James Stone (Clach Liath)

Mountaineering and the Volcanic Seven Summits

  • Home
  • About me
  • Volcanic Seven Summits
  • Top 50 Ultra Prominent Peaks of the World
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
You are here: Home / Blog / Mount Hood, Oregon

Mount Hood, Oregon

7th July 2011 by James Stone Leave a Comment

It can’t be very often that you get such a spectacular view of your objective. This is Mount Hood. Approaching Portland airport on the best of days, just a few thousand feet above this 11,250ft mountain.  Wow!  Mount Hood is one of the group of volcanoes that run in a line down the west coast of the northern part of the USA.  These include Mount Shasta, Mount Jefferson, Mount Adams, Mount St Helens (which you might recall blew itself apart in 1980) and, the highest of them all, Mount Rainier in Washington State.  This is the Cascades range.

Mount Hood from the air

I had long wanted to visit this area.  Although I had been to the Rockies and the high deserts to the west, the far north west had remained unvisited.  Now, however, I had my opportunity.  Thanks to a pass out granted by the rest of the family I had flown out to the USA a week before them with a view to climbing two peaks.  Just two days before I had succeeded on Borah Peak and now it was off to Mount Hood.

This mountain dominates the skyline of Portland and is about 50 miles to the south east.  Having picked up the hire car I first sought out a supermarket to stock up on a few provisions. I then set off for the short journey towards the peak.  It was late in the day.  I had carried my one man tent from the UK in my luggage. I found a Forestry Service campsite that I had pre-booked as the sun was setting.  The site was very organised. The size of the pitch dwarfed my little tent!  Still struggling with the jet lag I soon fell into a deep sleep…

The morning light awoke me early.  It was as well.  I had an appointment at 8am.  When looking at what to climb from the distant UK a number of factors came to mind.  These included a summit with a moderate degree of challenge for someone who never acquires the right degree of fitness, a glaciated peak, a semblance of altitude and a volcano (having never been up one of these before). 

Mount Hood is probably one of the most climbed glaciated volcanoes in the world.  It is also one that is regularly battered by storms that come in from the Pacific Ocean.  Being by myself, I thought it wise to get myself a guide – so I booked myself in with one of the two guiding companies that operate on the mountain, Timberline Mountain Guides.  Because they do not know who is going to turn up they insist that you participate in a day’s “snow school” at Timberline Lodge.  For anyone who has undertaken a degree of Scottish winter mountaineering, this does not really teach you much more.  But the seven clients and I did get a great view of our objective with the route up the south side of the mountain in view.

You can see here clearly how a massive explosion blew out one side of the crater millennia ago.

Timberline Lodge is an early 20th century hotel located at about 7,000ft and is the centre (or should that be center) of year round skiing.  Even in July the slopes were busy. However, most skiing finished by early afternoon as the surface of the snow changed to slush.

Timberline Lodge, Mount Hood

We were told that we were lucky.  The mountain had just cleared from a couple of weeks of rain.  So not only did we have good weather, but a lot of the upper level ice had been stripped off as well.

Under instructions to meet up again at 11.30 that evening we would be off to an early (!) start.  So I drove down the road to the town of Government Camp, named such because it had once been one. There I found some food to stock up on energy for the night’s endeavours.  Having had a perfectly pleasant meal in a hostelry there I returned to the large car park at the Lodge with a view to getting a few hours kip.

Four hours later, having at best rested my eyelids for four hours, I was making final preparations in the chill night air.  We were a group of 11, eight clients and three guides.  Having been checked over by the guides we were off.  The first 15 minutes or so were a bit of a cheat.  We hopped into one of the piste bashing snow cats.  This took us perhaps half a mile and the first 800ft of ascent before disgorging the team at the top of the Mount Hood ski area.  Here we donned helmets and head torches.

The continued volcanic life of the mountain was evident as we set off.  There was a strong sulphurous stink.  This rather unpleasant and, occasionally, gut wrenching smell would come our way from time to time as we gained height.

In the pitch black all that could be seen was the snow in the halo of the beam of the head torch and the beams and shadowy figures of the rest of the party.  The gradient varied as did the snow conditions.  Occasionally there was nice firm nevé but most of the time the snow was refrozen shards that crumbled under you at every step.  The air temperature was well over freezing, though the windchill kept the surface frozen, just.

After half an hour or so we stopped very briefly for a drink and after a further 40 minutes for a longer snack.  We continued on and up with the occasional quip coming out of the darkness.  We were aiming for a feature known as the Hogsback.  This is a snow ridge that runs down from the bottom of the final climb (which comprises the inside of the crater wall).  Towards the top of this feature is a bergschrund.  Shortly before reaching the bottom of the Hogsback (though we could still not see it) we donned crampons and left our walking poles behind.

There then followed a rising traverse up the side of the Hogsback to Crater Rock which stands in the middle of the crater.  Here we roped up for the final 800ft or so to Mount Hood’s summit ridge.  There were three separate ropes. The process gave time for further refreshment to be taken.  Far below a few further lines of head torches could be seen snaking their way up the slopes.

There are a few routes up to the crater rim that forms the summit ridge.  They are all at roughly 50-55% on average.  We took the Old Chute route.  The snow conditions were not any better.  Because of the steepness and the risk of the occasional hard patch of snow or ice we needed crampons.  We maintained a strong pace, thighs burning and lungs gasping in the slightly rarified atmosphere.

Of course, the darkness meant that I had not been able to take any photos.  As we hit the ridge, we could see a thin red line on the north eastern horizon.  It was 4am and the world was waking up.  Mountains reared up to the north – Mount Adams and Mount Rainier.

The summit ridge was narrow and undulating, falling into darkness to the right and precipitously to the left, the slopes here beginning to show in the growing light.  We needed to take care in the suncupped snow.  Fifteen minutes along this fine ridge saw us to the top of Oregon.  The summit area was a little larger. So we unclipped from the rope and were able to wander around taking in the views that were opening up.  We could see the lights of Portland and the surrounding cities off to the west.  But in every other direction there were just pinpricks of light showing other settlements.

Mount Hood summit ridge at dawn
Mounts Rainier and Adams from the summit of Mount Hood

The wind was keen.  On with the down gilet.  Some further food and drink and soon the sun itself was over the horizon.  The guides were keen to leave, but the clients rebelled!  Eventually though it was time to go.  Some of the party were getting cold and the thought of snow conditions deteriorating further below once the sun caught the slopes was enough.  We clipped on again and reversed the route.  Now we could see it though.

Here is a foreshortened view from Crater Rock looking up at the final climb to the summit ridge.

Next is the view south west showing the shadow being cast by the mountain

Sunrise on Mount Hood

and then Crater Rock itself (the smells around here were strong!).

Crater Rock on Mount Hood

At this point we finally unclipped from the rope. We were then left to make our own way down the slopes.  It was a race against time before the sun turned the snow from mildly slippery to bottomless porridge!  It was quite interesting to see the character of the snow change as we lost height.  Many climbers were still on their way up.  It was a gorgeous day.  They would have fantastic summit panoramas but would flounder on the way down.

The views for us were not bad either.  Here is Mount Jefferson to the south

and cloud streaming in below into the valleys

and some further views up the mountain

The snow did turn into porridge.  The sun reflected off the snow.  It was dehydrating.  I had stashed a drink near where we had been dropped off by the snowcat. One of the guides and I soon demolished that.  We slithered, slid and occasionally plunged into the snow.  Gradually the Lodge began to look bigger and bigger.  We reached the car park.  It was 8am.

What a walk to do before breakfast!

I sat in the car and fell asleep in the warm sun….

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Ultras, Volcanoes

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Links

  • Walkhighlands
  • Peakbagger
  • Relative Hills Society
  • Parkswatchscotland
  • Mark Horrell
  • Ted Fairhurst
  • Cookie policy (UK)
  • Terms & conditions

Tags

Aconcagua Andes Antarctica Australia Ben Nevis Bolivia brumlow top Corbetts Damavand Dan Bull David Hamilton Francois Bernard Giluwe Hewitts Humour Iran Iztaccihuatl Katie Sarah Kilimanjaro Llullaillaco Marilyns Mount Bogong Mount Elbrus Mount Hagen Mount Mukal Mount Rainier Mount Sidley Munros Ojos del Salado P600 Pico de Orizaba Ruapehu satyarup siddhanta Scottish Mountains Seven Summits South America Ted Fairhurst Teide Tochal Toubkal Ultras Volcanic Seven Summits Volcanoes Yorkshire 3 Peaks Zhang Liang

Recent posts

  • Mount Sidley – January 2025 (pt 1)
  • V7S update – December 2024
  • Volcanic Seven Summits – November 2024 update
  • The Irish Furths
  • Beinn Mhor, Thacla and Beinn Corradail, South Uist

Archive

  • January 2025 (2)
  • December 2024 (1)
  • October 2024 (5)
  • September 2024 (1)
  • May 2024 (1)
  • April 2024 (3)
  • March 2024 (4)
  • February 2024 (1)
  • January 2024 (3)
  • December 2023 (1)
  • November 2023 (1)
  • July 2023 (1)
  • June 2023 (1)
  • April 2023 (1)
  • March 2023 (1)
  • February 2023 (1)
  • January 2023 (2)
  • October 2022 (2)
  • September 2022 (1)
  • August 2022 (1)
  • July 2022 (1)
  • January 2022 (1)
  • December 2021 (1)
  • November 2021 (2)
  • July 2021 (2)
  • March 2021 (2)
  • December 2020 (1)
  • November 2020 (2)
  • July 2020 (1)
  • May 2020 (2)
  • April 2020 (1)
  • March 2020 (1)
  • February 2020 (2)
  • January 2020 (6)
  • December 2019 (1)
  • November 2019 (1)
  • October 2019 (1)
  • September 2019 (1)
  • July 2019 (1)
  • January 2019 (2)
  • December 2018 (3)
  • November 2018 (2)
  • October 2018 (1)
  • September 2018 (1)
  • July 2018 (1)
  • June 2018 (3)
  • May 2018 (2)
  • April 2018 (1)
  • March 2018 (1)
  • February 2018 (3)
  • December 2017 (1)
  • October 2017 (4)
  • September 2017 (4)
  • August 2017 (2)
  • June 2017 (2)
  • May 2017 (1)
  • April 2017 (2)
  • February 2017 (1)
  • January 2017 (1)
  • December 2016 (2)
  • November 2016 (4)
  • October 2016 (3)
  • September 2016 (1)
  • August 2016 (1)
  • May 2016 (7)
  • April 2016 (4)
  • March 2016 (3)
  • February 2016 (1)
  • January 2016 (2)
  • December 2015 (3)
  • November 2015 (4)
  • October 2015 (4)
  • September 2015 (2)
  • August 2015 (1)
  • July 2015 (4)
  • June 2015 (1)
  • May 2015 (5)
  • April 2015 (2)
  • March 2015 (4)
  • February 2015 (1)
  • January 2015 (2)
  • December 2014 (2)
  • November 2014 (25)
  • October 2014 (2)
  • August 2014 (1)
  • June 2014 (1)
  • April 2014 (1)
  • March 2014 (1)
  • February 2014 (2)
  • August 2013 (1)
  • July 2013 (7)
  • June 2013 (3)
  • May 2013 (1)
  • April 2013 (1)
  • February 2013 (3)
  • October 2012 (1)
  • June 2012 (3)
  • April 2012 (2)
  • March 2012 (2)
  • February 2012 (3)
  • November 2011 (2)
  • August 2011 (1)
  • July 2011 (2)
  • April 2011 (1)

Copyright © James Stone 2014-2024

Manage Cookie Consent
I use cookies to optimize this website.
Functional cookies Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}