Mt Hood, Oregon
 

Howdy all! Thought i'd throw up some of the climbs I've done recently for those that may find this info useful in the future.

So I set out to summit Mt Hood with my mountaineer's climbing group at the end of May. My friend and I drove out on a Friday night so that we could camp/have a fire on friday night and then sleep in on Saturday morning. We woke up at like 9am on Saturday and as i'm getting my gear ready for when we meet our group at the Timberline Lodge at 11am, I realize that I had packed everything I could ever need minus my mountaineering boots!! Rather than give up the summit, I drove to the Big 5 in Gresham and bought the sturdiest boots i could find (i.e. crappy boots), three pairs of extra socks, two plastic bags and foot warmers. I put one pair of socks on, then toe warmers, then another pair of socks and then plastic bags over the whole works. Luckily, i was able to strap my crampons on somewhat.

As for the hike, we left the Timberline Lodge Parking lot at 1pm and made base camp at about 8,000 ft. we made dinner and filtered water before turning in at 6pm. We got up at midnight and were roped in and ready to go a little before 1am on Sunday morning. We thought that we were getting the earliest start, but low and behold there was already a trail of headlamps above us and coming up from the Timberline Lodge parking lot. We kept a pace of about 900 ft an hour (which i hear is bad, but its hard moving fast roped up and with that many people from varying hiking backgrounds).

Steps were pretty much kicked everywhere so we have no troubles, but we all wore our crampons to help with the icey snow. Once we started traversing the Hogs Back we were seeing cracks in the glacier (mini crevasses?) alot. I even heard what sounded like shifting ice and looked up to see that what was making that sound was a giant square of ice that I was currently standing on. That freaked me out a bit. When we approached the summit, it was very steep and icey. we placed 2 pickets for protection from falling but we were still getting ice and rock rained down on us from the group ahead of us. (good to have a helmet on this one)

we took a quick summit break before heading down. on our decent there were literally 30-40-50 + people heading up!! it was a zoo! i never imagined a mountain that you couldn't drive to would be like that at 5:30am! our decent was pretty much plunge stepping the whole way. We broke base camp and was back down to the parking lot by 11am on Sunday morning.

As for my feet, they stayed pretty dry and warm with just a few tender spots. I did, however take a face plant when i tripped on one of my crampons that wasn't quite strapped tight enough to my makeshift boots.

all in all, a great climb!:cheers:

here are some pictures.

My tent in base camp
http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/i...0cee7de942.jpg

Early ascent just near the top in this photo
http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/i...086a9a3d5c.jpg

me coming up to the summit
http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/i...d7ce45d331.jpg

Reached the summit just in time for sunrise
http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/i...b3ed781c89.jpg

obligatory summit photo
http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/i...04f4373e7a.jpg

Me traversing the summit on descent
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3417/...2203fa0a_o.jpg

sulfur belching crater
http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/i...ced5828d6b.jpg

wow that hike looks amazing! I'm totally jealous :worship:

Beautiful Beth! Def jealous as well...

You're a legend!

What's the latest on the mountaineering front?

Fuck an A! (Can I say that:rolleyes:?) That is so sweet, B! Look at all that gear you got. You've become quite the mountaineer:blink:.

Turning in at 6pm? That's some serious dedication because it is still uber bright outside.

Thanks for sharing. Dang I mss the Pac NW soooooooooooo much...:unsure:

thanks guys.

I've been doing more backacking and rock climbing than mountaineering the last month, but i'm scheduled to summit Mt Baker in August. Still trying to get on a Mt Rainier (highest mountain in washington) climb this summer, but it's not looking promising.

That looks amazing...but you begin your ascent at 1am?!?!

Good luck with Mt Ranier! Is the issue getting the right experience, or do they have limited permits or something?

you have to be roped in a team (3 or 4) in order to safely traverse the crevasse filled glaciers up there. each team needs a leader. since i have only done a handful of technical summits, i'm not qualified to lead, so i need to find a leader that is 1.) planning a climb there and 2.) willing to let me join them. It's harder than it really should be. the leaders i have been on climbs with that know my skill level aren't planning any climbs there this summer. it's kind of a coveted summit in the climbing world and a pain in the ass climb for leaders that have done it alot, so they are less willing to plan climbs there.

I hear ya dude. Finding good climbing partners can be a bloody hard thing at times.

Good luck finding a team for Mt Rainier.