On a clear day, the view to the east of Portland can be summed up in one
well-known phrase: The mountain is out. Mount Hood, an 11,240 foot volcano, is an iconic
Oregon destination and the state's tallest peak. It's home to popular ski areas, trails,
pristine alpine lakes and idyllic vistas. And, for many mountaineers, it calls out to be climbed.
All right folks it is 1:07 a.m., we're driving through Sandy on the way up to Mount Hood,
we're gonna try to summit and ski the mountain this morning and make it back in time for lunch.
The goal is to be on skis headed up by about 2:30.
All right, let's do this. At least for now it is not bad. Feels great, the stars are out. I've
climbed Mount Hood several times before, setting out after watching the forecast closely and making
plans with trusted partners. Most climbers attempt to summit Mount Hood in the spring,
seeking clear skies, lower avalanche danger and minimal rockfall. My climbing partners, Erin and
Tommy, are also my housemates. We'd been keeping an eye on the forecast leading up to the climb and
the conditions seem to be aligning just fine for a summit bid. All right, so we are at Timberline
Lodge which is right here on the picture of the south side of the mountain, we're going
to take a climber's trail through or directly adjacent to Timberline Ski Area, make it to the
top of the Palmer chairlift, which is the highest chairlift on the mountain, and then essentially
work our way more or less straight up from there, ending up in a spot called the Devils Kitchen.
From there we will continue to the Hogsback and off one of two uh main routes the summit, either
the Pearly Gates or the Old Chute. After filling out paperwork at the Wy'east Day lodge, we head
back to the car to get our gear together. Wow, sick boot. Thanks, your boot is similarly sick.
Yeah. We're pretty cool. For the first part of our ascent we'll be using skis outfitted with "skins,"
or strips of material that attach to the bottom of our skis to provide traction. Once that's all set
it's time to click into our bindings and head on up. Just, what, a hair after 2:30? Right on time.
What do you say? All right let's get it!
The first part of the climb is essentially cross-country skiing uphill in the dark.
Let's just say this type of thing isn't everyone's cup of tea. This is what we refer to as --
oh right here -- "not easy skinning." Very slippery, definitely not the most ideal.
Doing pretty good, got some very cold hands and fingers, the whoa! Doing great. But I love a
good alpine start, and our shared enthusiasm about the day ahead kept us moving uphill
without complaint. By the time the morning light started to filter into the gorgeous, clear sky,
we were over halfway up our route and ready to switch from skis to crampons. Conditions are O.K.!
We've decided, time to put the skis on our packs and pull out our crampons because it's uh kind
of increasingly steep from here. It's still icy. Yeah, I don't know about you but I'm kind
of tired of sliding around. Yeah, it's a little slippery on the skis, they're not really gripping.
Time for the snow cleats! Yeah! Crampons! We are continuing on up, nearly to the
Devils Kitchen area, it's turning into a really beautiful sunny day
with only a few other parties up here, which is pretty incredible. Devils Kitchen is the area
less than 1,000 feet below the summit where the climb starts to get more interesting.
All right! The kitchen! Not bad, not bad, gimmie some
It's a short distance from what's called the Hogsback, a ridge that leads to the base of
the Pearly Gates, the most difficult climbing on the route. Now it's time for the fun stuff.
Yeah, we're gonna go up a lot faster, get a lot more technical,
this is where the tutu is gonna come in. Ooh yes gotta have it, I wish I had one to match. We're
gonna go up to an area called the Hogsback, and then we're gonna make a decision between going
kind of into an area called the Pearly Gates or around to an area called the Old Chute. The Pearly
Gates is probably our first choice, but the Old Chute may be a better one depending on conditions
We are on the Hogsback! We're here, we made it! This is the hog! Well, we didn't quite make it,
we've got oh all that to do. Erin, what do you think? I'm really excited, the snow has
only gotten better as we've gotten up high, so that's good. It was a little icy down below,
but this is going to be a lot more fun to ski on the way down, so woo! The Hogsback drops off to both sides
and is the most exposed part of the ascent so far. We have our ice axes out by this point,
both for security while climbing and so we can self-arrest in the event of the fall. We continue
up the Hogsback until we get to our next stopping point, the bottom of the Pearly Gates. Here we are.
The base of the Pearly Gates. It's time to drop our skis for the super steep section of the climb.
Yeah gonna drop skis here, go tag the summit which is uh just a little ways ahead,
and then uh come back here, click into the skis and get out of here.
Conditions in the Pearly Gates look good today, not exceptionally icy or steep, so we stick with
our plan of using that route instead of the Old Chute. Climbing through the gates is the steepest
and most technical part of the ascent. We use our ice axes to pick our way up the slope.
Once past the gates the terrain levels off enough that we can walk the rest of the way to the summit.
On such a clear day, the view from the top of Oregon is hard to beat.
We can see Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, St. Helens and Jefferson.
And while we savor the summit for a little while, we don't dawdle for too long.
Summit of Mount Hood, woo! We did it, we did it.
We opt to retreat to a less windy spot at the top of the Pearly Gates,
where we rest and refuel before heading back to our skis. All right, we've made it to the base
of the Pearly Gates, we've taken our climbing skins off of our skis, now it is time to drop in
for a little bit of steep skiing before we make it down to the Hogsback here, so
I'm gonna go first and wait for Erin and Tommy a little bit down below.
Once we make our way down to better snow it's smooth sailing back to Timberline Lodge.
The easy turns are a welcome relief after hours of climbing
and an excellent cap to a great day on the mountain.
Woo! All right. Good day! Oh, such a good day.
Then it's back to the car to strip off our climbing gear, pack up and head down the road
in search of a well-earned meal.
Here we go. Definitely, OK.
So to round it out, Mount Hood's a busy place, uh people
sleddin,' skiin' and you name it, climbing too, and we basically had like it was us and a few other
parties up there today, that was pretty awesome. I couldn't believe it, for the conditions we've had,
I've never seen that few people climbing the mountain or attempting to summit,
which is really great for us, for our safety, because the Pearly Gates is so narrow,
same with the other routes up to the top, if you don't want to get caught
behind a big group of people or just, you know, one thing goes wrong and it can multiply pretty
easily, so it was great to have so few people up there on the mountain with us. So Erin, great day,
some great skiing, some not so good skiing, some downright maybe uh iffy to be polite skiing, uh
the one thing we haven't done today yet is go get a proper meal, what's in store, I think you had
one specific request? I'm demanding milkshakes. That demand will be met I can guarantee.