Gregory.S. Posted May 5, 2012 Posted May 5, 2012 I decided to go for Mt hood in June and mt Adams early July. I do not know much about Mt Hood other than the fact that the Hogsback is the "easiest" route possible. I ahve also been reading a ton of reports saying the pearly gates are fairly technical this year and that 2 tools and rope are absolutely necessary. I am not apposed to this exactly but I feel like I have a limited amount of energy (explained at bottom of post) and do not want to over commit myself and burn out for the season early June. I ahd read about an alternate path from the hogsback that is less technical but I dont know what its called? From what I understand you have to traverse to the left of the pearly gates. (I have had to neck fractures from accidents and a neurological disorder, after a certain amount of strain I have to call it quits for the season or I will seriously pay for it. I am working with a specialists and seeing a sports medicine doctor all who say I should be fine to do what I plan on doing.) Quote
Gregory.S. Posted May 5, 2012 Author Posted May 5, 2012 Oh and I know that you need to bring in general anyways! And my climbing partner has previous experience. Quote
DPS Posted May 5, 2012 Posted May 5, 2012 I think the variation is called the Old Chute. From the Hogsback it is climber's left of the Pearly Gates. It requires only one axe and is pretty straight forward, although the short ridge traverse to the summit is exposed. When I did the NF a few winters ago, the Pearly Gates were very icy. We saw a V-Thread that friends had left the previous day. We simply walked a short way skier's right and plunge stepped down the Old Chute, stratching our heads why everyone else wasn't doing the same thing. Quote
sdizzle25 Posted May 5, 2012 Posted May 5, 2012 when you stand on the hogsback the pearly gates are on your right, through a pretty obvious passage between gendarmes. The Old Chute is on your left up a broad slope that gains the summit ridge. It is pretty obvious once you get up there, just follow the path of least resistance. Quote
Gregory.S. Posted May 9, 2012 Author Posted May 9, 2012 I was just wondering what the summit ride is like? I have seen a few videos and it looks different in all of them. This video is from earlier in the season and I am assuming it is due to lack of foot traffic (less defined path). Quote
ChuckC Posted May 10, 2012 Posted May 10, 2012 I did the Old Chute route on Monday. Pretty simple route. The chute ends at the ridge and the exposed traverse begins but isn't really that long. Seemed worse going back from the summit. Someone had gone down the chute in skis ahead of me and scraped off most of the steps. So the downclimbing kind of sucked. That was the hardest part of the route. Quote
Gregory.S. Posted May 12, 2012 Author Posted May 12, 2012 Was the ridge as scary as some of the pictures make it seem? That is the only thing that kind of makes my stomach drop a little bit. My only experience so far has been on Adams and around Baker national forest (nothing serious just winter travel). Quote
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