Home > Trip Reports > June 23, 2014, Mt Hood, Cooper Spur Descent

June 23, 2014, Mt Hood, Cooper Spur Descent

6/23/14
OR Mt Hood
4732
6
Posted by heinzsd on 6/23/14 8:51am
My buddy and I have been trying to plan a one day trip to sneak away from work and up the pucker factor.  Since I'm down in Portland and he is in Seattle we settled on Cooper Spur.  We setup a car shuttle between timberline and Meadows


At 4:45 we were skinning out of timberline and it was light enough that we never needed headlamps.  As always, un eventful slog to the hogsback and summit, though beautiful sunrise. Snow never firmed up down low, but above palmer it was nice and firm and we eventually switched from skinning to booting.  Tagged the summit at 9:15 after all the other climbers had headed down.  I down climbed the Cooper spur slope a bit to test and the snow was a bit softer than I thought it would be that early, probably in part because of some new snow last week, though no signs of any wet slides or slough.  After discussing the pucker factor and preparing ourselves with accessible arrest tools, we dropped in.  The route skied great and after a few turns  we were able to forget the fear of what loomed below. 

While you can't see it from the top, the hidden chute off the upper cooper spur was in good shape and still well covered.  it was firmer than above though still amazing skiing,  albeit steep and with some minor sloughing.  Down lower the snow was still fantastic though it did have small sun and debris features that were skiable but not inconsequential.  We stayed below the obvious crevasses on our way to heather canyon and were able to easily traverse from their to the top of Vista express.  From here we tried to follow continous snow and got shut down by south facing slopes on the way to stadium chair.  I would recommend doing a few small carries and getting back to Mount Hood Express to make the descent easier.  You can make it all the way to within about 3-500vf of the base, though that will likely be much higher by as early as next weekend.

I have been eyeing this line for quite a while. I was up on Snow Dome this weekend thinking that right now would be prime. Looks pretty damn steep. Good work! Maybe I'll get this one next year...

yeeew! thats a steep one for sure. seems like the summer solstice is the definitely the time to do it,
i did my descent down the spur 3 years and 1 day ago.

http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=21249.0

it has left with with a bit of a mental conundrum though that harkens back to freeskier's tr thread, i don't encourage people to do this descent...its very dangerous!


Summitting at 9:15 was a wise choice, I've been finding crap snow as early as 10 am the last few weeks in WA. Gotta get it early, congrats

author=christoph benells link=topic=31969.msg134489#msg134489 date=1403638543]
it has left with with a bit of a mental conundrum though that harkens back to freeskier's tr thread, i don't encourage people to do this descent...its very dangerous!


I'm the "buddy from Seattle" who skied this with Scott and you bring up an excellent point, this descent is very dangerous.  For anyone considering this route, it should only be skied on excellent stability and excellent snow condition days.  A good portion of the route is 45-50 degrees where you can't fall, so make sure you know what you're getting yourself into.  The skiing itself isn't difficult, just very exposed.

But, if the stars align as they did for us yesterday, the Cooper Spur is a fantastic line.

Agree with all above,  Route should certainly be taken seriously with the risks associated with it.


Also, Samski,  thank you much for the TR on Snowdome.  The picture of cooper spur on your site proved vital for beta since we decided not to ascend the route.  I also drove up early the night before to take pictures, but the lighting wasn't great, so I had yours saved to my phone for reference points.


NICE JOB!  What a "position" that route is!!!

  I teled this route years ago (now a 62 year old chest beater..) and like you guys, was glad I did not climb it first--so as to limit exposure to objective hazard (that rock to the right of the 'chimney' would not be something I would want to spend much time underneath..not to mention how that slope could rip/or slough..)  I cheated and took the cat up to the top of Palmer and then met a nice couple just above Cloud Cap who were nice enough to give me a ride to Timberline Lodge for $10 ..money well spent..

Did you see the plac near tie-in rock cautioning those that pass through the area, etc.?  208 cm  Karhu extremes. and leather boots (for those that care about tele ::).  I'm still being fueled by that descent..


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june-23-2014-mt-hood-cooper-spur-descent
heinzsd
2014-06-23 15:51:24