July 6, 2008, - Hogsback/Zigzag Glacier, Mt Hood
7/6/08
OR Mt Hood
7884
15
What a great weekend! After some fun and a slight sunburn at Smith Rock on Saturday, Todd and I headed towards Mt Hood with aspirations of July turns and corn snow. The drive from Terrebone to Mt Hood was fairly uneventful, but the weather was a bit concerning with the dense cloud cover. We pulled into the Clear Lake campground about 12 miles from Govy and got the last spot. The rain held off all night and we awoke at 3:30 and packed up camp.
Afterdriving through a dense cloud layer, we were pleased to see the outline of the mountain with no clouds in sight. We signed in at the climbers cave, and left the parking lot and started skinning about 5:20. We made good time up to the top of Palmer. Snow conditions were frozen hard and ski crampons were necessary for me. We continued up towards the top of the White River Glacier.
At about 9000 feet, the snow was dicey enough to put the boards on our backs and lug our heavy packs up the mountain, which slowed us considerably. Several climbers were ahead of us higher up on the mountain. We continued climbing towards Crater Rock and reached the Hogsback about 10:15.
A few climbers were staged at the Hogsback and we considered heading up the Mazama Chute, as the other options were melted out. It became apparent that rockfall was a hazard, with several shouts of rock coming from parties above us in the chute. One lady got hit pretty hard in the arm with a rock. As we assesed the situation and were preparing to climb on, we heard an oh s#%t, and looked up to see a climber tumbling like a rag doll down the steep slope. It ended up that the guy was hurt and needed rescue. A person in the party next to us called 911 and a snowcat and helicopter were deployed for help. We decided heading up would not be prudent and offered our help. After the situation was under control, we decided to head down and get some turns in. Here's a shot prior to heading down.......
and another heading down.......
The icy conditions had corned nicely and we headed out towards the Zigzag Glacier. The corn was great as always, and we ripped up over 4000 feet of vertical. The Zigzag Glacier is one of my favorite places to make early July turns. Here's Todd.....
Another couple of shots........
We were back down to the lodge by 12:30 or so, and down at Govy by 1:30 sipping on an IPA and watching Federer get beat by Nadal at Wimbledon, while eating an enormous pizza at the Ratskellar.
Conditions on the Hood should be good for another couple of weeks, especially on the Zigzag, though the summit route is pretty much done.
Afterdriving through a dense cloud layer, we were pleased to see the outline of the mountain with no clouds in sight. We signed in at the climbers cave, and left the parking lot and started skinning about 5:20. We made good time up to the top of Palmer. Snow conditions were frozen hard and ski crampons were necessary for me. We continued up towards the top of the White River Glacier.
At about 9000 feet, the snow was dicey enough to put the boards on our backs and lug our heavy packs up the mountain, which slowed us considerably. Several climbers were ahead of us higher up on the mountain. We continued climbing towards Crater Rock and reached the Hogsback about 10:15.
A few climbers were staged at the Hogsback and we considered heading up the Mazama Chute, as the other options were melted out. It became apparent that rockfall was a hazard, with several shouts of rock coming from parties above us in the chute. One lady got hit pretty hard in the arm with a rock. As we assesed the situation and were preparing to climb on, we heard an oh s#%t, and looked up to see a climber tumbling like a rag doll down the steep slope. It ended up that the guy was hurt and needed rescue. A person in the party next to us called 911 and a snowcat and helicopter were deployed for help. We decided heading up would not be prudent and offered our help. After the situation was under control, we decided to head down and get some turns in. Here's a shot prior to heading down.......
and another heading down.......
The icy conditions had corned nicely and we headed out towards the Zigzag Glacier. The corn was great as always, and we ripped up over 4000 feet of vertical. The Zigzag Glacier is one of my favorite places to make early July turns. Here's Todd.....
Another couple of shots........
We were back down to the lodge by 12:30 or so, and down at Govy by 1:30 sipping on an IPA and watching Federer get beat by Nadal at Wimbledon, while eating an enormous pizza at the Ratskellar.
Conditions on the Hood should be good for another couple of weeks, especially on the Zigzag, though the summit route is pretty much done.
The scene when I reached the hogback was almost comical as slow climbing parties flailed around, displaying numerous, awkward forms of self-arrest. It ceased to be comical when I realized that they were dodging rockfall. After talking to several climbers, it was apparent that the route was clogged with many inexperienced parties and that they were dislodging large amounts of rock from the upper section of the chute. One experienced climber claimed he had never seen so much rockfall on this route, climber induced or otherwise.
My enthusiasm to summit was curbed in just a matter of minutes after the woman took the rock off the arm and then being convinced that I was watching a dead man tumble down the hill. The same guy that was encouraging us to get up there asked, "Do you believe in omens?" Another woman coming down made a comment about bad juju and I was thoroughly convinced that down was direction of choice.
I'm glad to hear that the rescue went smoothly and that the victim is going to be okay. The Oregonian did a short, and surprisingly accurate write-up about the accident and the rescue. Big Daddy really lightened the tense atmosphere while talking to the 911 operator: "There is a doctor up there, but unfortunately, he's a gynecologist."
It was, despite all the drama, a good trip with some fun climbing and good turns. However, I don't think 10,000+ feet was the place to make a comment like, "After the weekend I've had, I'm surprised I haven't broken anything." I was relieved to finally make it home to nurse my numerous wounds and celebrate an uncharacteristically weird weekend with a glass of French Absinthe.
My enthusiasm to summit was curbed in just a matter of minutes after the woman took the rock off the arm and then being convinced that I was watching a dead man tumble down the hill. The same guy that was encouraging us to get up there asked, "Do you believe in omens?" Another woman coming down made a comment about bad juju and I was thoroughly convinced that down was direction of choice.
I'm glad to hear that the rescue went smoothly and that the victim is going to be okay. The Oregonian did a short, and surprisingly accurate write-up about the accident and the rescue. Big Daddy really lightened the tense atmosphere while talking to the 911 operator: "There is a doctor up there, but unfortunately, he's a gynecologist."
It was, despite all the drama, a good trip with some fun climbing and good turns. However, I don't think 10,000+ feet was the place to make a comment like, "After the weekend I've had, I'm surprised I haven't broken anything." I was relieved to finally make it home to nurse my numerous wounds and celebrate an uncharacteristically weird weekend with a glass of French Absinthe.
Loofus, well written description of the "scene". Quite a few years ago, I lost my "summit fever" and focused on enjoying the best descent turns. It's helped me in my 60's stay relatively intact. ;)
author=Zap link=topic=10596.msg43014#msg43014 date=1215533759]
Quite a few years ago, I lost my "summit fever" and focused on enjoying the best descent turns. It's helped me in my 60's stay relatively intact. ;)
Ohh..That's good news Zap, since I never had summit fever, that means I could be intact into the 70's?
Nice report Loofus nice vert!
Nice report, thankyou.
Sounds like a bunch of carnage.. I hope everyone is ok.
Sounds like a bunch of carnage.. I hope everyone is ok.
author=alecapone link=topic=10596.msg43017#msg43017 date=1215535356]
Nice report, thankyou.
Sounds like a bunch of carnage.. I hope everyone is ok.
Carnage is an accurate description. It looked like a battlefield up there.
The woman that got tagged by the rock said that she was okay. She's lucky that it hit her arm and not her head considering that the rock was traveling about half the speed of light. Her husband showed me the rock that hit her; softball-sized and almost a perfect cube. The sound of it hitting her was fairly hideous.
The report on the guy who fell was that he had head injuries and a broken leg and the first responders indicated that they didn't want to move him. It sounds like he is going to recover just fine.
Zap - Yeah, summit fever is no match for my self-preservation instincts (Just ask Matt about my flailing around at Smith Rock the day before thinking that my tie-in was coming loose 40 feet above the deck). Matt and I had a good discussion (over cold beer) about our mutual level of acceptable risk once we got back to the relative safety of the parking lot. This scene hasn't dissuaded me from attempting summits in the future, but it's a good reminder of the risk associated with climbing these rotten volcanoes.
Yeah, I hope I'm still doing this when I hit 60. Hell, the way I live I just hope I reach 60.
Nice job not getting rolled into the mess -- it was a zoo up there. Did you come down past the bottom of the Hogsback around noon? We (four skiers) were hanging out just above the White River around then, getting ready to head down. Too much mania above and the legs were tired anyway... great skiing from there down.
Others have more or less said it, but any rate, thanks for an inspirational report including the inspiration to be thoughtful about goals and to have lots of FUN!
author=Marcus link=topic=10596.msg43024#msg43024 date=1215539764]
Nice job not getting rolled into the mess -- it was a zoo up there. Did you come down past the bottom of the Hogsback around noon? We (four skiers) were hanging out just above the White River around then, getting ready to head down. Too much mania above and the legs were tired anyway... great skiing from there down.
Yeah, that was about when we headed down - one pinhead and one splitboarder. That was some tasty corn. I was surprised that the snow really wasn't that bad once we got back into the ski area. I was expecting way more glop down toward the lodge, but it was surprisingly good turns all the way down. Hope you guys had a great ride. You were wise to avoid the mania.
Might head back to the Hood this weekend and do a second run down Leutholds C. Think I could have used a special tonic after all the hijenks I witnessed ascending the Hogsback on my last ascent. What is Absenthe like and where does one purchase it? Sounds like I should have a pretty good supply of it for my occasional ascent of the Hogsback route. Maybe I should takes some with me?
I would have contemplated going to the summit given the conditions if there were no people up there, but the circus like conditions were above my acceptable level of risk. Most of the trouble was caused by the climbers (rope dragging causing rockfall, etc). The upper picth wasn't icy when we were there - it was starting to corn. I'm not sure why the guy slipped, but speculate it may have been due to fatigue. I'm not much of a summit tagger anyways, and had a great time riding corn down lower. Another note - it seemed the snowpack from 6000' to 10000' was above normal, but from 10000'up it appeared similar if not less than last year at this time. Anyone else notice this elsewhere?
author=skierguitarist link=topic=10596.msg43035#msg43035 date=1215554329]
What is Absenthe like and where does one purchase it? Sounds like I should have a pretty good supply of it for my occasional ascent of the Hogsback route. Maybe I should takes some with me?
Absinthe is an herbal spirit made from artemisia absinthium and wormwood extract. There are several brands that are now FDA approved and should be available at your local pharmacy (aka liquor store). It's a bit pricey at $60 a fifth. Don't drink it straight; mix it with cold water and you're good to go. You just have to try it to believe it.
Good luck on the Leuthold. I'd ask if you need a partner, but the way things have been going the last month, I'm going to devote the rest of July to more pedestrian endeavors and let my body heal a little.
THANKS! Heading down to the liquior store right NOW!
Nice work guys. Hopefully we can hook up soon -- been back east. Evan and I, along with another friend, skied off the summit two weeks and a day ago. Apparently far better coverage, with most of the rock still covered by then recent snow. We climbed up a narrow chute climber's right of the wide old chute, avoiding the knife edge. The descent was a bit sketch in the 50 + degree chute, so it was more a 50 ft somewhat disconcerting edge step down the first forty feet. Great turns after that. I bet Diamond is still nice. Anyone know what the status of snowdome access is?
I was wondering about Diamond myself. Looking at the Bachelor webcam today though, it was pretty discouraging, as there's been a huge meltoff in the last week or so. Not sure on Snowdome, but came across this link from Cascade Climbers indicating that as of last week there were fallen trees blocking the road about 1/2 way to Cloudcap........
http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=816320#Post816320
http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=816320#Post816320
East side via the PCT and I think Diamond will yield. I'm going to be mountain biking up in Oakridge on Wednesday and I'll get some beta. Evan and I may try and attempt snowdome a week from this Friday. I'll email you with more info.
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