Home > Trip Reports > May 5-7, 2006, Mt Hood, circuit on skis

May 5-7, 2006, Mt Hood, circuit on skis

5/5/06
OR Mt Hood
6645
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Posted by Lowell_Skoog on 5/7/06 2:31pm


I accepted an invitation from Wenatchee friends to join them at Mt Hood this weekend.  Tom Janisch and Adam Vognild wanted to ski around the mountain, a trip that has been on my list for several years.  We took Friday off work to beat the approaching weather system.

About 5 a.m. Friday morning, we met at the Timberline parking lot, having arrived separately late the previous night.  We decided to circle the mountain clockwise, so our trip began with a bee-line ascent to Illumination Saddle (top photo).  None of us had studied the route description very much.  We enjoyed the process of route-finding on the go, based on the map and what we saw around each corner.

In the morning shadows, the Reid Glacier was frozen hard.  There were some steepish sections a few hundred feet high that required care.  We heard that a skier fell somewhere on this glacier on Saturday, perhaps following the same route we did.  The skier was rescued successfully, but the accident underscores how hazardous even moderate slopes can be when frozen.



We contoured to the Ladd Glacier without skins, removing our skis a couple times to cross minor divides.  A short ascent on skins following by more contouring brought us to Eliot Glacier.  Here we crossed from frozen west/north aspects to sun-softened east aspects.  It was not yet 10 a.m., so we decided to take a run.  The middle photos (above) show an ascent and descent of the Snow Dome between about 7300 and 9600 feet.  Superb corn snow.

Our last climb on skins took us high on Cooper Spur.  We contoured the Newton Clark Glacier and found just enough snow to descend to White River Glacier without taking our skis off.  We had a nice run down the Palmer Snowfield, completing the loop in a little over ten hours.

Saturday was windy with a mix of clouds and sun.  We climbed the standard route to the summit of Mt Hood.  The snow never softened for skiing above the Palmer lift, but the groomed runs were excellent on the way down.  On Saturday afternoon, the rest of our Wenatchee group arrived and we enjoyed a fine evening at the Silcox Hut.  What a great place!  The photos below show Tom on Eliot Glacier and the Silcox Hut interior, which feels like a Viking hall.  Sunday had fog and snow, so most of the group left early. 

(Another group of TAY'ers was scheduled to arrive at the hut right after us.  I hope you have a good one!)


That sounds like a fun trip.  Way to beat the weather!

Great report Lowell. You definitely beat the weather.

Here's an Oregonian story about the skier who was injured on Saturday.

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1147055132139340.xml&coll=7


One icy spot sends climber flying down Mount Hood

All-over bruises - Jeremy Buck is rescued near Illumination Saddle thanks to friends who were there to help
Monday, May 08, 2006
DAVID R. ANDERSON

As he cartwheeled 300 feet down Mount Hood's Reid Glacier, Jeremy Buck was amazed at the clarity of his thinking.

"As I was banging through the rocks, I knew I was in pretty big trouble," Buck said in a telephone interview from his hospital bed Sunday. "The only thing I could do was keep my skis in front of me and hope when I hit snow, it would slow me down.

"I could feel pretty much every rock and could tell nothing was broken. That feeling was actually an elation."

Buck, 41, was in Legacy Emanuel Hospital & Health Center on Sunday with banged up ribs and trauma to his lower back that could be a fracture.

"And kind of all-over body bruising," said his girlfriend, Kristi Lahusen.

The Southeast Portland man and three friends left Timberline Lodge at 5:30 a.m. Saturday to climb to the 8,000-foot level near Illumination Saddle and circumnavigate the mountain on telemark skis. It was the first time Buck had tried the route, but he has 23 years of ski-mountaineering experience and has summited Mount Hood about 12 times.

Everything was going fine Saturday until it was Buck's turn to cross a steep, icy slope on the way to Yocum Ridge.

"I hit a divot on an icy patch on a pretty steep traverse that launched me into the rocks," he said. "It happened in a split second."

By the time he stopped, he was in pain, but it was not intense. When rocks started falling nearby, he knew he had to move. With the help of two friends, he hobbled about 100 feet up the slope to a flat area.

Then Buck started to wait. It would be about 12 hours before he returned to Timberline.

Fortunately, the sun came out above the clouds to keep Buck warm. His friends put backpacks beneath him to insulate him from the snow. And Buck slept as much as he could to avoid the pain.

His friends were able to get help from a group of Portland Mountain Rescue volunteers at the top of the Palmer Glacier acting as a "ready team" on the mountain in case anyone needed help.

The rescuers got to Buck at about 1:30 p.m. and put him in a litter. They began the slow process of dragging him up about 1,200 feet to the top of Illumination Rock using a pulley system. Rescuers couldn't go down on the west side of the mountain because that would have put them in a wilderness area where roads are still clogged with snow.

Fortunately, the sun came out above the clouds to keep Buck warm. His friends put backpacks beneath him to insulate him from the snow. And Buck slept as much as he could to avoid the pain.

His friends were able to get help from a group of Portland Mountain Rescue volunteers at the top of the Palmer Glacier acting as a "ready team" on the mountain in case anyone needed help.

The rescuers got to Buck at about 1:30 p.m. and put him in a litter. They began the slow process of dragging him up about 1,200 feet to the top of Illumination Rock using a pulley system. Rescuers couldn't go down on the west side of the mountain because that would have put them in a wilderness area where roads are still clogged with snow.

It was a long way from the bottom of the canyon to the top, said Steve Rollins, president of Portland Mountain Rescue and the first rescuer on the scene.

"It's definitely one of the larger rescues we've done," Rollins said.

Then they headed down toward Timberline.

By about 8 p.m., a snow cat left Timberline to meet the group on Palmer and bring Buck back to Timberline at about 10 p.m.

Buck is thankful for his rescuers. He is hoping to make a full recovery and be back on the mountain soon.

Buck considers himself a conservative climber. This will make him even more cautious.

"It will be a lot of careful going for a while," he said. "I just need to be more focused and scout areas out better."

David R. Anderson: 503-294-5199; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.


This is sobering.

I think I know exactly where Jeremy Buck fell. I was in the lead when we crossed a short, steep slope above some rocks at the base of Yocum Ridge. It was the last obstacle before we crested the ridge and the terrain got much easier. I had a Whippet in my uphill hand and a Ramer/Life-Link grip in my downhill hand. The slope was hard frozen with a minor runnel to cross. I remember calling out a warning over my shoulder after crossing it. Tom and Adam did not have self-arrest grips. I was glad I didn't have to test mine there. We all agreed that it was sketchy. We were on alpine touring gear, but I was skiing in mountain boots.

In a way, it was a classic psychological trap, because the slope was not very wide and it was clear that things got easier on the other side. It was a sucker slope. It would have been safer to remove the skis and cross with crampons and ice axe.

I'm glad to hear that Jeremy Buck will be okay. Be careful out there.

Thanks for the commentary Lowell. Jermey Buck and his girlfriend Kristi I met on a Mt Bailey hut trip in 2005. Kristi organized the trip, and is a friend of Aaron's. They are very nice and friendly people. I wish Jermey a speedy recovery. And kudos to the PMR gang for their rescue efforts.


Thanks for the great trip report.  The circumnavigation has been on my list for awhile. Your description of the short, steep, icy traverse rekindles recent memories of similar slopes. Jeremy's comment of "it happened in a split second" is what separates a smile from a tear.

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2006-05-07 21:31:12