Home > Trip Reports > Memorial Day Wy'east solo

Memorial Day Wy'east solo

5/15/15
3892
7
Posted by kamtron on 5/27/15 1:33am
I headed down to Hood because the weather looked nicer than in the WA Cascades. My friends and I spent Saturday evening hiking in Ape Canyon next to St Helens, and we found a nice campsite near the road not far from there. The next day we spent exploring Ape Caves (I'd never been) which was quite cool---definitely the biggest cave I've ever been into. We then proceeded to Portland for Portland-y things.

I left my friends in town and drove to Meadows, planning to meet Amar there that night. He'd sent me a text around 3 pm from the summit of Middle (?) Sister and was planning to meet me for the route that night. However, I hadn't heard anything since then and was having doubts he'd show up. I found another really nice car camping spot near the sno-park and settled in to make my dinner.

I prepped the stuff for a pasta sauce, and started my little Snow Peak "simmer" stove, which proceeded to spew huge flames! I turned off the stove but it continued flaming. I then freaked out, thinking it would maybe explode and threw the stove down the road. Cowering behind the car, watching the stove, it continued to spew flames from the bottom of the stove attachment. I realized that maybe it was cross-threaded and that gas was leaking out the gasket. Cautiously, I approached with a huge stick and fiddled with the thing using the stick, eventually getting it to go out. The canister was hot, but not too hot to touch, and covered in soot. Laughing at myself, I set it aside and tested the stove which still works! I was able to finish my deluxe dinner and watch the Wy'east face, my objective in the moonlight.

In the morning, I received a text from Amar that he would not be coming, since they'd got back to their car very late after re-summiting at 7 pm, so I was on my own. The route is very straightforward, since you can see where you're going the whole time. I left my car at 5:30 am and started walking up the closed trails on the W side of the resort in ski boots. The only issue with the route is a large bergschrund that crosses the bottom of the face but is passable on the left with plenty of space. I did not skin at all on the way up the route. I left skis below what I found to be the crux section, near 10,800' which is currently grey ice under a thin layer of newish snow, where the route climbs up and traverses between cliffs before the final gully to the summit ridge. It was my first Hood summit, and nobody was around; all of the S route climbers had already descended before noon.

The ski down, starting at 1 pm was great. I found nearly perfect corn all the way down the upper face, which continued until the snow got dirty. But it still skied nicely, and I was able to ski as low as 6000' in Heather Canyon. A short but somewhat insecure skin took me to the ridge, where I skied a bit more before walking down. I took a dip in the stream next to the lodge, where I washed off gear and body and felt luxurious.

It was a pleasant day and very nice skiing. I highly recommend this route to anyone who wants to get away from the crowds on the South!

I have pictures but not the time to prep them for TAY, sorry!
Thanks for the TR Kam! I've been looking at that face all season, wondering when it would be safely consolidated enough to ski. Nice job tackling that one solo!

When you talk about passing the bergschrund "on the left" - I assume this is climber's left? At about what elevation was this?

Glad you didn't blow yourself up while making dinner!




Hey Garrett, the conditions on the face are pretty good right now. You will be able to pass the schrund climbers left. It's actually easily visible from the road, so you can't miss it, right at the bottom of the face where the slope angle goes from ~30 to ~40+

Yeah, Kam! Way to score! Your stove malfunction, reminds of a time gone by, of a little game  called stove soccer. Three Fingers lookout is a bad place to have a stove flair up... word is, there's a...maybe useable Whisperlite, at the base of the East face. :)

Here are some pictures finally.

Jeff, that stove story is hilarious! I can imagine a fire in that lookout would not end pretty. Lemme guess how it ended up at the bottom of the face: rainbow kick?

Woooo, Kam! Good work! Looks like a great time.

Envisioning your stove shenanigans is highly amusing, as well. Heh.

Nice pics, looks like fun.  The lack of snow is appalling :'(

Here's one more, looking up at the crux of the climb. This is taken from the ridge above the Wy'east face. You weave through snow/ice between the cliffs to gain the summit.

Note to TAYers: Instagram does a great job of resizing photos in a way that this site will accept!

Reply to this TR

12648
memorial-day-wy-east-solo
kamtron
2015-05-27 08:33:43