ClimbingPanther Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 (edited) Trip: Hood - Old Chute Date: 12/31/2006 Trip Report: Short and sweet, since that also sums up the "technical" climbing... Weather & avy forecasts golden, so we set out at 4 am from T-line w/ 4 people, but one turned back halfway b/c crampon problems. Had my very first field encounter of a fellow cascadeclimber, OlegV. He was a very pleasant fellow, and they were doing Reid HW (TR? I'm waiting!). Snow conditions were cake the whole way up and back! No postholing, except down real low if you strayed from the groomed stuff. Heard of the ice cliff reports on the Pearly Gates, so we did the Old Chute instead since one member was less experienced in that aspect. We saw a guy ahead of us who did the Pearly Gates w/ one tool and one axe (!), solo (!!), and w/o a helmet (!!!). Whatever. Old Chute is the easy way up right now. You can see the tracks leading left from the Hogsback in the picture below, and you just go up directly to the summit ridge and traverse right towards the summit on the ridge. All I can say is Winter conditions are the most beautiful. Illumination Rock in a wind tunnel? Coming down the route Sweet-ice formations Hogsback area, showing one of two guys we passed on our way down Mediocre pics of the gates. Yeah, that's the soloist. Gear Notes: 'pons & axe Approach Notes: boring and dark Edited January 11, 2007 by ClimbingPanther Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BirdDog Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 Nice TR. Awesome pic of Illumination Rock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spotly Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 Nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sk8ting fast Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 wow looks nice up there glad you had a good trip and a safe on also Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billbob Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 Great pics, glad you guys had a great time, wishing we had gone all the way up New Year's eve instead of camping at 9,600'. Guess we talked in passing you about the solo dude. We woke about 1am Jan 1 to big winds, headed down into heavy freezing rain which lit off an avi or two in the White River canyon. Pure white-out from 9,500' to 8,500'. Left the gps at home, now requesting name change to "Shit for Brains". Where's a hot tub when you need it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlegV Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 Hey! Nice TR and pix! It was very nice meeting you, likewise! Forgive my oxygen-deprived brain, I got mixed up with the names. Were you Mike or Brian? A party of four? We did go all the way up the reid. Sweet conditions! The TR is coming. Alex got some nice pictures to show! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClimbingPanther Posted January 2, 2007 Author Share Posted January 2, 2007 (edited) I'm not even sure if I said my first name, but it's Dave. We had a Mike, Greg, and Nate also. Congrats on your climb too! Edited January 2, 2007 by ClimbingPanther Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goatboy Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 I assume that the damaged road has been patched up? Nice photos and nice job. Also, what's up with the "ice cliff" at the Pearly Gates? I've never seen it form up quite like that before... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClimbingPanther Posted January 3, 2007 Author Share Posted January 3, 2007 Yep, I drove over it myself. Should have taken pictures though, the "creek bed" looks like an unpaved graded highway since they removed tons of earth to get the elevation well below the bridge elevation. There was a similar but much smaller and less vertical step there last year around the same time, so I'm not sure if this is just an exaggerated form of normal or if it's way off the hook. Gotta talk to a real veteran about that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frikadeller Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 Hey, quick question: I wanna do this route this year (for a change and because the Ice in "the gates" looks a little formidable for an easy run) but did you guys climb to hogsback, and then traverse over to the WCR or did you come up from the west of crater rock across the "hot rocks"? I am asking, because I thought that there where quite an avalance danger on the west side of crater rock. Sorry if it sounds stupid, but I am somewhat a Hood noob (I have only climbed the SS route and Leutholds) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tazz Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 :moondance: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frikadeller Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 :moondance: Whats that supposed to mean??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClimbingPanther Posted January 3, 2007 Author Share Posted January 3, 2007 I'm sure you know avalanche danger is not determined by one factor, like the location of the slope. It's more about the snow layers than any specific area. There was one guy who came up on the climbers left of Crater Rock, but that's not how we went. Everywhere I stepped seemed reasonably stable, so I assume the left of CR was OK too, but you just have to evaluate that when you get there. I'm not sure if it's even steep enough since I've never been there. However, the WCR has definitely claimed lives due to avy so definitely watch your step after checking the avy forecast. You can actually see our footprints in the fourth picture if you look real close. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tazz Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 (edited) UUUMMMM it means there is a stoked little bouncing snow-girl saying I like the tr and pictures. better question is...What did you think it meant? Edited January 4, 2007 by tazz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 :moondance: we need one of those w/ the kid equipped w/ an uzi, spraying leaden-love Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frikadeller Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 Hahaha... Sorry, I thought that you where making fun of my noob question about WCR... It's then that I realized that you posted the same thing in the reid HW post... It's just funny how the software will title the next response in the thread with "re:______".. I thought you where replying to my post. oh well... Oh I see Clim. Panther.... I can barely make out your footsteps climbers left of the chute and the Gates. This variation seems pretty simple, almost simpler than the "gates"... I was mainly worried about fumes, lack of O2 etc. on the hot rocks on the west side of Crater rock... I guess it's not a biggie? No worse than Devils Kitchen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TREETOAD Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 Waytago!! Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billbob Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 Taken morning after you guys came down. Same route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slogon Posted January 5, 2007 Share Posted January 5, 2007 Not to be picky but if you angled up to the left from the hogsback like the tracks in the picture that would be the the Old Chute route (the West Crater Rim goes left of Crater Rock down low and joins up to finish up the Old Chute. Not that it matters, good on you for getting out while I was sipping gin & tonics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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