April 30 - May 2, 2016, Mt. Hood, Mt. Rainier
4/30/16
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
3353
2
As I live the Yak ski partner struggle, I imported Canadians and Swedes for a good long weekend of Volcano Skiing.
Skied Mt. Hood on the 30th. Started from the lot at 7 am and passed many groups near the Crater. Ascending using ski crampons to the Hogsback made for quick vert. We went up the Pearly Gates and down the Old Chute. The Old Chute (I think) has a wind feature in the center which makes it difficult to make turns for the first 15 ft. After that there was some nice dust on crust and even small packets of powder until hitting the corn farm down the Palmer snowfield.
Went up to Camp Muir on the 1st. Witnessed somewhere close to 20-30 people descend the finger. Around 150-200 people were milling around on the Muir. A group from Sacramento who had summited earlier in the day gave us some good beta on descending the Emmons.
Started climbing at 2:30am on the 2nd. A group of two had started up the DC in front of us probably around 1am. An easy to follow boot highway led us onto the cleaver. The Ingraham Direct appears to now be impassable or at least very difficult. I never got a good view of it however so I can not say for certain. The lower Cleaver and upper Cathedral Gap is mostly unskiable with large Penitentes. Only two Crevasse crossings of note, fairly easy. Lots of weaving up to the rim. I started dragging the group above the cleaver due to a poor sleep and what I suspect was a small amount of altitude sickness. We stopped at the rim and transitioned quickly around 8:30am due to the sudden appearance of thick low clouds (they would dissipate but we had the fear of a crappy low vis ski). Snow conditions were fairly poor from the summit down to around 12k with hard wind features and the occasional soft pocket of snow. Loosely followed the ascent route until around 12,800-13,000 at which point we traversed into the Emmons bowl. The Sacramento group had navigated a good route through the three(?) notable bridge crossings. The large crevasses near 11,200-11,500 will probably be the first crossings to become impassible, however it should be easy to get a good view of that crossing from the cleaver. Awesome skiing down to a low col at 10k. Quick pack up at Muir and a fabulous decent (10:30am) back down to the car.
Skied Mt. Hood on the 30th. Started from the lot at 7 am and passed many groups near the Crater. Ascending using ski crampons to the Hogsback made for quick vert. We went up the Pearly Gates and down the Old Chute. The Old Chute (I think) has a wind feature in the center which makes it difficult to make turns for the first 15 ft. After that there was some nice dust on crust and even small packets of powder until hitting the corn farm down the Palmer snowfield.
Went up to Camp Muir on the 1st. Witnessed somewhere close to 20-30 people descend the finger. Around 150-200 people were milling around on the Muir. A group from Sacramento who had summited earlier in the day gave us some good beta on descending the Emmons.
Started climbing at 2:30am on the 2nd. A group of two had started up the DC in front of us probably around 1am. An easy to follow boot highway led us onto the cleaver. The Ingraham Direct appears to now be impassable or at least very difficult. I never got a good view of it however so I can not say for certain. The lower Cleaver and upper Cathedral Gap is mostly unskiable with large Penitentes. Only two Crevasse crossings of note, fairly easy. Lots of weaving up to the rim. I started dragging the group above the cleaver due to a poor sleep and what I suspect was a small amount of altitude sickness. We stopped at the rim and transitioned quickly around 8:30am due to the sudden appearance of thick low clouds (they would dissipate but we had the fear of a crappy low vis ski). Snow conditions were fairly poor from the summit down to around 12k with hard wind features and the occasional soft pocket of snow. Loosely followed the ascent route until around 12,800-13,000 at which point we traversed into the Emmons bowl. The Sacramento group had navigated a good route through the three(?) notable bridge crossings. The large crevasses near 11,200-11,500 will probably be the first crossings to become impassible, however it should be easy to get a good view of that crossing from the cleaver. Awesome skiing down to a low col at 10k. Quick pack up at Muir and a fabulous decent (10:30am) back down to the car.
Nice. How were the gates?
Well considering there were a lot of people who appeared to be using crampons for the first time I would say not that difficult. Around 15 steps on all fours with crampons and axe. There is a nice trough at the base to provide some added comfort.
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