Mt Hood

[nyker]

Has anyone climbed Mt Hood solo in the late Spring/early Summer?

I know on the north side and the other flanks there are quite a few heavily crevassed areas, though the "Main" route from the lodge seems to have less complicated terrain aside from the Bergshrund -

For those who have climbed it (solo or not), are there meaningful crevasses requiring roped team ascents as on Rainier or Baker or is the terrain fairly straightforwarrd, albeit steep and doable solo?

[MountainHiker]

The standard Old Chute / Pearly Gates does not have the crevasse risk of Rainier. The Bergschrund is for real and is on the Pearly Gates route, but is bypassed on the Old Chute. (for us that year) There are other hazards like the fumaroles but those are below and where you might tumble if you fell. Speaking of falling, I found Hood to be steeper up high with more no-fall reality than Rainier. How precarious it will feel will depend on the snow. For us on the way up it was very frozen and a slip would have been real bad. On the way down the snow had softened so didn't feel as sketchy. We were not roped. Some teams were and also set pro. Partly it depends on route variation. Being roped on Hood famously can mean one person falling might gather up multiple rope teams on their way down with really bad results. Hood can also have avalanche risk after a storm. Here are my Hood albums on FaceBook.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id ... 788&type=3

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id ... 788&type=3

[Emily]

Hey Rob, I was just up on Hood last week. There are no crevasses to worry about on the standard route, and we pretty much just stepped over the left side of the bergschrund before heading up towards Pearly Gates. The terrain above this was a steep and icy no-fall zone but we climbed it unroped as did a number of other people. Some guided groups had fixed lines in place. I think Hood has gotten more snow in the past week so not sure if conditions are the same now....

[tlongpine]

There's one significant crevasse (the Bergshrund) that opens above the Hogback on the Pearly Gates route. It's usually easily negotiable this time of year.

If the Bergshrund not negotiable, a climber can simply traverse climber's left, being careful to remain above the crater to avoid the possibility being overwhelmed by venting gasses, and summit via the Old Chute Route. I climbed w/o a rope team and did not feel unsafe, however, at least three rope teams were present. Indeed, Old chute is steep, and a slide would be problematic b/c the runout leads directly into the crater.

Trip report: https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepo ... m=tripmine

[letourneau41]

When we climbed Hood in June of 2015 we did not experience any significant crevasses other than the Bergshrund. We took the standard route but ended up climbing the Mazamas chute instead of the Old Chute. We had brought ropes but decided to go unroped as mentioned above if one climber above falls it would certainly take down a group if he got tangled in the ropes. Below is a link to the video of our climb for perspective. I would suggest getting an early start on summit day to get ahead of the guided groups. I felt there were several very inexperienced climbers that were being guided up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1E0n65gKMc

[tlongpine]

When we climbed Hood in June of 2015 we did not experience any significant crevasses other than the Bergshrund. We took the standard route but ended up climbing the Mazamas chute instead of the Old Chute. We had brought ropes but decided to go unroped as mentioned above if one climber above falls it would certainly take down a group if he got tangled in the ropes. Below is a link to the video of our climb for perspective. I would suggest getting an early start on summit day to get ahead of the guided groups. I felt there were several very inexperienced climbers that were being guided up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1E0n65gKMc

#rcjh

[ChrisinAZ]

I climbed Hood solo in early May last year, and found it to be basically ideal conditions. The bergschrund was nowhere to be seen, and it was possible to just waltz right up the Hogsback and up the Pearly Gates. I'm a huge weenie on steep snow, and the ONLY part that I was somewhat freaked out on was the 50-100' of going up the steep, icy choke point in the Pearly Gates. I was lucky enough to have two weeks to "camp out" and wait for an ideal weather day, but the Weather Gods smiled upon me and that day ended up being the first one the trip I was in the area!

Climb it two months later, and you will be looking at an open 'schrund, possibly far icier conditions overall, and much more danger.

[nyker]

Thanks everyone, this is all helpful information. I'm going to study the route more and follow the weather and somewhat play it by ear.
The icy "chute" looking section up through the pearly gates looks very steep - would you say this exceeds 50 degrees? I don't imagine that section sees much sun so probably is prone to icing up?

[ChrisinAZ]

Thanks everyone, this is all helpful information. I'm going to study the route more and follow the weather and somewhat play it by ear.
The icy "chute" looking section up through the pearly gates looks very steep - would you say this exceeds 50 degrees? I don't imagine that section sees much sun so probably is prone to icing up?

That section was moderately icy (and the only icy part of the route for me). It's definitely not 50 degrees, probably more somewhere in the realm of 40, and likely varies a bit with conditions.

[nyker]

Thanks Chris,

...also your comment "Climb it two months later, and you will be looking at an open 'schrund, possibly far icier conditions overall, and much more danger." was also on my mind as timing would possibly be good in the next two weeks

[alpha]

I would highly suggest climbing UNROPED, particularly during popular times when newbies are being guided up on ropes. Research some of the incidents on that mountain of you want background.

[MountainHiker]

I was lucky enough to have two weeks to "camp out" and wait for an ideal weather day, but the Weather Gods smiled upon me and that day ended up being the first one the trip I was in the area!

This is big. We didn't get Hood on our first two attempts because of weather and conditions. So for our third attempt instead of booking everything in advance, we waited for a weather window and did a short notice trip - flew to Portland on a Friday afternoon - drove up to Timberline - started the climb just after midnight - got back down early Sat afternoon - drove back to Portland - short night in airport hotel - dreadfully early flight back to Denver Sunday morning.