[TR] Mt. Hood - Wy'east 5/1/2009

[rocky_joe]

Trip: Mt. Hood - Wy'east

 

Date: 5/1/2009

 

Trip Report:

Before the trip report begins, I would like to propose a new name for this route. The change would be simple, from Wy'east to Wy'(the fuck did we walk so far)east. Takers? I'm talking about a legit name change, new edition of Oregon High and everything.

 

That being said...this is a fantastic route, and could have been a whole hell of a lot better without the 8 or so inches of sluff.

 

Tom (different than Maineiac) and I had given Wy'east a shot about a month ago to little avail (to date my only failed attempt on Hood.) That go just wasn't meant to be, and it made this success all the sweeter. We were turned around by a few factors, mostly on my part; poor route finding (Oregon High's route is a little out of date considering the formation below steel cliffs), and a REALLY bad gut feeling, the kind that just tells you to get the fuck off the mountain. Well a month later we found a weather window and went for broke.

 

Super stoked on how the alpine has been treating me throughout my first year, 5 peaks this year, I was really excited to get this route done and out of the way, Tom was also keen to have it done with and move to new objectives. We left Eugene at 5:30, a decent hour and headed North. The ride up consisted of the usual climbing bullshit and complaining about how that damn Swedish bikini team better be on the top of this hill or I'm getting out of the sport (they weren't again, but I'm still determined.) We stopped in briefly at the Ice-Axe for a burger and a brew (well Tom got a brew, cuz our nation is still protecting my infantile self from the evils of alcohol,) and watched the Blazers fail to make a single shot (is this not why they are paid?) We grabbed a few brews to go and headed to T-line.

 

Arriving at the parking lot we were quite surprised to see a bunch of people readying to go, some headed to the cave others just up the slope. Keeping in mind it was only 9:30 we had no idea what the fuck these guys were doing.Oh well, we saw a bunch of them coming down the slope when we left at 2:30. That must have been an exciting time for them...

 

To the climbing...well rested we awoke a full 30mins before our alarms. Climbing by 2:30 we made quick time to the first waypoint (two of which we set on the way down our last go.) We then descended a few feet into the canyon. From there the climb went up. Now that may sound like a stupid observation but this fucking hill never stopped. I kept taking the bootpack duty thinking that it'd be good if I made it to the crest of the ridge, well 5 lead changes and two breaks later the crest was in sight. Fuck that was way longer a walk that either of us expected.

 

Finally on the backside of steel cliffs we took a break and complained about the fact that we were still 800 vertical away. By this time the wind was a little more than a nuisance, and the clouds (in their infinite wisdom and grace) had rolled in making it damn near impossible to distinguish the snow surface from a lengthy tumble to Newton Clark. Keeping within spitting distance of the rocks proved not to be our best idea of the day, as Tom fell into a moat, scary for a moment as it first looked a lot deeper than it was.

 

 

A few more yards down and my clever ass also found its way into a little moat. We decided to stay a little lower until we knew for sure where we needed to go and that there would be no more moats. We were soon at the saddle before the steep section and the whiteout was not helping our route finding. And then, as if by some divine grace *coughs* a solid gust blew away the clouds and our route finding problems were no more. We made short work of the last walk before the climb.

 

With one quick look and a brief discussion we decided against roping up, both because the terrain looked super manageable and the snow/snice wouldn't have pro-ed worth shit. I hogged the lead, because, well I wanted this one. The exposure was immense and exhilarating. The steep part was over soon enough and we took the opportunity of more shallow snow (~50deg) to take some photos.

 

 

The summit was serene. We were the only ones there, as 9:30 is way to late to be making the summit push via the Cattle drive. we snapped some triumphant photos and then decided (as usual) to get the fuck down off this mountain.

 

 

The downclimb (old chute) was straight forward as usual and the soft snow made for easy on the knees plunge stepping. The descent was quick; about 3 hrs and we were back to the car. I managed to make it from the top of palmer to the car in 45 with a nifty combo of glissading and near running pace slide stepping.

 

 

Long walk, great exposure, fantastic views and perfect luck with the weather made this trip very memorable and built even further on my growing confidence in the alpine. However, I am in no hurry to do it again anytime soon.

 

 

Gear Notes:

2nd tool (used)

Rope

2 pickets

2 screws (all not used)

 

 

Approach Notes:

Car, Burger, Brews and an alpine nap.

[billbob]

Great pics, thanks for posting !

 

[111]

RJ, you're a good writer. Keep up the interesting TRs! (he might be giving Ivan and others a run for the CC comedy TR position in a few years if this keeps up)

[kevbone]

You think Ivan is funny?

 

Nice pictures.

[Ishmael]

nice tr.

[WageSlave]

Devil's Kitchen HW cuts off most the slog around the mountain but shortens it up some. Looks like you got a good day up on there.

[Marlon]

Excellent Report! with a little "Divine Grace" Great pics also.

 

Never Stop Exploring

marlon