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Trip Report    

Mount Hood/South Side

Up and down the Old Chute.

  • Wed, May 15, 2024
  • Mount Hood/South Side
  • Climbing
  • Successful
  • Road suitable for all vehicles
    • We took the high route above the Hot Rocks (going up the Hogsback to the bergschrund then cutting across to Old Chute) on our ascent. It's a perfectly suitable and sometimes preferable alternative to the low route, but the boot pack had been wiped out by a recent avalanche. Given the slope angle and poor runout, we took the low route on our descent.
    • There was some icefall from other parties climbing above us on the Old Chute (I took a baseball-sized chunk to the helmet); this is not an uncommon occurrence, and it might be more prudent to take one of the other routes up from Devil's Kitchen if you see a lot of parties on one of the routes (which is why we took Old Chute).
    • The snow was hard and crusty almost the entire route after a heatwave earlier in the week and a subsequent refreeze.

Alpine-ish start at 3:30 am. There was a heatwave earlier in the week that refroze and made for crunchy and hard snow almost straight from the parking lot. We stopped at the top of the Palmer ski lift (about 2 miles and a little over 2k) for some snacks, layer adjustments, and to put on crampons. This is a great spot to have a first break as it's protected from the wind, and although I didn't notice if there was one or not this time around, there was a porta potty here the last time I climbed Mt Hood.  (If not climbing under the Palmer chairlift, which we weren't, it's about a quarter-mile detour to the left from the tracks you're probably following.)

From there the route gradually got steeper until Devil's Kitchen, where we were greeted with stunning views of the multiple features and southside routes up Mt Hood, but also the rotten egg stench coming from the fumaroles. There were also great views of Mt Jefferson and the Three Sisters. This was another great place to stop as we were again protected by wind. We made layer adjustments, grabbed some snacks and water, took photos, and chatted with other groups before continuing on to the business end of the climb.

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Devil's Kitchen with Pearly Gates to the left and One o'Clock and Old Chute to the very left

There were a few parties of 6+ people heading up One o'clock couloir and no one that we could see heading up Old Chute. We decided to take the high route above Hot Rocks as there was a guided party moving slowly through the low route and we wanted to avoid getting hit by their icefall as they moved up the route. Up close we were able to see that the boot pack that was normally there had been taken out by an avalanche probably from the warming snow earlier in the week. It was not the most comfortable traverse, and we opted for the low route on the way back. 

Lots of little bits of ice were pelting us from one of the parties climbing up One o' Clock Couloir; I had a baseball-sized chunk hit my helmet as I was fortunately looking down. The climb up Old Chute was relatively steep and the snow was pretty hard. Once atop Old Chute we took the airy catwalk before hitting the summit.

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Catwalk from one angle. There's a significant (100s of feet) drop on either side.

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Rainier and Adams from the summit


After some summit photos we retraced our steps back to Old Chute.

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Me on the summit with Mt Jefferson and the three sisters behind me.

We downclimbed facing in for a bit.

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Looking down Old Chute. Sorry; can't get the photo to orient the correct way!

.We made quick work of the rest of the climb plunge stepping down from Devil's Kitchen save for the moment when the mountain blew my lucky hat off my head. After a 20+ minute detour (we had no idea whether I'd actually find it or not given how far and fast it had blown), we were back on our way and shortly at the parking lot. It was again one of those climbs were I was reminded of how convenient it would have been to have been on skis or a snowboard for most of the descent, especially given that 2,500+ feet of climb is on groomed ski runs. We were glad to get off the mountain when we did because some nasty un-forcasted weather hit soon thereafter. 5 hours and 20 minutes of moving time.

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Glad I'm not on the summit then!

 

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Yeah, those clouds were really ripping through quickly.
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