Mt Hood, high elevations

[skibum1087]

I am looking at going up the south side of mt hood this coming friday. I've been keeping a close eye on the avy report, but it gives the dangers below 7000 feet. With the freeze thaw thats going on it seems to be gradually decreasing, except during the middle of the warm sunny days. We are planning a night time ascent. I know i won't know for sure until i get up there and can make some evaluations, but does anybody have any input on what the conditions will be up higher with less thawing over the week, and cold nights. Planning on going to at least crater rock and then seeing how we feel about the snow.
Thanks a lot

by the way, planning a 3 am departure friday morning, freezing levels supposed to be at 10,000 feet

[Platinum Pete]

With a 3am start, you'll be in the crater as the sun comes up and warms things. You'll also be there with a hundred or so other climbers, hopefully soem of them have avy knowledge - ask people descending "how was it" and they'll tell you if they think avy danger is worth considering.
I haven't paid attention to hoew high the freezing levels have been all week, but if they have gone above 10k on Wednesday or Thursday, you should be good to go. With all the sun that that side of the hill sees, I believe it has gone warm enough to trigger whatever was set to rip. Further, the slide history on that side of the hill is pretty minimal. Most of the south side route rarely if ever slides outside of storm events, with the exception of the west crater rim. If you stay on the hogsback and away from the old chute - you should be fine.
That said, do your own evaluation and make your own judgements on site. Another good resource is cascadeclimbers.com