Mt Hood

[neswstar]

Anyone been up the Old Chute or pearly gates this past weekend and have information on the conditions, Bergstrum (sp?), or any other Beta to share? Are folks roping up or is there a staircase? What is the traverse on the top of the chute looking like?

[KevinC71]

Went up the Old Chute Sunday morning. Here's some pictures.

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/112659747688504533474/Hood#

 

We did not go up the Hogsback and then traverse over to the old chute. Much easier to drop down to a patch of bare rock/dirt directly below the old chute and then head straight up. We climbed a small gully (~45 degrees) at the top right of the old chute which dumps you off at the summit ridge, past the short but exposed section of the ridge. Guides were short roping clients up the old chute and then belaying them up/down the small exit gully.

[neswstar]

thank you. Your day looks amazing. Still not sure exactly which chute but hope to find when we get up there. Did you see folks going around crater rock to the left to come into route you took up? Thanks again, pc

[KevinC71]

It was a perfect day. Couldn't believe how warm it was on the summit just past 6am. Here's a few pictures that show our approximate route from Crater Rock to the base of the Old Chute and then our route up the chute to the narrow gully that lead us to the summit ridge. You can't see the gully in the picture but you can't miss it. There's actually two gullies you could take. The one of the left was snow filled so we went with that. The right one was half rock and half snow.

 

[neswstar]

KevinC71,

Thank you Thank you. We had a great day and summitted taking the route you described. Conditions were perfect. We saw only 4 others from the hogsback and back again. I love midweek climbing. Thank you again for your help.

 

[KevinC71]

Cool, glad to hear you had a great climb.

[cookiejar]

Wow, that's the most barren I have seen Mt Hood this early in the season. I'm going up this weekend with skis. Looks like we will need to start carrying skis right off the parking lot, which had never happened to me before. Thanks for the photos. Looks like the actual hogsback has shifted to the right quite a bit this year.

[Jonathan_S]

Wow, that's the most barren I have seen Mt Hood this early in the season. I'm going up this weekend with skis. Looks like we will need to start carrying skis right off the parking lot, which had never happened to me before. Thanks for the photos. Looks like the actual hogsback has shifted to the right quite a bit this year.

 

About ten minutes of walking to reach the snow from the parking lot, which is trivial, yet of course depressing for this time of year.

 

So speaking of depressing beta, anyone have recent experience or even just baseless speculation on the condition of the Eliot Glacier crossing to ski Snowdome?

 

In this picture (from July 2 of 2012), would be heading kind of straight up the lower section then angling to the right:

 

 

(And no, we're not interested in trying to cross lower through all the really nasty kitty litter via those various informal routes that now substitute for the fairly decent use trail that went through there prior to the November 2006 storm.)

[jackjaSko]

great photos, thank you

[Prussik]

Saw a party of 8 that skinned up through Eliot glacier yesterday plus saw tracks up on the snow bowl from an earlier party. Watch out for the butt glissade tracks.

[anikoy]

Anyone been up the Mountain this past weekend and have information on the conditions? Any beta to share?

 

Thanks,

[Ben Beckerich]

Aint been up for a long time, but I'm betting the crater rim is melted down at least halfway from the knife-edge, and booming sounds can be heard continually

[Couloir]

Anyone have any idea what the current conditions are up on Snowdome? If it's anything like the south side, I'm guessing it's pretty broken up. I looked on TAY, but no recent reports there, either. Thanks

[Dylan Colon]

Any one know if anything is forming in the North Face gullies right now? There has been cold weather and precipitation, at least ... I'd love to hear about any hint of early season ice, if anyone is willing to share.

[Ben Beckerich]

No way. There's literally only been like 3 days yet this season where anything could have started trickling down.

 

Astrov and I were up there (on bikes, not boots) weekend before last, and it was utterly bare. Absolutely nothing but ugly dusty bare rock and dismally shrunken glacier - I've never seen it look like that. It was awful

[Dylan Colon]

Thanks Ben, that is pretty much what I expected, but was hoping someone would prove me wrong. I'm completely inexperienced when it comes to judging when it might be good to go in the fall; I've only done spring and summer climbs.

 

How much snow needs to be up there in order for there to be a good source of melt for the gullies? How many days of dripping (high freezing level between intervals of low freezing level, right?) need to happen to form protectable, stable ice up there?

 

I'm not in a big hurry to get up there, I realize things are pretty much f---ed after the year we've had, but I was hoping for a bit of insight into when it might not be a complete waste of time to go check it out.

[christophbenells]

if you get the "polar vortex" conditions that usually happen in late nov. early december, preceeded by a rain/snow event than the conditions should come in good for north face gullies to be pure ice.

 

I would say a solid week to two weeks of polar vortex temps to get nice thick, safe ice.

Edited November 6, 2015 by christophbenells

[christophbenells]

http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1144422/Re_TR_Mt_Hood_North_Face_11_6_#Post1144422

 

well i think this answers that question pretty well!

[Ben Beckerich]

NO WAY

[ai1993]

How is the south side looking for a summit attempt? Enough snow yet?

[Ben Beckerich]

How is the south side looking for a summit attempt? Enough snow yet?

 

There's enough snow - but watch conditions, man. Climber triggered a south aspect slab slide on Tuesday.

[E-Bum]

Went up for a little hike up to DK on Sunday. Really beautiful day... spent a good hour at the kitchen BSing with other climbers. Some avy crown cracks on the slope below Devil's Kitchen:

 

Otherwise, the cold snap had started freezing everything up. I imagine it's pretty solid ice by now.

 

[PTPerson]

Hello world!

 

Hey, wondering if anyone has skinned up the south side above the the lift lines recently. Any feedback on what the stability is looking like? I'm looking to get out this weekend and trying to decide if it's worth dragging the skis up with me. Can anyone confirm that it's going to be bullet proof up there with the weahter change?

Edited November 27, 2015 by PTPerson

[E-Bum]

See my post above. We met skiers at Devil's Kitchen last weekend who said it was too icy up there. There were a lot of people skinning to the top of Palmer though. With the cold temperatures, I wouldn't even try to go above Palmer right now. It's going to be glass. No idea about Palmer itself.

[Ted S]

See my post above. We met skiers at Devil's Kitchen last weekend who said it was too icy up there. There were a lot of people skinning to the top of Palmer though. With the cold temperatures, I wouldn't even try to go above Palmer right now. It's going to be glass. No idea about Palmer itself.

 

Wandered up a bit past Palmer today and it was definitely icy under the latest powder. Saw a few permits in for the climb but most everyone I ran into bailed with the intense winds though I did spot a pair of climbers around Crater Rock @ 1pm so they may have some upper slope beta just in time for the next storm to change it all.