[TR] Mt Hood - Eliot Glacier (minus the HW plus the BS) 11/2/2007

[Crackman]

Trip: Mt Hood - Eliot Glacier (minus the HW plus the BS)

 

Date: 11/2/2007

 

Trip Report:

Laura was the only one willing to take me up on my offer to go check things out on the N side last Friday and see what might unfold. Well, we ended up getting in a fun route up and a not so fun route down.

 

Going up, we reached the base of the N face gullies at dawn and found them to be, as others had warned, “not in”

 

So we kept traversing around the base of the N Cleaver and crossed a massive ramp between two large open crevasses to reach the upper Eliot glacier.

 

 

 

 

 

We continued up the center of glacier weaving a path of least resistance around and over numerous crevasses. The HW did not have any ice routes to offer us so we climbed solid ice and snow on the far right side to join the ridge above the Queens chair. I don’t think we climbed the actual HW (shown as route 7 in Thomas’ Oregon High photo) but skirted it to the right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, beautiful conditions on the summit, never saw another soul.

 

 

 

Ok here’s where it get’s interesting (but mostly embarrassing). I have never been up or down Cooper Spur before but didn’t expect it to be difficult to find and follow with clear conditions. Well I was wrong.

 

We passed up going down the ridge and and left here

 

And instead, headed down the right side here

 

After some initial easy down-climbing on perfect Styrofoam, we eventually dead ended at a small cliff band that appeared to connect with another snow slope not to far down below. I assumed we were on the route but that it had not yet filled in all the way with snow. We committed to a rap and soon discovered that this cliff led to more of the same and that we were in the midst of a very large, steep, chossy gully system that I now suspect is one of the notorious Black Spider routes. I lost count but it took around 10-12 raps with our single 60m rope, some dicey down climbing, and the rest of our daylight, to finally reach the Newton Clark glacier. It was constant challenge to balance moving fast and efficient with being methodical and safe. We were also very fortunate. Somehow, in the midst of this endless sea of choss, I always managed to locate a solid rock horn for the next rap anchor (even if it did require carving out the rubble behind it. There were also more close calls with rock fall and getting the rope stuck than I care to think about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This descent was a whole new level of adventure for Laura but she was a champ and really kept it together. We were both very happy to have it behind us and make the final hike back to Cloud Cap before friends and family got too worried.

[warrior1515]

Nice work

 

Great trip report

 

 

[ivan]

got any pictures of the spur itself?

[kevbone]

Rapping on choss......scary....nice work.

[pdk]

The spur is in decent shape, You might have to pick and weave a little to connect the snow, but it looked good from the base.

 

 

 

 

[ivan]

thanks

[sweatinoutliquor]

Holy crap! Way to really spice things up on the decent! A big to you both for keeping it together and making it outta there safely. Great photos too. Thanks!

 

 

[hefeweizen]

Sounds like a bit of a nightmare. Hope you treated yourselves to some kind of reward. Any reason you didn't descend the Sunshine? Is it too broken by Horseshoe Rock?

[jfs1978]

Nice report. I was wondering how the north side was looking. Good on ya for gettin home safe. Looks like fun. My hands are itchin' to break out the tOOls...

 

Can anyone clarify for me exactly where the route taken falls in relation to the standard Sunshine route? From the pics and description it sounds/looks like the same route I took last year...thinking I was roughly on Sunshine (was my only trip up the North side). Did I have my head up my ass? Or am I just confusing the TR's description...?

Edited November 8, 2007 by jfs1978

[wayne]

O-M-FLIPPIN-SHIT. You rapped the Black Spider in November!!!

 

Congratulations on surviving that one!

 

There is some "decent " rock on the spider when its frozen in, so I am not surprised you found anchors. I have a photo I could post , would you be able to pick out the location you went down?

Some one else may have a pic in the mean time.

 

Jeebz,

[letsroll]

Nice adventure you guys had. Great photos. What are the routes up the Black Spider?

[wayne]

Secret.I have a topo, I just dont have permission to post it. there are 4 routes that are very fun from AI3- 5.6, to 5.10-WI5 nightmare pillars with up to 7 pitches.

[rbw1966]

If thats the topo I am thinking of, its been posted before.

 

Crackman thats sick! Glad to hear you made it. Sounds like you went up the Coe onto the sunshine.

[Crackman]

Here is our route (red) relative to the Sunshine (green) which starts from snowdome and goes around horseshoe rock (usually the right side but sometimes left) and then up the ridge.

 

 

Wayne, Is this the BS secret topo? If so, like Rob said, you already posted it. I think we came down near the purple line on the far right.

http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/upload/148804-Black%20Spider.jpg

 

[jfs1978]

thanks for the route descrip. We definitely didn't hit the upper HW on the red line - seems like we were just right of that, but well left of sunshine.

 

thanks again.

[frozen lifts]

Wow, congradualations on safely getting down the Black Spider! That route has been on my list for winter climbs for years and I always find a way to chicken out, tons of loose rock raining down from all directions. Keep this in your memory banks for future epics.

 

I hate to bring this up, but your decent route was directly below the snow cave where one of the missing north chute climbers was found last year. Had the rock fall conditions been better during the final search; this was one of the hot spots we wanted to check for their remains.

[Jarred_Jackman]

Tim, that's funny, nice work. Glad I wasn't there for the raps! I lost your number and have been thinking about contacting you for the NF routes when they come in. My email is jarredjackman@gmail.com

 

Let me know how life is, we should get together.

 

take care

[dan_forester]

Wow, good job getting down safely! Nice pictures, too.

[rmncwrtr]

Wow, Tim. Great TR and pics. Talk about taking the spicy way down. Glad you made it down safely.

[billcoe]

Dammit tim, I'm sitting in a starbucks in Veags and think I just pissed on myself from fear reading that story.

 

Bastard!

 

Even after going up the spur, coming down and picking the spot can be hard even when you have your own tracks. counterintuitive.

 

Damn, glad you got back dudes!

[Sunnyside_up]

Now that's an adventure. Thanks for sharing. You've put a smile on many a'face with your post.

 

[ivan]

went up the spur sat/sun - very windy - the spur's complete, though thin covering on icy bottom - nice rap tim! holy fuck! looking up what you did i wanted to immediately drive back to camas and shoot you w/ a bazooka! a very nasty night indeed bivied near tie-in rock!

[esteban]

Nice work Tim!

As Jackman mentioned, would like to get back on the NF again this Dec/Jan....look forward to it!

 

esteban

[ropegoat]

this TR decidedly inspires me to get out and try stuff more in the months that I normally do not think of alpine climbing in. Way to go.

[nonanon]

An epic sandbag. ;-)

Way to rap the rubble!

Edited November 16, 2007 by nonanon