Climb Stats

Climb Start: 12:30 AM (20 June) Summit: 7:47 AM Climb End: 11:30 AM Starting Elevation: 6000 ft. Summit Elevation: 11,243 ft. Horizontal Distance: 2.9 mi.

Climbers

Ray K. Matt D. * Paul L. * Pat L. * Dave T. * Mark O. Ryan K. Eric L. Stuart F. Spencer R. Quentin D. Patrick E. George P. * * - Summited

Group Picture before training on Saturday.

19 June 2004 - 2:00 AM

Lounging around in camp on Friday evening.

We just got into camp after driving around five hours. We left Boise around 7:30 PM and arrived around 1:30 West Coast Time. The scenery that I saw was nice, but I slept for most of the ride. Hopefully that doesn't keep me from sleeping well tonight.

We arrived at the campsite and quickly set up our tents. I was able to set mine up using very little light, which was reassuring. The campsite is fairly wooded, but I haven't gotten a good view of the surrounding area, or of Mt. Hood, since it is dark.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow, it should be a fun day... learning to use ice axes and crampons, and then later summitting Mt. Hood. I'm a little nervous, since I haven't done any climbing on snow, but I'm confident I'll do just fine, and will have fun.

3:00 PM

After sleeping in (I got about 12 hours of sleep last night), we had eggs and bacon for breakfast. Following the breakfast, we geared up and got ready to go to the mountain. I got my first glimpse of Mt. Hood as we drove up to it... It is a very impressive mountain, it's snow-capped peak towering over the surrounding landscape. We stopped for a group photo, with the mountain in the background.

I had butterflies in my stomach as we drove around the mountain. Seeing the route we would take was impressive, and the major features were visible, including Crater rock, the Hogsback, and the summit.

After reaching Timberline Lodge, which was filled with skiiers and snowboarders, we suited up with helmets, ice axes, crampons, harnesses, and ropes. We then hiked into a small drainage and practiced walking with ropes and self-arresting.

Practice walking with ropes across snowfields.

Mark and Ryan (?) switch-backing up the side of the gully

Dave's group walking across the snowfield.

While learning the basics of Mountaineering safety, we saw firsthand the speed and unpredictability of weather on a mountain. A little bit of cloud cover appeared at the summit, and within 30 minutes, it was raining all over the mountain. We'd just finished our training when the rain started, so we headed back to the cars. We took a quick stop at the lodge to register for the night's climb and to pick up "Blue Bags". By the time we returned to the cars, the storm had vanished, and it was once again sunny over the entire mountain.

We then headed back to camp to dry our gear, eat pasta, and rest. We will get up and head to the mountain around 11 PM, with the intention to begin climbing around midnight. Then we're aiming to summit by 7 or 8 AM Sunday.

7:00 PM

Dinner was very good. We had pasta with a very good homemade meat sauce. Afterwards, we had oreo cheesecake and cherry cheesecake. We also prepared tuna sandwiches and PB&J for tonight's climb.

Now, it's time to get some rest before breaking camp and beginning the climb.

20 June 2004 - 7:50 AM

We reached the summit without much trouble. Five of us made the trip up from the Hogsback: Matt D., Pat L., Dave T., Paul L., and myself. Conditions are perfect at the top: no wind, sunny, and clear sky. The view is incredible! We can see Ranier, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Jefferson and a couple other mountains. We couldn't have gotten a more perfect day!

1:15 PM

A description of the events of the climb:

As planned we got up at 10:30 PM and geared up. The instant I woke up, the nervousness returned. Around 11 PM, after a final gear check, we headed towards Mt. Hood. After filling up water bottles, we parked the cars and put on our crampons. I was given the task of carrying a climbing rope up to the Hogsback, for when we'd need to rope together for the finals summit attempt up the glacier. My nervousness turned to excitement and anticipation as we prepared to leave.

Me just before beginning the climb.

Ray and Ryan prior to the start of climbing.

We began hiking around 12:30 AM, up a small glacial ravine. We climbed out onto the ski slope and hiked through the terrain park. The ski area wasn't nearly as steep as the upper portion of the mountain, and we made good time. At 2:30 AM, we stopped and had "lunch" of tuna sandwiches. On the climb up, we saw numerous "climbers" being ferried up the mountain in snowcats.

Me, Ryan and Spencer during the climb.

Eating lunch while sitting on a "grind rail" in the terrain park.

The wind was blowing down the mountain, but as long as you were moving, you stayed warm. However, things got cold if you stopped for more than a few minutes.

Unfortunately Stuart (who had become ill and nauseous during the car ride up), was unable to continue past the top of the ski area. He went back down the mountain and rested while the rest of the team continued up.

After the boundary for the ski area, the mountain got a good bit steeper. By this time, I was thoroughly enjoying the climb. The anticipation of the summit had grabbed me and I was greatly enjoying the climb.

Pat climbing towards the Hogsback.

At the top of the incline, we saw numerous tents belonging to climbers that had decided to camp on the mountain. By this time, it was nearing 4:30 AM, and it was beginning to get light out. The incredible night sky, with the extermely bright Milky Way, had begun to fade. From this point, th e summit looked tantalizingly close.

Our group had also become increasingly spread out, as people became tired. We met other climbers on their way up, passing a couple groups.

Our group climbing.	Almost to the Hogsback.	Our team with the shadow the mountain behind them as the sun rises.
Spencer taking a break from climbing.	Ryan rests on his way up to the Hogsback.

After climbing up more steep snowfields, we reached our goal: The Hogsback around 6:45 AM. By this point, most of our team was exhaused. Ryan and Spencer fell asleep immediately upon reaching the Hogsback. We then made the decision to attempt the summit. Most of the team opted to turn back, but five of us decided to continue climbing (Pat L., Dave T., Paul L., Matt D., and myself). (Team Name: Snow Bunnies). We roped up with Matt in the lead, myself in second position, Pat in the middle, Paul behind him, and Dave at the end. After watching the rest of our team being the descent, we continuted on the final 700 ft. to the top.

We reached the Hogsback!

Ray and Ryan at the Hogsback.

Looking down from the Hogsback.

The route to the top is very steep. It starts up the Hogsback and then takes a sharp left turn to loop around the crevasse. It then thens back and returns to the Hogsback (above the crevasse). The route then heads uphill, and passes through "The Pearly Gates" (a chute between two ice covered rock faces), and up to the summit.

Looking towards the summit from the bottom of the Hogsback. (The dark line across the middle of the picture is the crevasse.)

The active volcano has exposed vents on either side of the Hogsback.

The final portion is the most dangerous. Several years ago, a team climbing through the "Pearly Gates" fell, taking out two other teams. All three teams ended up in the crevasse, and 3 climbers were killed.

Our team made it to the top safely and uneventfully.

The scene at the top was majestic. A perfect day for climbing. Sunny, cloudless sky, and still air. It was absolutely beautiful at the summit. We met a Chinese man at there. It was his first summit of a peak. He told us that Buddhism taught that our presence on the summit with him, and no one else, meant that we had all had some sort of relationship to each other in a previous life.

The whole group at the summit

Me at the summit of Hood.

Looking in the other direction from the summit. (It was really sunny on top.)

We took pictures, called loved ones using cell phones, and took a final look around. Then we headed back down. We followed the same path for our descent.

Looking down the mountain through the Pearly Gates from the summit.

Looking down from the Hogsback after the summit.

After we reached the Hogsback, we stored the ropes and descened a bit more. We pulled out sturdy trash bags, stowed our crampons and slid down the mountain. It was icy, so we were sliding very fast. After losing control twice and having my ice axe ripped out of my hands both times, I elected to walk the rest of the way down. Dave T. and I walked down farther, until the snow got softer and then slid down as much as we could. Sliding was lots of fun (as long as you could stay in control). Matt, Pat, and Paul went down ahead of us. Dave and I arrived at the cars at 11:30 AM.

We then loaded up the cars and went back to the campsite to break camp. Then we returned home.