Friday 20 March - Mount Hood via South/Old Chute
3/20/15
OR Mt Hood
3052
3
Three of us skinned up Palmer Snowfield on Friday morning. We ended up ditching our skis below Crater Rock after sunrise to switch to crampons for firm snow conditions. Hogsback ridge was nice and soft for the traverse north. We opted to traverse west well below the bergschrund, below the seracs and up Old Chute. Old chute was a bit dicey - two ice axes or an axe and whippet recommended, even better yet two technical tools. We remained roped up for this entire section.
The wind built quickly upon summit and down climb. Gusts were enough to blow you down - it made for an alert, careful downclimb below the old chute with ice raining down on us. It felt good to gain the relative shelter and safety of Hogsback on the descent.
NWAC/Timberline telemetry for friday afternoon shows max wind speeds of 53 mph at top of Magic Mile at 1400¦we were nearly four thousand feet above that point at that time, so who knows what the gusts were that we were feeling. All I can say is that it's the highest wind speeds I ever want to feel on a mountain, and I was glad to have four thick layers on top plus a 700-fill down jacket!
We only encountered two others - both solo. The ski descent was crummy, icy above the top of palmer lift but absolutely fantastic to rip the groomers beginning at Palmer. Pictured are Gabe and Greg, both from PDX.
The wind built quickly upon summit and down climb. Gusts were enough to blow you down - it made for an alert, careful downclimb below the old chute with ice raining down on us. It felt good to gain the relative shelter and safety of Hogsback on the descent.
NWAC/Timberline telemetry for friday afternoon shows max wind speeds of 53 mph at top of Magic Mile at 1400¦we were nearly four thousand feet above that point at that time, so who knows what the gusts were that we were feeling. All I can say is that it's the highest wind speeds I ever want to feel on a mountain, and I was glad to have four thick layers on top plus a 700-fill down jacket!
We only encountered two others - both solo. The ski descent was crummy, icy above the top of palmer lift but absolutely fantastic to rip the groomers beginning at Palmer. Pictured are Gabe and Greg, both from PDX.
Thanks for the report. Note that the NWAC telemetry is on PST year-round, so the max wind speed atop Magic Mile was only 28 mph during the hour prior to 1400 PDT (1300 PST on the telemetry). But more relevant to figuring out the winds atop Hood would be the data from Camp Muir at 10100 ft on Rainier, which shows winds rapidly increasing towards 100 mph during that hour, and gusting over 100 mph for the next several hours:
Northwest Avalanche Center Northwest Avalanche Center
Top of The Magic Mile chair, Timberline, Oregon Camp Muir, Mt Rainier National Park, Washington
Wind gages unheated and may rime
MM/DD Hour Temp RH Wind Wind Wind Wind MM/DD Hour Temp RH Wind Wind Wind Wind Solar
PST F % Min Avg Max Dir PST F % Min Avg Max Dir W/m2
7000' 7000' 7000' 7000' 7000' 7000' 10110' 10110' 10110' 10110' 10110' 10110' 10110'
------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------------------
3 20 0 37 58 3 12 23 239 3 20 0 26 100 41 51 58 253 0
3 20 100 36 60 6 12 20 257 3 20 100 27 100 48 54 62 247 0
3 20 200 36 62 8 14 24 248 3 20 200 25 100 43 50 58 247 0
3 20 300 35 70 7 14 22 255 3 20 300 22 45 36 53 61 247 0
3 20 400 35 74 10 15 26 260 3 20 400 24 54 33 51 64 279 0
3 20 500 35 69 5 17 28 252 3 20 500 23 53 42 61 69 277 0
3 20 600 34 66 6 16 25 256 3 20 600 24 45 56 65 76 273 0
3 20 700 35 60 0 20 34 234 3 20 700 23 32 50 62 73 273 0
3 20 800 37 60 0 13 27 246 3 20 800 24 42 45 62 79 265 0
3 20 900 37 60 0 15 29 237 3 20 900 25 49 38 65 83 273 0
3 20 1000 38 46 3 14 27 253 3 20 1000 27 83 46 59 71 269 0
3 20 1100 40 49 2 18 32 243 3 20 1100 24 99 48 59 71 275 0
3 20 1200 40 52 2 11 22 242 3 20 1200 25 100 52 65 78 268 0
3 20 1300 39 56 0 15 28 240 3 20 1300 22 99 69 79 94 266 0
3 20 1400 40 54 0 16 53 239 3 20 1400 20 95 72 87 101 265 0
3 20 1500 40 57 0 23 52 228 3 20 1500 20 86 82 93 106 268 0
3 20 1600 39 67 0 23 43 248 3 20 1600 19 93 77 91 107 268 0
3 20 1700 38 67 4 17 31 242 3 20 1700 18 98 86 97 111 265 0
3 20 1800 35 69 3 17 33 226 3 20 1800 22 100 73 85 95 270 0
3 20 1900 33 86 3 18 34 214 3 20 1900 22 100 68 82 102 212 0
3 20 2000 31 99 0 17 41 220 3 20 2000 22 100 61 69 79 203 0
3 20 2100 31 100 0 20 48 210 3 20 2100 22 100 45 57 70 204 0
3 20 2200 31 100 0 13 28 197 3 20 2200 19 98 35 47 55 204 0
3 20 2300 31 100 0 15 28 193 3 20 2300 20 99 30 39 48 203 0
Good work getting up high under those conditions! The narrow knife-edge summit ridge from the top of Old Chute to the true summit is truly terrifying in high winds, even if only 40-50mph, not to mention double that.
Northwest Avalanche Center Northwest Avalanche Center
Top of The Magic Mile chair, Timberline, Oregon Camp Muir, Mt Rainier National Park, Washington
Wind gages unheated and may rime
MM/DD Hour Temp RH Wind Wind Wind Wind MM/DD Hour Temp RH Wind Wind Wind Wind Solar
PST F % Min Avg Max Dir PST F % Min Avg Max Dir W/m2
7000' 7000' 7000' 7000' 7000' 7000' 10110' 10110' 10110' 10110' 10110' 10110' 10110'
------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------------------
3 20 0 37 58 3 12 23 239 3 20 0 26 100 41 51 58 253 0
3 20 100 36 60 6 12 20 257 3 20 100 27 100 48 54 62 247 0
3 20 200 36 62 8 14 24 248 3 20 200 25 100 43 50 58 247 0
3 20 300 35 70 7 14 22 255 3 20 300 22 45 36 53 61 247 0
3 20 400 35 74 10 15 26 260 3 20 400 24 54 33 51 64 279 0
3 20 500 35 69 5 17 28 252 3 20 500 23 53 42 61 69 277 0
3 20 600 34 66 6 16 25 256 3 20 600 24 45 56 65 76 273 0
3 20 700 35 60 0 20 34 234 3 20 700 23 32 50 62 73 273 0
3 20 800 37 60 0 13 27 246 3 20 800 24 42 45 62 79 265 0
3 20 900 37 60 0 15 29 237 3 20 900 25 49 38 65 83 273 0
3 20 1000 38 46 3 14 27 253 3 20 1000 27 83 46 59 71 269 0
3 20 1100 40 49 2 18 32 243 3 20 1100 24 99 48 59 71 275 0
3 20 1200 40 52 2 11 22 242 3 20 1200 25 100 52 65 78 268 0
3 20 1300 39 56 0 15 28 240 3 20 1300 22 99 69 79 94 266 0
3 20 1400 40 54 0 16 53 239 3 20 1400 20 95 72 87 101 265 0
3 20 1500 40 57 0 23 52 228 3 20 1500 20 86 82 93 106 268 0
3 20 1600 39 67 0 23 43 248 3 20 1600 19 93 77 91 107 268 0
3 20 1700 38 67 4 17 31 242 3 20 1700 18 98 86 97 111 265 0
3 20 1800 35 69 3 17 33 226 3 20 1800 22 100 73 85 95 270 0
3 20 1900 33 86 3 18 34 214 3 20 1900 22 100 68 82 102 212 0
3 20 2000 31 99 0 17 41 220 3 20 2000 22 100 61 69 79 203 0
3 20 2100 31 100 0 20 48 210 3 20 2100 22 100 45 57 70 204 0
3 20 2200 31 100 0 13 28 197 3 20 2200 19 98 35 47 55 204 0
3 20 2300 31 100 0 15 28 193 3 20 2300 20 99 30 39 48 203 0
Good work getting up high under those conditions! The narrow knife-edge summit ridge from the top of Old Chute to the true summit is truly terrifying in high winds, even if only 40-50mph, not to mention double that.
nice TR. Curious to see how things are up there now with all the new snow. Finally a big dump!
FWIW the Muir Telemetry to top of Mt. Hood approximation sometimes is helpful and other times isn't really a good comparo at all.
For instance yesterday morning 7k on Hood had gusts to ~90mph and averaged ~65mph. At the same time Muir barely broke 20mph and averaged 15mph winds.
FWIW the Muir Telemetry to top of Mt. Hood approximation sometimes is helpful and other times isn't really a good comparo at all.
For instance yesterday morning 7k on Hood had gusts to ~90mph and averaged ~65mph. At the same time Muir barely broke 20mph and averaged 15mph winds.
Yeah, the snow was rolling in right after we skied down last Friday. I bet the landscape looks a bit different now.
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