Yes, the summit of Mt Hood! I guess this is one of the many dreams of anybody that hikes in the Pacific Northwest. Having done a lot of high elevation and steep hikes, it was time for me to try this. A friend from work, who is an avid climber that has done Hood at least 7 times, invited me to join him on a weekend with spectacular weather. We noticed that the avalanche forecast was not looking very good but with a warm sunny day, it was worth the try. Instead of what most people do, start climbing at around 1AM to be at the summit by dawn, we started from Timberline at 7:30AM. The first part was the same hike I did when I attempted the Hogsback a while back. We basically followed the snowcat tracks towards the top of Palmer lift. On that uphill, both Michael and I set on a slow steady pace trying to save as much energy as possible for the final push. On the way up we did a couple of stops to eat and recharge before continuing. The views were just amazing with a clear blue sky, so much that I had to remove the polarizer filter on my camera in fear that all my skies would turn out black. As we were climbing and after passing the top of Palmer lift, we met with the last group coming down from the summit. From that moment on, the mountain was ours alone. We continued the hike up thru some wind until we reached the same elevation of Illumination Saddle. At that point, the slope itself covers you from the wind so the day turned into a warm almost mid-summer day. The climb didn’t get any easier as the first goal was getting closer and closer. Early in the afternoon we got to the Hogsback, a ridgeline right after crater rock where you have to gear up for the final push. At that point we took a long rest and then got our crampons on and switched our trekking pokes for the ice ax. As you’ll see in the pictures, from that moment on, there are no pictures until the summit as Michael asked me to put the camera away so I could concentrate in the task at hand. The climb was not difficult but needed a lot of effort and concentration. Each step involved kicking hard to make a hole and secure a step before moving the other foot while the ice ax was buried deep into the ice. It was a very rhythmical dance that you could easily put music to. After about half an hour, we got to the top and to an incredible wow experience. Not only we had a magnificent 360 view but also we got lucky with the weather. We had about 70 degrees and no wind which is extremely rare up there. After enjoying the summit for a while, Michael told me that we were going to use ropes for the way down. With a hot day as we were having, the top layer of snow was getting soft very fats so getting a secure footing was getting difficult. Once with a made up harness and a rope, I started first while Michael was belaying me. Once I got to the end of the rope, it was time for him to descent to where I was. I took my chances and kept the camera out so I could shoot some pictures while he as descending. As I was doing that, I realized how steep the wall was. Certainly a fall from there would have not been fun. After a couple of cycles, we got to a softer slope so we decided we didn’t need the rope anymore. From that point, we continued down doing a very similar rhythm as the one we did on the way up. At some point I turned to take a couple of pictures and then, upon restarting my dance, I accidentally hit the camera with the ice ax. The camera survived (which is proved by the rest of the pictures) but I broke the wide angle converter. It was very frustrating as I saw it hit the snow and slowly start to roll down the mountain. It never stopped until it got next to a small crevice next to fumaroles. In the picture set you’ll see one with a black dot in the middle… yes, that’s the lens.
After that, we took another break at the Hogsback while we were hearing chunks of ice breaking up in the rocks nearby. That was a clear signal that we needed to start descending. As we did, the day got hotter and hotter, something completely unexpected and for something I was not prepared. Halfway down I started feeling a bit dizzy and nauseous so I had to take a couple of stops to cool down a bit. At around 5PM we got out of the mountain, tired but with a sense of accomplishment that you can’t take away. I guess I have even more respect now for Mt Hood than what I had before.
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