Plaidman Posted December 4, 2009 Posted December 4, 2009 (edited) Trip: Lookie Lou at the Reid Headwall - Mt Hood - Reid Headwall Date: 12/2/2009 Trip Report: Lookie Lou at the Reid Headwall – 12/02/2009 Videos: Rick's Report We really did intend to climb the route. The Reid Headwall had been on our tick list for sometime now. Rick McDonald and I took off from town at 11:00 pm on Tuesday night and started climbing at 2:00 am. We made good progress up to the top of the Palmer ski lift at Timberline. The moon was full and we did not even use our headlamps. It was so bright the moon was casting shadows. This would be our first mountaineering climb of the season and Rick’s hardest climb to date. I am still learning the ropes of the mountaineering thing. The weather was stellar. Perfect conditions with a little more wind than I would have liked. The wind helped keep us cool during the slog up. Rick had skis and skins and was able to ski up the mountain. Skins allow forward progress when wearing skis. More info on Climbing Skins: http://www.alaskamountaineering.com/Info.cfm?id=5&d=11&c=0&s=0 http://www.alaskamountaineering.com/Product.cfm?id=1275 . Getting the layers correct is always difficult, but I was wearing all synthetics so the sweat would dry quickly. The high temperature at 9000 ft. was going to be 31 degrees. We made it up to Illumination Saddle just before daybreak and I was in for a real treat. The route we chose required a bit of walking the saddle down on the rock ridge. The exposure was a bit much all in your face all at once. The traverse required mixed climbing tottering around on crampons on rock. Good training I think. Rick said he ran down it. I think he was lying. It scared me. Once of the saddle we had to kick step in a down angled traverse. This is an awkward technique that I have not practiced much. It requires being confident and trusting the snow to hold while balancing with your uphill hand planting your ice ax to act as a self belay in case of a fall. If that you do fall and the self belay fails you need to self arrest. It was quit a bracer so early in the morning on the first climb of the season. Kind of like a slap in the face. The snow was firm and we were able to stomp/kick our way across. The got to a thin spot and Rick started front pointing facing the slope. I followed and looked at the potential fall and was very nervous about this move. Climbing up is always easier than down climbing. I was getting the full treatment all at once. We made all those move and I looked over and Rick was sauntering at a quick clip along the slope. My confidence was building and I moved along also. We met just to the left of the start of the Reid Headwall and looked at the gullies. I looked at the top of the Headwall and saw a lot of rock with little snow plastered on the rock. Not a good sign as when the sun hits the rock the snow and ice sloughs off and crashes down the gullies. While we were watching we saw another party of two climbers moving up the gullies. They were about halfway up. Not good for us as climbing below them would be a potential for meeting head on a rock or chunk of ice. We knew that once we started we were committed to the climb. To back off before the summit would not be prudent. We were both tired after making it to our position in 5 hours. We made decent time for a couple of 47 year olds. Considering all of the conditions, our energy level and the state we were in. Oregon I am fairly sure. We decided to bail and head back over the ridge. I led back and had much more confidence in the movement and the snow. We had some rock and icefall on the traverse and moved quickly across back to the saddle. Rick made to back to his skis and offered to take some of my equipment and I took his skins down for him. I dumped out my most of my water. On my last accent of the mountain I took 6 litters of water up and only drank 2 and carried all of it back to Portland before I realized I was carrying all that extra weight. I thought maybe I could sell it as summit water. Never did find a sucker for that. The slog down that mountain is always painful. Next time I am bringing skis. While descending I have a peculiar situation with my boots, socks, or skin. I am not sure. But most time while descending I get this wrinkle under my left big toe. When I step down on this wrinkle it feels like a red hot nail being driven through my toe. I take off my boot and feel around nothing. I check my sock nothing. I am not imaging it as it is really quit painful. It may be that my skin just buckles under all that downward pressure. I am going to tape my toe next time. I got back to the truck and was whipped. I took a day of recuperation before I started planning my next outing. I am heading out to Beacon Rock to bivouac on a ledge we call The Land of The Little People. Sometimes you just have to go out and do things to see if they are fun. A bivouac on a ledge in early December with a 20 chance of snow may qualify. Gear Notes: Too Much gear - 4 pickets, several ice screw, 2 ice tools, 1 mountaineering 70 cc ax, two angle pitons, 4 liters water, warm clothes, extra socks, extra hats, belay jacket, waaaaay too much gear Approach Notes: Easy to scary and then easy again. Edited December 4, 2009 by Plaidman Quote
ivan Posted December 4, 2009 Posted December 4, 2009 ya'll were carrying waaaay too much shit, esse - leave the pins, most of the water, the extra tool, and at least half the picketts and if you get down to the reid and don't want to do the headwall for whatever reason, just scoot up luetholds Quote
Ryan Canfield Posted December 4, 2009 Posted December 4, 2009 cool. what'd you say the angle in degrees was the reid headwall? Quote
ivan Posted December 4, 2009 Posted December 4, 2009 cool. what'd you say the angle in degrees was the reid headwall? never steeper than 45 degrees unless you've choosen to do something needlessly hard Quote
Plaidman Posted December 4, 2009 Author Posted December 4, 2009 It looked steep. I think it goes at 50 to 60. The South route gets a 1 and Yocum Ridge gets a 5. Leuthold's Couloir and the Reid get a 2 in Jeff Smoots guide. It looked serious to me. No snowshoes needed. Firm snow on Weds. Quote
Plaidman Posted December 4, 2009 Author Posted December 4, 2009 Rick's Video of The Reid: Rick's Report Quote
Maine-iac Posted December 4, 2009 Posted December 4, 2009 No slowshoes needed. Never steeper than 50. Quote
stevetimetravlr Posted December 5, 2009 Posted December 5, 2009 Way to be out going for it Plaidman. Quote
billcoe Posted December 5, 2009 Posted December 5, 2009 ya'll were carrying waaaay too much shit, esse - leave the pins, most of the water, the extra tool, and at least half the picketts and if you get down to the reid and don't want to do the headwall for whatever reason, just scoot up luetholds Whuhh he said-on the money....hey, I was just thinking of this the other day. Once, when rock climbing - I made mention of the voluminous mass of crap gear you were carrying. Man, you had extra slings, biners, rappel rings, all kinds of other unnecessary fliff flaff hanging on your waist. You assured me that it was all practical and good, training: in fact necessary in the event of an emergency etc etc. Yet I was wondering just the other day....on the 28 hours to do Snake Dike...how much crap stuff were you carrying? Did you in fact blow off my advice, then pay the price for ignoring me, but we haven't caught up to this idea yet??? Cause my wife says I give too much advice. The last advice I gave was to Adams belay partner. She ignored me on 2 critical points (as did he), then within min. of me leaving while belaying she dropped him. Hard. Now - I'll be out with Adam tomorrow, and I ain't gonna bring this up. But my point may be this -don't blow off free advice when your ass is on the line. It rarely comes around twice. Read Ivans words, he's been getting out there. Quote
ivan Posted December 5, 2009 Posted December 5, 2009 so long as i'm playing the part of The Wise Man then, bill, can i also recommend what you Should take? mp3 player for the walk up the slope and a fatty vacoum/thermos bottle of hot tea during the max of 3 stops to the summit? slow n' steady on the walk up - the zone between sweating and freezing - stop once an hour at most - -staring it!?! Quote
stevetimetravlr Posted December 5, 2009 Posted December 5, 2009 Yes, bring the fatty, it will keep you warm....... or at least on course. Quote
denalidave Posted December 5, 2009 Posted December 5, 2009 ya'll were carrying waaaay too much shit, esse - leave the pins, most of the water, the extra tool, and at least half the picketts and if you get down to the reid and don't want to do the headwall for whatever reason, just scoot up luetholds Whuhh he said-on the money....hey, I was just thinking of this the other day. Once, when rock climbing - I made mention of the voluminous mass of crap gear you were carrying. Man, you had extra slings, biners, rappel rings, all kinds of other unnecessary fliff flaff hanging on your waist. You assured me that it was all practical and good, training: in fact necessary in the event of an emergency etc etc. Yet I was wondering just the other day....on the 28 hours to do Snake Dike...how much crap stuff were you carrying? Did you in fact blow off my advice, then pay the price for ignoring me, but we haven't caught up to this idea yet??? Uh, Bill, how in hell is he going to do a 13 hour ascent of the corner unless he has WAY too much crap? It's all part of the SKAT (slowest known ascent time) strategy. You should have seen the body bag of gear he had last night rapping into the ledge. A friggin tent, for crying out loud. Quote
montypiton Posted December 5, 2009 Posted December 5, 2009 (edited) yeah! take the thermos! a BIG one! the one item of gear that I take on EVERY winter trip regardless of the objective. (I'm deadly serious about this...) On the other hand, free advice is often worth about what you pay for it. I'll never be able to forget the helpful gal at Frenchman's Coulee who offered to "fix" my ten-year old son's munter-hitch belay "oh, it's all twisted up! let me help you untangle that". Fortunately, I was still close enough to his anchored stance to prevent her intervention... Oh yeah - and if you're "prepared" for it, then it's not a "bivouc"; it's "camping" and and always remember the mantra of the legendary Fred Stanley: "It's never too early too turn back" Edited December 5, 2009 by montypiton Quote
Plaidman Posted December 5, 2009 Author Posted December 5, 2009 ya'll were carrying waaaay too much shit, esse - leave the pins, most of the water, the extra tool, and at least half the picketts and if you get down to the reid and don't want to do the headwall for whatever reason, just scoot up luetholds Whuhh he said-on the money....hey, I was just thinking of this the other day. Once, when rock climbing - I made mention of the voluminous mass of crap gear you were carrying. Man, you had extra slings, biners, rappel rings, all kinds of other unnecessary fliff flaff hanging on your waist. You assured me that it was all practical and good, training: in fact necessary in the event of an emergency etc etc. Yet I was wondering just the other day....on the 28 hours to do Snake Dike...how much crap stuff were you carrying? Did you in fact blow off my advice, then pay the price for ignoring me, but we haven't caught up to this idea yet??? Cause my wife says I give too much advice. The last advice I gave was to Adams belay partner. She ignored me on 2 critical points (as did he), then within min. of me leaving while belaying she dropped him. Hard. Now - I'll be out with Adam tomorrow, and I ain't gonna bring this up. But my point may be this -don't blow off free advice when your ass is on the line. It rarely comes around twice. Read Ivans words, he's been getting out there. Thanks Bill. Advice noted. Quote
billcoe Posted December 6, 2009 Posted December 6, 2009 Hey, you must have had a great solo bivi last night! You sharing it? Cause I love the part where you started chasing the rat and I was wondering how that worked out for you. ..BTW, all that weight advice goes in the toilet this time of year anyway cause you want to be warm and dry and need to carry the shit to do so.. sorry if I came off like a dick up there I didn't mean too but when I re-read it..... Hope you had a nice trip. now about that rat which ran into your tent:- Quote
denalidave Posted December 6, 2009 Posted December 6, 2009 The problem with the rat(s) is they are so small you need quite a few to make a decent meal. Quote
Plaidman Posted December 7, 2009 Author Posted December 7, 2009 This rat could have feed the whole family. It was about the size of a small turkey. Working on the trip report now. Will be posted later today. Quote
denalidave Posted December 7, 2009 Posted December 7, 2009 Looks like you picked the right night, Plaid. I sure wanted to come out myself but had the family thing going on. Quote
denalidave Posted December 7, 2009 Posted December 7, 2009 Maybe we should stash a tennis racket up there to whack to rats down to the river? Quote
LostCamKenny Posted December 7, 2009 Posted December 7, 2009 Or a shotgun. almost whacked this one with a gold camalot but then thought better of the idea... Quote
Plaidman Posted December 7, 2009 Author Posted December 7, 2009 Or a shotgun. almost whacked this one with a gold camalot but then thought better of the idea... That's the one. Rat bastard scared the crap out of me. Quote
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