a WV Mountineer on Mount Hood

In the last year I’ve started getting into mountaineering (apart from growing up as a WV Mountaineer)… beginning with my first attempt on Mount Hood in late July of 2012. This bit of story is about last years said attempt, and this year’s successful summit of Mount Hood.

The typical season to summit Hood usually ends in early July, but it’s hard to plan work travel around ideal climbing seasons, so I take what I can get… Climbing Mt Hood late season brings a few increased risks (e.g. more rock fall hazards, steeper inclines, melted out snow bridges, larger crevasses), but also less climbers. From my understanding the South Side approach is often made more dangerous by the amount of climber traffic it gets, so it’s really a toss up as to the “best” time to climb it. Though, I’m sure things look much prettier when everything’s covered in ice and snow during the “prime” climbing season… as per late July, there’s not so much ice and snow…the Pearly Gates aren’t so pearly, and the bergschrund has grown so large that Old Chute is the preferred/safer route to summit via the South Side approach. In 2012, I was thwarted right from the start by getting too late of a start, as I had accidentally set my alarm for 2pm instead fo 2am, and I woke up by my own accord around 6am (once the sun light hits the snow it rapidly starts to soften, decreasing the effectiveness of crampons, ice-axes, and the ability to self arrest a fall), so it’s best to summit early (around sunrise). Last year I made it to the Hogs Back around noon. I could hear rocks falling off the Steel Cliffs, and I noticed a type of cloud formation starting that I saw in an online post that usually meant a whiteout was coming.

Steel Cliffs, Mount Hood 7/26/12

I has happy with having reached the Hogs Back, the view is beautiful and it’s quite amazing to witness the venting fumaroles (the earth’s thermal activity is amazing and fun to think about), but I couldn’t help but feel a bit of failure toward not reaching the summit, by not having started earlier as i had planned ..So, after taking a few pictures of the Steel Cliffs and the fumaroles I quickly descended the slope back to my car..

Fumaroles, Mount Hood 7/26/12

I took a before-and-after pic with my phone of Hood from the lodge, from when I got to my car and once I had my gear off, and in that 20 minutes the summit was in a whiteout. The next day I flew to California to climb Mt Whitney’s East Face (which was a success, but another story altogether)…

Round 2, 364 days later…Return to Hood Mountain

On July 25th, 2013 I decided to give it another show. This time with a little more preparedness. I started my hike from the Timberline Lodge parking lot at 12:30am (my hindsight advice is to start around 11:30pm, as I missed the sunrise because I stopped to take too many photos on the way up).

Mt Hood in the Moonlight 7/25/13

The hike is pretty straight forward all the way to the Hogs Back. From there the mental game kicks in.. I had originally planned to solo up Old Chute, but I met a couple in the parking lot who were also heading up, and so we talked about roping up for the last 700′ push (the only real dangerous section of the climb).. but, they never finished the hike to the Hogs Back, so I was back to the original plan of soloing Old Chute (note: I rented boots and crampons from Portland’s REI, and one of the reps I spoke with told me about her trip up Hood back in May, and how her friend slipped and fell 500′, breaking his leg. I then asked what route they were one, Old Chute..oh joy!).

I took a few photos from the Hogs Back in that pretty ambient light that occurs just before sunrise. Then I shed my tripod, hiking poles, and my summit beer in preparation for the climb (I’m found of celebrating achievements with a good beer, but in mountaineering you’re not up until you’re back down).

After resting and getting my mental game together, up Old Chute I went..slow and steady.. (note: I was rocking two ice axes!!! I felt so secure having two. I own one, and the deal at REI was if I rent crampons and boots, I get a 3rd item free…I felt like I was climbing a peak in Skyrim, wielding two magical ice axes.. at least a +5 to the badass attribute). The final assent was long, and I wasn’t acclimated to the high elevation. I started feeling really sleepy once I was above 8000′.. but I just kept a rhythm going. Half way up my assent I ran into a solo mountaineer who had just wrapped up enjoying the sunrise, and he was on his way off the mountain to pick up his son (sounds like a perfect life…while the thought brought me joy and happiness it also made me miss my lad, and wishing I could spend such a day in a similar way..Summit hood, then go play with Legos…anyway).

Michael Kimberling descending Mt Hood 7/25/13

The local solo mountaineer’s name is Michael Kimberling , and he runs a blog geared specifically toward climbing Mount Hood nwmantime.com (wish I had known about this site prior to my trip). I was angling in the right direction up Old Chute, and his additional beta boosted my confidence and determination to reach the summit. His best, most memorable bit of info was when he said, “do you see where the snow at the top of the right channel looks like it drops off?.. well it does, about 2000′ straight down.. head there and then turn right toward the summit”.

With my confidence boosted, by having some fresh summit beta but mainly knowing there was another climber close by (should things go awry), I continued on to the knife edge that Michael described.

View from the top of Old Chute 7/25/13

From the top of Old Chute, it was a precarious 4th class scramble along a tight ridge path for one hundred or so feet (with a 500′ sloped drop to the right/south and a 2000′ shear drop to the left/north).

Gorgeous and Gorgeousity – the Summit

Mt. Hood’s summit was breathtaking! I arrived just after 8am, two hours shy of my target. With the sun steadily rising, and the snow continually softening, I gave myself 30 minutes to enjoy the victory before beginning my descent back down Old Chute. Another solo mountaineer (Derek, I believe his name was) reached the summit a short time after I arrived, and while we gathered strength he remarked on his other Cascade summit experiences. He compared the day’s effort on Mt Hood to his experience reaching the summit of Mt Rainier, adding that Mt. Hood felt much harder (when looking at the paths of least resistance for each Mountain). The remoteness of Mt. Rainier adds to it’s presumed difficulty, and Mt. Hood’s ease of access is often why the difficulty and danger is often overlooked by the ill prepared (e.g. Mary Owens summit attempt in “trail-running” shoes).

The descent was the cruxes, as my body was weak from the lack of sleep, less oxygen in the air, and general fatigue from the work put forth to reach the summit. I kept with the slow and steady routine as I descended, though Derek was practically walking down Old Chute (not his first rodeo obviously). About halfway down the slope I started getting leg cramps, which were almost debilitating. I was worried that if I had one strong enough that I might lurch/spasm to my doom. Already moving with careful steps, I also had to make sure I didn’t over bend my legs to the angle where a charley horse would start kicking me. After a rinse repeat routine of walking my axes and feet down, I was back to the Hogs Back, and to my icy cold summit beer (a Mt. Hood Ice Axe IPA). I relaxed for a bit, drank my beer, and then flew down the melting snow slope via a combination of glissading and running in slush. The descent took a fraction of the time as the approach, and was a lot of fun (whereas the approach was rather arduous). It felt great to accomplish a goal that I had missed a year prior.

Twas a great day on the mountain, and wonderful day to be a mountaineer!