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[pct-l] MT Hood and North - LOCAL????



Respectfully, I must disagree regarding ropes. One can climb safely at least
as far as the top of the ski lift without roping up. Above that point, there
are several crevasses on the glacier, many hidden under snow. Both the
Mazamas and Ptarmigans mountainieering groups routine rope up from there on
up. Falling through a snow bridge into a crevasse - visible or hidden
beforehand - can be life-threatening. Being on a rope team can prevent a
sudden stop against solid ice, and you're most unlikely to get out of the
crevass alone without rope. That rope is useless if it is still coiled in
the rope bag on your pack, down in the crevass with you.

Err on the side of caution:
Rope up in 3 or 4 man teams.
Never climb alone
Sign the climbers' ledger in the lodge when you leave & return.
Record the posted compass bearing back to the lodge. White-outs happen and
following the natural fall of the slope will take you AWAY from the lodge
and into a deep side canyon.
Rent a transponder at Timberline Lodge and carry it up with you so SAR teams
can find you if the worst happens.

Wandering Bob


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "dude" <dude@fastmail.ca>
To: <trackus@teleport.com>
Cc: <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Saturday, July 17, 2004 1:02 PM
Subject: RE: [pct-l] MT Hood and North - LOCAL????


> Although I would agree entirely that Mt Hood is a mountain that
> deserves and requires enormous respect and good mountaineering skills,
> I would not say that rope is essential, or at least it would not
> *require* roping up with a team (you may want to carry rope as a
> precaution).
>
> I was just skiing on Mt. Hood on July 10th (one week ago), and there
> were hundreds of climbers making the ascent to the summit.  I stopped
> and spoke with some of them at Timberline Lodge for a few minutes.
> None of them roped up, but they all wore crampons (and obviously
> carried an ice axe).
>
> There is a sign in the parking lot of Timberline lodge that directs
> climbers to a trail that starts the climb.  Once you hit about 8000'
> you will be on snow and then glacier firther up the hill.  Although
> there is not a "trail", per se, I cannot immagine that there would not
> be a very pronounced rut in the snow where the hundreds of climbers
> trek up the hill single file.  I have not actually summited Mt. Hood,
> but I saw the line of climbers from the top of the chair lifts and
> cannot see how this could not be the case.
>
> I did also learn from discussing with the climbers at Timberline Lodge
> that there is a significant bergschrund that takes some mountaineering
> skills to negotiate, but they didnt use any ropes and instead just
> hiked around to the edge where there was a snow bridge.
>