Mt. Hood - Leuthold Couloir

Weather was forecast to be good early this week, and Jason Schuman replied to a post I had on cascadeclimbers.com looking for a partner for Hood. I haven't been up it before, and had my eye on the Sandy Glacier Headwall. Jason had been up Hood quite a few times and countered with a suggestion of Leuthold Couloir due to the recent warm spell.

Mt. Hood has a reputation for being quite crowded. The access is the easiest of all the Cascade volcanoes, and its proximity to Portland is also a contributing factor. Our plan was to get an early start (or a late start, depending on how you look at it). After a quick dinner with Christine, I got on the road at 7pm. I met up with Jason at a P&R in east Portland around 10p made our way out towards I-84 (and I'm pretty sure we saw some ladies of the evening on our way out), and headed out towards Hood.

Jason and I shot the breeze. He's an educated guy with a strong climbing resume and a young family. Like me, he's caught a case of "unemployed"-itis. Easy conversation passed the time on our drive out. We got the parking lot around 11:45pm. To my surprise, the lot is completely lit up by floodlights. I found this quite odd; how could anyone bivy out here? I guess they don't.

We left the car five minutes past midnight; I figured we'd have the mountain mostly to ourselves, given the late night start and weekday. I couldn't have been more wrong! As we made our way up along the Timberline ski lifts, I saw the lights of several parties ahead of us. There were also lights of several parties coming up behind us. A group of 3 overtook us pretty quickly - they were really moving. We kept a steady pace, occasionally stopping, turning the lamps off, and taking in the amazing views of the stars on the clear night.

I felt unnervingly warm and dry breezes from the west as we made our way up along the lifts. The snow was hard (though making your way on the cat track trail left something to be desired for sure). The warm air made me nervous about stability. As we gained elevation towards Illumination Rock, those fears abated as I froze my ass off. There was a party at Illumination Saddle roping up for Leuthold's as well. We decided to take our time roping up to give a good distance between us and them. My teeth were chattering and I was shivering in my thin Micro Puff coat as we flaked the rope, tied in, and coiled it up. I was impressed by Jason wearing nothing but a windshirt and softshell.

When it looked like the other party was far enough ahead, we dropped down and made our way across the glacier. As we got underneath the couloir proper, there was tons of snow and ice coming down - like a small waterfall. We figured it was from the other party above, and took shelter below a rock on the north side of the couloir thinking it would eventually abate as they moved higher. After a generous food/water break, the stuff was still coming down. At this point it was about 4:30 or so, and we decided to get a move on. We each took hits to the helmet and shoulders - nothing serious, but almost enough to get your bell rung. This motivated me to climb faster, and I kicked steps as fast as I could. We agreed that the terrain was mellow enough to go up unroped, which helped contribute to speed and efficiency.

Eventually we got to a junction, and opted for a narrow couloir to the right. This was literally a waterfall of little ice and snow bits. At this point first light was upon us. We had made considerable progress, and the couloir looked short. We went up it quickly, though my steps blew out giving Jason some difficulty making it up. He commented to me that he thought we might be off - route in an adjacent couloir, but that it should link back up with the regular route. I was nervous that I'd top out on the couloir only to find myself on top of a fat cornice or something. To my relief, he was correct, and some straightforward traversing led us back to the route proper (and the steps of previous parties, a good sign). As the sun was rising on the other side of the mountain, it cast a long shadow across the valleys to the west.

My altimeter suggested that we had another 1500' or so before the summit. By now it was after 6am, and I was getting fatigued - the extra 2 gallons of water ballast I tossed in the pack for 'conditioning' was getting old fast, and fatigue from being awake since yesterday morning was starting to set in. Fortunately, my altimeter was off. We topped out on the final snowfield and summit ridge to amazing bluebird skies, views of the other Southern volcanoes, and warming sunlight. The setting was awesome. We followed the well - worn path to the summit proper, where there were at least 5 other people already, including the party that was ahead of us. A quick look down to the hogsback showed at least a dozen other people headed up to the summit. This was indeed a popular mountain! We lounged, ate, and I finally dumped the water.


The Pearly Gates, the typical South Side ascent/descent route, was iced up so we followed everyone else in descending slightly to the west. The snow was steep and very rime-y, with ice
chunks that seemed like shale. We quickly got down to the Hogsback, changed clothes as it was warming considerably, and proceeded down. The descent is a bit punishing; you can see Timberline Lodge as well as the parking lot the entire way! We squinted and Jason was pretty sure he saw a white speck that was my car. On top of that, the posts from the ski lifts were quite visible. I figured we'd dispatch with this descent really quickly. Wrong again - I think it was foreshortening or something; it seemed to take hours to descend, but only took a couple. Jason has excellent glissading skills. My bantam weight, which aids on ascents, puts me at a distinct disadvantage in this arena. Unless it is steep such as here. As Jason made progress aided by gravity, I had to keep plodding along.

Jason also had a brilliant idea and sweet - talked the ski lift operators into downloading us to the bottom of the Magic Mile, probably saving us a half hour. All we had to do was look a little pathetic to them (not too much of a stretch at this point), and they bought it. Sweet. A quick stroll past the lodge (movie buffs note: this was where The Shining was filmed) brought us to the car in just under 11 hours round trip. There were sunny skies, it was probably in the 60s, and was about the nicest spring day I've seen this year in the Cascades.

We changed clothes, exchanged war stories with other climbers in the lot, and signed out our permit before heading down to Government Camp for a huge burger. After I dropped Jason off at his car, I began the long drive back to Seattle. It was about 1pm, and I'd been awake for 31 hours. I caught up with Joe and Mom on the phone, and then pulled over at a rest stop for a quick snooze. I made it back to town just in time to pick up Christine from work; ever the sweetheart, she cooked me a big fajita dinner (I had already digested the 1/2lb burger plus fries from a few hours earlier and was ready for more). I was passed out on the couch by 7pm or so. Good days these are, good days.

Mt. Si Relay

On Sunday Christine and I ran in the Mt. Si relay race with a doctor from her work (the Polyclinic), her boyfriend and his friend (both employed at Amazon). We ran under the name "Team Polyzon"; certainly makes more sense than "Polyunempzon" :P

Christine had given me the impression that Dr. Frownfelter and friends were into running, but maybe this was going to be more of a "fun" event than a competitive event. All hopes of such an outcome were dashed when Christine put in a blistering sub 6:30 per mile pace for the first leg. The bar was held high throughout the whole day. We ended up 6th out of 115 teams, and 2nd in the "mixed men/women" category. I ran as hard as I could, but I'm not in the hottest running shape. These folks were serious! Everyone was laying down fast times.

Each competitor ran two legs. Most of us ended up with a longer first leg (6 - 8 miles) and a shorter second leg (3 - 4 miles), save for Matt who made a very heroic 7 mile run up to Rattlesnake Lake for his second leg. I ran a 6.1 and 3.4 mile legs, and felt more wasted at the end of the day than if I had run 9.5 miles all at once.

Matt had an awesome GPS watch that gave current and average pace estimates, as well as distances travelled. I now have a serious case of tech envy for such a device. It's a real motivator while racing, as I worked to keep my pace high.

This was a really fun event, and a cool way to make a running race more interesting. Thanks for inviting me along!

California Day 3: J-Tree Cragging

I woke up before most everyone else (probably because I didn't have too much booze last night), and went for a trail run up a nearby peak. It wasn't very far, maybe only 5 miles and couldn't have gained much more than 1200', but it was steep enough to get my lungs a-scorchin', as well as a remind me that Ihadn't run in a few days. I didn't bring my running shoes, but my climbing approach shoes were mostly up to the task. The temperatures were very mild, and the air so dry compared to what I'm used to up in Seattle. It was quite pleasant, and I was happy to sneak in a workout before everyone stirred.

After I got back, we lounged around, ate breakfast, and decided what to climb that day. Kevin's friends were a club of climbers; some took off that morning after already having been there for a couple of days, but we joined the remainder for cragging around Sheep Pass. The pace was quite relaxed, and the group campground was pretty comfy - we had definitely had a hard time getting going (see picture). Eventually we got a move-on. We each led up a route, and then took laps on the others. With such willing belayers, I got in several laps on each before we called it good.

The climbing on the J-Tree slabs and domes is what I would call "no bullsh*t" compared to most modern crag areas. With a strong trad ethic guiding route development, bolts are sparsely placed. The first climb of the day I led was a fun 5.7, but it was about 20-25' from the last bolt to the anchors. I haven't been rock climbing tons over the winter, and had to focus to keep my head straight to avoid getting cheese-grated down the slab if I screwed up.

We through a toprope on a 5.10 route called "3 Bolts Closer to Divorce", and it hurt my feelings. The flakes were so thin, by the end of flailing on the thing my toes had about had it. The first one on it, I made all kinds of embarrassing noises in my effort; I didn't feel so bad when everyone else following suit did the same.

After a few laps with the toes and fingers a little spent, we called it good and Kevin's friends took off back to LA. Kevin and I squeezed in a couple of more pitches as sun set, including a moderate J-Tree classic called "Lazy Day". Kevin did an excellent lead up a 5.8 where he got suckered into a chimney and was forced to not use all of the easy holds on the outside face. I was very impressed with his focus and determination on the routes. For my part, all of the alpine climbing I've been doing (as opposed to leading hard routes at the crags) led me to climb these routes really quickly, which was a definite confidence booster.

We topped out on Lazy Day at sunset, rapped down, and got on the road back to LA. 3 days, nearly 5,000' of vert on Whitney, 20 pitches of rock, and 1200' vert on a trail run. It was a fun - packed trip, and Kevin and I spent the car ride discussing our ideas about Alaska climbing. I was very stoked, and Kevin seemed to be, as well. Thanks for the cool trip, Kevin!

California Day 2: Alabama Hills Cragging

So yesterday the mountains got a ton of new snow on them; this more or less ruled out any chance we had of getting on technical rock routes up there (the original plan). I brought rock shoes, so we decided some cragging was in order. This was still useful in terms of climbing together - seeing how we each manage rope, lead, protect, belay, etc is important stuff and transfers directly to how things would get done in a bigger setting.

The Alabama Hills is an area right off of the road up from Lone Pine to the Whitney Portal. It is famous for being a setting for numerous western films; the roads there have all sorts of names relating to this history, and there is even a 'film history museum' down in town. Kevin had the guidebook, and assured me the cragging was high quality and short approach. How short of an approach? "You can belay out of the car if you want." Reassured by what I thought was hyperbole, I was surprised to find out that one could literally belay from the car for numerous routes!

I was too busy climbing today to be taking good pictures, but we climbed a whole ton of stuff. Sticking primarily to moderate bolted routes, we knocked off about 10 pitches today on the Sharkfin and at Paul's Paradise. The granite down here is amazing to climb on; nothing like what I am used to from the Cascades. Very high friction with tons of flakes. The setting was outstanding, as well; the mountains were in the background for the entire day we climbed. Kevin is a smooth and efficient rock leader, and we knocked out the pitches with a quickness.

After we had our fill, we got in the truck and headed down towards Joshua Tree. Some of Kevin's friends had a group campsite reserved, and we figured we could crash down here and do some cragging in J-Tree tomorrow.

The high point of the day for me was getting a California burrito from Santana's just outside the park. A California burrito is a trifecta of goodness: home fries, carne asada, and lots of cheese. Matched with a horchata, it is an essential southern California experience. Of greasy cheap food, that is.

We got to the campground, pulled up around the campfire, got introduced to some folks, and settled in for the evening. Too lazy to pull all my stuff outta the truck to sleep in the back, I was content to throw the bag/pad down on the ground and call it good. I had dreams of coyotes licking my face and chasing me, and I can't say for sure that it didn't actually happen during the night. So far, I'm having a good time and feeling pumped to climb more.

California Day 1: Mt. Whitney

I flew down to LA to do an 'interview' climbing weekend with Kevin, a prospective partner for Alaska in May. I've had some difficulty finding a partner around where I live, and Kevin replied to a post I made on a popular climbing message board. He has a really good climbing resume, including a summit of Denali two years ago. Phone and email correspondence revealed that we had similar preferences for routes. Since weather in the Cascades is so iffy compared to the Sierra, it made more sense for me to head down that way.

We departed LA Thursday evening and headed up to Lone Pine, and on to the Whitney Portal. We had a crappy weather forecast for Friday, but with limited time decided that an attempt on Whitney in marginal weather would be a good fitness barometer. We slept in the back of the truck up there at 8,000', and woke up with the sun maybe 6:30ish. We cooked breakfast and had a leisurely start. About 5 minutes after departing the car, light snow started falling. It fell pretty much consistently the entire day.

Nevertheless, we made quick progress. I wanted to demonstrate to Kevin that I was motivated and fit, and volunteered for the lion's share of the trailbreaking. We followed steps to Lower Boy Scout lake, and then more or less made our own way from there. Kevin was definitely fit, and we made good time. Unfortunately, as we got higher, visibility got poorer and the snow got deeper.

Eventually we reached the basin of Iceberg Lake around 13,000', at the base of the Mountaineer's Route/Gully. It had taken us about 5 hours to get to this point. I jokingly asked Kevin which gully we should take. Jokingly because we were in about 100% white out conditions. Additionally, though there was only a few inches of fresh on the ground down lower, there was about a foot here. It would have been tough work making our way up the gully. We didn't have to discuss very long before we decided the day was done. That we were both ready to pull the plug was evidence that we have similar ideas about risk; this mattered a lot to me in terms of a prospective partner for the mountains.

As we turned around and headed down, I started to get a headache and a little nauseated. Kevin led the way most of the way down. I told him that I was not used to the altitude, and was having a little difficulty. He soldiered on the whole way down; being a Sierra local, he had no troubles at all.

We got back to the car late afternoon, got out of our wet clothes, and made a bee line down to Lone Pine for some pizza. We dropped by the Lone Pine Hostel, where we ran into some of his friends and hung out for awhile. I was pleased with day one of the trip, and optimistic about our ability to bite off a bigger trip in Alaska.

She said yes!

My sneak - attack proposal today went off without a hitch (pun intended). Christine treated me to a nice dinner for my berfday at one of our favorite restaurants, and I popped the question. She said yes, and I am was so happy! It took every ounce of strength I had to not pop the question once I had the ring in my hot little hands the previous days.