Hood before the snow flies
Our friend Doug was back up on the north side of Mount Hood yesterday. Doug's our go-to guy on all mountaineering questions (which we ask only occasionally, and from the comfort of our armchair), and he gave us some good inside stuff last December when the three guys were busy dying up on that part of the mountain.
He sends along this photo from yesterday's visit:
Doug opined that the glacier has retreated quite a bit over the last decade. As for the lost climbers, he notes, "[T]hey went up the glacier and then climbed the north face direct on snow and ice over what is now the nearly vertical rock bands. There were 50+ searchers up there last week looking for them, but no luck. We actually didn’t go all the way to the upper edge of the glacier, but that’s likely where they’ll be found (if at all)."
| Posted at 2:20 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (3)
Nice picture, was it taken from the Cooper Spur Trail?
Posted by Charlie | September 17, 2007 8:30 AM
I am not the expert here, but I thought Cooper Spur was coming in from the left side of the photo, not the foreground.
Posted by Jack Bog | September 17, 2007 5:58 PM
The photo was taken from the minor trail that runs up the ridge due east of the Eliot Glacier. Climbers use it to access the glacier for ice climbing in the crevases (there were around 25 folks climbing both days this past weekend). Cooper Spur is the ridge on the east (left) skyline. Although it is possible to atain the spur and related trail from this ridge by scrambling up scree and dust, the Cooper Spur trail is the easier, softer way for most hikers. From a point about 1 mile east of Cloud Cap on the Timberline Trail, it ascends the mountain past a stone hut to so-called "Tie In Rock" at 8,500'. It's a lot of work, but the view is fantastic. Late summer-early fall is a great time to be on the mountain so long as the weather holds . . .
Posted by Doug | September 17, 2007 6:46 PM