Mt. Hood South side closed

[btowle]

The south side route has been closed:

 

http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/mthood/cfr_closure.htm

[climberbro16]

If not yet. When is the South Side suppost to open again?

[iain]

Just to clarify, the entire mountain above ~9000 ft is off limits at this time, any route. I do not have any information of when it will reopen.

[Guest]

now that's crap! what's the reason for the closure? is it because of the investigation?

[iain]

Yes, because of the investigation. There are air force reserve bivying up high to protect the scene. The reason for the 9000 foot circle is most likely to avoid pushing people to descend other routes. That's my guess.

[mtnnut]

The Sunday edition of the Portland Oregonian had a pretty lengthy write up on the accident, including a photo taken minutes before the fall (supposedly). Besides straightening out the chronology and some details, which hopefully they took the time to get right, they also had some quotes from Forest Service officials.

 

The principal reason for the South Side closure is for collection of aircraft parts and investigation of the crash. They didn't define the length of time, but it could go for as long as a week. There was a mention that if the closure went very deep into June, that the climbing guide service might lose enough revenue from their peak season to put them out of business. Is there only one down there? The only one that I've heard of is Timberline Alpine Guides.

 

The reason they closed the other routes above that 9000 foot or so elevation is stated as to prevent climbers from climbing harder routes to get to the summit. The implication is that they don't want people that would ordinarily be climbing a moderate route to get in over their heads. The quote was something to the effect of 'the last thing we need is another accident'. While you can imagine their point of view, I'm sure this doesn't sit well with experienced climbers that are concerned about possible future regulation on Hood.