Mt. Hood -- Leuthold Couloir

[Alpine_Tom]

Trip date: Jan 28, 2001

If you’ve only climbed the hogsback route, you may have a pretty cynical view of Mt. Hood. Grandmas climb it, and gradeschoolers, it’s more like Mt. St. Helens than a “real mountain.” As soon as you get off the south snowfield, though, it’s a completely different mountain, far more alpine and a lot more interesting.

We left the parking lot around 5:00 AM, and got to the Illumination rock saddle by around 8:00 after numerous pauses to enjoy a really dramatic sunrise. A party had dug a really marvelous snow cave up there below Illumination rock, and we spent a few minutes admiring it. It was incredible; they had a separate kitchen, and the entrance into the main cave was small enough that they could block the entrance with a pack, but inside it was practically big enough to stand up. They’d spent about four hours digging it, they said, and it was by far the nicest snow cave I’ve seen.

One of the challenging aspects of this route is the routefinding. I had “Oregon High” with me, and the photo showing the route was not much use, since it was taken when the mountain was completely covered with snow, obscuring the rock formations. The route description says that the couloir parallels Yokum Ridge, and it does, but it’s important to know that it’s also the couloir that’s closest to the ridge. When you descend down onto the Reid Glacier, you look up and there are three or four different couloirs that look like they might be right. We were fortunate to have footprints to follow. Basically, you traverse as far to the left as you can, and follow the couloir right up next to the ridge.

(Some people we met at the saddle said that Leuthold Couloir has a distinctive hourglass shape. We did see a couloir above us that seemed to fit that description, but it was pretty far to the right. Indications from the book are that it probably goes, but we didn’t want to spend a couple of hours exploring, and then end up having to downclimb.)

The couloir is pleasantly steep (40-45 degrees sounds about right) not steep enough to require belaying, but steep enough to be interesting. The snow was of pretty good quality most of the time. One concern was that in the lower narrow part of the couloir (it’s probably less than ten feet wide at the bottom) a fair amount of ice chips and marble-sized rocks were tumbling down. We found a sheltered spot to wait a bit and watch what was coming down, to see how big the chunks of ice got. There were a number of them the size of golf balls, but didn’t seem to get much bigger than that, so we decided to push on.

The surface was pretty hard, often a good kick only put my crampons and boots a few inches into the snow; and here’s where being a cyclist comes in handy. I can front-point all day long with no problems; my partner’s calves wore out after a while, so I slowed down and kicked and chopped larger steps, which slowed us down a little. It gave me more appreciation the climbers in the old days, before crampons, when you read accounts of chopping hundreds of steps up the summit dome of Mt. Baker and places like that. It’s a LOT of work!

A couple of hundred feet up, the couloir widens out considerably, and the hazard is greatly reduced. In fact, we didn’t notice any falling debris at all up there. The route meanders nicely, so you’re constantly seeing new stuff above, and when you look back, the scenery drops away satisfyingly. Unfortunately, anything you drop also drops away, not so satisfyingly. I contributed an OR glove shield to the ecology of the Reid glacier partway up, and boy did it fall a long way!

I brought an ice tool as well as my ice axe, and used it. I didn’t feel like it was particularly necessary, but I kept using it mostly to avoid the hassle of putting it back into my pack. The lower hundred feet or so is steep enough that the ice tool gives a nice feeling of security. Most of the time it wasn’t hard enough to use the pick, but there were spots were the snow and ice were too hard to sink the shaft of my ice axe very far, and the ice tool was pretty convenient for that.

One of the drawbacks to the hogsback route (to me) is that you see the whole route all the way up, and there’s no drama, no surprise. The Leuthold Couloir route is a quite varied route; when you finally exit the couloir at the top of Yokum Ridge, you continue up the dome of the mountain, and from there, across the summit ridge to the true summit. I read someplace that around the (last) turn of the century, someone hauled a bicycle up there and rode along the summit ridge; that hardly seems possible.

We saw some footprints that seemed to indicate someone had climbed Yokum Ridge in the last few days, which seems impossible; there was no ice at all on the ridge that we could see.

It was awfully windy, of course, up on the dome and the summit. I had one of those little zipper-pull thermometers and it registered around 30 degrees for most of the trip, and about 20 degrees on the summit. In any case, it was cold enough that the water in the Nalgene water bottle I carry outside my pack froze completely, and the water bottle inside my pack was pretty slushy.

We got to the summit a bit after 1:00; for about eight hours of some of the funnest climbing I’ve had in a while.

The descent was routine; down the hogsback, and down to the parking lot. It’s always a pleasure to descend Hood, and be able to get from the summit to the car in two hours – try THAT on Rainier!

 

[This message has been edited by Alpine Tom (edited 01-29-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Alpine Tom (edited 01-29-2001).]

[highclimb]

did you belay any pitches? or use a running belay, or did you even rope up?

[Alpine_Tom]

We roped up heading down off the saddle, because of concerns of crevasses on the Reid glacier. we stayed roped all the way to the top of the couloir, where it opens out onto what they call the "Queen's Chair," which I referred to in my account as the snow dome. Roping seemed prudent, but my perception was that it wasn't hazardous enough to justify belaying, partly because with the ice and pebbles falling, speed seemed like a valuable asset. Had it been more icy, the decision might have been different.

[highclimb]

thanks. do you have any pics of the route?

[Alpine_Tom]

I took a bunch of pictures, not all of which are back. I didn't get any that would be of much help in routefinding, though.

 

[snowleopard_x]

Thaks for the TR, Tom. The west side of Hood is certainly very nice. And you are right, get away from the Hogsback, and the climbing on Hood is much more interesting. Maybe three parties a year get out onto the Ladd or Coe Glaciers, for example (N, NW faces). Very remote and alpine. Glad you made it, and had a great time.

Jeff Thomas book, Oregon High, has the best beta for climbing Hood, for those interested.

[highclimb]

does anybody know of the conditions now? would it still be climbable? rockfall hazard? icefall hazard?

Aidan

[markamcclure_dup1]

I tried climbing Leutholds on Friday night/Sat am (3/24). We reached the base of the route but had to retreat after my partner got nailed in the shoulder by a flying chunk of ice (baseball size). It was fairly windy and had been warm the previous few days so this may have contributed to the icefall condtions. We turned back from the base of the route at about 2:30am.

[dbb]

yep, I was skiing on hood during the warm period last week and there was an amazing amount of ice falling down.

Everybody was turned around on the South side except some gruff determined guys (without helmets!). We ran into a group who had broken an arm when a basketball-sized chunk made contact.

however, the snow was super solid ice crust, which would be great for climbing if it cooled down. Though I wouldn't push my luck with all this new snow on top of crust in a terrain trap like that.

[john]

I was up on the South Side last Saturday and have never seen the standard route so dangerous. I have climbed on the Leuhold side a number of times and that side has lots of avalanche slopes protected by rock towers which are now covered in ice. With the warm temps all the ice is coming down. I would recommend that everyone stay off the mountain until there is another good dump of snow and it can help stabalize the ice

[philfort]

Is the Leuthold couloir commonly skied? Is it really "just" 40-45 degrees? The picture of it on the cascadeclimbers front page makes it look like a good ski descent.

[john]

Yes it is just 40-45 degrees. Once you get past the upper Reid glacier and the crevasses at the base it is usually just a snow slog to the top. I have never seen anyone ski but it could be done as long as the crevasses are filled in.

[Billy]

Leutholds has been skied numerous times. I think the main thing is to get on it before the big runnel forms in the hourglass.

[snowleopard_x]

I cross country skied up to Cloud Cap last weekend (4/2/01) and the snow looked like it does in early May. There were many patches of compact snow and ice, and the snow was very dirty down below. Due to the extremely low snow this year, the road might be driveable as early as Memorial Day this year. Cloudy with light snow and winds, so I couldn't see the peak, or even the Eliot Glacier. So I can't really give a report on that.

[Water]

old post i know; but does anyone have two cents on the conditions (i know some have done reid hw lately) of the leuthold? We're in the boat that the first post mentions (having only done the south side). We'd like to try something with a bit more challenge but not go too far outside our comfort zone.

[Maine-iac]

You should be fine. Conditions on the Reid were fine. Didn't even get the ropes out.

Even as the day warmed not a lot of stuff was coming down on us and there were no large runnels forming up on the route. The upper sections of the Queens chair is probably rimed up, but that should not be much of an issue.

Leutholds was my first non-southside route.

[jlawrence10]

Can't comment on Leuthold's, but we were up on Wy'east on Wednesday, which was my first climb away from the South Side, so it might be something for you to consider. I think Leuthold's is next on my list.

 

Wy'east was a great route, a little tougher because of rock moats around the edges, sheer length, and a few spots of questionable snow. Took 8 hours to the top, and we moved fairly well. Probably lost an hour or so on routefinding (to be expected), and getting over to the base of the climb just takes a long time. We crossed between probably 7200 and 7800 feet. I may try to put up a TR, but it may not happen.

[Joe_Poulton]

http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/62120/1

 

Another thread about the route...bring atleast a short rope for the summit ridge...it's scary without when you're tired from the climb up. I'm planning on skiing it this year....