rocky_joe Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 (edited) Trip: Mt. Hood - South Side Date: 1/17/2009 Trip Report: After much confusion and a little worrying that the trip might not happen, we left Eugene at 11:30pm. Planning to meet our ride to the mountain in the BigK parking lot, we parked and unloaded our gear (in hopes that it would make us more obvious) right under the sign by the store. Coincidentally our ride was waiting under the sign along the street; both parties nearly left the other. After a quick drive up the hill, at a McDonalds stop to refuel, we arrived at Timberline right on time...3am. The others that we we supposed to meet up there had already signed in, so we put on our packs and began the slog. Now keep in mind that not only was this my first time up Hood, but also my first time climbing a mountain that required crampons and axe. We quickly reached the top of Palmer and decided to throw on the crampons and switch out one pole for an axe; a good decision as the snow quickly became ice, pretty to look at but not much fun for walking. We were one of the first groups to reach the Hogsback, a few others had been there but turned back because of ice fall; an objective hazard that we probably should have yielded to, however we felt confident after seeing most of the stuff that was falling was quite small. Mike and Tom were ahead the entire climb, as Rick and I were moving slower, Tom was quite the pacesetter Saturday. After traversing beneath the schrund and around the cliffs we took one of the smaller chutes to climber's right of Mazama. The surface got better with each step up the mountain, the chute was the easiest part of the climb, save for one 2-3 foot ice step about half way up it. The climbing was quite enjoyable and noticeably more secure in the chute than it was traversing from the hogsback. The summit ridge was absolutely still and as our party were the only climbers up there if was quite peaceful. A few groups on North Side routes soon joined us, one even took a summit photo of Rick and I. The descent was slow to the Hogsback, but uneventful. We didn't see or hear of the climber who fell until we reached the parking lot. By our estimate the accident probably happened 20-30 mins after we left the Hogsback. I wish the climber, his friends and family the best. Overall the trip was very enjoyable and gave me a solid introduction to mountaineering. Gear Notes: Axe, Crampons, Helmet, Sunscreen, Shades Rope, few Pickets, webbing harness, avi probe, beacon (all not used). Approach Notes: Two different cars there. Three different cars back. Edited January 19, 2009 by rocky_joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocky_joe Posted January 19, 2009 Author Share Posted January 19, 2009 How do I get the photos to show up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musky333 Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 Help you guys... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pc313 Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 Nice TR. great pic's! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jclements Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 Good job, like the pics. Sunday was a bust with the winds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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