April 9, 2016, Mt. Hood, Leuthold Couloir

Went up Leuthold on Saturday. Left Timberline at 4am. Got to Illumination Saddle at 6 am. Skied down onto the Reid Glacier. Roped up below the Bergschrund. Keep your skis on as long as you can, as the Glacier had a 160 pound crust on top of a lot of warm unconsolidated snow. My skinny friend stayed on top. I was crotch deep. There hadn't been much refreeze this past week. The Bergschrund is partially open, but there is a solid now bridge to the climbers right. The route is fairly obvious.

Once in the couloir, the snow firmed up nicely. We unroped above the bergschrund. We experienced a cascade of bb sized ice as we climbed through the Hourglass. My partner took a baseball ball sized piece of ice to his knee without injury. Other than that, no ice fall. We made it to Queens Chair a little after 8, took a break, and arrived on the Summit a little after 9am.

We skied the Old Chute a little before 10am. The snow was still firm, but softening quickly. We skied to the Hogback. In retrospect, I wish we had skied the West Crater Rim. That east facing aspect had better snow earlier. Nice corn snow from Illumination Saddle on down, with the typical slop around Timberline lodge.

I think we were the only ones on the route that day. First time on the route and I really enjoyed it. Most sustained steepness compared to the South Side, but not any more technical other than the short, fairly obvious glacier crossing.