Mount Hood, OR – July 20-21, 2008.

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timmus

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St-Bruno, Qc. Avatar: At Guyot Shelter
It was 3pm when we left the Timberline Lodge parking lot, and it was very warm that day. We had shorts and sunscreen on, and up the Palmer lift we climbed. We decided to do Hood in two days because it was a good practice for Rainier. We packed the same way and brought the same amount of food. Also, we were going with the same people. Our team-mates Karl and Danny were waiting for us at elevation 8600’ (basecamp), and we were trilled to meet with our friends from Quebec so far away from home.

Around 6pm we dropped off our packs and set up camp. It was a beautiful day, and we knew we were very lucky to have such a good weather window. After food and logistic discussions, we slipped into our sleeping bags and tried to sleep at least few hours. A 2am departure was our goal. It was very windy, and the flapping was disturbing, but I had ear plugs, so I slept just fine.

When we got up the stars were shining. We had breakfast (blueberry granola, way too sweet for me), put on the harnesses and helmets, and headed to the summit. We could see lines of headlamps below us, and being the first team was a good feeling. We knew the route (Danny is the expert), and we were confident. I started to feel nauseous at elevation 9500’, but I’m not sure if it was because the altitude or the Mountain House… As soon as we got at the Hogsback, I felt better. JS forced me to eat and drink more and it worked. We roped on and proceed. This is where the smell of sulfur dioxide began to seriously annoy us. It’s just a very bad smell (where's the puking smiley ?).

Anyway, it was dawn already, and now the route up to the ridge was visible… A straight walk across the spine of the Hogsback, then a left turn to traverse a near 40° slope, with rock slide tracks to cross, and finally few switchbacks to reach the Old Chute passage. It was very exciting ! All this glacier travelling was happening above a deep bowl with emanations coming out of it, surrounded by crevasses and threatening rocks walls. Get the picture ? :cool:

For me the most technical step was the big rock slide track, because the snow was packed and icy, neither the crampons or ice ax had a good grip on it. It was three feet wide, so I had to put at least one foot in there in order to cross. Also, both sides of the track had mini-walls to climbs over. JS went first and got himself well anchored so I could cross safely. We were the only group roped on that day on Hood, and I was glad we did.

It didn’t take long before we attacked the switchbacks up to the ridge. Sometimes the steps were too large for me, but I was fine, I was in a pretty good shape. Once on the ridge the amazing views welcomed us. We got rid of some gear and started to scramble toward the summit. One minute or two later we finally reached the top. We all congrats ourselves for our good job and headed down. The others teams we catching up on us, and it was nice to exchange words with everyone. Especially with that 70 years old man wearing leather strap-on crampons. He told us he first climbed Mount Hood in the 50’s !! Pretty cool.

Back at our tents we took a small nap and hiked (boot-slide) down to the parking lot. We said goodbye to our friends, and give them ‘’rendezvous’’ one week later in Paradise…

PICTURES
 
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Looks like a fantastic trip so far.. there's more? woohoo. :D
 
Great trip report and picture. Cool to see you hiking with your Koflack
and in short....
 
Great trip report and beautiful pics. :)
 
Nice pictures timmus! TMax, Giggy, and I didn't camp on the mtn and i think we stuck to mostly snow as we walked right up the ski slope since it was like 1am or something like that... I wear contacts and had no issues with the dust. Anxiously waiting the next sequence. :)

Jay
 
awesome Julie - both times I have been on hood - we day (night???) hiked it. I kind of like the idea of setting up the camp, etc.. kind of adds to the whole "mountaineering" thing. Smart to do that - I bet it payed off when you hit rainier to get the extra night at 8 to 9k.

once you cross the devils kitchen its just this massive fart smell... nasty!!!

These photos are giving me serious cascade withdrawel!!!!
 
Nice report and great pictures. I hope you have equal success on Ranier.

One thing I missed seeing were shots of the other nearby volcanoes from the top (Adams, St Helens, Jefferson, Rainier, Sisters, etc.), Were they visible or clouded in?

When I did Hood in 2004 (w. Portland Parks and Rec. - a good group) there were two big differences:

1) it was June and it was all snow all the way (except for the various pinnacles sticking through). It sure seemed odd to see your pictures of a dry and dirty summit.

2) We went up the Hogsback, skirted around the Bergschrund (the "Crevice" as they call it) to the left and up through the Pearly Gates.

In your pictures I guess your "traverse" was to avoid the crevice, but I don't know where the Old Chute is. I assume it was further over to the left than the Pearly Gates.

Was the choice due to your late season climb (vs. June) or has traffic moved off the Pearly Gates for some other reason? Or maybe these features are the same but have different names?

Any Mt. Hood gurus out there who can help me understand these details? Thanks.
 
papa bear - I am pretty sure the "standard" summer route now is more the old chute than the gates. But not 100% sure. I know when I went in 2006 and was doing my research (july climb) this is what folks were doing as the gates were melting out pretty early and I think the hogsback is shifting a bit.

The old chute is to the climbers left of the hogsback, you bascially drop down off hogsback and traverse left a bit and then up the chute (headwall) - this way you avoid the bergschrund for the most part - I did see a couple very small crevasses in the old chute route - but they were more like what you see in huntington ravine late season than the bergschrund below the gates.

the nice thing about old chute is the short but nice ridge walk to the summit, where you can look down the glaicers via the north side -
 
Papa Bear said:
In your pictures I guess your "traverse" was to avoid the crevice, but I don't know where the Old Chute is. I assume it was further over to the left than the Pearly Gates.

Was the choice due to your late season climb (vs. June) or has traffic moved off the Pearly Gates for some other reason? Or maybe these features are the same but have different names?

Any Mt. Hood gurus out there who can help me understand these details? Thanks.

Yup, the old chute would be to the left of the Pearly Gates, this means climbers have a slightly longer ridge walk to get to the summit versus going through the gates.

Our group went completely around the hogsback and up to the Old Chute. Looking at some of Timmus's picture, their route to the Old chute went further up the mtn before cutting across the snowslope and then back up to the ridgeline via the Old chute. In one of the pictures:

http://www.julillustration.com/album Hood/pages/ia_jpg.htm

our group had to descent a very slight bit (like about 100ft or so) to get to the base of the snowfield (you can see where the snow meets the rocks) and then we simply climbed up, (unroped) avoiding being in the line of any other parties or climbers til we hit the ridgeline. (at the base of the rocks and snowline, was where we could really smell the sulfer as giggy writes..).

It all depends on the snow but I think nowadays, most climbers that aren't going in early June or earlier wind up going around the Pearly Gates, but I'm not sure of that...

Jay
 
Papa Bear said:
One thing I missed seeing were shots of the other nearby volcanoes from the top (Adams, St Helens, Jefferson, Rainier, Sisters, etc.), Were they visible or clouded in?

It was very hazy, maybe because the forest fires going on. Same thing happened at Crater Lake, we got no views.
 
Papa Bear said:
1) it was June and it was all snow all the way (except for the various pinnacles sticking through). It sure seemed odd to see your pictures of a dry and dirty summit.

2) We went up the Hogsback, skirted around the Bergschrund (the "Crevice" as they call it) to the left and up through the Pearly Gates.
When we went to Adams last year the summit cone was still covered in ice/snow... weeks later and most of the summit cone was volcanic rubble. Anywhere where the snowpack isn't deep enough or doesn't stick around (like on a small windblown summit) you just get seasonal snowfields, like all of the Whites. Until May/June it is still considered early-mid climbing season in the volcanos - more snow/ice, more variable weather. July/August/Sept are already mid-late season - more rock, more stable weather... but also more rock and ice fall.

I think since the Hobsback shifted some time back from leading to the Pearly gates, most folks have been taking the Old Chute... I mean, what's not to like - you don't have to go around a bergshrund, you don't have as narrow a chute to funnel tons of people through, hence making the possibility of getting hit my ice or rocks from other teams less.

giggy said:
once you cross the devils kitchen its just this massive fart smell... nasty!!!
Were you behind me? sorry dude

I, for one, enjoy the volcanoes... gives me a scapegoat :D
 
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Papa Bear said:
When I did Hood in 2004 (w. Portland Parks and Rec. - a good group) there were two big differences:

1) it was June and it was all snow all the way (except for the various pinnacles sticking through). It sure seemed odd to see your pictures of a dry and dirty summit.

2) We went up the Hogsback, skirted around the Bergschrund (the "Crevice" as they call it) to the left and up through the Pearly Gates.

In your pictures I guess your "traverse" was to avoid the crevice, but I don't know where the Old Chute is. I assume it was further over to the left than the Pearly Gates.

Was the choice due to your late season climb (vs. June) or has traffic moved off the Pearly Gates for some other reason? Or maybe these features are the same but have different names?

Any Mt. Hood gurus out there who can help me understand these details? Thanks.

I too was confused by Julie's excellent trip report and photos, as I climbed the route above the bergshrund through Pearly Gates in early June many years ago. We unroped once we got over the bergshrund because we were afraid that we might be swept off by one of the many other parties roped together and falling all over the place in the couloir; we thought that our chances would be better trying to hop-scotch the ropes of falling climbers rather than trying to self arrest dozens of others a la Pete Schoening on K2. But, besides being later in the season in Julie's photos, I think that there also has been a lot of ice/snow loss on Mount Hood over the past 25 years.
 
Dr. Dasypodidae said:
We unroped once we got over the bergshrund because we were afraid that we might be swept off by one of the many other parties roped together and falling all over the place in the couloir;
A la the accident in 2002.

We had bad weather last year on it, but I guess it kept the crowds thin. It was a Sunday in late June and I remember seeing < 10 people up there past the Hobsback.
 
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