Mount Hood, Oregon – 2007
A Trip Report by David Socky
Preamble: I arrived at SeaTac airport around 10:40am on Saturday, May 5, 2007. The flight from Roanoke, through Cincinnati, was uneventful. I had a great view of Mt Rainier as we flew into Seattle. At Capital Shuttle, I had to reschedule my pickup because of the screw up that cheap tickets caused (they booked my return flights so that I arrived in Atlanta about an hour and forty minutes after my flight for Roanoke was scheduled to leave. Dumb shits. Delta was kind enough to reschedule my return flight). There was no problem doing so, but they now planned to pick me up at Stan’s house at 7:40am! The drive from SeaTac to Stan’s house was uneventful and took only an hour and a half or so. Stan and Sandy met me at the door. It was good to see them again. They fed me dinner and then we packed for Mt Hood.
I was up at around 8am their time. We packed all our stuff in Stan’s Subaru Outback and headed to their Church, where Stan needed to set up a display for audio recordings of past services and then make sure the service this morning was recorded. We met Jim Woodward (Mt St Helens) and Ron Raff (Mt Hood) while there. After the service we drove over to the shopping center to meet with Gary and then drove to Mt Hood.
Getting ready for the hike
Mt Hood
Saturday afternoon, May 7, 2007, Stan Springer, Gary Hudson, and I drove from Olympia, Washington, to Mt Hood in Stan’s Subaru Outback. We arrived at the Timberline ski lodge around 2:30 pm and met up with two other vehicles. Jessica and Randy were in a pickup truck, with three others in a black sedan. We had a total of 8 in our group. It had been cloudy all day and didn’t look like it was going to get any better. It wasn’t really raining, but there was a light mist which showed up on my camcorder lens. There was enough moisture to warrant using my camcorder rain cover – the first time I had to use it. I’m glad I had it because it saved my camera from a real soaking.
After signing in at the climber’s registration room (no hiking fee or permits required) we put our plastic boots on, wrapped up our legs in gaiters and hefted our back packs to our backs for the hike up. My pack was not totally full and weighed around 40 to 45 pounds. Not having any cooking gear or a tent really helped. Our plan was to hike up above the top of the highest ski lift, which was at an elevation of around 8500 feet. We couldn’t see the mountain because of the clouds and light rain was falling. It was windy out – gusts of around 15 to 20 mph. Right out of the parking lot, the route was covered in snow. The trail was to the right (east) of the ski slopes, but because they weren’t running the lift, we hiked up pretty much under the lift so as not to get lost in the clouds and fog. We started at about 3:30 pm. About halfway up we made a rest stop at a couple of cabins. We rested for about 40 minutes – talking and taking pictures. Again, there was light rain. The cabins can be rented, and the lodge will use their big Cat machines to haul everyone and their gear up. Apparently, it costs about $150.00 per night for this. There were about 20 or so people up there when we showed up.
About a half hour after leaving the cabins, we actually climbing out above the clouds. The sun was out, and the mountain was in plain view. It was beautiful. The clouds below us obscured part of the lodge, but they were all below us. It was clear now, but it was still pretty windy, with lots of strong gusts.
We finally arrived at the top of the ski lift around 7pm with the sun still up, but the wind was still blowing. The building for the chair lift didn’t really supply much of a wind break. Randy said that he had been feeling nauseous for the last hour or so and still wasn’t feeling too well. We had a short discussion and decided to set up camp right at the ski lift building instead of trying to hike well above it, as we had been planning. It was hoped that Randy would feel better in the morning and would be able to do the climb.
One of the views on the hike up
I took my video camera rain coat off and wandered around taking pictures. It was really windy. It was a struggle to get Gary’s tent put up in the wind. Everyone put a lot of clothes on to stay warm. Stoves were really hard to light. It was more or less dark when we finally got around to messing with dinner. Luckily, I found my light. Stan got his going without too much trouble and boiled water (melted snow) for freeze dried dinners. Mine was an Indian chicken curry dinner. We were so cold and ready to finish things up that Stan dumped water in my dinner. He said to tell him when there was enough. No measurement. As it turned out, it wasn’t enough water. The stuff was like paste. Yech. I forced half of it down and then finally gave up. I organized my pack and covered it with my rain cover, and then crawled into bed. Gary was on the far side, away from the building, with his head facing the door. Stan was in the middle with his head to the back of the tent. I tried sleeping with my head at the door, but that was slightly downhill – which I can’t stand, so I turned my sleeping bag around. Well, the tent ceiling sloped down from the front to the rear, so there was only about 1 foot of space between the floor and ceiling. My head was crammed into this space with my face scrunched up against the wall, which was going ‘wappa wappa wamp slam wappa’ from the wind. I had to stick my head in the sleeping bag in order to keep my face from being slammed and slapped by the tent wall. It was noisy! Plus, Stan snored. My earplugs were outside in my pack. It was cold and windy outside. I stayed put. Needless to say, I didn’t get any sleep that night. At least my sleeping bag was warm!
Near the top of the Hog Back
The plan was to get up about 2am, make some breakfast, pack up, and be on our way up by 3am or so. At about 1:40 am, we were all startled by a roaring machine and bright headlights on our tent. It was a large snow grooming machine. They were getting ready for a day of skiing on Monday. It was still really windy outside. Stan got up around two and talked to the machine operator to make sure we wouldn’t get run over and that it was ok for us to be there. It was. After a little discussion, it was decided to wait until 3 am to see if the wind would calm down at all. The fact that several climbers were heading up the mountain was encouraging, though. They had started from the parking lot earlier in the evening.
By 3pm the wind wasn’t a steady howl anymore, but there were still some pretty significant gusts. However, we decided to make a go for it. Since it was windy and cold, I put on plenty of clothes. For the lower half, I had my thin polypro (actually they were Mary Sue’s because they were quite small) then my heavy polypro and then my tan hiking pants. For the top, I had my thin white polypro, my pullover tight woven wind shirt, and then my tan hiking shirt. Overall of this I wore my ski pants/bib overalls. I didn’t wear my down coat. I also had my balaclava and wool hat and my ski gloves (once we got to hiking, though, I only wore my balaclava and light fleece gloves.
I ate two packets of oatmeal for breakfast. It was very good. Before leaving, we packed up all our stuff and hid it among some rocks a little above the ski lift building. It’s a good thing we did because the whole front of the building was lowered onto the snow when the ski lift was actually operating. Our tents would have been crushed!
We used our lights, but within an hour didn’t need it. Stan was faster this day so I was the slowest. Randy was feeling ok so he and Jessica were right up near the front. Once it got light enough, I started taking videos, but my still camera stayed in my pack so I didn’t get any stills that day. We used crampons right from the start even though they weren’t really needed. They were nice, though, because the snow was pretty frozen so the crampons supplied really nice footing in the snow. It was generally a long plod. Starting out it wasn’t too steep, but soon enough we ran into steeper sections. It would be steep, and then roll out to a gentler slope, and then it would get steep again. The further along we got, the longer the steep sections were. After one particularly steep section, we got to an area where there was a big hump on the left with rocks rising above and to the left was a very steep slope down to a gorge. Up ahead was a mound of dirt and rocks on the right which was steaming fumes which smelled strongly of sulfur. Actually, we had been getting wafts of sulfur for quite a while. Hiking along the lower part of the big mound of snow, we finally got up to the base of the Hog Back. See the pictures. This was where we took a bit of a break and rigged up for rope travel.
I ate two packets of oatmeal for breakfast. It was very good. Before leaving, we packed up all our stuff and hid it among some rocks a little above the ski lift building. It’s a good thing we did because the whole front of the building was lowered onto the snow when the ski lift was actually operating. Our tents would have been crushed!
We used our lights, but within an hour didn’t need it. Stan was faster this day so I was the slowest. Randy was feeling ok so he and Jessica were right up near the front. Once it got light enough, I started taking videos, but my still camera stayed in my pack so I didn’t get any stills that day. We used crampons right from the start even though they weren’t really needed. They were nice, though, because the snow was pretty frozen so the crampons supplied really nice footing in the snow. It was generally a long plod. Starting out it wasn’t too steep, but soon enough we ran into steeper sections. It would be steep, and then roll out to a gentler slope, and then it would get steep again. The further along we got, the longer the steep sections were. After one particularly steep section, we got to an area where there was a big hump on the left with rocks rising above and to the left was a very steep slope down to a gorge. Up ahead was a mound of dirt and rocks on the right which was steaming fumes which smelled strongly of sulfur. Actually, we had been getting wafts of sulfur for quite a while. Hiking along the lower part of the big mound of snow, we finally got up to the base of the Hog Back. See the pictures. This was where we took a bit of a break and rigged up for rope travel.
Climbing up through the “Pearly Gates”
The start of the Hog Back
Before getting to the Hogback, I was pretty much last in line. Stan was a bit ahead of me, but everyone else was already at the Hogback. While hiking up, you could see the string of climbers all making their way up the Hogback and disappearing into the Pearly Gates. There must have been about 30 to 40 climbers ahead of us (at least it seemed that many). You could see that they weren’t moving at all. As I was slowly making my way to the base of the Hogback, three older climbers passed me on their way back. They said they hadn’t made it to the top, mainly because of the ‘traffic jam’ at the Pearly Gates. They said that the way up through the Pearly Gates was really windy and icy and that the climbers in the front were having a hell of a time getting the route to the top set up. Apparently, no one had made the summit yet. Because of this, I actually slowed down a bit. I Took more pictures and didn’t push my self very hard. As it turned out, we had quite a wait at the base of the Hogback waiting for everyone to get moving.
Jessica was feeling sick when we got to the Hogback but wanted to try anyway. Stan was dragging and had a headache. At first he wasn’t going to continue from the Hogback, but after eating and drinking he felt better. When Stan was thinking of staying behind, I said maybe I would also, because if Stan stayed behind, I would be the only one to hold everyone up. I was really slow and the trail up the Hogback was pretty intimidating because of its steepness. In spite of my reservations, Stan said I should really go for it, and that there was no problem with being slow. As a matter of fact, he had told all our other teammates that I did really good video and everyone would get copies, so the slowness, delays, and photo stops should be worth it. That encouraged me a bit. So before Stan even changed his mind, I decided to go for it.
Stan hooked up with the rope team I was on. I was the last of our team of four. The first rope team of four moved on ahead while Stan finished rigging into the rope. They were almost to the top of the Hogback by the time we got started. The Hogback was really steep and seemed to be really long. It was a trail along the spine of ridge of snow which ended at the base of a bunch of rock spires. This was where the Pearly Gates are. The rocks were covered with snow and ice and glowed brightly with the sun above and behind them. It was really beautiful. The Hogback wasn’t as bad or as long as it looked and the pace up wasn’t bad at all. I didn’t get the feeling that I was being a real drag, although I did call a few rest breaks along with a number of photo stops. The only problem with being on rope is that when you stop for video, there is no real action because everyone has to stop. At one point, I did leave enough slack in the line that the three in front of me could make a little forward progress while I taped.
As we climbed up, several groups were coming down. They said the top was beautiful and well worth the effort. The sky was blue, there were no clouds, it was warm, and there was no wind at all. At this point, I was feeling on top of the world! (pun intended). Our first group had made it up through the Pearly Gates a while ago. However, we had to wait at the bottom of the chute while roped up teams came down. It was steep and icy enough through the Pearly Gate chute that climbers coming down had to go down facing the slope, using the crampon points on their toes to kick steps in the slope. It essentially called for backing down the whole chute, which was about 20 to 30 feet long. It was slow progress because each climber had to make sure each step was secure before taking the next step. Finally, one of the guides coming down told us that we had to “Push the issue” and make the next team coming down to wait while we went up. Otherwise, we would have had to wait for a long time. There were at least 3 or 4 more teams ready to come down.
We finally got our turn and slowly made our way up the narrow chute. It was steep, but I was not intimidated at all. I really enjoyed it, even stopping to take videos once. The crampons gave really good purchase in the ice, making the climb up feel really secure. Once up through the chute, the ice walls opened up, allowing one to view the last slope to the top. You could see peaks on the left and on the right and it looked like the peak on the left was the top, which would have meant a bit more hiking. But as it turned out, the top was just up one last slope. We de-rigged at the top of the chute and then headed for the top. One last slog and we were up!
What a view! It was truly impressive. It was a beautiful day, warm, with no wind at all. It was very quiet, and the sky was clear. Visibility seemed to be forever. Look at the pictures. We ate some food and took plenty of pictures. We lazed around in the warm. There was one other group at the top, so we took turns taking each others pictures. One of the guys in the other party was a professional photographer, so I got him to run my camcorder and get videos of me at the top. Proof that I was really there!
The trip back down was fun, especially with the snow and ice loosening up from the sun. On our rope team, I got put in the front of the line. I suspect because I could be belayed from a slip pretty easily. The person at the end would not have anyone to catch him if a slip occurred. I had no problems going down – but did have to back down through the chute and at the start of the Hogback because of the steepness. Snow was starting to accumulate in our crampons, but it wasn’t even close to being as bad as it was on Rainier in 2004. At the bottom of the Hogback, we put ropes and climbing gear away and even took the crampons off. It was warm enough that I stripped down to just my shirt. I had to leave my long polypro pants on, though, because I didn’t want to take off my boots. We all slathered on lots of suntan lotion.
The trip down was not bad. We glissaded where we could which helped a whole lot. Once we got to the ski lift, we packed up all our camping gear. I had room left in my pack, so I carried Gary’s tent. We crossed under the ski lifts and got scolded by one of the lift workers, but it was the easiest way. We crossed over the ski area until we got to the climber’s route on the edge. They were running the ski lift, but there weren’t many skiers out. There were only a handful. Of course, it was Monday, so we didn’t expect there to be crowds. Randy was in front, and I almost caught up with him. I got down pretty quick – a case of entrance fever. I worked up a pretty good sweat – even with going downhill. We finally got down around 3pm. Yeah. I changed into shorts, T Shirt, and sandals. Comfy.
Post log
On the way back from Mt Hood, we stopped near Portland at a fast-food Mexican place and purchased enchilada dinners and large drinks. I was hungry, but the food filled me up fast. I barely finished it. I shouldn’t have gotten a large drink. We dropped Gary off, got some gas (I pitched in $20.00 for gas) and then went straight back to Stan’s house. We unpacked, took showers, and went to bed.
Group photo at the top of Mt Hood
The End