[TR] Mt. Hood - Reid Glacier Headwall 11/29/2009

[Julian]

Trip: Mt. Hood - Reid Glacier Headwall

 

Date: 11/29/2009

 

Trip Report:

I did my first big alpine route this Sunday on Mt. Hood, climbing the Reid glacier headwall almost entirely with my friends Kimball, Zach, and Thomas (Maine-iac on here). We got some good info from Joe (rocky_joe) on conditions, and ended up climbing the central gully (a line or two left of the one he did earlier in the week). The snow was a bit deep after the I-rock saddle, which made the climbing slower and a bit more tiresome than desirable. Otherwise the route was quite good, a continuous 50-60 degrees and very sustained with almost nowhere to stop. There were a few spicy bits (basically places where the snow wasn't deep enough for a solid plunge but the snice wasn't thick enough for fully comfortable tool placements), but for the most part it was steep snow climbing. The exposure was impressive, especially given that we soloed everything. We exited on the right which put us just above the Hogsback. Another guy who we met at the start of the Reid and climbed with us joined us after trying to exit via a rime-crusted gully that he backed out of after almost taking the big ride (his words: "at one point I had tool placements that didn't feel solid and my feet had cut loose and were dangling in the air"). By this time I was seriously out of it for essentially two reasons:

 

1. I didn't drink nearly enough water, or take in nearly enough calories, and bonked pretty hard once the hard climbing was done.

 

2. This was an off-the-couch ascent for me after spending the last 6 weeks working on job applications (I haven't even climbed at the gym in over a month). Once I passed 100 apps I decided it was time to reward myself with some alpine goodness, but it may have been a bit much to jump right back into things like this.

 

The rest of the group went for the summit while I took a nap and drank water to refresh myself for the descent. So I missed my first Hood summit, but I didn't really mind. It gives me something to gun for if I do the South Side sometime in the future, and besides, we were there to climb the Reid headwall, not to bag the top. Once upon a time I cared about that sort of thing but now if I learn something and get to do some good climbing I'm perfectly satisfied. It's much more rewarding to let the climbing define the experience rather than the summit.

 

The descent was straightforward since the weather was gorgeous and there was a huge boot track the whole way up/down the south side. We stopped for dinner at Calamity Jane's (damn this place is good) and then burned it back to Eugene. Now I'm really psyched to get back into shape and do some more hard alpine stuff this winter and spring. A painful lesson was learned about proper hydration and nutrition, which is something I really need to work hard on in the future.

 

No pictures unfortunately since my camera's POS battery died from the cold (I really need to get a new one that doesn't use a dumb proprietary battery but plain old AAs instead). Maybe if I get some from one of the other guys I will add them later.

 

Gear Notes:

Used:

2 ice tools (Petzl Atzars - I love this tool)

 

umbilical cords (snagged the Black Diamond Spinner from Backcountry Gear, if you are looking to pick one up they have a few in-store that I don't believe are on the website - it worked very nicely)

 

 

We picked up some cheap roll-able foam sleds from Target on the way up for the descent, but they ended up being useless due to the softness of the snow. They were nice butt-pads at some of the breaks though.

 

Not used: 30m 8mm ropes, ice screws, pickets, other assorted unnecessary stuff

 

Approach Notes:

Boring slog to I-rock, then side-hilling down to the Reid in deep snow. There's tons of options for climbing once you are there (we ran into two guys who were gunning for the upper part of Yocum with the option to bail onto Leuthold Couloir instead).

[Alewarrior]

Sometimes ya gotta just sit back and drink water. Nice report. I cant wait to get back out there this spring.

[Jay Chute]

Getting to the top of the route safely and resting is hardly bonking. Nice work man. A good bonk can end in a bad epic ;]

Next time you'll kick the shit out of it

[justinp]

Getting to the top of the route safely and resting is hardly bonking. Nice work man. A good bonk can end in a bad epic ;]

Next time you'll kick the shit out of it

 

 

Pretty sure he's a she

[rocky_joe]

nope, julian is a dude.

[Ryan Canfield]

any issues with rockfall or icefall?

[Julian]

Didn't see any rockfall at all, and most of the "icefall" was little pebbles and chunks knocked off by the climbers on the front of the line. Towards the end of the morning (we topped out on the headwall a little before noon), some smaller stuff started coming down on its own, but nothing that could cause more than a sting if it hit you.

[Ryan Canfield]

Right on, thanks!

[LostCamKenny]

what? no pics?!?

[jbyers]

Nice work. I was up on Leutholds this past thursday and saw y'alls bootprints heading up that way. We laughed at the time because about 50% of people who head up that way are actually trying to do Leutholds but don't know where they're going. Nice work though, that route can be pretty sketch if snow's not good.