Hood's been the news in the past week. A few days ago a fellow was airlifted from about the same spot - broken ankle - by a helicopter. Turns out he was a member of the local SAR team who was training in the area (he wasn't part of the exercise), and so was rescued by his buds.
The west has been experiencing some odd weather in the past month or so. Lots of snow/rain in mid-December, and then a strong high pressure ridge parked over northern CA/southern OR. That gave us well-above normal temps here, but the strong circulation caused strong storms and very cold air to be sent eastward. I think it contributed to the icefall on Hood.
I did Baldy in the San Gabriels a couple of weeks ago. It's a peak about the same height as Hood, and as I was climbing thru the old ski bowl I had to dodge a bit of rockfall, something I surely wasn't expecting. Not being particularly familiar with Baldy, I don't know if that's a regular occurrence, or caused by the same conditions which is triggering icefall on Hood.
A few years ago a group of us (including a couple of VFtT members) were climbing Shasta in early June. As we were slogging up the steep slope between Lake Helen and Red Banks in the wee hours we were pelted with small chunks of mostly clear ice. Turns out conditions were such that the Red Banks had been heavily rimed over several days, and it was gradually falling off. Fortunately none of it was too large, but a chuck about the size of a baseball clocked Orsonab in the knee. I thought the climb was over, but fortunately he was able to continue on.
Anyway, large or small, there's a surprising amount of force in objects in hurtling down a mountain. As the old TV show says "Be careful out there".
