godskid5 Posted June 9, 2008 Posted June 9, 2008 Its time to get back up on hood. Has anyone been up lately? looking for pg conditions, possibly old chute if pg no longer in shape. Whats the snow been like lately? heading up friday night. thanks dave Quote
Maine-iac Posted June 9, 2008 Posted June 9, 2008 Was up there last weekend and yesterday. The gates are in, with 60 degree snow/ice last week I didn't place any gear except for the descent where i put in a picket for an anchor for a friend to rap. As of yesterday afternoon, nobody had gone through them so there will be new snow. Old chute was good yesterday, possibly some slab avys to come though. There was a solid boot pack from well below the hogsback up to the top of the hogsback, and then about 10 people did the traverse up though the old chute yesterday. There is a good snowbridge for the PGs. The snow has been freezing very well at night, and warming up nicely in the day. The sun hits the hogsback right about 9ish and the Old Chute is in sun completely by 11. Bring skis for the ride down!! http://www.backcountrymagazine.com/ * if you look closely you might be-able to see my smile!!!! Quote
RJRiha Posted June 10, 2008 Posted June 10, 2008 Old chute was good yesterday, possibly some slab avys to come though. There was a solid boot pack from well below the hogsback up to the top of the hogsback, and then about 10 people did the traverse up though the old chute yesterday. What did you think of the condition of the old chute on Sunday? All those people were turning around due to avalanche hazard based on a pit dug on the hogsback. We dug a few quick pits on the old chute and found it slabby, but fairly cohesive to the hard layer underneath. We decided it wasn't too risky, and continued on to the summit, taking a detour through a 40-50 degree ice chute. That was at about 6AM on Sunday. I wouldn't have wanted to be on it when the sun hit the slope and provided lubrication for the slab to go. Quote
Maine-iac Posted June 10, 2008 Posted June 10, 2008 We saw all of the pits dug on the Hogsback and wondered why people were even bothering to do that... it is on a completely different aspect. We talked/watched a few people descend the Old Chute and felt it was safe. We made sure to hike fast up it, and ski carefully down it. I skied first, and made a few hard cuts up high and it felt very solid. My two friends watched and made sure nothing broke loose up above me, then they each skied one at a time with the others watching. I think skiers have a slightly different appreciation for avalanches than climbers do. We wanted to ski the entire cute, but the last 40 or so feet were a weird rim ice and snow mix so we downclimbed through that. But other than that the chute felt good. Cant wait to get back up there!!! Quote
RJRiha Posted June 10, 2008 Posted June 10, 2008 We saw all of the pits dug on the Hogsback and wondered why people were even bothering to do that... it is on a completely different aspect. That's why we did our own evaluation and didn't follow the crowds that were descending. On our way down, just about every group we ran into said "so, you didn't summit huh?"....there was alot of chatter about the avalanche danger being high in the old chute, but nobody actually evaluating it. It must have been you that we saw skiing down when we were putting gear away in the car. Nice work! Quote
ivan Posted June 10, 2008 Posted June 10, 2008 That's why we did our own evaluation and didn't follow the crowds that were descending. On our way down, just about every group we ran into said "so, you didn't summit huh?"....there was alot of chatter about the avalanche danger being high in the old chute, but nobody actually evaluating it. it's nice to have an excuse for stopping the pain when you're a decrepit bastard and yer ass is already kicked from the epic ski-slope-slog Quote
Fairweather Posted June 10, 2008 Posted June 10, 2008 http://www.oregon.com/roadcams/id/102.cfm Quote
billbob Posted June 11, 2008 Posted June 11, 2008 That's why we did our own evaluation and didn't follow the crowds that were descending. On our way down, just about every group we ran into said "so, you didn't summit huh?"....there was alot of chatter about the avalanche danger being high in the old chute, but nobody actually evaluating it. it's nice to have an excuse for stopping the pain when you're a decrepit bastard and yer ass is already kicked from the epic ski-slope-slog Quote
Sanchez Posted June 11, 2008 Posted June 11, 2008 Going to take a Wy'East summit ridge shot on Thursday night, anyone been up there lately? Usually by this time of year there's dirty rock that needs to be dealt with, but I'm optimistic I'll be ice tooling it across the ridge. On a separate note, I would not want to be doing the S. Side this weekend, it's going to be a mob scene. Enjoy the weather window* *=this time of year should be one big window instead of one day at a time... Quote
godskid5 Posted June 12, 2008 Author Posted June 12, 2008 we were planning on going up saturday. but with the weather, we figured we would go up on friday morning instead! im not a huge crowd person. Quote
Sunnyside_up Posted June 12, 2008 Posted June 12, 2008 Use caution: "The weather should begin improving Wednesday with mostly cloudy conditions early with increasing sun breaks expected later Wednesday and rising freezing levels. Sunshine and further rising freezing levels are expected Thursday with freezing levels reaching 9 to 11,000 feet in the north and south respectively by Thursday afternoon. This expected weather should cause an increase in the avalanche danger, especially late Wednesday and again Thursday as the recent snow quickly becomes wet and unstable due to the affects of the sunshine and warming. Wet loose and possibly wet slab avalanches should become likely later Wednesday and again Thursday, with some slides entraining significant snow as they descend." Quote
godskid5 Posted June 12, 2008 Author Posted June 12, 2008 'cept for the entire population of pdx heading up the hogsback! Quote
Ken_p Posted June 13, 2008 Posted June 13, 2008 that's why you don't go up the hogsback. try west crater, leutholds, or reid headwall Quote
ivan Posted June 13, 2008 Posted June 13, 2008 or take a nice long hike in the dark and do cooper spur or sunshine - i agree the hogsback will be to be avoided, except for the brief times it takes to rocket down through the gumbies! Quote
billbob Posted June 13, 2008 Posted June 13, 2008 WCR isn't much more difficult than the trade SS route but worry about avi danger until Sat - Sun. As this climber recently discovered, the W side routes like Leuthold and Reid are significantly more challenging both in terms of route-finding and physical exertion. Quote
godskid5 Posted June 13, 2008 Author Posted June 13, 2008 ran out of steam today!! three of us went to work at 6 am thursday, got off work by 6pm, spent time with our families, then headed to hood. now this never used to be a problem for me, not sleeping for 24-48 hours. i guess now that i am getting older it is! we started up from the parking lot at 2am, with clear skies, and a bright half moon. beautiful night, great snow!! about the time we got almost to the top of the palmer it got a little windy, and i started to feel a little sleepy. by the time we made it to the final approach to crater rock i started falling asleep while trying to walk up. now, with crampons on and an axe in my hand (it was quite icy and quite windy by now) this didnt seem to safe to me. so one of my buddies (the other was somewhere up on hogsback by now, didnt want to wait for us "old" guys) and i sat down behind a rock for a break from the wind, and to get somethin' to snack on. well, next thing i know im waking up with my butt feeling like it was frozen to an ice cube, which it pretty much was. i sat down and fell asleep for about 20 minutes, on the ice. not pleasant. i barely made it back down the mountain, half awake, my legs kept shakin. i guess im going to have to start taken naps or something before being up all night now. bummer. anyhow, beautiful night. great conditions (except for wind, which was apx 30+ mph). snow perfect, solid. everyone we talked to who summited said things were great all the way up. enjoy!! Quote
ivan Posted June 13, 2008 Posted June 13, 2008 this is why the good lord invented speed and distributed all throughout appalachia... Quote
Ken_p Posted June 14, 2008 Posted June 14, 2008 Just don't trip on the 20 person team's rope!!! Fall down go slidy! Quote
Ken_p Posted June 14, 2008 Posted June 14, 2008 3 cans of Red Bull and a pinch of chili powder 'll keep ya goin' Quote
cluck Posted June 14, 2008 Posted June 14, 2008 WCR isn't much more difficult than the trade SS route but worry about avi danger until Sat - Sun. No kidding. A pretty big slide triggered naturally at about 2:30PM today on St. Helens. SE aspect at around 7500 feet. Hopefully today's warm temps will have concolidated the snowpack for the climbing crowd tomorrow. Quote
Sanchez Posted June 16, 2008 Posted June 16, 2008 I'll add my interesting observations to the thread: was poking around upper white river canyon on thursday night attempting to find a way across to get up Wy'East. This was only about 100 yards from the top right corner of the Palmer groomed climber's trail. At about 3 am after the moon was down we were walking over to take a look and I watched in horror as my partner fell knee's-deep into a hidden bottomless pit. He wriggled out, we shined headlamps down and saw blackness... we proceeded as though we were in a Burmese mine field over to the edge of the canyon and were greeted with huge open Cravasse/Serac-type things. A unanimous "oh shit" was muttered from both of us. I think these unusual formations are a result of really big powder snow drifts piling up the canyon and are now melting out unevenly. In the pitch dark they seemed pretty intimidating so we chickened out and did the South Side just to avoid having our manhood totally shot. Great conditions, suprisingly cold even as they sun came out. One guy was bivy'd on the summit and was not looking too happy about the steady wind and freezing temps... Once daylight hit we realized that we could have easily crossed the canyon lower down, although the traverse back up to the WyEast ridge is totally dirt/choss and would have sucked. Above palmer it looks like Februrary up there though, lots of climbing left to be had. Pretty scary being that close to Palmer and having hidden booby traps, totally caught us off-guard. Quote
SMU Posted June 16, 2008 Posted June 16, 2008 (edited) I think these unusual formations are a result of really big powder snow drifts piling up the canyon and are now melting out unevenly. I camped next to that spot Friday night. Crevasses seem to be common in that area. Here's the same spot during March of 2000: Edited June 16, 2008 by SMU Quote
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