Crater Rock and the Hogsback, Feb 19th

Usually when I write these stories, I kind of re-do the whole trip by watching the pictures and follow the different turns and views I get on the way. This trip is a bit different. Rarely do you do a hike that is both long and hard but where you can see your entire route from start to finish. Not only that, being a somewhat straight line out in the open, there are only two views, forward and backwards. All this might seem boring, but that depends on the scenery. If you put our beautiful Mt Hood in the same context, everything changes. When looking up towards the summit of Mt Hood from Timberline Lodge, there are three prominent points. On the left (west) is Illumination Saddle, in the middle you see Crater Rock, a huge pointy rock, and to the East, the summit. Just between Crater Rock and the Summit, there’s a saddle with a clearly visible line. That’s the Hogsback, the highest point you can get to without having to use specialized climbing gear. From this point forward, reaching the summit of Mt Hood, although is not a long trip, it’s a technical one. The beauty of all this, and maybe the reason to do it, is that you get the best close and personal view of the top of this magnificent place. On this first try, we started before sunrise, not only to allow us plenty of time but also to get the best solid snow. As you’ll see in the pictures we just walked up until we turned around and headed back down. There’s not much to tell from the hike itself. What I do need to report though is that I re-learned what I already know. The weather up there can change without notice. When we started it was a very cold morning with temperatures below freezing that never went up during the whole day. A light breeze accompanied us all the way up which ended up being the reason for turning back as my hands and one foot where getting cold to the point of pain despite the fact of three layers of socks and two layers of gloves. I was still able to get above Palmer lift, somewhere around 8700’ before turning back and was able to enjoy that wonderful view. Certainly the mountain got its respect, but I will definitely be doing this again… many times.