[TR] mt hood - south side 4/22/2012

[123tom]

Trip: mt hood - south side

 

Date: 4/22/2012

 

Trip Report:

The weather and avalanche forecast was looking good for sunday. So I decided to have another attempt on Mt Hood. I went to bed at about 11pm and woke up at 3 am, was climbing by 5:20 and reached the summit at 10:20. I kept a fast pace due to my late start. I soloed the whole climb till the last 800ft when I teamed up with some guys I meet there. The last section of the climb was intense with lots of steep hard snow and ice. I regretted not bringing a rope and second ice tool. All in all a great climb to start off the 2012 season!

 

Gear Notes:

Pearly gates require use of two tools and gear if you want to be safe.

[Ptown_Climber1]

Whoa, dude....you took some serious chances, unless conditions actually got colder than they were when I got to Hogsback at 4:30 AM Sunday morning. Freezing level way too high...

 

 

When I got up there it was a continuous thundering of icefall in all directions....I think most opted out. Glad you made it out of there safely....

[Water]

i was going to ask if it was actually firm up there or what. Didnt think it would be, assumed the rime would be coming down by the fridge-block size.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

 

The avy forecast was not "good". We bailed on a trip due to concerns for wet snow slides and high temps.

 

Glad you got in and out safely and had fun.

[123tom]

there was ice fall, due to the warm temps, but it was pretty small, and consistent in its fall patterns. The avalanche conditions were "considerable to moderate" according to nwac. But higher on the mt seemed more favorable, at least I was not worried to much about slides. As for taking some "serious risks" I guess that could be said but it is relative to owns own risk assessment and what they are climbing. A good day on the north face of the Eiger would be a heinous day on Mt Hood.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

there was ice fall, due to the warm temps, but it was pretty small, and consistent in its fall patterns. The avalanche conditions were "considerable to moderate" according to nwac. But higher on the mt seemed more favorable, at least I was not worried to much about slides. As for taking some "serious risks" I guess that could be said but it is relative to owns own risk assessment and what they are climbing. A good day on the north face of the Eiger would be a heinous day on Mt Hood.

 

The avalanche forecast was for "considerable" on S aspects above 6000 feet, as I recall.

 

NWAC defines considerable as:

"Dangerous avalanche conditions. Careful snowpack

evaluation, cautious route-finding and conservative

decision-making essential."

[B Deleted_Beck]

You wouldn't have caught me up there Sat or Sun nights, OP. But avy risk assessment is all about not taking chances. When it's "considerable" up there, they recommend staying off avy fields... you could probably walk across an unstable field 100 times, and it'd only slide on the 100th time. But are 1:100 odds of dying worth it to climb your home mountain? Also, you got a late start and summitted late.... Respectable car-to-summit time, but it's better to summit about dawn and be out of the steep sections by the time the sun starts to bake them, in general.

 

Not being heavily critical... just lending my own thoughts to the question.

 

Good job getting up... first time to the top?

[jayhawk]

Echo Ptown Climber. We were attempting the Sandy Headwall on Sunday, and turned around on Yocum Ridge around 5:30am after encountering some high winds and getting pelted with baseball-sized rime chunks. But the nap on the Palmer in the sun prior to our ski out treated us right!

[KaskadskyjKozak]

Echo Ptown Climber. We were attempting the Sandy Headwall on Sunday, and turned around on Yocum Ridge around 5:30am after encountering some high winds and getting pelted with baseball-sized rime chunks. But the nap on the Palmer in the sun prior to our ski out treated us right!

 

Sandy Headwall was my objective as well. We decided a 5 hour drive was not worth it with the forecast making a turnaround possible if not probable (due to snow conditions).

 

[christophbenells]

i made the sunshine route on saturday morn, freezing levels were high but the north side offered safe firm bootpacking.

 

snowboarded down the south side (you can see our tracks in the photo)

 

I lost my camp nanotech ice ax on the ride down somewhere above palmer but below crater rock. anyone find it up there?

[123tom]

The avalanche forecast was for "considerable" on S aspects above 6000 feet, as I recall.

 

NWAC defines considerable as:

"Dangerous avalanche conditions. Careful snowpack

evaluation, cautious route-finding and conservative

decision-making essential."

 

You are right and i should have read more about the definitions on their website, that is is a more dangerous rating than i perceived KaskadskyjKozak. Thank you for all the comments. This was my first time climbing Hood and the last chance I will have for the next 6 months so I took greater risks thank usual. (I live in the PNW but work in Tahoe as a boat mechanic)I am fairly new to alpine climbing and joined this forum to learn more and find partners to climb with. Any criticism is appreciated.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

You are right and i should have read more about the definitions on their website, that is is a more dangerous rating than i perceived KaskadskyjKozak. Thank you for all the comments. This was my first time climbing Hood and the last chance I will have for the next 6 months so I took greater risks thank usual. (I live in the PNW but work in Tahoe as a boat mechanic)I am fairly new to alpine climbing and joined this forum to learn more and find partners to climb with. Any criticism is appreciated.

 

I was only pointing out that avy was not "good". It's up to each of us to decide what the risk/reward balance is. I almost went for it myself (C2C, Saturday night with an alpine start). Good luck on future climbs!

 

[Cameron S Adams]

Thanks for the trip report. We climbed the East (sun) side of the mountain and found near perfect conditions with no Avalanche activity. Also thanks for the picture.

 

 

 

[mhux]

Interesting to see that so many people got out sunday! I thought saturday would be the prime day of the weekend, but apparently not....good work everyone!

[Ptown_Climber1]

Well, I wish I would of stayed home too......the climb up to Hogs was beautiful, and snow was firm and icy.....don't think I've seen that bad of icefall in the crater though in a long while. Was Saturday morning better?

[mhux]

We slept through our 2am start plans and ended up starting around 8am, (I turned around at the top of the palmer to ski perfect corn ) but by the looks of 8 or so people on the hogsback at any given time I'd say yeah it was a lot better. Plus actual freezing temps the night before...