For my first attempt on Mount Hood I flew out to Portland with a place reserved on the Timberline Mountain Guides two day Advanced summit program. Flying into Portland I could spot some of the Cascade volcanoes to the south of our flight path. Thumbing through a climbing guide to the volcanoes, I tried to pick out Mount Hood. Suddenly, the plane banked to the north, and immediately outside my side of the plane appeared Mount Hood. There was a thick cloud layer all around the mountain at timberline, and for as far as I could see, the only scenery were the Cascade volcanoes (Jefferson, 3 Sisters) and the solid cloud blanket.

Mount Hood from the north on my flight into Portland.

Saturday morning I meet my guide, Joe, at the Timberline Mountain Guides office in the Wy'East building at the Timberline Lodge/Ski area. The day was absolutely clear as Joe went over crampon techniques, snow anchors and Z-pulley hauling systems with me. At one point I did notice a thick lenticular cloud form around Mount Hood's summit. We listened for the NOAA forecast, which sounded reasonable: some light winds and snow.

View of Mount Hood from the south near Timberline Lodge.

After a dinner at the Mount Hood Brewery in Government Camp, I returned to the Timberline Lodge for a few hours of sleep.

A bit before 2am I woke up and noticed a more than a little snow coming into the gap I left in the window of my room. Leaving the lodge I knew conditions were bad as the wind hit my face and the ground already had an inch of snow. Regardless, we took the snow cat to the top of the ski lifts with another Timberline Mountain Guides guided class. The two thousand feet we had ridden in the snow cat failed to clear the storm, at this elevation conditions were even worse. Lots of wind loaded snow, the wind was still blowing and the snow was still coming down. The only safe thing to do was to turn around and get our warm rooms back in the lodge. No summit today.

In the morning it was still snowing, and I later heard a weatherman in Portland ask "Is it unusual to have snow on Mount Hood at this time of the year? No. Is it unusual to have this much snow? Yes". The summit had received 6-8 inches of blowing snow throughout the night, and the drive back down the mountain was slow and slick until I reached Government Camp.

A little over a year later I was back in Portland, back for another attempt on Mount Hood. I had hoped to be out here with my cousin, Matt, but his work schedule interfered and I signed up for an overnight 2-day climb with Timberline Mountain Guides.

After landing in Portland, I was presented with a bright cherry red PT Cruiser for a rental car. Not quite my normal style, but fun to drive. I stopped at the Edgefield Winery in Troutdale to taste some red wines and purchase a few. I also had dinner on their location in the Black Rabbit Restaurant.

The next morning I was up at Timberline where Mount Hood's upper reaches were entirely socked in with clouds. I went into the offices and was pleased to see Joe would be my guide again. Also, this time I had 2 other clients on my course, Nabeel and Scott.

Hauling sleds up to base camp.

We organized our gear and went over our options, then started hauling 2 sleds between the 4 of us up the snow cat track that runs on the east side of the ski area. Temperatures were hovering right around freezing, and we had about a 20 mph wind, but we were all lightly dressed as we worked up so much heat hauling the sleds uphill.

Joe splinting the broken tent pole.

When we reached our campsite on Triangle Moraine, Nabeel and I dug out tent platforms, while Scott and Joe assembled the first of two tents. All 4 of us went to work on the second tent (a North Face Oval-25) and managed to snap one of the longer poles, which we had tried to run through where a shorter pole should have gone. After splinting the pole with a spare section and some athletic tape, we anchored the tents in with rocks, trekking poles, snow shovels and sleds as tent stakes.

Base camp at Triangle Moraine.

Joe started melting snow with 2 XGK stoves, then we conducted a basic refresher course on crampon technique, snow travel and roped travel. We were rewarded with a few glimpses of the upper mountain as the clouds thinned out and blew by. All the great toponyms of our route were visible to us: Crater Rock, Hogsback, Devils Kitchen, and the Pearly Gates, along with other features of the mountain: Illumination Rock, Castle Crags and the Wy'East ridge.

Joe started cooking dinner and I chopped vegetables for the meal. Nabeel and I spent some time in the Oval-25 chatting and occasionally poking our heads out of the tent to see if the mountain was visible again.

Adam at base camp.

Around 8pm we all tried to go to sleep in the still light sky and plenty windy conditions. Around 2am alarms went off, warm clothes came on and Joe fired up the stoves for a warm and quick breakfast of tea and oatmeal. Everyone was packed up and ready to go at the same time and we started hiking up right as another group was nearing our tent site who had started at the lodge.

The wind was still blowing and there were still some clouds in the sky above us, and more clouds settled down in the valley, but the temperature had dropped below freezing and the snow conditions were excellent for crampons. We hiked up for a while by the lights of our headlamps, but before long, I turned mine off as there was enough ambient light to see.

As we climbed above the ski area the sun started to rise and the lights of Portland to the west faded. We took a few water breaks and noticed the other groups of climbers on the mountain today. A fairly large group was below us, and a couple smaller groups above us. Nabeel's calves were tightening up on him, and he was having trouble stretching them out. I could see he felt he was holding us up, and that he was considering having to abandon the climb. I offered some ibuprofen, which he accepted, and by the time we reached the base of Crater Rock he was feeling a lot stronger.

The fumarole at Devil's Kitchen.

At the base of Crater Rock we stopped and roped up, while the large group we had noticed early caught up to us and passed us. As we rounded Crater Rock for the Hogsback, we could smell the strong sulfur fumes from the active fumarole to our right, Devils Kitchen. Reaching the Hogsback, we found several groups turning around whom appeared not to have gone far past the bergschrund. These groups had either decided it was too icy or that the small bits of neve ice falling off the slightly warming cliffs were a danger sign. As we passed the large group and let the descending teams pass us, Joe gave us a pep talk about moving quickly but efficiently and making no mistakes.

Climbers on the Hogsback.

Climbing through the Pearly Gates.

Crossing the snow bridge over the bergschrund, we started kicking steps into the crux of the climb as we ascended up to and through the Pearly Gates (a narrow snow gully between two cliffs). Pebble-sized pieces of neve ice were coming down the gully creating a sound like a crystalline cascade. But below the thin layer of loose ice was a wonderful snow/ice surface perfect for crampons. While this was my steepest snow climb (not counting actual vertical ice), I never felt nervous, every footstep was solid and the crampons were sticking perfectly.

Above the Pearly Gates the angle slacks off, and we trudged up to the summit in heavier winds (probably around 30 mph on the summit). To the south we could make out Jefferson, the 3 Sisters and even Bachelor. However, immediately to the north of us was a thick cloud layer blocking all views of Helens, Adams or Rainier. We stayed on the summit about 30 minutes or so, taking pictures, eating and rehydrating, then we started down.

Adam, Nabeel, and Scott on the summit.

A few other groups were coming up the Pearly Gates, but there was enough room for us to pass beside them. Then we cut to the west and made an end-run around the bergschrund. Nabeel and I wanted to get pictures of the bergschrund, so we walked back to the base of the snow bridge for the opportunity. Then we descended along the Hogsback and back to the base of Crater Rock were we unroped and took another break.

Admiring the bergschrund.

On the way down to our tents, some descending climbers above us dropped on of their helmets, which hit Nabeel in the leg as it speed by, who then yelled out a warning to the rest of us. It skidded by Scott, but I was far enough below to stop the helmet, while Joe had moved himself to catch me, not the helmet if I slipped. The other climbers thanked us for retrieving their helmet, which otherwise would have been lost down the White Salmon Glacier.

Once we reached the tents, we dug out all the snow anchors and packed away the tents and other "group" gear into the sleds. Guiding the sleds downhill was an annoying task, as they would either smack the back of your legs, or slide around you and then get tangled up. We took to ridding the sleds downhill over the cat tracks, breaking and steering with our feet. Then we would wait for on of the other climbers to catch up, and we would switch off.

Around 2pm we finally reached the lodge. After dropping off the sleds and cleaning up, Scott, Nabeel and I went down to Government Camp for a post climb meal at the Mount Hood Brewery (where else?). Joe caught up with us in the Brewery and we all chatted about climbs we had done or wanted to attempt. Joe let us out of the Brewery with the following words of advice:

"Avoid your boss for the first 3 hours when you get back to work. The mountains make you honest, and you'll tell your boss exactly what you think of him."