[TR] Mt. Hood- Leuthold-Couloir-ish 12/11/2005

[ClimbingPanther]

Climb: Mt. Hood-Leuthold-Couloir-ish

 

Date of Climb: 12/11/2005

 

Trip Report:

This is my first post, so I'm sorry to create such a bad impression of myself (no pictures, kinda short), but I figured I had to start sometime.

 

I'm 23 and I usually climb with my college roommate from a couple years ago. We started out at 5am from Timberline and made our way easily to Illumination saddle. Although we couldn't see any imminent danger crossing the top of the Reid Glacier, we roped together just in case (early season!). Just after sunrise, the couloir was spitting a continuous flow of tiny ice chunks along with the very rare small rock, so we made haste as best we could. We actually wound up moving to the right when the constriction to the hourglass came up, but I imagine it's all about the same in that area (40-45 degrees, nothing overly exciting). Snow was mostly hard/icy with the occasional knee-deep soft spot. Sometimes ice ax shaft wouldn't penetrate very far, other times snow was so soft it probably wouldn't hold you if you slipped. It was rather tiring because we haven't climbed in months and we had to move fast before the sun really hit the rocks above us & started knocking junk down on us. However, since Yocum gets the first sun on that side of the mountain, I imagine Leuthold gets the brunt of the ice/rockfall. From the time we left the actual Leuthold route, we didn't get anything down on us except for what we caused ourselves. Beautiful day for a beautiful route. Summit was (relatively) calm and sky was clear. A bit of an icy step (5 feet, broken up) at the pearly gates, and we were home free. Snow was quite soft on the way down.

 

Gear Notes:

Crampons, Ice Axe (unnecessary but sometimes convenient second tool), 30m rope, two screws (didn't use), helmet

 

Approach Notes:

nothing much to speak of

[Cobra_Commander]

welcome. did the reid appear to be completely closed up?

[Chad_A]

Hi, just up there today. The Reid has a couple of big cracks, but easily avoided. Pretty closed up, otherwise.

[corvallisclimb]

how did the s.side look? im thinking of taking a noob up sometime soon.

[ClimbingPanther]

Reid looked (emphasis on LOOKED) closed up, but given the relatively small amount of snow so far this year, I wouldn't trust looks too much. I really have no concept of how crevassed it gets though. S.side had a nice boot-highway formed on the upper part of the mountain. Incredibly easy and safe all the way except for the icy step. Soft snow and no bergschrund below it, so if you fell, you'd have an easy time stopping yourself, but probably a bit unnerving for a true noob on the way down especially. Depending on experience level, a short length of rope may be nice for peace of mind. Although, maybe you could just plan to jump down over it? Also for S.side descent, I strongly advise always bringing something slippery to slide down on. My Schoeller pants could have self-arrested me by themselves, although they were wonderful otherwise.

[Chad_A]

It gets reasonably crevassed; the big ones that lurk there are pretty obvious. We walked by them without any issues on our way to try to get to the Sandy Glacier.

[Cobra_Commander]

Also for S.side descent, I strongly advise always bringing something slippery to slide down on.

 

you didn't have skis

 

thanks for the info - the reid is sort of a gauge of what to expect on the various ski jaunts over there.

[ClimbingPanther]

No, sadly no skis. I would love to, but we tend to go awfully light, and the only skis I own are full-on downhill with beastly boots. The skis and boots probably weigh more than all the other gear I had on my back, including my water. Plus, the guy I climb with doesn't own any. He might let me carry them up, then maim me with an ice tool at the summit so he could ski down on them.

[corvallisclimb]

any one know how leutholds it looking right now? worth an attempt?

[cicleclimb]

With all the new snow it is going to be a death trap. Check the avalanche forecast or the weather forecast for that matter. Frustrating? You know it.

[corvallisclimb]

With all the new snow it is going to be a death trap.

thats what i figured, any alpine route suggestions for this time of year/conditions?

[cicleclimb]

Ski touring at lower elevation? Until the snow has time to settle al least. I'm having the same issue. I want to climb a steep alpine route but the more I think about it the more it sounds like a horrible idea.

[cluck]

corvallis.... assume you have to kidding right? It has been monsoon and the mountain is getting dumps of fresh snow daily... think on the Timberline telemetry that they have gotten almost 1.5' in the last 24 hours. Just going to have to find something else to do and hope for a weather window or get out the boards for some entertainment until climbing makes sense.

[Kevin_Matlock]

think on the Timberline telemetry that they have gotten almost 1.5' in the last 24 hours.

Woohoo... at least we're gettin some this year! I'm bailing out of work early today to go hit it.

[MtnHigh]