Mount Hood
Oregon
July 23, 2005

That evening I stayed at Camp Creek Campground which is operated by the Mount Hood National Forest, ZigZag Ranger District. This is a fee supported campground just off Highway 26 about 10 miles from the Timberline turnoff.

Around 3:00 am the gods spoke with thunder and lightning, but not much rain. By the morning, it was overcast, light rain and HOT! I decided to check the surrounding area out for other campgrounds and shopping.

Friday night I stayed in the Alpine Campground located just below the Timberline Parking lot. This campground is also ran by the ZigZag Ranger District at $16 per night. I awoke at midnight and prepared for the summit bid. Packed away the site and drove to the Timberline parking lot. Signed the register at 1:00 am and up the mountain I started.

The first section is a maintained trail to the Silcox Hut located 1 mile from the trailhead. From here, I headed east to the ski area boundary and turned uphill. I walked the edge of the ski slopes until I reached the top at 8,500’. The snow pack was considerably down from my experience on previous trips.

Above the ski boundary, the Palmer Glacier was well formed and easy going. In fact I did not put my crampons on until I reach 9,000 feet. The moon was out very bright and I turned off my headlamp and traveled with no problem. I was following two other climbers and overtook them near 9,300 feet. It felt good knowing this old bag of bones still can pass people.

The Palmer Glacier had a very large crevasse near 9,500 that forced me to climb onto a scree and rock outcropping section to circumnavigate. On this area, you will find two well defined tent sites, complete with rock walls build around them for protection against the elements. This would make a nice place to stop should you want to make this a two day trip. I crossed over to clear the crevasse and continued toward Crater Rock. The sulfur smell was quite noticeable even at 9’800, much more than previous years.

I dropped back down off the scree on the opposite side. The steepness increased and I stopped to take short rests more often. The hint of a sunrise was just now starting to appear. I was still using only my poles and I ditched them along the scree and continued on with my ice axe.

The slope leading up to the right side of Crater Rock was firm and steep. In some areas the glacier melted out to solid rock. You could hear water running under your feet in the thin sections.

Moving around Crater Rock was done on a 35° - 45° slope as shown in the picture above. To my right, the glacier dropped off 200 to 500 feet. The Hogsback was still well formed, but very steep this time. The boot path on the Hogsback lead up to a wide Bergschrund that had a parallel crevasse just below it.

The path departed the hogsback where it met with the Bergschrund and you now traversed just below the Bergschrund toward its right side.

From this point through the Pearly Gates was a test of mettle. The slope increased to 55° - 70° consisting of snow and ice. There was a set of kicked-in steps from previous climbers. However, these steps are weakened every afternoon when the sun hits and then freezes every night. You could hear the ice crystals break under your foot on every step. A couple of times I could feel only the front points take hold.

My ice axe often bounced off the hard surface as I used the pick to assist my ascent. Every step I took was tested to ensure the crampons would hold.

While looking back toward Crater Rock, I could see Mount Hood's shadow over the skyline. This was quite impressive.

Soon I was on top, which now had some exposed rock and great views! It was 7:00 am, 6 hours and 5’000 foot ascent after my start. I did not want to stay long because the Pearly Gates was still in the shadows that meant the footing would still be solid. I knew that once the sun starts to hit the slope, it would soften into mash potatoes and I would not feel safe descending. The route back down was so steep; climbers would go down backward to kick-in steps. It was slow going down this way, but safer. Should you slip, there was the Bergshrund and crevasse to welcome you and if you missed them, there was almost a thousand feet of uncaring slope.

With the heat of the day starting to hit, rocks were being thrown down at you. On three occasions I watched rocks as big as a baseball go flying by me making a loud whining noise. One was less than 2 feet from me while I hung there precipitously on the steepest part of the slope. Back on the Hogsback I felt safe again. The hike back down was uneventful, but the sun was now burning down on you and it was hot!

My trip lasted 10 hours and 5 minutes. Hopefully this will not be my last trip on this beautiful mountain. I must admit I did not like the melted out conditions and next time I'll do it earlier in the season. The last time I was here, June 2000, the conditions were perfect.