[TR] Mt. Hood- Sunshine 7/12/2005

[cluck]

Climb: Mt. Hood-Sunshine

 

Date of Climb: 7/12/2005

 

Trip Report:

Played hooky from work on Tuesday in favor of a late-season climb on Hood's Sunshine route. Our willingness to shirk our employment responsibilities was rewarded with a fabulous climb and some great conditions.

 

We left Cloud Cap at 1:30 AM and headed up Timberline trail for the west moraine of the Elliot glacier. We figured this would be faster than climbing the east moraine toward Cooper Spur and traversing the Elliot glacier between the icefalls. We were right!

 

Traversing under Lag Crags:

 

Slogging up Snowdome in the dark:

 

 

Routefinding in the pitch-black, moonless light was a bit of a chore, but not overly difficult. Gaining and following the west moraine was a breeze and getting around Lag crags wasn't too tough. From there it was just a matter of following a compass bearing until it started getting light.

 

 

We crossed a couple tiny crevasses starting to open up aronud 8500 feet on Snowdome so that prompted us to rope up. However, we didn't encounter any more until Anderson rock.

 

The bergie under Anderson rock:

 

We couldn't decide which way to go so one rope-team did an end run of the crevasse to the right while the other team did some funky scrambling straight over Anderson rock. Both approaches took the same amount of time.

 

End run:

 

 

Scrambling over Anderson rock:

 

 

Horseshoe rock presented another more challenging bergschrund. It can be crossed just left of Horseshoe rock but that would require heading through an obvious shooting gallery and then up steep slopes above a gaping crevasse. We couldn't muster the courage for this so we opted again to head right in search of a snow bridge. We found none and ended up traversing nearly to Cathedral ridge before we could swing around the end of the crevasse and head straight up to the ridge crest.

 

Traversing below the Horseshoe rock bergie:

 

Heading up to Cathedral Ridge:

 

We gained the crest of Cathedral ridge just below the Queen's chair.

 

 

From there it was just a matter of sprinting up crunchy rime ice slopes until the summit ridge:

 

Reached the summit at 9:00 am - 7.5 hours after leaving Cloud Cap.

 

The descent down the south-side was a sinch. The pearly gates and bergie are in very good shape for July.

 

This was my first time up the Sunshine route and I was impressed. It's long, but a great route becuase of more complicated routefinding and technical challenges. The snow was crunch and firm - not what we expected for July but a welcome suprise.

 

Gear Notes:

Pickets were handy

[Eugenian]

Great TR and great pics! Thanks for being the first fresh post in a while. Looks like you had a great day.

[ckouba]

Strong work Snorto!! Looks like good times. It's been ages since I've been on snow (or rock even). Good to see you out there on it.

 

Post your pics in the gallery, the bigger the better...

 

Chris

[cluck]

Thanks Chris! It sure was an amazing climb. Conditions were perfect, group was strong, and weather was awesome.

 

I updated the TR so the pictures are now linked to the gallery. They look better blown up.

 

-Scott

 

 

PS - sorry to hear about your buddy on Mt. McGloughlin - that's a shame.

[ckouba]

Thanks. Sucks to lose a buddy, but it wasn't from the climbing. He seemed SO fit but was lost to a heart problem.

 

THose are some sweet pics, thanks for the links. That one on ANderson Rock is exactly where I went with another buddy. That light colored crap to the climber's left is choss held together with toothpaste. Come to think of it, it ALL was...

 

We turned around at Horseshoe as the schrund went ALL the way across and we didn't fancy the consequences or the traverse to Cathedral Ridge.

 

Drop a line if you're looking to connect for something.

 

CK

[scheissami]

Hey, I was hiking on Hood the day you guys climbed it, and I kept thinking to myself that there was so little snow cover that climbing it would be pretty dangerous. It sounds like you guys think the South side would be fit for climbing. As I'm fairly new at mountaineering, would you guys recommend an even earlier than usual start (say midnight or so from Timberline Lodge)? The pics are awesome and the route sounds like it involved some exciting navigation and decision-making.

[cluck]

Yeah - I'd say the south side is definitely fit for climbing (by a capable party, that is). We were lucky with the good snow conditions above the hogsback. We found a veritable staircase (albeit a steep one) of ice steps from the summit down to the Hogsback. However, conditions can change dramatically from day to day and July is not typically the safest month to climb Hood.

 

Here are a couple of pics of the Hogsback and Pearly Gates from 7/12/05:

 

 

My advice is to certainly start early (midnight is good unless you're super-slow) so you can get off the summit and down below the bergschrund before summer sun turns the ice staircase turns into a slushy sketchfest. Also, study the weather forecast before you go. I mean really study it - think about what the freezing level, cloud cover, and wind will do to conditions.

 

Good luck!

[goatboy]

This is a great TR, very helpful information and well-chosen photos!

 

Nice work! Thanks!