Mount Hood, East Crater Wall (DKH V4)

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Technical Information

• Mountain: Mount Hood
• Elevation: 11,249ft
• Route: East Crater Wall
• Length: 5,000ft
• Grade: II, AI2

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CHANGING PLANS

As Mount Hood’s season was coming to a close, I felt the need for one final challenge. At this point, I was getting much more confident in my technical climbing abilities and really wanted to get a proper techy solo attempt in before Hood was too dry. I originally decided on Flying Buttress (DKH V3) because it’s one of the easier variations of the Devils Kitchen Headwall and still has a couple pitches worth of solid technical climbing. My plan got flipped on its head though when I got up there and saw the massive bergschrund blocking my way. Instead of a sketch berg crossing, I opted to climb the East Crater Wall (DKH V4) which still provided the same level of tech but slightly shorter.

Heads up, this is a retro report.

ANOTHER SOLO

Soloing is an interesting topic that climbers love to argue about. Some think its an ultimate act of selfishness, and others believe its the pinnacle of climbing achievement. All I know, is that there’s nothing quite like the feeling of a successful solo. While this feeling is special, its very rich. I only need so much of it to be satisfied. Also, approaches are wayyyy more fun when you can bs with a buddy the whole way.

2AM

Getting going on a chilly morning Is actually pretty easy when your on your own. Without anyone to wait for or coordinate with, its nice and speedy. On this climb I was able to hit the trail at 2am. I’d like to have left earlier, but I wasn’t keen on technical climbing in total darkness. timing ended up being almost perfect, with the snow softening up right as I was finishing the technical portions.

EAST CRATER WALL

Traversing the glide cracks and holes near Devils Kitchen is always awkward and was even more so this late in the season. After getting the the bottom of the scree hill that leads up to the headwall, I realized that Flying Buttress was totally cut off unless I wanted to climb a sketchy bergschrund exposed to a massive fall back down to the fumaroles. I pondered for a little bit and decided to climb the East Crater Wall instead. This means I’d have to walk up the massive scree hill… bleh. There was thin Ice covering much of the lower half of it and this created tree-hole type gaps near larger rocks that I broke through multiple times on the way up. no bueno. My stoke returned bigtime when I got to the headwall and saw it was totally in!!!!

There was a single pitch of rimey alpine ice to climb as well as some steep snow. Some of the pick placements were absolutely rotten, so I mostly relied on solid foot placements on the way up. Still so much fun even in subpar conditions.

WY’EAST

After topping out of the headwall, I immediately jumped onto Wy’east. The Wy’east crux actually turned out to be the most difficult part of the climb because it was so severely melted out. This forced me to deviate from the normal path of least resistance that one would take when the route is in better condition. At one point I was scrambling on dry rock and even did a couple mixed moves with my tools. During the final sketchy traverse, I found an old piton and was able to clip in for some french free climbing too. Lots of variety on this one! (Was that piton aid? Are ice axes aid? Crampons? Uh oh….)

SUMMIT

I reached the summit in five hours and twenty minutes. Not to bad considering how NOT straightforward Wy’east ended up being. There were several small groups on the summit, mostly guided. Everyone had come up Old Chute, and I was the only person to have climbed the headwall that day. I think I got the final climb of the season on it honestly. If I’d waited just a week longer, Wy’east would have been way too sketch. So glad I rallied!!!!

This was my third route on Hood. Can’t wait for more next season!!

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BETA

While I climbed this route out of season, I’ll provide the proper in-season beta thats actually useful most of the time. I don’t recommend climbing this one as late as I did. Alrighty, The East Crater Wall is very obvious. Just climb the scree pile, and follow the path of least resistance to the top. The spot where people often get tripped up is the Wy’east crux. many people traverse low when they shouldn’t. This exposes them to rock and icefall. Instead take the green variation depicted below. Once you complete this portion, you’ve got a bit more traversing to do before continuing up to the ridge via an obvious gully. Err on the side of moving up more rather than sideways, and you’ll have a much better time.

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