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Leuthold Solo


Thor

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Like many others, I wanted to take advantage of the weather window on Hood. I took off from the parking lot around 1:00, and reached Illumination Saddle around 3:30. I tried not to wake up the people camped at the saddle, if I did, sorry. I dropped down to the glacier and was quickly approaching the shooting gallery, a.k.a., Leuthold Couloir. Unfortunately, there was a rope team of 3 above me. Battling the ice that is constantly falling, combined with the additional stuff from the three guys was tough. As I neared the hourglass, I caught up with the rope team, so I just stayed behind the 3rd guy (but a bit to the side in case he fell), and used him as a human shield. It worked well. At the steep point, there were sections of hard ice mixed with the everpresent styrofoam snow. Overall, great conditions. I eventually moved to the side above the hourglass, and things got much better. I caught a great picture of Mt. Hood's shadow, as the sun was rising. showphoto.php?photo=9581&sort=1&cat=504&page=1

I also got a picture of that rope team, so if you read this, enjoy. I was getting a bit spent as I neared the top, but I always seemed re-energized, as soon as I see the summit. On the descent, I took the right side gully, instead of the left side (Pearly Gates), as it was clogged with people moving slowly. A couple nice glissades and I was back at the car. 9 hours car-to-car.

Many thanks to Gary for the beer. It hit the spot.

showphoto.php?photo=9582&sort=1&cat=504&page=1

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Nice work on the route. Great photo of Hood with the shadow -- I took one of those photos once, and felt like I was in the right place at the right time . . . bigdrink.gif

 

 

Did you climb Saturday morning or Sunday morning?

 

I was one of the folks camped at the saddle Fri Night/Sat morning -- and the parties that passed through our campsite were actually very quiet, relatively speaking -- thanks for that!

 

Nice styrofoam snow, squeeky and secure, eh?

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Here's your pic: 7231Hood_shadow-med.JPG

 

As some one told me a month agoyou should right click on the picture in the gallery then click properties and use the url shown there to get the picture to show in the post.

 

Sure seems like this procedure should be in the FAQs or have a sticky note somewhere!!??

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was the first guy on that rope team image and your human shield in the Hourglass. Glad I could be of some service. That was my first time up LC; can't imagine the rock/icefall during daylight hours. It really was a fantastic day to climb! Image of you climbing towards Queens Chair:

 

29%20-%20Climber%20Approaching%20Queen

 

Image of Yocum Ridge and Shadow of Hood:

 

35%20-%20Yocum%20Ridge,%20Shadow%20of%20Hood.jpg

 

Hopefully these images display correctly. More of these high-speed black-and-whites from that climb at:

 

http://patrick.dzero.org/galleries/Climbs/Hood%20-%20Leuthold%20Couloir/

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