Mount Hood/Devil's Kitchen Headwall

Climb dates: February 14-15, 2015

Our party of four camped on snow above the Palmer chair lift at 8700 ft. and enjoyed a nice sunset. We planned to get an early start but high pre-dawn winds kept us pinned down until after 7:00 a.m. Fortunately the route is in the morning shade and it stayed cold enough to keep the ice intact.

We used a running belay for most of the route except for an anchored belay on the third and final step where the ice was thin. The ice held screws well but was covered by a layer of fragile surface ice; followers were treated to showers of ice debris. The protection used were ice screws (lots) and pickets (one).

We took the "left variation" at the top of the central couloir and reached the summit around 11:30 a.m., joining the throng of other climbers taking advantage of the holiday weekend and good weather. Fortunately, we were the only climbers on the DKH route. There was a big backup to get off of the summit at the Old Chute but we were able bypass the queue by downclimbing.