Crackman Posted January 14, 2003 Share Posted January 14, 2003 Drove up to Timberline Fri night, wondering if I would get up Hood before the weather turned sour. My track record on Leutholds was dismal, 7-9 attempts (I’d lost count) over a 20 year period without a summit. It looked like the weather might win again. What was it with that route. At the parking lot, caught a generous 1.5 hours of sleep in the back of my truck. No sign of Jarred and Sarah, so at 2am I began skinning up the mountain solo. I wondered if they were still making the trek from Hemiston or had decided to wait for more favorable odds. I was enjoying the rare solitude on the mountain, pleased to be well ahead of the large parties still swarming about the parking lot and in the day lodge. The stars were bright and the wind calm to the top of the mile. Then the clouds began to form around the mountain. By the time I reached the top of the Palmer, it was a total whiteout and starting to snow pretty hard. I decided wait awhile and hope things got better before proceeding to the Saddle. After a half-hour a pair of headlamps popped up to join me at the lift station. Sure enough, Jarred and Sarah. So now three of us waited. Another ½ hour or so passed and the snow began to let up. It was too cold to stand around any longer so we decided to set out for the saddle and call it from there. Since it was still socked in when we arrived we dug a shelter from the wind and hunkered down. Another long period of waiting, until once again the cold forced us into a decision to get moving -- either up or down. We decided on up and began traversing the Reid as the sky began to lighten. The clouds also seemed to be thinning and as we turned up the Coulior, we were greeted by this beautiful sight. There were still some occasional flurries but things were definitely looking up. The route was in great shape. The snow was soft in a few spots but for the most part perfect for footwork and plunging the shaft. No trouble with rock or icefall coming down. At one point, just past the hourglass, I ventured out on the right for some spicy mixed climbing on thin rime, apine ice, rock, and snow but traversed back into the shoot when it exceeded my comfort zone. I think we saw the five climbers who got trapped overnight as they were crossing the Reid below us??? Glad that turned out ok. We topped out around 10am thrilled the weather had cooperated. It was pretty windy so we headed right down and immediately ran into the masses heading up and down the Pearly Gates and Hogsback. By the time I got back to the truck, the clouds were beginning to envelope the mountain again. We had been fortunate with our timing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtnHigh Posted January 14, 2003 Share Posted January 14, 2003 Hey Crackman, Good timing on the climb. The poor visabilty between 4-7am turned around a number of climbers. We were heading to the Kitchen, so we were not too concern about navigation and conditions. We topped out about an hour before you. It sure got nice out mid morning. Wish we would have bumped into you afterward. We polished off a couple pitchers of IceAxe in the bar at Ski Bowl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jja Posted January 14, 2003 Share Posted January 14, 2003 Nice tr crackman. I think my experience is the mirror oppostite of yours. Leuthold's was the first thing I did in the PNW with great weather on the first time out but every time I've been on Hood since the weather has beaten me. By the way, I can't figure out how to get that thing to work either, I think it has something to do with using a url that doesn't have a www(?). Cool pics anyhow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crackman Posted January 14, 2003 Author Share Posted January 14, 2003 Yeah, can anyone tell me how to get those links to display as pics? I messed with it awhile last night with no success. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt.Caveman Posted January 14, 2003 Share Posted January 14, 2003 They must end in .jpg or .gif For example http://www.homeyshutup.net/images/blah.jpg In your case none of those links end in that fashion. So when the ubb code reads this it is convinced it's a hyperlink and therefore displays it as a link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbw1966 Posted January 14, 2003 Share Posted January 14, 2003 Good job crackman! Great pics too. Its been years since I did that route, maybe I'll go check it out again. Nice redpoint! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esteban Posted January 14, 2003 Share Posted January 14, 2003 nice work Crackster. Sorry I couldn't join you for the momentous occasion. I love that route. esteban Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texplorer Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 Nice work Crackman. Hope I can join you on your next Hood adventure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarred_Jackman Posted January 15, 2003 Share Posted January 15, 2003 Tim, nice report. Anybody know if Sketch and Funguy made it, we saw them at the top of the lift and I think they were heading down, but then the weather improved and we had already left. Anybody been on Illumination Rock recently, it didn't look that great. Any TRs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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