Hogsback routeNothing better than the music of crampons crunching in perfect climbing snow. All was perfect for this climb, The snow conditions are perfect, The moon was near full, the forecast was to hold out at least half of the day. What more could I want? Hmm... maybe a partner or second tool so could summit...grrr.
I have always wanted to climb Hood but never wanted to do it during the summer. I have this fear of being taken out by human cannon balls falling off Hogsback. I figured winter (which is the best time to climb Hood shhh don’t tell)would be a great time to solo the hogsback route if conditions were right.
I started out in the wee hours of the morning. I never took my head lamp out, the moon did a great job of lighting the way. It was beautiful. The lights form all the little towns and Portland twinkled down low. The wind was dying down and the temp was 20 degrees. There was noone in sight until a couple of guys met up with me around 7000'. The views with the moon were so beautiful I had to take a break at 8000' to take it all in and have some hot coffee and a snack. I sat for 45minutes taking it all in...sooo beautiful! Around 7:30 the sun started to light the horizon. At this time I was around 9500'. I couldn’t stop taking pics.
Right around 10000' as you would start to traverse a steep slope to gain Hogsback I could see the route clearly. I watched as people where moving very slow and front pointing up the Pearly Gates. Shoot this means it is icy! Not what I wanted to see being solo with no second too. I noticed some of the climbers were on belay also. It all looked a bit sketch for me being solo.
I asked a guy coming out how it was and he said....“ bad ice, I didn’t like it” Shoot! I was hoping for different conditions. Many times the gates are filled with good snow for kicking steps and other times it is icy. Just happened it was not in my favor today. I kept climbing up to Hogsback though, just to watch and get a closer look and ask a few others what it was like. As I was traversing under Crater rock it let go of a bunch of ice the size of soccer balls and small down on me. I heard a WHAMP then WHOOSH, WHOOSH ice flying down from above! Then smack into my legs. It was only a few small pieces that hit me but the big one came within inches. I about pissed my pants.
I arrived at the ridge and the gates it looked bad IMO. 45+degree alpine ice and snow with much exposure. A fall from there would be one hell of a ride! I was not comfortable doing this without a second tool. It just didn’t feel right in my gut. I felt it was better to be safe than sorry . I can always go back and finish it off another time when conditions are more in my favor. This is all I kept telling myself. Yeah I know chicken but I would rather be cautious and come back another time. I read today on CC.com there where people turning back Friday because of the ice.
I walked the hogsback spine to the end and sat for an hour and had some breakfast. (Fighting with myself on whether to go for it or not). I watched the climbers spider their way backwards on their front points and wacking at the ice with their tools and ice axes to get a purchase down through the ice. Took pics and had breakfast. What a beautiful mountain this is in the winter.
Headed down and ran into herds of climbers. It was fun to talk to them. I was glad I didn’t summit now because there would be a huge bottle neck of climber coming up when I would be descending. I am happy I went early and missed the hoards of people. I kept checking as I was descending and it seemed as though the Gate were softening up as the day went on. Climbers were moving faster through it than they were all morning. There was a line of climbers all the way up the Hogs back and bottlenecked into the chutes. Glad I was not a part of that.
What a fun exciting climb I had even though I did not summit I still enjoyed every second of it! I will be back when the conditions are different and with a second tool!!!
I got home today and ran through the 100s of PICS on Summit post (again)of Hogsback. I is cool how the entire ridge and Pearly gates can be different from year to year in the winter. Cool!
Stats
5.5 miles rt
highest elevation 10,540'
accumulated gain 5279'
Images
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Cascade Volcanoes
