Climbing Mt. Hood

Mt Hood from Trillium Lake, 2013

It was an ordinary Tuesday afternoon at work (1/14/14), and I was contemplating what I was going to do for the upcoming weekend. Usually I have lots of plans and options depending on weather, activity and friends. I got to thinking how nice it would be to not have to plan an adventure for once or at least think of an idea. Most often, I am the one who is dreaming up ideas and trying to convince my limited friend base to accompany me.

Not one hour later I get a text from Andrew stating something to the tune of: "How about we climb Hood this weekend?" "Well damn, ya why don't we," I replied? Boom just like that my frustrations were answered.

Fast forward a few days (1/17/14), and we had a crew of 6 climbers with enough experience to make a safe go at it. Keep in mind that a winter ascent of Hood is never something to take lightly and something I thought I'd never try, but with an extremely snow snow patch, clear skies and warmer temperature conditions, it was basically like a spring summit attempt.

Clare loaded to the gills

We left Portland at 2am with a car full of gear and were climbing/skinning by 3:45a. Some of us decided to skin to the top of Palmer then ditch our skis, while a few opted to walk all the way.

We made decent time up Magic Mile and Palmer Express. This was the first "tour" in my new backcountry setup so I was eager to try it out. My setup is more of a sidecountry setup than lightweight backcountry touring setup, but it got the job done.

We took a quick break at the top of the Palmer lift, refueled and switched to crampons and ice axes. I was a little nervous to be climbing in my ski boots as they are not a true touring boot, but in the end, I didnt notice anything except the weight. No blisters or irritation.

We slowly made our way up to the Triangle Moraine and the Steel Cliffs, passing Illumination Rock just as the sun was coming up. Here we took another break before setting off for Devils Kitchen and the Hogsback.

Illumination Rock

Yours Truly. Selfie

Looking back down at the resort and it's fleet of Cats

Notice Mt Hood's shadow

We were pretty certain that the Pearly Gates wouldn't go so we aimed for the Old Chute for our final summit push. Once on the Hogsback, we assessed the situation and picked our lines. With low snow conditions, the route up the Old Chute was pretty steep, however the snow was pretty firm and the sun was just starting to hit the face.

Andrew scoping the line

Elena making her way up

Wow a nice little rest feels good!

We all set off, slowly traversing across the face. As we were almost in position, we heard someone yell Rock slightly above us, only to see someones boot shell spiraling down the mountain crampons and all. The guy was clearly struggling so a member of our party went over and help him back down to the hogsback, even lending him his extra ice axe.

Around that time, Andrew's girlfriend Elena got a little spooked and opted to retreat to the safety of the Hogsback. Around this time, the first of our party reached the top of the chute only to discover that the ice bridge/ridge was too narrow to safely cross. Two of us made it to the top and also assessed our options. While debating what to do, the third member of the group decided to ascend the chute next to us to determine with the snow bridge was strong enough to hold us because he could be the backside more clearly. He deemed that it would definitely hold, but we just need to go slowly and take it one at a time.

Coming up the chute

After we all crossed, we signaled to Andrew, who was coming back up after taking Elena down, to ascend the safer chute. He joined us at the summit in no time. At the summit, we all took in the amazing views as the top was wind free and cloudless. Around this time, I was hit the wall pretty hard and wasnt feeling too hot. But after getting some calories in me, it was amazing how fast I rebounded. In all, we spend about 30 mins at the top, all by ourselves.

But that was only half the journey, we still needed to descend safely. We each made our way back down the chute, making sure to give each other enough breathing room. Andrew and his buddy made it down super quick, but the rest of us took a lot longer, as we very carefully crawled about down. In the end, it took us about an hour to come down a very small section.

Once at the Hogsback, we all started our descent back to the skis. It was a long slog down in slushy, sticky snow condition, but we eventually made it to the skis. A quick change in gear and we were bombing down the mountain. My quads weren't too happy, but I was definitely pleased to be making some ground.

Back at the car, we celebrated with some victory beer, gallons of water and snacks before heading down the the Mt Hood Brewery for a resupply of calories.

UNT

Bryan

Mt. St. Helen's Summit

Our target from earlier in the summer

I’ve been wanting to climb a cascade volcano for ever since I was a little kid so when Kerrie’s uncle told me he was getting some permits I jumped on the opportunity to tag along. In the end, he wasn’t able to make it work so I enlisted Andrew, my father and his friend, Wes to join.

I was a little hesitant on tackling this challenge so close to my race, but I figured it wouldn’t be too bad and that I would have plenty of time to recover if things beat me up more than I expected. Originally, we had planned to camp in the area that weekend, but some slight knee issues for myself and some training requirements for Andrew, resulted in a dawn departure for the mountain.

We picked up our permits around 6a and were climbing my 6:45a. My knee didn’t bother me too much so it was nice being out and about with a good crew of guys. Soon we were above tree line, scouting out the scrambling that was to come. From this point on, it was 2ish miles of scrambling in around 2,000+ feet of elevation.

We slowly picked our way across the jagged pumice, stopping everyone and awhile to soak in the views. Eventually, we get our first snow patch were Wed opted to kick steps, while the rest of us continued to climb over the rocks.

Cresting the next ridge, the weather station and summit came into view. Our target was in sight. We could see a handful of hikers glazing over the edge of the crater rim. It was nearly a three quarters of mile and 700ft in gain to the top. Andrew and I took off on the sandy rocky path, while the dad’s brought up the rear. As we progressed, our trail runner increasingly being filled with ash and sand, but we cared not, as there would be plenty of time to shovel out the sand at the top.

Before we knew it, we crossed the end of the path and peered into the crater of the volcano. Before us spread a view consisting of the blast zone, Johnson Ridge Observatory, Mt. Rainier, Coldwater Peak, Spirit Lake and the Mt. Margaret Backcountry. To right stood Mt. Adams, while we could barely make out the silhouette of Mt. Hood behind us.

Soon the Dads joined us and we took the required summit photos. Pics or it didn’t happen! We sat down to rest and soak in the view, while feasting on gels, PBJs, trail mix and water. I emptied my shoes, doned some mini gaiters and prepared my quads for the descent.

Adams in the background

Keeping warm

Luckily for us, the stumble down wasn’t as bad as I had expected because the sandy and ash cushioned the impact of our repeated steps. We also took turns attempting to feet glissade down the snow patches. Some were more successful than others. Eventually, we rejoined the actual trail, where we began pushing the tempo because my father notified us that there were cold beers waiting in the car.

Upon arrival back at the car, we popped the tops of some local brews and toasted our success. It took us 6 hours to get up and down, plus a 40 min lunch on the top. I am super happy to have accomplished my first Cascade volcano with my close friend and father. Next up on the check list is Adams or Hood, but I’ll have to wait till next spring to tackle the next one.

Stopped at Breakside on the way home for a brew

UNT

Bryan