6-30-10, Hood-Hogsback, Illumination and Zig Zag
6/30/10
OR Mt Hood
1808
0
An absolutely outstanding day on the mountain: clear skies, calm winds, sweet corn and no train ride.
The in laws were in town and we rented a place on E. Lolo Pass for three days. I managed to back out of a day trip to Hood River to ride the train and instead gave Bill a call with hopes that he could break free from work. Fortunately, Bill was able to "work" from the mountain. He picked me up at the Zig Zag Inn at 7:45AM. We began our ascent to the Hogsback at 8:15 AM and gained the 4500 feet of vertical by 12:30PM. To our surprise we saw very few skiers or climbers the entire day (minus the cluster on Palmer) and spent 45 minutes kicking around the Hogsback without seeing a soul. From the Hogsback we traversed back to Crater Rock and descended toward White River Glacier. From there we traversed over to Zig Zag and then to Illumination Rock. It was all good, but the descent from Crater Rock, the first pitch of Zig Zag and the face of Illumination were particularly sweet. We topped it off with a few at Charlie's. What a way to finish up June!
White River and Reid Glaciers looked to be in prime shape with very few crevasses to navigate. The ascent to the summit looked good as well. Overall, there will be great lines on Hood for weeks to come.
http://picasaweb.google.com/118025853069449417238/HogsbackCraterRockIlluminationRockAndZigZag#
The in laws were in town and we rented a place on E. Lolo Pass for three days. I managed to back out of a day trip to Hood River to ride the train and instead gave Bill a call with hopes that he could break free from work. Fortunately, Bill was able to "work" from the mountain. He picked me up at the Zig Zag Inn at 7:45AM. We began our ascent to the Hogsback at 8:15 AM and gained the 4500 feet of vertical by 12:30PM. To our surprise we saw very few skiers or climbers the entire day (minus the cluster on Palmer) and spent 45 minutes kicking around the Hogsback without seeing a soul. From the Hogsback we traversed back to Crater Rock and descended toward White River Glacier. From there we traversed over to Zig Zag and then to Illumination Rock. It was all good, but the descent from Crater Rock, the first pitch of Zig Zag and the face of Illumination were particularly sweet. We topped it off with a few at Charlie's. What a way to finish up June!
White River and Reid Glaciers looked to be in prime shape with very few crevasses to navigate. The ascent to the summit looked good as well. Overall, there will be great lines on Hood for weeks to come.
http://picasaweb.google.com/118025853069449417238/HogsbackCraterRockIlluminationRockAndZigZag#
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