Mt Hood

[ColinB]

Does anyone know if the NF gullies have ever been skied? To be honest I've always got shut down by weather the times I've tried to get up there, so pardon me if that's ridiculous.

Also, there's a great couloir on the east face, to the right of what I believe is the black spider/arachnaphobia wall, has that ever been skied as well?

 

Doug Coombs skied the left gully back in the day. Stephen Koch snowboarded the right gully in 1992. Bad ass dudes for sure.

[mhux]

Badass? To say the least...thanks Colin

[atb7789]

Thinking about heading up Hood early Sunday morning. Anybody else?

[B Deleted_Beck]

Anybody get on the west side this weekend? Looking to do Reid... probably gonna have to solo it... wondering if it's still all closed up over there...?

[COTony92]

I'll be heading out to Oregon in 2 weeks and will spend a week near Portland, making a summit attempt at Hood on the first good weather/conditions day...

 

Is a week typically enough time to allow for at least 1 or 2 good days to climb in May? Looking at climate data, it seems that May is when the sun really starts to return.

 

Also, can anyone suggest a good site to get some preliminary forecasts for the area? Just general, since they can't make real predictions 2 weeks out, ie. is a lot of snow expected this May? Things like that.

 

Thanks!

[B Deleted_Beck]

It just comes and goes this time of year, Tony. You won't have any idea what the weather is gonna do till 5 days before, and it's still only a little better than 50/50 odds till a day or two before. Just have to take it day-by-day.

 

I would think, given a two-week schedule window, you should get a weather window too, so long as you can keep the schedule flexible. Good luck!

[Hoot]

I'm hoping to climb Hood from the south side slopes this coming Satuday or Sunday. The weather looks a bit snowy up to this weekend. Am I correct in understanding that avalanche danger is generally low on the popular South Side route? Can anyone tell me how useful snowshoes are up to the hogsback?

 

Hoot

[B Deleted_Beck]

It's REALLY hard to quantify relative danger levels when talking about avalanche... but there is some risk, even on the south side. The east side of Hogsback is generally very loaded- I'm not aware of it ever sliding on a climber, but it's sort of a classic loaded lee slope.. freaks me out, sometimes.

 

The other area, which HAS actually slid and killed climbers, is the snow field leading up to the chutes to the left of Pearly Gates, where 99% of Hood climbers are going up these days. Right now, it's at almost perfect slide angle- 38*, and is heavily loaded and there will be a poor bond between the sun-crusted snow of this weekend's bake and the snow that's going to dump on it all week. If the forecast is correct, and it's to be clear and sunny on Sat/Sun, that'll be classic slide conditions by mid-morning as well.

 

A spot where I personally turned around this weekend was the ramp leading up to Pearly Gates... after failing to gain a different route, in my stubborn refusal to let the mountain "win," I descended 1,200' and re-climbed the mountain via the south side on Saturday- didnt get to the Gates till about noon, and I can't believe I or the snow did not slide before I could get turned around. Was just crumbling beneath me and breaking off in classic wet-slab fashion.

 

SO..... proceed with caution. Alpine starts, swift climbing, down before the snow gets soft. We're not quite out of the woods yet, this season.

[benb]

Damn Ben, Where have you been all my life. If I ever have a questoin about anything regarding alpinism, I now know someone who has a heaping helping of advice to spew my way!

 

Do you know this much about other mountains?? Or is your experties limited to The SS of Hood??

[Hoot]

Ben - thanks so much for the very useful beta!

 

Hoot

 

[B Deleted_Beck]

Damn Ben, Where have you been all my life. If I ever have a questoin about anything regarding alpinism, I now know someone who has a heaping helping of advice to spew my way!

 

Do you know this much about other mountains?? Or is your experties limited to The SS of Hood??

 

I hope your day got better.

[astrov]

Hard to tell if benb was being sarcastic.

 

Damn Ben, Where have you been all my life. If I ever have a questoin about anything regarding alpinism, I now know someone who has a heaping helping of advice to spew my way!

 

Do you know this much about other mountains?? Or is your experties limited to The SS of Hood??

 

I hope your day got better.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

 

point and click NOAAA has forecast upwards of 2 feet on the upper mountain this week. I'm worried about postholing and avy potential

 

[iceslut]

Any beta on the recent condition of the pearly gates? I realize that the current forecast will likely keep things dynamic. Thanks!

[Hoot]

Any beta on the recent condition of the pearly gates?

 

I climbed the South Side route in exquisite conditions yesterday (6 May 12) from the Timberline Lodge. We went up through the Pearly Gates and down the Old Chute route. Like other teams in front of us, my two partners and I roped up for PG, but not everyone did. The crux was about 20 feet of moderately low angle ice. With a second tool and good front point crampons, I had no problems leading it and didn't feel the need to set any protection. The round trip took our group 10 hours and 49 minutes from the lodge. Hoot

 

 

[iceslut]

Thanks for the info! We postponed our ascent attempt scheduled for this morning due to the unusual avy forecast. Headin' up next week instead.

[Pwelco]

Calling all Mount Hood climbers,

 

A quick note for those that don't wish to hike up a ski run, we have seats available on the snow cat this Saturday May 12th at 2AM.

At this time we have 4 seats available. If you are interested I can be contacted at paul@cascadeclimbs.com.

The entire cat fee this year is a crazy $500.00 bucks!! so the seats are 35 bucks ea. The cat holds 12 plus gear but these 4 will still leave seats available for breathing room, our team is down to 5

 

Cheers,

Pwelco

[mtn.climber]

Hey...can anyone put my mind at ease? Was planning to climb via Old Chute this Sunday, but the warm weather has me worried about the avy danger under the cliffs. Figured an early start (midnight) will help. Upper part of the mountain should be slightly under freezing levels overnight. But I still have a slight doubt about the climb.

Opinions?

 

Oh yeah...forgot to add that my son was going to share the adventure with me. Wouldn't make the greatest Mother's Day gift if something bad happened.

 

Edited May 11, 2012 by mtn.climber

[Water]

the mnt isn't going anywhere, if that helps put your mind at ease.

 

it is very hard with weather like this because you will always see people on monday with reports of success which can be frustrating when you've deferred due to warnings/etc.

 

if there is any value in it, you could aim for just saying you'd be satisfied to go to the hogsback. If you get there, its still early (like 5:00-6:00) and things are firm and you don't hear rime chunking down...evaluate your risk. Btw I do not go up the hogsback then traverse under the cliffs all rimed, and am unsure why this is almost ever preferred over dropping the 100ft down to hot rocks and just going up the old chute from there.

[PaulO]

http://www.nwac.us/forecast/avalanche/current/zone/13/

 

Not good.

[Pwelco]

Cat openings still available...

 

paul@cascadeclimbs.com

[COTony92]

I was planning for the same time period... tomorrow night. The Timberline forecasts have overnight temperatures dropping well into the 20s though, and the avy forecast mentions only less than 7000 feet over and over.

 

I figure if anything, I can at least go to the Hogsback and appreciate the view if that's the most I can do.

 

[rbnsngr]

So I need this groups advice for next weekend. I am flying in from Texas to hopefully hike Mt.Hood via the south side Friday night/Saturday morning. Ive been following all the discussions on here as well looking at the weather. It looks like by the mid part of next week it is supposed to get colder in the mountains, ironically reaching its coldest the night I want to climb. Not having a ton of experience predicting avalanche danger, will a day or two of colder temperatures stabilize the mountain enough from the current warm weather to make it somewhat climbable. I know this all ties into what risk level the group I am in is willing to take, but it will suck if I paid all this money to fly to Oregon to not climb the mountain at all. I just don't know how many days of refreezing on average it takes to make the mountain not so dangerous.

 

Thanks

[YocumRidge]

Why do you think the mountain is dangerous to hike now when it had high pressure and every day freeze/melt? Even if the cold snap would not happen by the end of the next week?

Right now the avy danger is minimal on Hood because of the said freeze/melts.

If you are concerned about hiking in slushy snow, then start early when it is all solid hard. But then again, it is a matter of personal preference if you are to take the Old Chute up. Two days ago when we topped out the North Cleaver, we run into a party of 15 tourists from Indiana who arrived at the summit at 2 pm. In tropical temps of 40F.

Most skiers tend to start later in the day too - to allow the snow to soften up a bit.

 

 

[rbnsngr]

I appreciate the advice. I don't have a ton of background to know if the current weather makes for bad conditions. I was just thinking all of that because I saw the freeze level would be above 12000' the next couple days and thought that meant things would be increasingly unstable until temperatures dropped.