Double Bow
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- Apr 29, 2005
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Sorry it took me so long to post this... 
As Giggy mentioned in his report of out ascent of the 12K Adams, we had a pretty lousy forecast for our first weekend in the Cascades. With the decision easily made to wait until Monday so we could go up Adams via the Yakima reservation and with good weather, we had to figure out what to do in the meantime.
Since we wanted to get in some climbing and camping to help us get acclimatized and warmed up for Adams and sice we didn't want to be driving all over the place, we decided to head over to Hood.
We got there midday on Saturday, set up camp at about 5,800' and did some practice runs of setting up pullies before having dinner at Timerline Lodge and hitting the sack early. Around midnight, we got up for our alpine start. I'd never done one of these before, but fortunately I'd gotten some sleep so I wasn't in too rough shape... yet.
We got to Sicox Hut at about 6800' before too long and man did that place look sweet! It was reserved for a private function so we could only stare in through the windows at bottles of wine, the fireplace, the pitchers of water, and the homey atmosphere.
After taking a snack break, we continued on, climbing up and to the west toward the top of the ski lift. We took advantage of the windbreak and stopped in front of the snowcat garage door to rest, eat, and make some adjustments.
It was still clear enough for us to see the lights of Portland glimmering in the distance. We were not deceived though. We had seen the forecast and we knew that the visability was going to deteriorate and so we were placing wands as we went along. We placed them for most of the way.
It was starting to get lighter as we left the garage behind and continued our long climb. It was definitely getting harder for me, but I was still going strong with a bit of energy left and a whole lot of excitement. We were approaching the highest I had ever been.
As it became light, we could see that we were completely socked in now and the visability had become quite poor. Around 9,800' people started talking about turning back. Many in our party had been been up there before, there weren't going to be any views, and conditions were expected to get worse. We decided to try getting up to 10,000' and then we would reasess the situation.
Along the way to that point, there was a point where we came to a rocky area that for those unfamiliar or without a map would have proved difficult to decide which way to go. Fortunately, our members experienced with the mountain and the map agreed on the proper route.
Once we hit the 10,000' mark, we stopped again and discussed the situation. Most in our party were satisfied with having got in a lot of climbing and had no real desire to keep pushing to the viewless peak. Me, cbcbd, and Jeff were still wanted to summit, view or no, and knew that with our wand placement, getting back down was not going to be an issue. So, we bid the rest of the group "adieu" and continued on.
Unfortately, as we were passing by Devil's Kitchen and the strong smell of sulfur, I started really having a hard time. While I wasn't having a headache and I wasn't experiencing nausea, my heart was beating fast and I was short of breath. I slowed down. When we hit the top of "The Hogsback", we had around 800' to go and I wasn't sure whether or not I'd be able to make it I was going so slow. I told this to cbcbd and Jeff and they were very encouraging. They asked me what I wanted to do and told me that if I wanted to keep going, that they would take some stuff from my pack and that we would go my pace. That was an offer I couldn't refuse!
With a lighter pack and a more comfortable (ie slower) pace, we continued on, following an established route. The route most (including us) no longer passes through "The Pearly Gates". Instead, we went up the shute. It was the steepest part of our climb and some parts were a bit icy, but in others there were decent steps kicked in. With a bit of care, we climbed up this section and gained the ridge without incident. The view we got of the other side of the ridge was simply amazing. We couldn't believe how steeply it dropped off and how rugged it was.
We climbed the rest of the way to the summit where we found the wreckage of some sort of wooden structure with Tibeten prayer flags tied to it and saw cables holding huge rocks in place. While we could not see anything distant, the view of the immediate area was pretty amazing. We were all feeling pretty euphoric up there, thrilled that we were there. I was especially thrilled to be summiting my first peak over 10K after having been turned back on another years ago.
We took some pictures, had some snacks and hung around for a little but it started raining and it was getting a little windy, so we soon started down. On the way down the shute, we set up a belay to give us security on the steepest parts as we were now getting freezing rain whipping around in very poor visability. At one point cbcbd took an "interesting" tumble as he tried to get back on the beaten route we had taken but thankfully, he was OK.
Once we got back on Palmer Glacier the navagation fun really started. We were following our well placed wands but the visability was down to less than ten feet so, at times, the three of us had to fan out and scan the slope to find the next wand. No big deal, but it spoke to what a good thing it was that we had planted the wands and made us really question what other groups that didn't place wands were thinking.
As we finally got back down near the lodge, we saw Giggy and Jen who were waiting for us. Once back in the "hikers' cave", we got a very warm welcome from the reast of our group. We were a bit tired, but felt really good about the fact that we had been sucessful and had made it up and back safe and sound.
Thanks to everyone for making my first glacial peak one that I will never forget. Some pics are here.
As Giggy mentioned in his report of out ascent of the 12K Adams, we had a pretty lousy forecast for our first weekend in the Cascades. With the decision easily made to wait until Monday so we could go up Adams via the Yakima reservation and with good weather, we had to figure out what to do in the meantime.
Since we wanted to get in some climbing and camping to help us get acclimatized and warmed up for Adams and sice we didn't want to be driving all over the place, we decided to head over to Hood.
We got there midday on Saturday, set up camp at about 5,800' and did some practice runs of setting up pullies before having dinner at Timerline Lodge and hitting the sack early. Around midnight, we got up for our alpine start. I'd never done one of these before, but fortunately I'd gotten some sleep so I wasn't in too rough shape... yet.
We got to Sicox Hut at about 6800' before too long and man did that place look sweet! It was reserved for a private function so we could only stare in through the windows at bottles of wine, the fireplace, the pitchers of water, and the homey atmosphere.
After taking a snack break, we continued on, climbing up and to the west toward the top of the ski lift. We took advantage of the windbreak and stopped in front of the snowcat garage door to rest, eat, and make some adjustments.
It was still clear enough for us to see the lights of Portland glimmering in the distance. We were not deceived though. We had seen the forecast and we knew that the visability was going to deteriorate and so we were placing wands as we went along. We placed them for most of the way.
It was starting to get lighter as we left the garage behind and continued our long climb. It was definitely getting harder for me, but I was still going strong with a bit of energy left and a whole lot of excitement. We were approaching the highest I had ever been.
As it became light, we could see that we were completely socked in now and the visability had become quite poor. Around 9,800' people started talking about turning back. Many in our party had been been up there before, there weren't going to be any views, and conditions were expected to get worse. We decided to try getting up to 10,000' and then we would reasess the situation.
Along the way to that point, there was a point where we came to a rocky area that for those unfamiliar or without a map would have proved difficult to decide which way to go. Fortunately, our members experienced with the mountain and the map agreed on the proper route.
Once we hit the 10,000' mark, we stopped again and discussed the situation. Most in our party were satisfied with having got in a lot of climbing and had no real desire to keep pushing to the viewless peak. Me, cbcbd, and Jeff were still wanted to summit, view or no, and knew that with our wand placement, getting back down was not going to be an issue. So, we bid the rest of the group "adieu" and continued on.
Unfortately, as we were passing by Devil's Kitchen and the strong smell of sulfur, I started really having a hard time. While I wasn't having a headache and I wasn't experiencing nausea, my heart was beating fast and I was short of breath. I slowed down. When we hit the top of "The Hogsback", we had around 800' to go and I wasn't sure whether or not I'd be able to make it I was going so slow. I told this to cbcbd and Jeff and they were very encouraging. They asked me what I wanted to do and told me that if I wanted to keep going, that they would take some stuff from my pack and that we would go my pace. That was an offer I couldn't refuse!
With a lighter pack and a more comfortable (ie slower) pace, we continued on, following an established route. The route most (including us) no longer passes through "The Pearly Gates". Instead, we went up the shute. It was the steepest part of our climb and some parts were a bit icy, but in others there were decent steps kicked in. With a bit of care, we climbed up this section and gained the ridge without incident. The view we got of the other side of the ridge was simply amazing. We couldn't believe how steeply it dropped off and how rugged it was.
We climbed the rest of the way to the summit where we found the wreckage of some sort of wooden structure with Tibeten prayer flags tied to it and saw cables holding huge rocks in place. While we could not see anything distant, the view of the immediate area was pretty amazing. We were all feeling pretty euphoric up there, thrilled that we were there. I was especially thrilled to be summiting my first peak over 10K after having been turned back on another years ago.
We took some pictures, had some snacks and hung around for a little but it started raining and it was getting a little windy, so we soon started down. On the way down the shute, we set up a belay to give us security on the steepest parts as we were now getting freezing rain whipping around in very poor visability. At one point cbcbd took an "interesting" tumble as he tried to get back on the beaten route we had taken but thankfully, he was OK.
Once we got back on Palmer Glacier the navagation fun really started. We were following our well placed wands but the visability was down to less than ten feet so, at times, the three of us had to fan out and scan the slope to find the next wand. No big deal, but it spoke to what a good thing it was that we had planted the wands and made us really question what other groups that didn't place wands were thinking.
As we finally got back down near the lodge, we saw Giggy and Jen who were waiting for us. Once back in the "hikers' cave", we got a very warm welcome from the reast of our group. We were a bit tired, but felt really good about the fact that we had been sucessful and had made it up and back safe and sound.
Thanks to everyone for making my first glacial peak one that I will never forget. Some pics are here.
