June 26, 2011, Mt. Hood, Wy'East Route
6/26/11
OR Mt Hood
2043
1
I left the car a little after 5 and set out to see what condition Leuthold Couloir was in. I'd only been over to that side of the mountain one time on the way to the Sandy Glacier, but figured it shouldn't be too hard to figure out where to go when I got there. There was no trouble traversing the Reid, although there was a substantial amount of avalanche debris here and there. I headed to the end of the line and started up the last apron with only a little bit of ice raining down periodically. It looked like there were three options nearing the top. I thought I had heard that there was one chute to the left that you didn't want to take because it ended on Yocum Ridge, so I went up the middle one which had a small choke that looked like an hourglass to me. Above that it widened out again, and again there were a few options. I kept heading up, this time through a steeper and even smaller choke with a big runnel. This was about the point I realized I was definitely not on route, and was going up somewhere on the Reid Headwall. My line eventually ended, so I traversed right into the next chute (which looked much larger - the main line on Reid Headwall? - it looked like a fun ski anyway) and topped out on the ridge looking into the crater just before the ridge became craggy. Rather than reverse back and try again I just decided to summit the normal route which looked to be in terrible ski condition.
At the top I met a nice fellow skier who suggested the Wy'East, which he had skied a few days previously. It sounded like a better idea than skiing to the top of Leuthold's and taking chances on conditions. It was a little late for the Wy'East, which I hadn't skied before, but the skier's directions were straightforward so I went for it. The entrance couloir sloughed quite a bit, but I was traversing out of it before the slough got too big. A little more traversing, and I came too a few short chutes. The rightmost one connected, but it was only a ski length wide, so I side-stepped a few feet down it until I could jet over to the Wy'East face. Met another nice skier (Coby from Hood River), then made some great turns down the face. I bent it over toward Timberline and managed to hit the top of Palmer without taking off the skis. Groomers back to the car! Turned out to be an interesting tour of the Mount Hood Crater!
At the top I met a nice fellow skier who suggested the Wy'East, which he had skied a few days previously. It sounded like a better idea than skiing to the top of Leuthold's and taking chances on conditions. It was a little late for the Wy'East, which I hadn't skied before, but the skier's directions were straightforward so I went for it. The entrance couloir sloughed quite a bit, but I was traversing out of it before the slough got too big. A little more traversing, and I came too a few short chutes. The rightmost one connected, but it was only a ski length wide, so I side-stepped a few feet down it until I could jet over to the Wy'East face. Met another nice skier (Coby from Hood River), then made some great turns down the face. I bent it over toward Timberline and managed to hit the top of Palmer without taking off the skis. Groomers back to the car! Turned out to be an interesting tour of the Mount Hood Crater!
Way to tour 'd' hood!
Sounds like everything in terms of slots at bottom of Leuthold's was fairly causal...
W'east is cool. When I did Leuthold's, I climbed the regular route which is now the "old chute"- the standard way that looked crappy for skiing for you and then worked my way over from the w. crater rim to the top of Leuthold's (the next one is Sandy Headwall and much spookier..). I liked doing it this way as the time exposed to crap potentially falling on me (had none on my descent..) would be less skiing it than climbing it.
Once you are in it, I don't recall any other attractive options--just ski into a steepish dog leg before entering the Reid Gl. and then of course hang a left and head over to 'lum saddle..
Sounds like everything in terms of slots at bottom of Leuthold's was fairly causal...
W'east is cool. When I did Leuthold's, I climbed the regular route which is now the "old chute"- the standard way that looked crappy for skiing for you and then worked my way over from the w. crater rim to the top of Leuthold's (the next one is Sandy Headwall and much spookier..). I liked doing it this way as the time exposed to crap potentially falling on me (had none on my descent..) would be less skiing it than climbing it.
Once you are in it, I don't recall any other attractive options--just ski into a steepish dog leg before entering the Reid Gl. and then of course hang a left and head over to 'lum saddle..
Reply to this TR
Please login first: