[TR] Mt. Hood - Leuthold Couloir 3/20/2010

[dwillym]

Trip: Mt. Hood - Leuthold Couloir

 

Date: 3/20/2010

 

Trip Report:

Had a great first trip up Leuthold yesterday with 5 others. Started from the parking lot at 3am and back at the car just before 2pm. Long day but very worth it.

 

We cut left at the top of the ski lifts to the saddle just North of Illumination rock, and climbed down a steep incline to cut across the Reid. There's a large bare rock formation in the center of the slope; you cut below that and bang a right immediately after and the gully is directly above you. It was obvious and easy to find, and the snow was mostly fantastic (avy danger was predicted as low for Friday night/Sat morning via NWAC). We all took a few hits from falling ice (mostly on the slope before the hourglass). Nothing huge, but those little golfball-sized f**ckers hurt. A lot. There's actually a funnel of snow & ice chunks constantly running down the middle of the chute all the way down from the hourglass. It's like there was a faucet running somewhere up there.

 

We used some good steps/made some of our own up until the hourglass. Once through that section the snow was quite a bit firmer and we front-pointed up most of that slope up to the queen's chair using a 2nd tool. 40-45 degrees at the most but no ice.

 

None of us had done the route before but understood generally where you top out along the ridge, but you come out a lot closer than we expected. We assumed there was a much longer traverse to the summit, or at least some more elevation after the top of the steep parts of the gully, but after the queen's chair you just go up a few more feet and boom, you're in the sun and suddenly there are all these people.

 

Additionally, some trip reports indicated that the traverse is sketchy enough at times that you either need to practically get out on the north face for a short section, or downclimb a bit to join part of the old chute and come back up, but thankfully that wasn't the case. I've seen pics of the north face thing and it's basically a step down towards the edge of the face with your back to it, but that wasn't really the case for us. You have to step down in spots but you're pretty much on the ridge the whole time. The traverse is definitely catwalk-ish and there's a lot of exposure, but nothing that's any more dangerous than the gully you took to get up there.

 

We downclimbed the old chute and plodded our way to the parking lot. It was great to see and experience a different side of the mountain with more of a challenge, better scenery (Yocum Ridge is stunning), and less crowds. This was a route I've wanted to do for quite some time and the conditions couldn't have been better.

 

Looking east to Illumination saddle

 

Heading up towards the hourglass

 

Yocum Ridge to the west

 

The slope after the hourglass

 

Traverse

 

Gear Notes:

Rope (didn't use)

Pickets (didn't use)

Crampons

Ice axe

2nd tool

Red licorice

[Corduroy Man]

Wicked send! Rock on!

[mrpink]

When do they offer rides to the top of palmer??? ive called timberline but the lady has never called me back so i keep calling but no answer.

[billclimbs]

Love that route. Notice any cracks opening up?

[billbob]

Good TR, thanks !

[dwillym]

I didn't see any cracks, billclimbs.

[Lafayette]

With a buddy I attempted Leuthold's on the same day. Got to the base of it about 4.30. Unfortunately, we made a wrong turn in the dark. Ended up traversing the top of the Reid and eventually over to west crater rim.

 

Any chance you saw two sets of fresh tracks and where they diverged from your route? I need to hike back out there to identify exactly which couloir I was in.

[dwillym]

There weren't many obvious tracks in the couloir that I noticed, but those that I did see tended to follow straight up the middle of the gully. I don't remember seeing many places you could take a wrong turn to the right, at least not after the hourglass.

 

I used this picture for reference. Leuthold is the gully practically in the center with the right turn/left turn of the hourglass visible about halfway up (and the mound of snow far above on the horizon). Maybe you guys took one of those gullies to the right?

http://www.skimountaineer.com/TR/Images2004/HoodReidGlacier062104-1200.jpg

[rbw1966]

When do they offer rides to the top of palmer??? ive called timberline but the lady has never called me back so i keep calling but no answer.

 

Buy a lift ticket and wait for the lifts to open or rent a snowcat. Last I heard, a snowcat ride to the top of the Palmer was $150.

[KirkW]

With a buddy I attempted Leuthold's on the same day. Got to the base of it about 4.30. Unfortunately, we made a wrong turn in the dark. Ended up traversing the top of the Reid and eventually over to west crater rim.

 

Any chance you saw two sets of fresh tracks and where they diverged from your route? I need to hike back out there to identify exactly which couloir I was in.

 

Hey Will. Why don't you post a TR and tell us all how it was your partners fault that you got off route and go on and on about what a huge d-bag he is. Make sure you use his name though so we can all avoid climbing with him in the future.

[Water]

this is where we took our wrong turn the first time there. As this was at least my and my partners first non-southside climb we were a little worried that after we got through that chute (a small 5 foot step of ice) we would be committed to some more gnarly stuff-but it was an easy traverse over to leutholds, putting us a decent way above the hourglass. unless it is a whiteout, I couldn't foresee making that mistake again.

 

[111]

Water, so the hourglass is just left of your red line in the first photo? (about 1/2 way up the face after traversing?)

[Water]

yes. our line bends to the right, if you draw it straight from where we start to go up to where we start to turn near the top it would make a straight line through the hourglass.

 

i think at the time we thought our route looked the most 'hourglass' like from down below. though once we got up a ways i started to realize we were probably off and needed to be further to the left. I think the other factor was not wanting to veer left too far and end up going up a yocum ridge gully? I dunno, it seems stupid looking at it now but at the time I guess we didn't have as grand of perspective, even though I'd read up as much as possible on the route and looked at plenty of pictures.

 

[billbob]

Funny thing, Water, I had a similar experience on this route. We had low vis conditions for a while, never got back on route but instead continued up the Reid until dead-ending at the top. Those can be some long days.

[ARob]

Or catch last chair and bivy to get an alpine start.

[mtn.climber]

Is the red line in the second picture the correct route thru the hourglass, or is it a little more to the left.

 

this is where we took our wrong turn the first time there. As this was at least my and my partners first non-southside climb we were a little worried that after we got through that chute (a small 5 foot step of ice) we would be committed to some more gnarly stuff-but it was an easy traverse over to leutholds, putting us a decent way above the hourglass. unless it is a whiteout, I couldn't foresee making that mistake again.

 

[Water]

no, they both show the wrong route we took the first time there.

 

CORRECT:

[Major Major]

Yeah, Will, tell us about the d-bag.