Mount Hood, Oregon 11,239 feet

Climbed 6/12/2003

Mount Hood has the classic silhouette of a volcano, with smooth-looking slopes rising ever more steeply as they approach the top. Like Mount Rainier, it is covered in a glacier that turns the ascent into a mountaineering expedition rather than simply a hike. We climbed it with a group from Timberline Guides.

Evelyn with Mount Hood. In one day the weather can completely change.
Compare this picture with the last one on this screen.

We stayed at the Timberline Lodge, which had the virtue of being located right at the start (and end) of the climb. The Timberline is a National Historic Landmark, built entirely by hand as a Federal Works Project during the Great Depression. It is also the hotel used for the exterior shots of the Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubrick's film of The Shining. From the lodge, the summit appears very close and the climb deceptively easy.

The historic Timberline lodge at 7,000 feet

The day before the climb we attended snow school with our nine fellow climbers and two guides. The curriculum was basically the same as it was for Mount Rainier — keeping your footing in the snow, traveling in rope teams, self-arrest — although Mike felt like the guides were less stringent about how well we learned the tasks than the Rainier guides were. Unlike our Mount Rainier snow school, it was a warm sunny day with a clear view of the mountain. The warmth was a cause of concern: it is easier and safer to travel up a glacier when the snow is packed and stiffly cold. Would we be able to make the climb safely?

One of the people in our class was an older man from back east who was quite enthusiastic about climbing the mountain. As we practiced roped travel near the end of the class, he was roped into position behind Evelyn. Walking up the short practice slope, he was breathing quite heavily and pulling himself up using the rope...which was attached to Evelyn. When we were done for the afternoon, Evelyn quietly told the lead guide that she wasn't sure the guy would be able to make it. (If he couldn't make it, we would all have to turn around.) The guide had noticed his difficulties and talked to him after class. He did not join us on the climb.

We met at the ski lodge at 12:30 AM under clear skies. It was very cold, which was good news for snow conditions. At 1:00 we heard the rumbling of an engine as the SnowCat came to pick us up. A big advantage of climbing with Timberline Guides is that we got a ride from the lodge at 6,600 feet to the top of the ski area at 8,500 feet. We loaded our equipment and ourselves into the Cat. It was a loud ride. We hung on to keep from sliding toward the back as we ascended. Looking out of the window we could see the lights of other SnowCats grooming the ski slopes.

Crammed into the snowcat with 8 other climbers and all our gear.

The SnowCat dropped us at the top of the ski area at 2:00 AM. The moon shone off of the snow, almost making our headlamps unnecessary as we started working our way up the mountain. There was no fancy route-finding on Mount Hood. We essentially headed in a straight line for the summit.

Start of the climb at 2 a.m., and the same spot in the daylight

After an hour and a half of climbing, we reached an outcropping of rocks that was once the southern edge of the summit crater. We could smell sulfur and see steam rising from the Devil's Kitchen, the bottom of the former crater. From here the climb was steeper and more dangerous, so we put on our crampons and roped up. Evelyn and Mike formed the back half of a four-person rope team, with our guide Jeremy at the front.

Dawn glows at 10,000 feet

A hundred vertical feet later we reached the Hogsback, a narrow ridge that cut across to the other wall of the crater. Like the climb as a whole, the ridge got steeper and steeper as we went along. Near the base of the other wall, we came upon a bergschrund, which is a crevasse that separates a glacier from the mountain itself. The year before, a group of nine climbers fell into this crevasse, killing three of them. One of the helicopters helping to rescue them crashed and tumbled down the mountain. Needless to say, we moved gingerly around the crevasse.

The speed of roped climbers tumbling down the ice crashing
into each other with ice axes and sharp crampons often
does more damage than the fall into the crevasse

Above the crevasse we headed up the steepest slope yet, one slow step at a time. The sun was rising, showing pink on the rocks and casting the shadow of the mountain across the clouds down below. The route took us up a chute between two rock formations called The Pearly Gates.

The steepest part, the final push to the summit

Once we passed through the Gates, the steepness began to taper off and we were at the summit. It was hazy to the north, but we could see the Columbia River, Mount Adams, Mount St. Helens, and even Mount Rainier.

6:45 a.m., 4.5 hour climb

We waited for the other rope team from our group, then started back down the way we had come. Since Mike was tied in at the tail of our rope team on the way up, it was his job to lead us on the way down (with the guide staying on the high end of the team). Evelyn was a bit, um, let's say concerned about this idea, seeing as we were headed down toward the killer crevasse. Mike took a few steps when Evelyn suggested that he should head more to the right. Mike turned around and glared at her. From that point on Evelyn's prayers were persistent but silent.

We picked our way slowly and carefully back through The Pearly Gates, pulling to the side on a few occasions to let other groups pass them on their way up. After we passed the bergschrund, everyone was suddenly more talkative. At the end of the Hogsback we untied from the rope and headed down individually.

Looking back down the Hogsback toward the fumarole (right)

As usual, the climb down seemed far longer that we remembered from the climb up. We could see the ski area and the lodge below us, but it never seemed to get any closer. One couple was well behind us, and the rest of the team was well ahead of us, so we had the mountain to ourselves. After what seemed like days, we reached the place where the SnowCat had dropped us. Unfortunately it was a one-way ride and we had to hike down. Evelyn looked at the sun low in the sky, thought back on the hours we have been traveling, and asked, "What time is it?" She was expecting an answer like 4:30 in the afternoon. Mike pulled his travel clock from his pack, did a double-take to make sure he had it right, and said, "9:30." A full day of adventure and it was only breakfast time!

With the ski area now open, we skirted along the edge of the easternmost slope. After we had been walking for a while, a skier stopped next to us and asked if we were part of the Timberline Guides group. He said he was ferrying stuff up to the top of the lift for Timberline, and that he owed our guide Jeremy a favor, so he could carry one of our packs down and leave it at the trailhead for us. Only as we watched him ski away with Evelyn's pack did we wonder whether it was a good idea to hand our stuff to a stranger. It added an edge of anxiety to the final hour of the climb.

We came to the trailhead and found... nothing. We walked over to the Timberline Guides office and found... no one. We looked at the base on the chair lift and saw... skiers. Mike berated himself for his colossal stupidity. We went to our room, changed out of the boots and crampons we had rented, and returned to the Timberline Guides office. Our lead instructor was there. He thought he recognized the guy from our description, but didn't know where he was or where he would drop the pack. Jeremy didn't know anything about a favor owed to him. Thankfully, though, our "helper" walked up not long after that carrying Evelyn's pack. He had stashed it in a tree (!) and then forgotten about it.

Relieved, we returned to our room. When Mike came out of the shower, he found Evelyn napping naked on a pile of dirty clothes on the floor. Evelyn took her shower, then we pondered whether we were more hungry or more tired. We decided to tackle hunger first. We hung the Do Not Disturb sign on the door to keep the maid from choking on the sour stink in our room and headed to the hotel bar. We sat next to a picture window with a great view of Mount Jefferson to the south. The food was delicious, but Evelyn began nodding off as we waited for the check.

Back in the room, Evelyn went straight to bed while Mike burned off his remaining nervous energy tidying the disaster area of our room. When we both awoke from our naps, we went to a brew pub in town for dinner, then drove around to take a look at the east side of the mountain. We got back to the lodge just as darkness fell and clouds started to gather. The next morning, the mountain was completely obscured and we drove to Portland in the rain.

Same spot as the first picture. We lucked out with perfect weather conditions.