after some H20 and food, I started kicking steps.

 

With the wind picking up, more ice had begun to fall from above, but nothing more than quarter sized (still hurt). Powder of varying thickness made for decent step kicking, as it was wind blown, and consolidated. Powder funneled from the hourglass consistently.

 

The hourglass section, was some spicy fun, since we were simul-soloing. A 6-foot less-than-vertical step of WI guarded the entrance, followed by 200 ft more of 45-50 degree WI. Good placement. Lots of fun. Above the WI, it alternated, again, between kickable powder, and rotten WI.

 

We stopped at the Queens Chair to get a view, eat, and take some pics. After some more water (finally! My tube had frozen solid. Chewed on it until it worked again) and some chocolate covered espresso beans, we left to work our way to the summit ridge.

 

Twenty minutes later, after negotiating the commonly found ice mushroom/seashell-like features of the upper slope, we gained the ridge. It was the most interesting traverse of that ridge I'd done; I usually don't mind the exposure, but more of the loose powder, combined with rotten ice mushrooms, nerved me up a bit more than usual. The second half of the ridge was a cakewalk. On the summit, Jeff graciously offered me some of his water, and we took pics. It was about 9:13 at that point.

 

Descending the Pearly Gates proved to be interesting. I figured as much; being south-facing, I'd been surpised if there was no ice, or other obstacles of that nature, in our way. There was a four-foot section of WI to downclimb, and another 15 feet or so of plastered WI on the slope below it, to negotiate. It looked worse than it was; maybe some people it wouldn't even bother, but it's the descents that get to me, so I had to make sure that I remembered to breathe.

 

It proved to be of no significant difficulty, and soon we were, once again, on rotten powder, descending; I continued to face in, and kick in steps until past the bergschrund. It was a bit creepy; I couldn't see where it was from above, so I chose to traverse to climbers' left to make sure I stayed clear of any unforseen opening, and it turned out to be the right move. Soon we were at the Hogsback, where the only other problem to deal with, was the down jacket that I dropped, still in it's stuff sack, while repacking my sack; it landed down by the fumaroles. I was lucky to have been able to retrieve it.

 

After many sheddings of layers, we arrived at the parking lot, where our other partner-to-be, Lon, informed us that a helicopter had just been authorized for a rescue on the Sandy. It felt pretty awful to hear that. I wanted to find out more, but I didn't feel it would've been appropriate.

 

It was a fine day out. It's too bad that Lon couldn't have come along, but there'll be other times. Jeff, in his seeking of alpine experience, is quite settled and confident. I hope to climb again with him in the future. (How about the Reid next time, eh, Jeff??? )

 

The route was much more characteristic in fall, than when I soloed it in late winter. I was initially uninspired to climb it once again, but after experiencing some of the fall character, it was well worth it. Besides, it beats the hell out of working. By the way, where was everyone at today? No one but us at the summit register. Great weather for a climb!

 

Here's some pics. Sorry about me being so ugly on the summit shot. I need a makeup artist.

 

 

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

Second tool, usual glacier stuff. Another screw or two would've been nice.

 

Oh, and the chocolate covered espresso beans were key to our success.

 

Approach Notes:

The whole south side is nice and windblown. No postholing. The crevasses on the Reid are pretty open to see, but I'm sure there are a couple there that you could certainly "find".

[Chriznitch]

right on dude

[Chad_A]

Thanks

 

By the way, to whom it may concern, I have the 10th-13th (next week) off, if anyone is interested in the NF. I really want to get that one done!

[jeffh]

Thanks Chad, not only do you put in a great set of steps up the route, you write a TR to boot. My thoughts go out to the families of the climbers involved in the tragedy that occurred today. Hard to believe something like that was going on so close and not even knowing about it until reaching the parking lot. That said, it was a fantastic day on the mountain. Figured there would be a bunch of people taking advantage of the weather window but, than again, it was during the middle of the week. Still amazed at the conditions in the Pearly Gates. That second tool just kept coming back out all day long.

[Chad_A]

Cool, glad you found the TR, man.

 

I just read about the person that passed. That's terrible. Makes me wonder where were were at on route when it happened.

[layton]

thanks for the beta and good TR. nice job

[Haydar]

Nice job and TR. So is the schrund still open?

[Chad_A]

Yeah, the schrund is still wide open. Easy to see once you get down to it, though. Lots of room on the climber's left to get past it.

 

By the way, thanks for the complements, gents