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[TR] South Side Hood Conditions - Old Chute 12/26/2013


harrai

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Trip: South Side Hood Conditions - Old Chute

 

Date: 12/26/2013

 

Trip Report:

Left Timberline at 4am. The snow was firm and made for bad skinning, even on the groomers--it would have been great to have some splitboard crampons. The sky was clear and temps were in the low 40s.

 

Got a great sunrise.

Hood-12_26-Sunrise.jpg

 

As soon as we left the resort, the snow surface turned to a variety of large ice formations and rime, and skinning was nearly impossible, so we ditched the boards there, and lost hope of any good turns on the way down.

Hood-12_26-IceFormations2.jpgHood-12_26-IceFormations3.jpg

 

The Hogsback was firm, but without ice.

Hood-12_26-Hogsback.jpg

 

The east aspects up high looked like the only halfway decent skiing on the south side. There was a lot of ice falling off of the Steel cliffs, and occasional pieces coming down through the Pearly Gates and the Old Chute.

 

Hood-12_26-OldChute.jpg

 

I am more into touring than climbing, but of the few times I have been on the summit, this time definitely presented the spiciest summit ridge experience. Gusty winds out of the south, and a very narrow, rimed, and warming ridge made for some careful travel. Don't feel like this quite does it justice, but here you go:

Hood-12_26-SummitRidge.jpg

 

It just so happened to be the three-month anniversary of my mom passing away after a hard fought battle with breast cancer, and the strong winds were happy to help commemorate her life.

Hood-12_26-ashes.jpg

 

Things were warming up quickly, and we got some ice dodging practice on the way down. All in all, a beautiful day, and my first "winter" summit.

 

Crossing my fingers for some snow so that I can put away the crampons and get back to touring. Hope you all are having a great holiday break.

 

-Har Rai

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Thanks. I was a nice moment for sure, and I am glad we were able to make it happen even with a few challenges along the way. A big lenticular cloud had formed, hiding the summit, during the morning on Christmas day, so we were grateful that that didn't repeat during our climb.

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