Partner: Kurt Schuler, Sam Lien
Mileage: 10
Gain: 6000' ish
Elapsed Time: 7:00
Start time: 4:30 AM
Approach/deproach: None

Ski Gear: Lightish 
Technical Gear: Single axe and Crampons*
*Maybe bring two technical axes if you want to get to the top
Rope: No
Pack: Pretty light, but a stove and warm clothes as always

Start: Mt Hood Meadows (iffy, see below)
Finish: Start
Dryland: None

Kurt traversing the upper Wy'Easter Ridge

Kurt and I had been doing a little road trip down to California and were skiing our way back to Washington from there. Sam was free and wanted to meet up so we decided on Hood and were excited to check out Newton Clark. 

Sam getting techy above the Newton Clark, upper Wy'Easter ridge

Kurt and I had skied McLaughlin the day before and conditions were really good, there was fresh snow, but not too much. The same system was hitting Hood. 

A rare photo of the author about to drop in, by Kurt

We got a reasonably early start from the Meadows parking lot. Things were interesting pretty early on. I had found a random online map that made an approach along the West boundary of Meadows, which look like the most efficient route. We were about half way up when a ski patroller snowmobiled up and said "glad I caught you guys we're shooting Superbowl this morning." Superbowl is just off the east side of the ridge we were on. To his credit he was super cool and we decided together we would immediately traverse West out of the boundary and put ourselves in the White River drainage, One entire extra ridge would separate us from the bombing. He even told us how many shots to count so we would know when they were done. So... interesting logistics to consider here, Meadows is the most fall line below this side of the mountain, but beware artillery. Also I think technically they have a no uphilling policy...

Kurt dropping the headwall. I have skied a lot of steep and a lot of deep but rarely the two at the same time.

We made fast time ascending the Wy'Easter ridge above White River (is it just me or does every volcano have a White River?). We made it to the top of Newton Clark pretty quickly. I was feeling bad for Sam, he was totally unacclimatized and Kurt and I were just about fully acclimatized. The least we could do was break trail.  The Wy'East ridge gets steep and rime covered just above Newton Clark. We started up that way since Kurt was hoping for a summit. After not too long things were seeming a little over complicated. There were a lot of people, we were wishing we had two tools, and that zone is over huge cliffs making it very much a no fall zone. We decided to focus on what we came for, skiing steep snow and turned back.  

Sam dropping the upper headwall

Focusing on skiing was a decision we did not regret. There was one faint set of tracks probably from the day before but otherwise things looked very clean. I dropped in to check the snow and it was just perfect. A nice soft 8", not wind effected and not too sluffy. The steep skiing snow dreams are made of.  

We ended up skiing the face in two pitches and it's some of the best steep skiing snow I have ever encountered on a volcano. The exit via the Meadows inbounds trails is also a good time and really lends a European feel to the whole outing. Fun stuff.