SummitPost.org

LINK:

http://www.nwcn.com/news/Climber-dies-a ... 77274.html

Very sad news. My condolences to all.

I don't know if it's just the media playing it up - but it seems like every year there are more and more climbers who go missing or end up dying on Mt. Hood than any other mountain.

Very sad indeed. RIP.

The Cooper Spur approach leads to the Coe Glacier headwall which is rated as a Class 3 climb, with slopes of 60 to 65 degrees.

Holy crap!

The route is GRADE III not Class 3

Trip report with some photos:

http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthr ... ber=704032

The weather has been dangerous for spring climbing in the Pacific Northwest this year. We had lots of snow and cold in November and early December, and then it was mild up until about April. Since April we have had very heavy snow and colder weather. Now we have been having one or two warm and sunny days follwed by several days of colder wetter weather. This is likely creating horrible rock/ icefall conditions and avalanches. There have been numerous incidents in the last couple weeks on Rainier, Shasta, and Hood. There was something like five rescues on Shasta in one day last week. The reports on Shasta stated that the conditions near summit were extremely icy and windy, knocking climbers off the mountain. Mount Hood has recieved eight inches of new snow the past 24 hrs. This has been an strange weather pattern. We had El Nino conditions through the winter which rapidly dissipated in April. Since April we have basically plunged back into a late winter or early spring weather pattern.

Fred Spicker wrote:The route is GRADE III not Class 3

Trip report with some photos:

http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthr ... ber=704032

Impressive climb, nice job.

Bombchaser wrote:The weather has been dangerous for spring climbing in the Pacific Northwest this year. We had lots of snow and cold in November and early December, and then it was mild up until about April. Since April we have had very heavy snow and colder weather. Now we have been having one or two warm and sunny days follwed by several days of colder wetter weather. This is likely creating horrible rock/ icefall conditions and avalanches. There have been numerous incidents in the last couple weeks on Rainier, Shasta, and Hood. There was something like five rescues on Shasta in one day last week. The reports on Shasta stated that the conditions near summit were extremely icy and windy, knocking climbers off the mountain. Mount Hood has recieved eight inches of new snow the past 24 hrs. This has been an strange weather pattern. We had El Nino conditions through the winter which rapidly dissipated in April. Since April we have basically plunged back into a late winter or early spring weather pattern.

It's gotta be AGW!

Man that's sad news. Good reminder that anything can happen even on a highly populated mountain.

An article in the Oregonian today--apparently not available on the internet--reported that the climber who fell was in a party of three who were on skis. The article also stated that there were other climbers on skis in the area who saw the fall and went to the aid of the fallen climber. Saturday was quite warm and then it got cold again and snowed. The surface could have been very slick. Not something I would care to ski across.

NOT the conditions I would choose to ski in.

Then again .. I'm NOT a skier.