Trip Report: Mt.Hood Summit

After skiing all day I slept for around 3 hours before driving to Timberline Lodge at 9pm. The plan was to start climbing at midnight.

The Approach

We started from the parking lot at approximately 6000ft elevation, walking in the dark by the light of our headlamps we made steady progress up the snowy mountain reaching the Palmer chairlift and pausing for a snack at 8,540ft.

From there we dawned our crampons and pursued our next objective, the Devil's Kitchen. We smelled it before we could see it, reaching the kitchen we got our first good look at the summit route. Some significant melt had occurred making the hogsback route straight to pearly gates seem less appealing than breaking off and under the "hot rocks" to ascend via the Old/Mazama Chute.

Summit Push

As day was breaking we were making out way carefully up the hogsback, around rock and increasingly steep slopes of snow and ice. As we approached the main drainage of the chutes we began to feel the power of the mountain. Winds would come blowing ice and rock down from above. Many times we had to duck for cover to avoid being struck. I took a baseball sized piece of ice directly to my knee which brought me down for a moment.

Regardless of this however, the ascent was trivial. Some other groups in guided rope teams were struggling, crawling on their hands and knees. I only mention this because they represented perhaps the most significant danger to us on that mountain. Climbers above us slow our progress, kick down rock and ice with their frantic movements, and could potentially sweep us down with them were they to fall.

Prescient of these risks, we chose to quickly diverge from their fall line, crossing below and choosing a much steeper and more narrow path known as the 1 O'Clock Couloir. This was the most fun I'd had all day! A steep 60-65 degree narrow passage with walls of thick, blue, rime ice surrounding me on either side. As I ascended with my ice axe and tool I greatly enjoyed picking my holds and really doing some "climbing". It was amazing, I felt like a true alpinist, totally calm and in my element.

The view from the top of Oregon

Reaching the top of the couloir I quickly collected myself before making our way to the true summit of Mount Hood, and the highest point in Oregon at 11,249 feet.

The views were incredible but what struck me more was the scale of what we had just climbed. Standing above my home state I reflected on what a younger Sean-Michael would have thought. I had never even really understood that mountaineering was something normal people did. It was awesome to think that I was on top of this iconic mountain I had spent my whole life seeing in the background.