March 31, 2017, Mt. Hood, South Side

Climbed hood via Reid Headwall today. Left skis at Illumination Saddle. My ski out wasn't too amazing, but here are a couple things that I did observe from my descent via the old chute. At around noon the snow was soft from the summit ridge down. Not rimed or iced up. And it wasn't even a bowling alley. No ice was falling at all. The snow seemed stable, or boots penetrated about a foot to firmer snow underneath. The skiers right side of crater rock seems to ski better than left over hogsback. Again snow seemed stable from my observations as I plunged down. Illumination Rock down the ZigZag was nice buttery snow. Cutting back to Palmer as usual involved some ice, but nothing too chunky or slick.

If you've ever wanted to drop in from the summit ridge instead of the usual hogsback, it might be the right time to do it...except everything will probably be different by the time you read this. Oh well. The climbing on the west side of the mountain was great too.