[TR] Mt Hood- North Face 2/12/2006

[Doug_Hutchinson]

Climb: Mt Hood-North Face

 

Date of Climb: 2/12/2006

 

Trip Report:

Dave Keltner and I climbed the NF today under stellar conditions - could not have been more in.

 

Left Cooper Spur at 0230 and returned by 1600. Wind buff and no crevases anywhere made the Elliot a cruise.

 

Crossing the 'shrund on a ramp near the right was quick (note nice ice on the two rock bands above).

 

 

First rock band consisted of about 75 feet of up to WI3- ice (looks like it's a low angle slope in the pic)

 

 

Classic NF crusing between the bands:

 

 

The second rock band had longer and steeper ice (up to WI3+.

 

Coming down Cooper Spur was perfect - would ski really well now.

 

Did I mention what good conditions we found?

 

What a winter - great snow by early Nov, great gorge ice in Dec, tons more snow in Jan, and now fantastic alpine conditions. Can we tons of snow in Feb/Mar and maybe, just maybe the first stable Spring climbing we have seen in several years?

 

Gear Notes:

6 pickets, 3 screws (needed stubbies)

 

Approach Notes:

Great trail to Tiley Jane and super nice snow on the Elliot and descending Cooper Spur.

[Chriznitch]

nice work--looks like a perfect day.

Those first 2 pics make it look flat!

thanks for sharing

[Chad_A]

Hi, Doug; Rodney introduced me to you a while back. Sounds like you had a great time. Congratulations!

[fowweezer]

I am hoping to get out and climb this route in about a week when I am in town in Portland. I'll only have a day window, so hopefully I'll get good weather. I am going to make a main post about this on the main index (I'm new here), but I was hoping you could tell me when you got back to your car.....I've heard it's a long day for most people. It should be a bit quicker cause I'll be soloing, but I was wondering if you have any useful information for me. Stubbies you said? How do you think the route will look after this weekend (I'll be there on Tuesday)? Thanks.

[sweatinoutliquor]

Looks like fun! Thanks for the report! forweezer to get back to your car you can descend either cooper spur, sunshine, or the easiest is the standard south side route, but that involves a mandatory car shuttle (unless you want to hike an eatra 12 miles or something like that).

[Doug_Hutchinson]

Now that I am sober and awake, I am mildly ashamed at the poor TR. We left Cooper Spur Trail Head at 2:30 AM and returned to our car at 4:00 PM. Yes, solo you should do it way faster - we were in no hurry, it was quite cold so there was no need to go fast. If you solo it, forget the stubbies - free the first ice/rock band and avoid the second one by climbing around it on the left.

[fowweezer]

Doug: Sorry, you actually stated the times in your first trip report. Thanks for that info. The trip is up in the air right now, but I will report back when/if I get there to do it on Tuesday or Wednesday. Thanks again for the help.