[TR] Mt. Hood - Devil's Kitchen Headwall Variation 2 1/25/2016

[catstack]

Trip: Mt. Hood - Devil's Kitchen Headwall Variation 2

 

Date: 1/25/2016

 

Trip Report:

Around 12:30am, Sean DaCosta and myself left Portland and made our way to Timberline. We roll in around 2am, got ready and left for the slog by 2:30am

 

The full moon gave plenty of light so headlamps weren't needed We saw a party heading West towards Illumination Saddle, later we found out they climbed the Reid Headwall.

 

We strolled into the Devil's Kitchen just before sunrise. Time to enjoy the views for a bit, eat some cold food, and get the gear ready.

 

We decided to go with the second variation. Looking from climbers left it would be the second chute. Entering the chute the snow steepens a good bit till you hit the first ice pitch. It seemed like WI2 and in pretty good shape. I was able to find a few ice screw placements that seemed decent. The chute eventually split, I took a look at the left side and that dead-ended. Sean took lead and started up the right side. This pitch was a little steeper but not much, The awesome thing about it was that you have to climb / crawl through a very narrow section 3/4 enclosed with rime ice. Once you get through that you pop out on the ridge.

 

From here we climbed some crusty ice up a bit and started the Wy'East traverse. I'm really not sure what you're "supposed" to do in this section. We stayed lower which had more exposure but seemed more manageable. I saw someone climb up and over this section a few weeks back instead of doing what we did. Once we got through the traverse we followed the ridge up to the summit. There was a good bit of wind-blown powder on this side. We did a fair bit of swimming through this section. From the summit we down climbed the old chute and made our way back.

 

 

Gear Notes:

55m rope

6 ice screws

3 pickets

[shishcabob30]

Nice photos! Any views to the west that day?