[TR] Hood - North Face epic 4/25/2010

[YocumRidge]

Trip: Hood - North Face epic

 

Date: 4/25/2010

 

Trip Report:

Hood North Face epic

 

OlegV and I were in the mood for some alpine conditioning that finally materialized in our trip to the North Face on Sunday. I had some beta from a friend who recently skied Cooper Spur and reported the left gully entrance being an exciting WI4 not to be missed. We left the TH at the closed gate at 11 p.m. and got to the TJ cabin at 1 a.m. The cabin was empty for a reason – no wood logs left to burn and so we kept on going to the stone shelter at the base of the Cooper Spur. This is where I started seeing headlamps but Oleg was insisting that was an UFO. Somebody was sleeping in the reflective tent. A cool thing that we did not bring nor the other items of comfortable life like pads, stoves, freeze-dried food we found in the shelter. It was still dark and windy (morning inversion) when we headed west and dropped down to Eliot. Over the last week, the snow consolidated well enough for a painless slog up and down the Eliot. The glacier is enormous and we hit the upper part of it only at the sunrise.

 

Alpenglow on Eliot:

 

Oleg on the upper Eliot:

 

Bergshrund:

 

 

 

Despite the forecast, the clouds were gathering quickly and the upper mountain was in a whiteout. We were loosing time trying to wait out the weather. To make things more encouraging, a black lenticular cloud came from the east and was not moving. Oleg does not like clouds that kill people so he started making phone calls to get an update on the current weather conditions and interrogating me on how long would it take for the storm to begin following the arrival of the lenticular. After an hour or so, I noticed more color blue appearing in the grey mass above, so we decided to continue towards the base of the gullies. Crossing the bergshrund and crevasses with some loose snow bridges did not appeal much to us and we chose to head up and traverse west through the rock bands as a safer alternative. Oleg was kicking in the steps and placing pickets as we simuled the snow traverse towards the first rock tower where I took over.

 

The snow transformed into a thin snice over volcanic sand - an awesome substance for pro. The rock seemed to be more solid and had a nice mixed potential but then I realized we did not bring a rock rack. I had to run out the section and whacked one picket for the belay anchor and then belayed Oleg.

 

The next traverse pitch I run out was mostly rotten ice. The weirdest thing was the tool sticks were OK but we just could not get front points in. We were loosing our feet and only hanging on our tools - sketchy. Down below we saw an inviting 10 story deep bergshrund smiling at us like a shark. One slip and you are an eternity. I was wasted and badly needed a new brain and body.

 

After another 30 feet, I spotted first thin ice bulge, passed it and headed over to the next ice step that did look like a WI4. Thinking, oh what a nice change, I racked up the screws and slowly dragged my ass over there to set up a belay. I already had an idea where to plug them. My plan however failed – the ice was 80% hollow. O holy shit, now all of a sudden I started to appreciate the goodness of being a sport climber. Whatever Oleg and I tried to climb was not sporty at all. I crawled and downclimbed in a zombie style all way back to the Oleg’s belay.

 

Our route is in yellow (the pic was taken 3 months ago when the berg and crevasses were mostly closed up):

 

 

When I finally got there, Oleg happily announced that he came up with a bailout plan. Actually, two of them. The first was to rap off the picket over the bergshrund. The second was to downclimb the rocks and snow through the crevasse field. We settled on the latter. It was slow but worked.

 

Me bailing over the crevasses:

 

 

We were back on Eliot and heading to the water ice on the Cooper Spur drop offs to find it was dripping and frightened to collapse on us.

 

The next ice line was rotten:

 

It is all over. The end.

We got back to the car at 5 p.m.

 

18 hrs c-to-c is not a stellar time according to the Oleg’s standards. His dog Charlie used to trail run 4 times non-stop to the summit and back over that time. But then again Charlie the dog was not expected to lead a hollow WI4.

 

 

Gear Notes:

Screws and pickets (both are useless)

 

Approach Notes:

Closed road and zero of human beings

[BirdDog]

Very entertaining TR; awesome 1st photo.

[cbcbd]

Very cool, that left band looks fat!

Although I don't understand why you guys did that high traverse from the left on the rocks - was that the best way to surmount the shrund in the conditions you found? I've read of folks heading right and finding easy ground, we headed left and it was still earlier season and could get around. Sounds like you spent a lot of time traversing on "interesting" terrain

[ivan]

oleg = epic magnet!

 

seems liek every time i've been around those gullies this time of year they've been scar as phuck...time to move on over to rainier!

[YocumRidge]

Very cool, that left band looks fat!

Although I don't understand why you guys did that high traverse from the left on the rocks - was that the best way to surmount the shrund in the conditions you found? I've read of folks heading right and finding easy ground, we headed left and it was still earlier season and could get around. Sounds like you spent a lot of time traversing on "interesting" terrain

Hey Doug,

We were hiding from wind on the east part of Eliot by the spur and waiting on the weather to improve. Once that finally happened we chose the traverse as a "shortcut" rather than passing below the rock band and up again through the crevasses and berg. In this season, it is hard to say what would be the most straightforward approach. Some crevasses were opened up all way to the rocks and the snow bridges were collapsing in warmer temps. We should've waited until fall. The "in situ" pickets were so pathetic.

[cbcbd]

The "in situ" pickets were so pathetic.

Hey, pickets have feelings too!

 

Sounds like a fun adventure on a neat aspect of Hood.

 

 

[Water]

so that was ya'll, makes sense why i didn't see any tracks as I scanned cooper spur chimneys later that morning. i could imagine the pickets were crap, all afternoon and evening on saturday there was just wave after wave of very fine snow being blown over and coming down the east face...15 minute intervals of white-out 40mph winds and then clear and calm, very funny

 

Were you speaking german? anyways, ya'll went on for a while. why to ask if anyone is there and then go back to speaking in a foreign language immediately? I'm thinking, whoevers there just dont gank my bacon croissant..im craving that for breakfast. hehe I was just testing a new tent and stove and drinking some beers on sat nite and sunday morning. so was the whole tent reflective or just the guy-line tie outs?

[ivan]

they are speakers of the savage slavic tongue, methinks

[el jefe]

 

how long is that left hand flow? more than half a rope's length? looks pretty good if it isn't super short.

[YocumRidge]

Hey Water,

Sorry man for being loud. Oleg got me going with the whole UFO thing at the time so yes we spoke in multiple foreign languages.

It was so surreal to see someone camping on the otherwise deserted side of the mountain.

 

BTW, you did a nice job with the shelter. I had kind of ruined it with all the drytooling dirt that fell off of my crampons but we did not touch your breakfast croissant regardless of how tempting it might have been.

 

Re: tent. The guy-lines tie outs were like headlamps from 100 feet away.

[YocumRidge]

 

how long is that left hand flow? more than half a rope's length? looks pretty good if it isn't super short.

 

This is the same line close-up:

 

It looks better than it actually was. The left side was dripping, so I got on the right side which was uber brittle and after not having slept a night before, I was wasted to fight my way through that crap. So, we bailed.

[Water]

mitochondria:

no worries -- it was actually fairly entertaining to hear the talk in foreign languages than if it was two people chatting in english. just as surprised you were of someone camping out, we were of someone up there. I knew in the back of my head some climbers may come past around when you did, but at the same time I wrote it off because that side of the mountain gets comparatively so much less action. so you were speaking german...a bit of english..and czech? french?

 

that is funny you mention the dirt, i was wondering where it came from! good to know the tent is uber visible!

 

wish I would have inspected down on the elliot more for you guys in the morning--it turned into such a beautiful day for the most part. hot even. your alpenglow shot is fantastic! cheers

[LostCamKenny]

Gear Notes:

Screws and pickets (both are useless)

only sometimes

[Glacier Girl]

The Fearless Mitochondria strikes again. Great pics! You and I need to talk. XO - GG.

[YocumRidge]

Gear Notes:

Screws and pickets (both are useless)

only sometimes

 

Next time, Kenny - you come along and aid that hollow crap for us.

The good thing is there are no ledges for you to fall and break your back. You will fly straight into the shrund.

[denalidave]

Gear Notes:

Screws and pickets (both are useless)

only sometimes

 

Next time, Kenny - you come along and aid that hollow crap for us.

The good thing is there are no ledges for you to fall and break your back. You will fly straight into the shrund.

 

Nice TR...

[LostCamKenny]

Gear Notes:

Screws and pickets (both are useless)

only sometimes

 

Next time, Kenny - you come along and aid that hollow crap for us.

The good thing is there are no ledges for you to fall and break your back. You will fly straight into the shrund.

long asyou feel like pullin me out afterwards - if i don't pull you in, that is

[billcoe]

Take Ivan, he says that he flies right over those schrunds when he comes off...

 

Thanks for sharing the adventure!

[YocumRidge]

Take Ivan, he says that he flies right over those schrunds when he comes off...

 

Ivan has got a designated kite? He is always welcome.

 

Would be cool to learn a new language too. Methinks.