Crackman Posted December 11, 2011 Posted December 11, 2011 Trip: Mt Hood - North Face Left Gully Date: 12/9/2011 Trip Report: Decided to take the day off on Friday and get up on Hood before the weather window closed. Conditions on the route were superb with firm neve and ice to enjoy all the way. Came down Cooper Spur, which was also in fine shape. Sunrise - going to be a great day!!! Note - several good ice flows forming below the spur Skier on Cooper Spur - party of two heading up the spur with skiis, were the only other people I saw the whole day Massive bergschrund streched across the entrance to both N face gullies. The two step ice flow on the left looked to be the best (most fun) start. First Ice Step Looking down Second step Traversed over to the left gully proper - pulled by St. Helens, Rainier, Adams Found a perfect rock for a resting perch halfway up Near the top of the gully, another ice step awaits... A couple more shots looking down. Futher up, yet another ice step... Self Portrait One last bit of ice to enjoy Happy to finally get to be in the sun on top A final look back, at the end of a great day. Quote
Holk Posted December 11, 2011 Posted December 11, 2011 Dude!!! Well played on a gnarly solo Crackman! Quote
ScaredSilly Posted December 11, 2011 Posted December 11, 2011 Nice, what was the bergshrund crossing like? We had a nice snow cone to hike up. Quote
dougd Posted December 11, 2011 Posted December 11, 2011 I got my first really close look at that gully last weekend. I particularly enjoyed your "perch" pic. Impressive exposure. Here's hoping for similar weather windows in the near future. d Quote
downey Posted December 11, 2011 Posted December 11, 2011 nice job dude! nice lookin ice too. looks like there's always somethign goin on on hood. Quote
Going up? Posted December 12, 2011 Posted December 12, 2011 two questions for you. Did you ever get an eye on Yokum? If so how was it? When decending coopers spur is there easy/safe access to the base of the north face? or would you have to walk a long ways arround the cliff band? thanks Quote
Crackman Posted December 12, 2011 Author Posted December 12, 2011 Going up: Didn't get a look at Yokum, as it is on the other (W) side of the mountain. There are probably a couple spots (depending on conditions and ability) where one could travese/downclimb from the spur to the base of the route. Spotting them on the way up and then re-locating successfuly on the way down would be key. SS: The entrance I took bypassed the wide-open section of the bergschrund on the left. It would be quite a challenge to take it head-on. Quote
unklehuck Posted December 12, 2011 Posted December 12, 2011 (edited) Nice work, man. We climbed the Right Gulley on Sunday - it was in equally as good shape. Water ice was solid and snow was well consolidated. Also, the bergschrund was passed on the far right via a pair of slightly suspect snow ramps Edited December 13, 2011 by unklehuck Quote
hoodie Posted December 13, 2011 Posted December 13, 2011 Crackman, I definitely owe you a beverage. Sweet step kicking! I waved to you from the Spur. Our game plan was to approach from Timberline via skis, hit the north side and descend the south side. Actually shorter and less vert than from Tilly Jane trail. Anyhow, we didn't see a straight forward way down to the Elliot from the Spur so we traversed the Chisolm trail and into the Left Gully. Very happy to take advantage of your steps through the soft sections. Very nice solo. That start you did looks really cool. Some pics from our day... Thanks again! Quote
Holk Posted December 13, 2011 Posted December 13, 2011 Sweet photos Nick. I was looking for you that day, but was long gone before you had made it back down, albeit wishing I too were still up there. Anyway, your wife Sara had mentioned your outing when I was closing up the bakery the night before and it's good to see what you wound up doing. Nice climb for sure! Quote
billcoe Posted December 13, 2011 Posted December 13, 2011 Dude!!! Well played on a gnarly solo Crackman! Yeah, what he said! Quote
Crackman Posted December 14, 2011 Author Posted December 14, 2011 Good to hear from you Pat - yeah it's been awhile. Was thinking of you as well during the climb, about when we did the right gully with Pete many years ago. Hope all is well and maybe we can get out climbing together again. Hoodie, Glad you could enjoy them! Thanks for solving the mystery in my mind, as I was wondering where you guys came from and then where you went? I like your idea of coming from T-line with skis. Nice collection of climbs and photos on your site. Quote
B Deleted_Beck Posted December 14, 2011 Posted December 14, 2011 inspirational... can't wait till i'm confident enough to solo ice steps like that. awesome TR, crackman Quote
Dasan Posted December 15, 2011 Posted December 15, 2011 Buddy and me going up tonight. Weather is going to a little gnarly, but we are just going to rage. Quote
Tom_Sjolseth Posted December 15, 2011 Posted December 15, 2011 Nice TR, Crackman. We daytripped the right gully from Seattle on Monday.. ice was QUALITY, the whole route was perfect. We running-belayed the first ice step and belayed the second ice step. Everything else we soloed. We downclimbed the Cooper Spur and the whole route took us a little over 11.5 hours round trip. If you can get it without any wind, this is the perfect time to do this route.. Quote
B Deleted_Beck Posted December 15, 2011 Posted December 15, 2011 Nice TR, Crackman. We daytripped the right gully from Seattle on Monday.. ice was QUALITY, the whole route was perfect. We downclimbed the Cooper Spur and the whole route took us a little over 11.5 hours round trip. what time did you top out, and how was wind over there? Quote
Tom_Sjolseth Posted December 15, 2011 Posted December 15, 2011 Wind was zero all day. We topped out at like 12:30?? And actually, we climbed it Monday NIGHT and Tuesday. I picked my partner up from the Seahawks game on the way down.. he only drank 5 beers though.. Quote
B Deleted_Beck Posted December 15, 2011 Posted December 15, 2011 aahh, gotcha. i was on the south side monday morning. started very calm, but by dawn, the wind whipping over the summit from the northeast was shooting powder well out into the crater. was wondering if anyone was on the flip side, and how they might be faring. it'd obviously calmed down quite a bit by the time you guys got up there mon night. Quote
Tom_Sjolseth Posted December 15, 2011 Posted December 15, 2011 Literally zero wind all day, and ~25 degrees on the summit. This was my third time down there in the past two months trying to get this route in good conditions (ie no wind). My worst success rate on any mountain anywhere is Mt. Hood.. I'm 2 for 8. Almost all my failures have been because of wind. Good luck. Quote
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