News From the Hood!

We've been having a great season here up on Mount Hood.  Despite some days with an ominous forecast we've still had tons of successful climbs with sweeping views from Mount Rainier to the North and the Three Sisters to the South.  We're still enjoying the record snowfall year we had in the Oregon Cascades with tremendous summer ski mountaineering. For some reason it's really hard to get tired of skiing when the snow is this good!  Right now we're seeing great conditions with cold weather and firm snow. All the main variations on the southside are in great shape, although somewhat steeper.

Climbing the Wy'East with some great alpineglow.



Johnnymtguide.com and his crew on the summit.




Enjoying great snow high above the clouds.











Sun and Bolts at Smith Rock State Park

We've been having a great winter rock season this year here at Smith Rock.  Many people visit the Central Oregon area in the summer when temps at Smith can soar into the upper 80's and 90's.  For the rock enthusiast, mid-winter can be a great time to climb at Smith Rock State Park on clear days. In fact, most of the locals prefer to climb in the winter at the park. Down in the canyon, temperatures can often be twenty to thirty degrees warmer than in the nearby town of Redmond, providing surprising relief from what felt like winter just a few hours ago.
This week I was lucky enough to share some of that great Smith mid-weather with Stuart and Tanya who decided to take a leap from the gear plugging climbing they are used to on the quartzite cliffs of the Gunks, to the bolt clipping face climbing of Smith's welded tuff.  We had a great day sampling some of the areas classics and basking in the sun- we even had to break out the sunscreen!

Tanya enjoying the sun and face climbing.

Stuart getting some mock leading in.

Sun and bolts on Smith Rocks Morning Glory Wall.

Juneuary with Timberline Mountain Guides

January in June? Juneuary!

We've been having fun with Juneuary here in the Oregon Cascades the past couple weeks. Mount Hood still looks like a winter wonderland with the upper portions still caked in rime ice. We have had some windows of good climbing and have made the most of the opportunities that we've had.

Practicing self-arrest in the soup.

One of the unique things about Oregon is that we have many different climates within a relatively short drive. That means that sometimes when it's full on conditions on Mount Hood it's shorts and t-shirt weather at Smith Rock.

Shorts and Tees at Smith Rock.

As we approach mid June it's looking as if we've turned a corner and we're hoping for clear sailing from here on out!

Rope team shadow on Mount Hood summit ridge.

Basking in the morning sun on Mount Hood.

Enjoying the summit!

We climb on other mountains too! While Hood was getting pounded with late season snow TMG had great trips in the Three Sisters area. Broken Top offers some steep climbing that rivals some of the "bigger" peaks in the range.

Steep snow climbing on Broken Tops Northwest Face.

Timberline Mountain Guides & Smith Rock Climbing School Guides Training 2010

"To be a professional guide, one must be committed to their own learning process- as well as their clients-through specialized training and personal experience. It is this dedication to professional training and raising the bar for mountain guiding standards in America that sets us apart from other guide services." - TMG/SRCS website

We are just concluding our in-house training here at Timberline Mountain Guides and Smith Rock Climbing School and central O dished out it's best weather for the crew. This season we were fortunate to have Art Mooney of Mooney Mountain Guides as our lead trainer. Art is based out of New Hampshire and is a International Federation of Mountain Guides Association (IFMGA) certified guide as well as a course instructor and examiner for the rock and alpine disciplines with the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA).

Art covering the finer points of auto locking belay devices.

Over the four days of training we covered and revisited many technical aspects of guiding on both rock and steep snow. Along with technical skills it was also a great time for all the guides to share and swap techniques and hangout while enjoying some great climbing.

We all spent some time reviewing and polishing up on transitions in the rock environment. We also went over some pick-offs as well as belay escapes off a hip belay, plate devices off the harness, and off the anchor.

Art and Marc running through a pick-off.

Sheldon setting up for a lower.

The crew also headed out to Smith Rock State Park to cover rigging for our Monkey Face Tyrolean Traverse. The setup for the traverse is pretty involved and requires a lot of work and a lot of ropes!

Some of the crew rigging the traverse into the mouth of the Monkey.

Aiding up the bolt ladder on Monkey Face.

Pulling across the chasm.

Spring Has Sprung at Smith Rock State Park

Matt & Noah dialing in their footwork in the morning sun.

This past weekend we had tremendous weather and great climbing conditions out at Smith Rock State Park. Spring has sprung down in the park with green grass, flowers blooming, and tee shirt weather climbing. Matt enjoying the classic climbs on Cinnamon Slab.

Early spring is a great time to get out of the gym and dust off those rock skills, or learn some new ones, and we did just that on Saturday. We had two climbers, Matt and Noah, from the WEsT side of the Cascades join us for some instruction on climbing movement, gear placements, and anchor construction.

Noah- Hard to find something not to smile about on such a prime day.

Learning to place gear.

Bringing it all together...

South Sister Trip

With the Cascades Lake Highway freshly open plans were laid in the office for a splitboard trip on South Sister. With over 4000 feet of Cascade corn skiing South Sister is a annual ritual for Bend snowsliders. Here's some pics from the Office Ninja's splitboard trip in early June where we encountered warm temps, rain, hail, and thunderstorms. All in a all a great day in the mountains!

Classic Oregon Alpine! 9 O'Clock Couloir on Broken Top

John and I set out bright and early this last Monday on the snowmobile to take advantage of good, cold, climbing conditions on this Oregon Classic. Great hiking lead us speedily to the base where we found the climb in great condition, under sunny skies!








John was a stout climber and we made great time reaching the summit just as the clouds of an incoming storm moved in on us....but never fear, we were well off the mountain as the first snow flakes began to fall! A brief snowmobile ride back out quickly lead us to Bend for some afternoon celebrating! Thanks John for a great trip! Come back soon as I have plenty more Oregon classics to show you!

First Mt. Hood Summit for TMG's 2009 Season! by Jon Bates

I was fortunate enough to have the company of young Rhys Dubin on my first Mt Hood climb of the year. We had excellent conditions for our summit attempt consisting of perfect neve crust all the way to the base of Crater Rock. After assessing the snow conditions and the weather we decided to spice things up a touch and have a go at the Devil's Kitchen Headwall. We found great moderate ice climbing in two pitches up to the East Crater Rim where we were greeted by very high winds from the west. We then began climbing the final portion of the Wy'East route weaving through the numerous gendarmes and gullys.

The view was completely unobstructed by cloud and was fantastic. We summited around 8 am completing TMG's first successful summit bid of 2009. We descended the Pearly Gates to find 10' vertical step of ice which we carefully negotiated down to the hogs back and then downward through the cloud layer to the Lodge. All in all I had a great start to my season with an aspiring young alpinist.