Susie and I have been on multiple climbs with Steve. He is a superb leader with great organizational skills. I would highly recommend all climbers, especially those new to the Chemeketans, to sign up for one of his climbs. I guarantee you will have a great time and learn a ton about alpine climbing.

Dan Sewell

Some precipitation had fallen during the week, but a solid high pressure system insured clear skies and the warmest weather of the year. I was concerned about the avalanche potential since there had been some wet weather during the week and I feared a layer of unconsolidated snow on top of an ice layer. We would assess the risk once on the hogsback.

We were up and moving at 11:45 p.m. We quickly readied ourselves, drove to Timberline, distributed gear and were climbing by 12:40 a.m.

The snow was firm but not icy and we chose to put our crampons on immediately. The weather was warm … I climbed without gloves for at least an hour. The half moon was hidden behind the horizon making the mountain very dark, save for the lights of other climbers and the snow cats. Our pace was comfortable and we exceeded a thousand feet an hour (including rest breaks) to the hogsback.

I was pleased to see how well consolidated the snow was above the Palmer Chair Lift, since this relieved my concerns of avalanche. However, as we rounded Crater Rock we could hear the occasional rain of ice chunks coming off the Steele Cliffs to our right.

We reached the hogsback at dawn where the five of us roped up together on a single 60m rope. We chose to lighten our loads by leaving a pack containing our unnecessary items before tackling the steeper slopes above.

We would later learn from Dan, back at Mazama Lodge, that a woman on his Mazama climb team had been hit in the knee with a piece of ice and was unable to weight the leg. This happened in the dark, just before dawn, presumably as they ascended the east facing slope of the western part of the crater. No one saw the size of the ice chunk. They immediately chose to abort their climb and set about the chore of getting her down the mountain. One member of their team had a crampon failure and was climbing with a single crampon. He fell causing other team members to fall, including Dan and the climb leader. The climb leader accidentally punctured the victim’s other leg with his crampon. Dan said he slid about 100 feet while trying to get purchase with his ice ax.

We did observe small chunks of ice fall randomly from the upper mountain as we ascended to the remnants of the traverse boot pack. Climbers were in the Old Chute as we neared what I will call the “corner” where the traverse ends and the moderately steep snow face of the Old Chute begins. There was considerable ice raining down the Old Chute presumably from the climbers above us. I recognized this as a significant hazard and opted to group us together so that we could quickly scamper the 30 yards to the opposite side of the danger zone. We traversed further west in an effort to distance ourselves from the Old Chute’s fall line. Unfortunately for us, a group of three climbers above us chose to forge a new path to the summit ridge to the west of the Old Chute, presumably to avoid the ice fall caused by the team currently occupying the Old Chute. As they broke trail they knocked down small chunks of ice. We would have had clear sailing for much of the ascent had they followed the rising traverse into the Old Chute. The previous climb teams had established a well defined boot back up the Old Chute to the top of the ridge. Feeling comfortable and secure on the 45 degree snow with no other climbers above us, I chose not to place any pickets in the chute. I placed a single picket at the start of what I call the “catwalk” and all team members handled the exposure here with no issues … we were prepared for a more daunting experience. Once across the catwalk we unroped and began our jubilant stroll along the broad ridge line to the summit.

We arrived at the summit about 7 a.m. where we enjoyed unlimited visibility and pleasantly calm weather. After about 30 minutes on the summit we started back down.

Assistant leader, Jon Ellis, led the way down. We carried coils allowing about 15 feet between us. The nice boot pack made the going easy. We retraced our route back to the hogsback. Once on the hogsback we observed an impressive barrage of ice chunks rain down across the traverse we had just taken. The ice chunks ranged in size from quite small up to baseball size and possibly larger.

We enjoyed a relaxing 30 minute break on the hogsback before embarking on the long slog back to Timberline Lodge. Our team managed the moderately steep snow in great form thanks to previous participation in the Eliot Glacier Ice School.

Team members were Steve Dougherty (leader), Jon Ellis (assistant), Dan Sewell, Susie Callahan, and Matt Betts.