I did this late in a season and had to change rout at the hogs back. It was very soft and slushy snow, so extra caution was needed. Also, the rock fall was bad.
We had an *AMAZING* time climbing the Old Chute variation. My partner was rightfully conservative on his way up, but he reached the summit of his first 10k+ Cascade volcano. I felt right at ease the entire time, and I loved the exposure at the top. The walk to the true summit was easy.
Midnight start in the moonlight. Sunrise from the summit. Perfect weather. Stinky fumeroles. Awesome friends.
Vinny - Jul 2, 2009 7:11 pm Date Climbed: Jun 29, 2009
ski descent
Started late and finished early to let snow soften for the boards. I downclimbed first pitch- watched Oyvind and Dave rip it up.
Lots of people en route. Good times after the MRA conference
scottmitch - Jun 30, 2009 3:33 pm Date Climbed: Jun 26, 2009
Old Chute
Fun climb nice views.
sourstraw - Jun 30, 2009 1:31 pm Date Climbed: Jun 29, 2009
old chutes
Great climb in perfect weather. Climbed with my cousin ... brought rope, but didn't end up using it, as we felt more comfortable unroped. This was my first time on Hood ... we accidentaly missed the popular trail in the dark (Sunday night - only a few other climbers on the mountain, and most were below us), and ended up climbing over the Bergschrund on the Hogsback, and then having to traverse across the steep face to access the old summit chutes. Added for a bit of excitement, which we needed after climbing up the deathly boring ski slope! Great climb - sunrise was incredible, with an INCREDIBLE shadow of Mt. Hood cast upon the valley below!
gcap - Jun 29, 2009 12:17 pm Date Climbed: Jun 20, 2009
old chute
Late start, planned on just making the crater. Got to crater quickly, snow still solid, made summit. stuff started melting out on descent. Car-to-Car (timberline parking) in 5.5 hours. Great weather, great day.
damgaard - Jun 19, 2009 12:27 pm Date Climbed: Jun 8, 2009
Old Chute
3,5 hours from Timberline up and 2 hours down. Weather was superb, sunny and no wind, and clouds only up to Timberline, so only Adams and the rest of the volcanoes were visible. Soloed old chute, where there were nice steps. Started at 2 am.
dirth - Jun 9, 2009 4:20 pm Date Climbed: May 30, 2009
Lazy Route
I took Timberline extending my spring pass for a few weeks to be a sign that I was meant to ride lifts up to 8600 feet... Summited around 11:30 and snowboarded down the west face of the crater. Really fun trip.
bighornmonkey - Jun 1, 2009 2:35 am Date Climbed: May 30, 2009
Pearly Gates
Climbed a variation of the Hogsback route through the Pearly Gates. It involved 1 pitch of AI2. Well worth doing to avoid the Saturday crowd.
gwave47 - May 30, 2009 9:59 pm Date Climbed: May 30, 2009
Great Snow
Great Snow... good bit of traffic, but still very enjoyable.
Bruce Christensen - May 29, 2009 12:42 pm Date Climbed: May 28, 2009
Hogsback crawling with ants
Summitted yesterday a bit before 5:30 a.m. on the SS Hogsback route. We were the first ones up there, other than a solo climber. Definitely not the last, though—we counted 75 people at one point!
Most people were taking the main Old Chute route. We headed left from the Hogsback and hugged the cliffs, taking the 2 o'clock (first, climber's rightmost) couloir to the summit ridge. I probably wouldn't recommend that, though, due to risk of ice/rockfall.
Not much ice was falling when we went up, other than small, harmless crystals, but we were up there early. We crossed a couple places were there was a constant flow of small ice crystals coming down.
Safest route right now is to head left (west) immediately after reaching the top of the Hogsback, then cross the bare rock near the fumaroles, then up the Old Chute. That will keep you out of the way of most ice/rockfall.
junoiceclimber - May 19, 2009 12:06 pm Date Climbed: May 18, 2009
1, 2, 3... Stay on your feet
Three people were injured and two took major slides on consecutive days on this weekend. Two of the three made the paper as airlift rescues and the last one walked away from the Hogsback under his own power.
One person was hit by falling ice suffered substantial leg injuries rendering her incapable of walking away from the Cathedral Rock area. Another guy slipped, shot 500 ft out of the Devil's Kitchen, and sustained serious facial, wrist, and leg injuries. Lastly a climber, just five minutes behind me was knocked off his feet by a careening dinner plate and slid, unharmed, 200 ft back down to the start of the Hogsback. Witnessing this incident occur, 14 climbers turned around to descend.
Without knowing that such drama was happening, I witnessed an ice wheel go zinging down the mountain just meters away, and then, seconds later, took a baseball size chunk of ice in the chin and mouth, thinking it broke several of my front teeth. I (literally) poured on the speed to get up and out of the gully to reach the safety of the summit ridge.
The summit was amazing, not a cloud in the sky. All the big Cascades were visible, including Shasta!! To top it all off, I had good cell coverage and called my wife back in Juneau with a wake up call.
On the descent, I moved quick to get down without incident. I descended the Old Chute in a face first clipity clop and literally ran the traverse to reach the Hogsback without incident.
oso1212 - May 18, 2009 5:34 pm Date Climbed: May 17, 2009
Sandy Glacier Headwall
We started at 2:00am from Illumination Saddle and descended Reid Glacier then up and over Yokum at around 7800 ft. Went up the headwall while attempting to dodge ice and summited around 10am.
bfrench - Apr 28, 2009 12:23 am Date Climbed: May 25, 2007
Birthday Solo
Climbed solo on my birthday. 2 hours 15 minutes from Timberline. Skied old chute and made it to Seattle by noon.
EastKing - Apr 25, 2009 2:33 am Date Climbed: May 29, 2009
Hogsback-Old Chute
Done deal. But I will go back many more times. What a beautiful climb! See both on April and May TR's
bruceg - Apr 24, 2009 8:13 pm Date Climbed: Jun 16, 1997
South Side
Climbed with Timberline Mountain Guides. Summited at 6 am in a cloudbank. I have heard that the view is great.
Craig and Greg and I set out at 10pm and made it to the Hogsback by 4am. Craig having been on the summit twice was fully prepared to continue on. Greg and I dizzy from altitude sickness and sulfur dioxide fumes decided to turn around. I thought we could probably make it up the chute in our condition but it would have been an unnecessary risk coming down.
UPDATE: My second attempt was successful via the Leuthold Couloir, December 4th, 2011
Very nice conditions (clear, warm, mild wind an not as crowded as other times I've been). The Pearly Gats are still iced up; the Old Chute route that is stomped out went a little bit West of where I remember, making a bit of an exposed stretch to the true summit. The (half) moon when it first rose was so orange, it looked like mars.
Hotoven - Jul 21, 2009 9:38 pm Date Climbed: Jul 19, 2009
Hard climbI did this late in a season and had to change rout at the hogs back. It was very soft and slushy snow, so extra caution was needed. Also, the rock fall was bad.
Cascade Scrambler - Jul 20, 2009 10:02 pm Date Climbed: Jul 19, 2009
Fun in the Old ChuteWe had an *AMAZING* time climbing the Old Chute variation. My partner was rightfully conservative on his way up, but he reached the summit of his first 10k+ Cascade volcano. I felt right at ease the entire time, and I loved the exposure at the top. The walk to the true summit was easy.
chilkoot - Jul 12, 2009 7:06 pm Date Climbed: Jul 5, 2009
SolitutdeWe had great weather and snow conditions with very few other other climbers and had the entire summit ridge to ourselves.
Jakester - Jul 6, 2009 12:50 pm Date Climbed: Jul 4, 2009
Independence DayMidnight start in the moonlight. Sunrise from the summit. Perfect weather. Stinky fumeroles. Awesome friends.
Vinny - Jul 2, 2009 7:11 pm Date Climbed: Jun 29, 2009
ski descentStarted late and finished early to let snow soften for the boards. I downclimbed first pitch- watched Oyvind and Dave rip it up.
Lots of people en route. Good times after the MRA conference
scottmitch - Jun 30, 2009 3:33 pm Date Climbed: Jun 26, 2009
Old ChuteFun climb nice views.
sourstraw - Jun 30, 2009 1:31 pm Date Climbed: Jun 29, 2009
old chutesGreat climb in perfect weather. Climbed with my cousin ... brought rope, but didn't end up using it, as we felt more comfortable unroped. This was my first time on Hood ... we accidentaly missed the popular trail in the dark (Sunday night - only a few other climbers on the mountain, and most were below us), and ended up climbing over the Bergschrund on the Hogsback, and then having to traverse across the steep face to access the old summit chutes. Added for a bit of excitement, which we needed after climbing up the deathly boring ski slope! Great climb - sunrise was incredible, with an INCREDIBLE shadow of Mt. Hood cast upon the valley below!
gcap - Jun 29, 2009 12:17 pm Date Climbed: Jun 20, 2009
old chuteLate start, planned on just making the crater. Got to crater quickly, snow still solid, made summit. stuff started melting out on descent. Car-to-Car (timberline parking) in 5.5 hours. Great weather, great day.
damgaard - Jun 19, 2009 12:27 pm Date Climbed: Jun 8, 2009
Old Chute3,5 hours from Timberline up and 2 hours down. Weather was superb, sunny and no wind, and clouds only up to Timberline, so only Adams and the rest of the volcanoes were visible. Soloed old chute, where there were nice steps. Started at 2 am.
dirth - Jun 9, 2009 4:20 pm Date Climbed: May 30, 2009
Lazy RouteI took Timberline extending my spring pass for a few weeks to be a sign that I was meant to ride lifts up to 8600 feet... Summited around 11:30 and snowboarded down the west face of the crater. Really fun trip.
bighornmonkey - Jun 1, 2009 2:35 am Date Climbed: May 30, 2009
Pearly GatesClimbed a variation of the Hogsback route through the Pearly Gates. It involved 1 pitch of AI2. Well worth doing to avoid the Saturday crowd.
gwave47 - May 30, 2009 9:59 pm Date Climbed: May 30, 2009
Great SnowGreat Snow... good bit of traffic, but still very enjoyable.
Bruce Christensen - May 29, 2009 12:42 pm Date Climbed: May 28, 2009
Hogsback crawling with antsSummitted yesterday a bit before 5:30 a.m. on the SS Hogsback route. We were the first ones up there, other than a solo climber. Definitely not the last, though—we counted 75 people at one point!
Most people were taking the main Old Chute route. We headed left from the Hogsback and hugged the cliffs, taking the 2 o'clock (first, climber's rightmost) couloir to the summit ridge. I probably wouldn't recommend that, though, due to risk of ice/rockfall.
Not much ice was falling when we went up, other than small, harmless crystals, but we were up there early. We crossed a couple places were there was a constant flow of small ice crystals coming down.
Safest route right now is to head left (west) immediately after reaching the top of the Hogsback, then cross the bare rock near the fumaroles, then up the Old Chute. That will keep you out of the way of most ice/rockfall.
junoiceclimber - May 19, 2009 12:06 pm Date Climbed: May 18, 2009
1, 2, 3... Stay on your feetThree people were injured and two took major slides on consecutive days on this weekend. Two of the three made the paper as airlift rescues and the last one walked away from the Hogsback under his own power.
One person was hit by falling ice suffered substantial leg injuries rendering her incapable of walking away from the Cathedral Rock area. Another guy slipped, shot 500 ft out of the Devil's Kitchen, and sustained serious facial, wrist, and leg injuries. Lastly a climber, just five minutes behind me was knocked off his feet by a careening dinner plate and slid, unharmed, 200 ft back down to the start of the Hogsback. Witnessing this incident occur, 14 climbers turned around to descend.
Without knowing that such drama was happening, I witnessed an ice wheel go zinging down the mountain just meters away, and then, seconds later, took a baseball size chunk of ice in the chin and mouth, thinking it broke several of my front teeth. I (literally) poured on the speed to get up and out of the gully to reach the safety of the summit ridge.
The summit was amazing, not a cloud in the sky. All the big Cascades were visible, including Shasta!! To top it all off, I had good cell coverage and called my wife back in Juneau with a wake up call.
On the descent, I moved quick to get down without incident. I descended the Old Chute in a face first clipity clop and literally ran the traverse to reach the Hogsback without incident.
oso1212 - May 18, 2009 5:34 pm Date Climbed: May 17, 2009
Sandy Glacier HeadwallWe started at 2:00am from Illumination Saddle and descended Reid Glacier then up and over Yokum at around 7800 ft. Went up the headwall while attempting to dodge ice and summited around 10am.
bfrench - Apr 28, 2009 12:23 am Date Climbed: May 25, 2007
Birthday SoloClimbed solo on my birthday. 2 hours 15 minutes from Timberline. Skied old chute and made it to Seattle by noon.
EastKing - Apr 25, 2009 2:33 am Date Climbed: May 29, 2009
Hogsback-Old ChuteDone deal. But I will go back many more times. What a beautiful climb! See both on April and May TR's
bruceg - Apr 24, 2009 8:13 pm Date Climbed: Jun 16, 1997
South SideClimbed with Timberline Mountain Guides. Summited at 6 am in a cloudbank. I have heard that the view is great.
gimpilator - Apr 20, 2009 9:13 pm Date Climbed: Apr 20, 2009
1st AttemptCraig and Greg and I set out at 10pm and made it to the Hogsback by 4am. Craig having been on the summit twice was fully prepared to continue on. Greg and I dizzy from altitude sickness and sulfur dioxide fumes decided to turn around. I thought we could probably make it up the chute in our condition but it would have been an unnecessary risk coming down.
UPDATE: My second attempt was successful via the Leuthold Couloir, December 4th, 2011
lalpinist - Apr 20, 2009 5:37 pm Date Climbed: Apr 19, 2009
Perfect ConditionsVery nice conditions (clear, warm, mild wind an not as crowded as other times I've been). The Pearly Gats are still iced up; the Old Chute route that is stomped out went a little bit West of where I remember, making a bit of an exposed stretch to the true summit. The (half) moon when it first rose was so orange, it looked like mars.