Chad_A Posted December 9, 2005 Posted December 9, 2005 Two different people I know have reported waist to chest deep unconsolidated snow on both the South Side and the Reid Headwall, yesterday. Hood looks great from PDX, and the weather's going to be spectacular, but it's probably better to get out the skis, rather than the crampons, this weekend. Quote
ivan Posted December 9, 2005 Posted December 9, 2005 guess that means yocum's is the route de jour then? shit, does this mean i have to carry my snowshoes up n' over?!? Quote
Chad_A Posted December 9, 2005 Author Posted December 9, 2005 guess that means yocum's is the route de jour then? shit, does this mean i have to carry my snowshoes up n' over?!? Don't know about that. There's lots of rock exposed from what I saw from Illumination Saddle two days ago. Sweatin'- no problem, always happy to share Quote
Couloir Posted December 9, 2005 Posted December 9, 2005 Yes, take the skis. I played hooky this morning and it was just me and the Sno-cat passing each other as I went up. Just above the Palmer, is powder suger intermixed with hard ice. The upper mountain still needs a lot more snow. I had the whole South Side to myself. No other climbers had registered and I didn't see one other person. Incredible turns from the top of the Palmer all the way to the car. SCHWEET! The weather was absolutely awesome. I'd have to say, one of the best days ever. Relatively warm, beautiful sunshine and zero wind (except a little up high). Yeah, I saw the registration of those cats that went up Reid Headwall. Now, that route and Leutholds I'm sure is just getting very tasty. It needs to be had. Enjoy! Quote
sketchfest Posted December 9, 2005 Posted December 9, 2005 Couloir, did you summit or just ski? Quote
Couloir Posted December 9, 2005 Posted December 9, 2005 Just ski. I told the wife that if there wasn't anyone else up high I'd turn around near CR. It was just great to be up there, summit or not. Quote
sketchfest Posted December 9, 2005 Posted December 9, 2005 sweet, hell of a way to spend a day! Quote
ryland_moore Posted December 10, 2005 Posted December 10, 2005 No way on Yocum....That thing needs to be seriously frozen uo with rime and with a temp. inversion and freezing levels up to 10,800' I'd say get some skiezin' in. Quote
OlegV Posted December 10, 2005 Posted December 10, 2005 No way on Yocum....That thing needs to be seriously frozen uo with rime and with a temp. inversion and freezing levels up to 10,800' I'd say get some skiezin' in. I'd call 6F seriously cold for Cascades - it stay like this for a week. http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/total_forecast/i...;lon=-121.70625 Quote
kioti Posted December 11, 2005 Posted December 11, 2005 The conditions weren't at all deep on the 8th. Jeff, Donn and I were up there, Jeff and I on skis and Donn boot packing. Conditions were perfect, not deep. We went all the way up to the base of the pearly gates (which looked climbable, but the descent would be the tough part.) Skiing was sweet! Quote
Chad_A Posted December 11, 2005 Author Posted December 11, 2005 Hmm...someone in your group told me differently??? Quote
sketchfest Posted December 11, 2005 Posted December 11, 2005 Funguy and I headed up yesterday morning to see if we could take a run at the Reid Headwall, we left t-line at 5:30 The weather was really mild, I mean really mild, it was a lot like spring with temps never droping below 40* with a light wind. Once the sun came up we got a look at I-rock needless to say, it's looking pretty bare. After heading over the saddle, we found the snow to be mostly knee deep powder on top of a hard surface of ice, but the snow was fairly consolidated with little to snow sloffing. The gullies and upper mountain are pretty bare, a lot less snow than I would have thought for this time of year. We found the ice in the first gully to be very brittle, but climable on the right side. The second step was a little thin with a big trough running down the center, again climable on the right side. After that the hard parts are over. The mountain needs more snow, but if you want a good day, go get it now, but start early. Quote
Chad_A Posted December 11, 2005 Author Posted December 11, 2005 Very nice. Did you guys finish via the rim, or the Queens Chair? Quote
sketchfest Posted December 11, 2005 Posted December 11, 2005 With conditions being what they were we opted to top out on the West Ridge. Only saw two other groups on the mtn all day, both were coming down through the pearly gates. In the registry, one group said they were headed for the Reid headwall, but we never saw their tracks. Quote
ivan Posted December 12, 2005 Posted December 12, 2005 a popular weekend on the reid - oleg and i insisted on going up there sunday to see if we could do yocums and paid the price by having to haul a lot of extra shit up the reid instead. we saw 2 other parties - there's now a fantastic set of tracks leading up the summit from the west rim topout. will post my own pic of yocums from way above later for everyone's general bemusement Quote
Cobra_Commander Posted December 12, 2005 Posted December 12, 2005 inversion rime-wrestling: wise! Quote
ivan Posted December 12, 2005 Posted December 12, 2005 living the dream, baby, living the dream Quote
Cobra_Commander Posted December 12, 2005 Posted December 12, 2005 fkna is that soul in your cage or you just happy to see me!? Quote
ryland_moore Posted December 12, 2005 Posted December 12, 2005 No way on Yocum....That thing needs to be seriously frozen uo with rime and with a temp. inversion and freezing levels up to 10,800' I'd say get some skiezin' in. I'd call 6F seriously cold for Cascades - it stay like this for a week. http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/total_forecast/i...;lon=-121.70625 Oleg, You were saying????? I am sorry to say, I told you so, but at least you got to play around on Reid....... I will trust general weather reports to NOAA but when it comes to site specific temps. I look straight to actual readings on the mountain and there was an inversion up there, meaning no ice or rime on Yocum.... Quote
Cobra_Commander Posted December 12, 2005 Posted December 12, 2005 just look at i-rock from the parking lot. if brown - no. if white - perhaps. Quote
OlegV Posted December 13, 2005 Posted December 13, 2005 No way on Yocum....That thing needs to be seriously frozen uo with rime and with a temp. inversion and freezing levels up to 10,800' I'd say get some skiezin' in. I'd call 6F seriously cold for Cascades - it stay like this for a week. http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/total_forecast/i...;lon=-121.70625 Oleg, You were saying????? I am sorry to say, I told you so, but at least you got to play around on Reid....... I will trust general weather reports to NOAA but when it comes to site specific temps. I look straight to actual readings on the mountain and there was an inversion up there, meaning no ice or rime on Yocum.... I was wrong, Ryland The lower part was unfrozen mud, and the upper ridge had some ice. Ivan will post some pictures! Quote
OlegV Posted December 13, 2005 Posted December 13, 2005 and I love climbing Reid - each time you feel like it's a different route Quote
natazoo Posted December 13, 2005 Posted December 13, 2005 Posting a few days late, but Ben and I went up Devil's Kitchen Headwall Saturday. Two gullies over from the Pearly Gates. Ice was thin and brittle over cinders and rock. Snow up through the gulley was a thin crust over powder. From the top of Wy'east chute to just below the summit was mostly unconsolidated powder up along the ridge. Traverses around the rocks seemed a little sketchy with axes mainly in frozen cinders beneath the snow. This was the first time we had seen this side of the mountain, so it made for some fun climbing. I don't think I'll head back until it firms up a little more. Which should be soon. Quote
fat_squirrel Posted December 13, 2005 Posted December 13, 2005 The conditions were suprisingly good Sunday. Was able to skin up to Hogsback and climb through Pearly Gates w/o crampons, though second tool came handy for a somewhat steep section of ice. Freezing level was probably somewhere just under 11000ft as things were pretty solid and quiet from just above the buried schrund to the summit. Ski down was awesome, best snow I have been on up there in a couple of years. Left PDX at 8:00AM, started climbing at 10:00AM and was back at the car by 5:00PM. Very nice compared to your standard spring climb timing. Pics are available at following address: http://www.chubbyhiker.com/galleries/200...Side/index.html Cheers Quote
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