Mar 24, 2019, attempted Mt Hood Newton Clark Headwall
3/24/19
OR Mt Hood
1670
1
Took somewhat of a gamble on Sunday morning for an early spring ski of the Newton Clark Headwall on Mt Hood. The forecast was all over the place regarding temps and precipitation a few days prior, but coverage on NC looked great staring up at it from Meadows earlier in the week.
Once we got below Wy'east, we hung out for an hour and decided to turn back because spotty cloud cover prevented the snow from softening. The snow surface was firm refrozen snow + sastrugi. Not ideal conditions if you are on top of a steep and exposed line. Mt Hood needs another couple weeks of good melt/freeze cycles to smooth out the surface. Ah well, plenty of spring left! I will be back to ski NC in a few weeks.
There was a group of 3 heading up as we were coming down. From below, it looked like they started climbing Wy'east Face around 1PM. Their timing (late start) may have been better than ours.
The ski down was a blast. It took some work skiing the sastrugi above Vista Ridge, but once on Vista Ridge, we had fresh corduroy back into the resort (a groomer cut a track from the top of Cascade all the way to the top of Vista Ridge for ski patrol).
We got a 5:30AM start from the Meadows main lot, skinned up Vista ridge, and reached the base of Wy'east Face around 8:30 or 9. We decided to bail on the summit attempt around 10AM and just ski down.
Always an adventure, and never a bad day, in the mountains!
Once we got below Wy'east, we hung out for an hour and decided to turn back because spotty cloud cover prevented the snow from softening. The snow surface was firm refrozen snow + sastrugi. Not ideal conditions if you are on top of a steep and exposed line. Mt Hood needs another couple weeks of good melt/freeze cycles to smooth out the surface. Ah well, plenty of spring left! I will be back to ski NC in a few weeks.
There was a group of 3 heading up as we were coming down. From below, it looked like they started climbing Wy'east Face around 1PM. Their timing (late start) may have been better than ours.
The ski down was a blast. It took some work skiing the sastrugi above Vista Ridge, but once on Vista Ridge, we had fresh corduroy back into the resort (a groomer cut a track from the top of Cascade all the way to the top of Vista Ridge for ski patrol).
We got a 5:30AM start from the Meadows main lot, skinned up Vista ridge, and reached the base of Wy'east Face around 8:30 or 9. We decided to bail on the summit attempt around 10AM and just ski down.
Always an adventure, and never a bad day, in the mountains!
nice!
Can you elaborate more on skinning up vista ridge from meadow's lot? I have only ever heard negative things about any up-hill or BC travel around meadows, even on their margins they get all bent out of shape about seeing someone who hasn't paid for a lift ticket..
Can you elaborate more on skinning up vista ridge from meadow's lot? I have only ever heard negative things about any up-hill or BC travel around meadows, even on their margins they get all bent out of shape about seeing someone who hasn't paid for a lift ticket..
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