Hood: Sandy Glacier Headwall

[iain]

Started from T-line @ midnight. Fricken' fifty thousand people signed out for Leuthold. Must have been a demolition derby in there. Reid G. is well-covered, no signs of anything open along perimeter. Large amount of av. debris out of leuthold and gully farther north, but old stuff. Access to Yocum Ridge was at ~9000 (not 8600' as OR high suggests). Still snow-covered but not for long. Traverse was a little steep for a bit (1 picket placed) then mellowed. Dropping on to Sandy was difficult (from our elevation), mixed steep ice that fed into a crevasse, bridged. I of course broke through and felt air under feet, but managed to get out by imitating a beaching walrus. The headwall itself seemed around 45-50, but sustained for a good bit. Ranged from awful crust to bulletproof ice. No pro used here, but a don't fall type of thing. Screws would be necessary if you wish to protect. Second tool recommended (at least for a gaper like me). Gale-force winds and lenticular in the top gulley, so we opted out of the 1937 thing to get the hell out of there before our viz left. Good route, great isolation, a long day. Hogsback berschrund looks monstrous and goes to the bedrock on climber's left. Check it out.

[Terminal_Gravity]

Good TR, iain. Congrates... And I can relate to the Walrus wallow thing

[Gimpy]

I hate to throw out a gumby question, but I mostly rock climb and do alpine only when my friend can hook me into it. (Like twice, St. Hellens and Theilson)

 

Sat. May 11 we are going to do what I think is called the "Dog route". (the easiest way up?) He has climbed Hood like 8 times but I was wondering if anyone has current conditions, what I can expect as far as exposure, ice or snow under the foot, and how long it will take once we top Palmer?

[iain]

S. side (dog) current conditions, as of 5/4:

 

Groomed snow and Mazamas up to top of the Palmer lift (this route follows a ski run at first). Some small cracks at base of Crater rock (not crevasses, but melt-out stuff, could twist an ankle). Beaten trail up the hogsback (a literal staircase) to the chute (a constriction that leads to the summit), around 30° at this time. Chute's about 40° Bergschrund is definitely open but still bridged in the middle. It extends far to climber's left. Summit is thick rime. Excellent, cold conditions throughout the day. A real treat for May.

 

On 5/5, a big winter-like storm rolled in and dumped at least 4" new snow on Hood (I chose to ski today, great conditions). You will encounter different route conditions than above. This snow came with heavy winds, approaching 50 mph at times, so expect some drifts in places (usually the east side of hogsback on the route you are doing). The rest will probably be wind-hammered or rime.

 

Good luck on your climb. Hope it's not too crowded (we had most of the mountain to ourselves due to extremely high winds and an unsettled weather forecast, but May is climb'n season for that route).

 

Hope that helps.

[iain]

Oh yeah, the USFS puts out a conditions page for the south side. I find this information fairly worthless and they clearly are going on secondhand info (would you trust conditions info from your typical hood s.sider?).

 

Oh yeah, and watch out for avalanche. Danger should have skyrocketed w/ the new snow and high winds in the usual places. When the sun comes out after this storm, it'll be just like May of '98. People seem to lose their avalanche eyes in the spring, but Oregon has a secondary maximum in late spring for slides.

[Gimpy]

Thanks for the info iain, I knew about the web site, and knew it was second hand info, which is why I posted. I trust people on this site (with some major exceptions) more than most people I don't know.

 

In deference to my couch potato condition we will be taking a snow cat to the top of Palmer, leaving at midnight from the lodge. That should put us at the top of the ski area by 1:30 am and well infront of the Mazamas. As for the avalanche danger I was told today that there looked to be only a 30% chance we would climb. If we bail, I'll just head to Smith for the day.

[imorris]

All is fair on the s. side. The snowcat is a good idea if you can split it with some folks.

[Rodchester]

"we will be taking a snow cat to the top of Palmer, leaving at midnight from the lodge. That should put us at the top of the ski area by 1:30 am and well infront of the Mazamas"

 

If you are at the top of the ski area by 1:30 a.m. you should be on the summit well before the sun comes up. Enjoy the view?

[Slide]

a couple friends and I were also planning on hitting up Hood on saturday the 11th. I'm along for the ride, so I'm not sure what route they had planned, probably the dog route also. Gimpy, if you'd like to link up for a beer or two, let me know.

[Gimpy]

"If you are at the top of the ski area by 1:30 a.m. you should be on the summit well before the sun comes up. Enjoy the view?"

 

Rodchester, you obviously don't know me too well. Even with that lead we probably will just get to the top as the sun rises. Besides, we will wait for the sun to come up, if by some chance we gain the summit before then.

 

Slide, I had to give up beer drinking over 13 yrs ago, it became too much of a hobby. Happy to share a Coke with ya though. I'm in a red jacket with gray stripes on the sleave and black bibs. (That probably describes half the people on the slope.)