BrandonU Posted January 22, 2013 Posted January 22, 2013 (edited) Trip: Mt Hood - Reid Glacier Headwall Date: 1/20/2013 Trip Report: Went for a solo climb up the Reid Headwall on Sunday, what an outstanding route! Amazing ice for most of the route, just incredible. The ice was bullet hard in many places, with some bulges and ice steps of 70-80 degrees Got showered with smallish ice particles a few times and took a chunk of ice to the knee, which occured while I was shooting a video Left Timberline at 2:15 am, got to the Illumination rock saddle at 5:00. Virtually no wind, crystal clear sky with amazing stars, and very firm snow made for great conditions on the approach. I attempted to approach this route a few weeks ago and spent 3 hours trenching through waist deep powder snow just to get from the top of Palmer to I-saddle! So much better now Melted snow at I-saddle and hydrated for a couple hours. My friend Daniel and two of his friends showed up at the saddle before daylight as well, and were climbing Leuthold couloir. We all waited for daylight and descended down onto the Reid glacier. We parted ways and I started up toward the Reid headwall at about 7:30. Looking up Reid Headwall Daniel and crew heading toward Leuthold, Yocum behind Approaching the first gully Entering the first gully Climbing ice in the 1st gully Looking down 1st gully On the snow ridge above the 1st gully Yocum ridge in early light Traversing to 2nd gully Entering 2nd gully Starting the ice in the 2nd gully First steep ice step Climbing the steep ice step Beautiful Here is a video I took after the first ice step. Hard to climb and take a video with a point and shoot! Climbing up towards an ice fin. I went right to find the best pitch of ice on the route! Fun ice approaching the fin Nearing the fin Starting the beatiful pitch right of the fin Stuff i've been dreaming of, pure fun! Looking down Icy goodness Having a blast but feeling the intensity at the same time Emerging from the long 2nd gully system First snow in a while! Traversing to a 3rd gully on the upper Reid Headwall More ice in a 3rd short gully. A couple very spicy moves transitioning into this one! Looking down 3rd gully Another snow traverse Last bit towards the summit ridge Almost to the summit ridge! Summit ridge, with Daniel and crew exploring the summit area Me on the summit! Reached the top at 11:30 and met up with Daniel and his friends who had summited a bit earlier from Leuthold. We all descended together, and it was very hot in the sun! Climbers descending the south side Crater rock Gear Notes: Ice tools, crampons, helmet Edited January 22, 2013 by BrandonU Quote
Holk Posted January 22, 2013 Posted January 22, 2013 Crapo! You managed a lot of photo taking time while soloing. Well done on a fantastic route I hope to climb someday. Quote
ScaredSilly Posted January 22, 2013 Posted January 22, 2013 Damn, that is a lot of pictures. A few more and you could splice them together to make a movie ;-). I have always like that side of the hill, especially if one take the time to hang out at the Queen'c Chair. A perfect place for a picnic before heading to the summit follies. Quote
KaskadskyjKozak Posted January 22, 2013 Posted January 22, 2013 Great job! Which variation did you do? Left, perhaps? Quote
Ptown_Climber1 Posted January 22, 2013 Posted January 22, 2013 Nice! Thanks for sharing...nice lunchtime distraction for me at work today. Quote
JasonG Posted January 23, 2013 Posted January 23, 2013 Excellent route, eh? That was nearly the same line as we took last winter. I remember being surprised by how much real ice climbing there was on the route, not just icy snow. I was wishing that I had brought two tools, not just an axe and a tool. You had the right idea! Quote
BrandonU Posted January 23, 2013 Author Posted January 23, 2013 Hahahaha yeah I took/shared a lot o pics. I like to take a lot of pictures, I took 300 on this climb! Definitely an amazing route, the ice was so much fun. I'm pretty sure I did the left variation, I tended to head left/up for the most part. Quote
ivan Posted January 23, 2013 Posted January 23, 2013 great solo - pound for pound, my favorite route on the hood-wand Quote
KaskadskyjKozak Posted January 23, 2013 Posted January 23, 2013 great solo - pound for pound, my favorite route on the hood-wand I gotta go back... and fasten my crampons more securely this time :-) Quote
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