Alex Posted October 16, 2002 Posted October 16, 2002 anyone been to the North side of the mountain recently? Quote
b-rock Posted October 16, 2002 Posted October 16, 2002 T'was tooling around on the Elliot on Saturday. What you need to know? Quote
texplorer Posted October 16, 2002 Posted October 16, 2002 Cool shedder, I was there on Sunday. Alex, the sunshine route looks doable with the most difficult sections probably around horseshoe rock. Other routes will consist of lots of bomber choss climbing. Quote
Terminal_Gravity Posted October 16, 2002 Posted October 16, 2002 B-rock & Shred, Where exactly were you guys? Quote
b-rock Posted October 16, 2002 Posted October 16, 2002 We were up there around 11, on the lower ice fall just above and below the step. Mostly just practicing single ax stuff and exploring, but climbed a few top ropes too. Saw many heads poking out of slots where I thought no one was though... Quote
rbw1966 Posted October 16, 2002 Posted October 16, 2002 Did they see their shadows and head back down for another six weeks? Quote
sketchfest Posted October 17, 2002 Posted October 17, 2002 On my flight home from Denver on Monday, we flew around the East side of the mountain and a look back at the North, with great views of the upper slopes. We were probably about 3-4,000' above the mountain (it felt unusually close for a commercial flight) Shred's photo is sweet, but what it doesn't show is the total and udder lack of snow on the upper mountain. The slopes above Cooper spur have no snow at all with the exception of small patches off to the side of the climbing route. Routes like the Sandy are all but melted out except for a thin line directly up the middle of the face. The queens chair is also extremely bare. Without snow and ice, Hood is like a pile damp cat litter, it gives the word choss a whole new meaning. Quote
Terminal_Gravity Posted October 17, 2002 Posted October 17, 2002 quote: Originally posted by shredmaximus: Were there like tons of people there or what? Sat. was mobed. That place is almost as popular as Smith this time of year! Wdietsch & I were there on Sat. as well. I think we were the first ones on the Elliot. We climbed into the cravasse/serac band on the north side of the lower ice fall. We climbed all day long. I found out how woefully inadiquate I am on overhanging ice. We never saw a single person all day long (unless we poked our heads up at the top of a serac). We had so much fun that I couldn't believe every one wasn't doing it. Complete solitude & ice until our arms cried. Â Sketchfest is right about the lack of coverage on the upper slopes. Sunshine looks good to go though. Â [ 10-16-2002, 03:57 PM: Message edited by: Terminal Gravity ] Quote
Terminal_Gravity Posted October 17, 2002 Posted October 17, 2002 quote: Originally posted by shredmaximus: TG were you the guys with that top rope anchored around the top of that pointy overhanging serac in the middle of the icefall? It was probably around 2:00pm. That looked like some pretty cool stuff you were climbing if it was. Yup, we were those fat boys. It was cool shit indeed, wandering around in the maze of cravasses, bouldering, leading, top-roping, setting V-threads, stemming, turning corners. It is a veritable ice playground in there. The seracs are completely stable but the ice was pretty friable and dinner plated pretty badly. Which was good practice too. It did green up a little during the day. Quote
Sabertooth Posted February 4, 2003 Posted February 4, 2003 Has anyone here been up the Sunshine, North Face, or Elliot routes in February through April? Are they doable this time of year, if they've had a week or more to consolidate after new snow? Any info would be appreciated. Quote
Alex Posted February 4, 2003 Author Posted February 4, 2003 Sunshine is doable anytime of year. Â NF just requires good av conditions. Â Dont know about Eliot HW, never done it. Â Alex Quote
Karl_S Posted February 5, 2003 Posted February 5, 2003 Kind of a late post, Oh well. We went up Elliot camped on the snow dome base on Sept 28. Next morning got turned around above the lower berg by 50 degree ice (too much for the 6 members with me). We crossed the Coe down lower and onto the crappy, crumbly knife-edge ridge that feeds to Cathedral Ridge. It was quite hard to protect. Made slowwww progress on the rock and dirt up to ice. Ice went better on Cathedral. Summitted and went down south side (unplanned). Pearly Gates were hard ice under some sand. Rappelled through it. Darkness hit before we got across the 50 ft drop off of the berg. Skirted to east and crossed on a bridge at far end after dropping down into it somewhat. Below the berg was hard ice till around Crater Rock. Snow/sleet storm came about then and we lost visibility and drifted as expected too far west. We left map of south side home as well as GPS. mmm... brains anyone. Wandered around till dawn. Got to lodge about 8:30am. More non-stop intensity than I'd planned. Got to use screws, nuts and pickets all on one climb, though. Quote
Sabertooth Posted February 5, 2003 Posted February 5, 2003 Sunshine is doable anytime of year. Â NF just requires good av conditions. Â Â Thanks for the beta Alex. Sunshine looks like a good route to fall back on if the 2 North Face Cols and the Coe Glacier Headwall are not firm enough or are prone to a slide. I wonder if there is still some nice vertical stuff to play around with on Sunshine. Hopefully, it's not just a big snow ramp now. Quote
Alex Posted February 5, 2003 Author Posted February 5, 2003 Sunshine will probably be a big snow ramp, except maybe above the schrund where the headwall steepens a little bit before you hit Queens Chair. But hey, its a living! Quote
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