bgratias Posted January 23, 2011 Posted January 23, 2011 (edited) Trip: Mt. Hood - Leuthold Couloir Date: 1/22/2011 Trip Report: A group of us (my brother Ryan, sneaky_steve Ladish, Lance Colley, Josh Grant and Erik Biesenthal) went up the Leuthold Couloir this Saturday. Though a bit windy in the morning it was a beautiful day. The south side is very icy, we could only skin on the tracks the snowcat made, and had to crampon from the top of the lifts to Illumination Saddle. We made it to the saddle just after sunrise. The down climb to the Reid is pretty icy right now, but the Reid is filled in well. The bottom part of the couloir leading to the hourglass consisted of about 8" of heavy powder on top of harder snow. This got us excited because we were planning to ski the route. Our skiing excitement was replaced by climbing excitement when we reached the hourglass and found it to be beautiful alpine ice! We were expecting a snow climb, but almost the entire upper part of the couloir was awesome ice. It wasn't super steep, and we were being hit by ice cubes the whole time, but the climbing was fantastic! Since we couldn't ski the route, we went down the south side. It was the worst skiing imaginable. It was like skiing down a field of ice cubes ranging from 2"-1' big. We ended up walking down most of the way to the lifts. Oh well, carrying the extra weight was good exercise. Down climbing to the Reid [img:left]http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm85/rgratias/Luethold%20Couloir%20TR/P1210155.jpg[/img] Starting up the couloir and getting excited for skiing! [img:left]http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm85/rgratias/Luethold%20Couloir%20TR/P1210161.jpg[/img] Climbing through the hour glass. Bummed we won't be able to ski, but excited about the awesome climbing conditions! [img:left]http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm85/rgratias/Luethold%20Couloir%20TR/P1210169.jpg[/img] Ice! [img:left]http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm85/rgratias/Luethold%20Couloir%20TR/P1210176.jpg[/img] [img:left]http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm85/rgratias/Luethold%20Couloir%20TR/P1210183.jpg[/img] [img:left]http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm85/rgratias/Luethold%20Couloir%20TR/P1210192.jpg[/img] It mellowed out a bit toward the top, and we were able to kick some steps. If you stayed in the middle there was still good ice, but our calves were burning by this point. [img:left]http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm85/rgratias/Luethold%20Couloir%20TR/P1210186.jpg[/img] [img:left]http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm85/rgratias/Luethold%20Couloir%20TR/P1210195.jpg[/img] [img:left]http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm85/rgratias/Luethold%20Couloir%20TR/P1210198.jpg[/img] [img:left]http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm85/rgratias/Luethold%20Couloir%20TR/P1210203.jpg[/img] Gear Notes: At least one tool. If you bring a rope, you could probably place screws from the hourglass all the way to the top couloir. Approach Notes: Icy on the south side, and dropping onto the Reid. Edited January 23, 2011 by bgratias Quote
cascadehigh Posted January 23, 2011 Posted January 23, 2011 Wow guys.......Sweet climb.....Thanx for the pics. Quote
Whatcomboy Posted January 24, 2011 Posted January 24, 2011 Wish I was there with ya. That looked fun. Quote
jayhawk Posted January 24, 2011 Posted January 24, 2011 We were equally bummed about ski conditions. We were on the South Side, and ditched skis about 500' above the lifts, which was 500' too far! Oh well, cherry weather, the cramponing was good, and a nice day in the mountains. Quote
Khartoum Wood Posted January 24, 2011 Posted January 24, 2011 Nice work guys thanks for the cool pics. Quote
schmitt68 Posted January 24, 2011 Posted January 24, 2011 One day or camp? What time did you start and summit at? Thanks! Quote
Xerinae Posted January 24, 2011 Posted January 24, 2011 Awesome trip report and photos, thanks for posting! It was our goal to do this route Sunday, the weather had other plans Quote
sneaky_steve Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 One day, 4:00 am start from Timberline, on the summit by 1:00 pm. Quote
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