Mount Hood Summit
Trip Notes

The tip of Crater Rock sticking out with clouds in the valley below.

There were three other groups coming down when we got to the Hogsback, and two groups going up ahead of us.  We got the the Hogsback at 8:50am.

Hikers coming down from the summit.  The bergsrund can be seen center bottom
of the picture, just to the left of the sunny patch on the Hogsback.

We roped up there and headed up the Hogsback.  The burgsrund was not very deep, perhaps 16ft deep and about 4ft wide at the narrowest and 10ft at the widest.  We belayed each other going past the bottom of the burgsrund.

This picture shows the inside of the bergsrund.

The Pearly Gates were treacherous!  There was loose ice which was like stepping on shale.  We had to dig our ice axes in, using the pick, and take two steps, then dislodge the pick and whack it into the ice again.  The going was slow.  At the top of the narrow Pearly Gates it opened up to a wider section which was easier going.  After that it was a short way to the top.

Jane on the summit with Mt Rainier and Mt Adams in the background.

The summit was clear and sunny but the wind was howling and it was cold.  we got to the summit at 9:50am and stayed up there for 25 minutes before heading down.  We had good, clear visibility of all the surrounding peaks.  We got a great view of Mt Rainier, our next stop.

Robert on the summit.

The climb down the Pearly Gates was a lot worse than the climb up.  The ice was still crispy and loose, and we had to nudge ice shards the size of dinner plates out of the way just to get a good grip with our crampons.  Robert went down ahead of me, toe kicking and inching himself down backwards using the pick with every step.  Afterwards he told me that he almost slipped twice.

The view from the summit, looking down into the start of the Pearly Gates.

The going was very slow until we got to the top of the burgsrund, where we once again belayed each other across.  Then it was a quick march down the Hogsback.  It took us an hour from the summit to the Hogsback, a total of about 700ft.  We stayed roped up a while longer until we were clear of the dangerous areas.  Once we packed the rope away we took big steps down to the tent.  We met one more group going up just as we were leaving the Hogsback and another about 1,000ft above our tent.

Treasure, Grumpy, Festus and Ruffus bag another summit!

We got back to the tent at 12:10pm, had bagels and string cheese for lunch and went to sleep for an hour in the tent.  Then at 1:30pm we started packing up our base camp.  It was still sunny and clear with only one cloud hanging around west of Inspiration Rock.  Once we got to the ski slope we got in the sleds and whizzed down.  From the top of the ski lift to Timberline Lodge on the sleds took 40 minutes.  At 3:20pm we were back at the car.

Even though I applied zinc oxide 30 SPF I still got burned on and inside my nose and lips.  Robert wasn't too affected by the sun.

Page 1
Mt Hood -
1st Attempt

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