Oregonisaac and Jessifly climbing Mt. Hood

[Jessifly]

This passed weekend Isaac, his friend Steve and I climbed Mt Hood, the highest point in Oregon!

At Timberline Lodge (5800') we put on our very heavy packs, strapped on our snowshoes and began our climb in the late afternoon.

Here is the mountain looking up from the parking lot at Timberline Lodge.

 

We camped on the side of the mountain at about 9000'. We had to dig a flat area in the snow and build a wall around it to house the tent from the bitter cold wind. It was a looooong night. I slept very little, waking up every 15-30 minutes thoughout the night because of the wind and cold.

Here is our camp sitting on a "shelf"on the steep slope high above the clouds.

 

We got up at 5am, ate some food and crawled out of our warm sleeping bags into the cold cold cold air.

We put on our crampons, packed our climbing gear and food and warm clothing into our packs and were climbing again by 6am.

Isaac

 

Jessi

 

Isaac and Jessi

 

It was a tough climb. My boots were causing me a lot of pain on my heels, and Isaac was having trouble with his knee and the slope was very steep! We were getting closer, we could see the summit! Looking up to the top we watched as a large cloud decended onto the mountain and it brought with it a very strong wind.

 

With only about 1000' elevation to the summit to go the fog and wind spread further down the mountain until we were completely in it. Several groups began decending the mountain. They said there was mountain rescue up a bit further turning people back. "Well, we may not summit today but the mountain isn't going anywhere" Steve said. And with that we made the decision to turn back also.

Here we are, nothing but white all around us.

 

 

Video: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2026240879

[offense74]

Wow, it looks awesome

It did remind me of winter though, which is not so good

[robert]

Awesome photos! I love Mt. Hood! I haven't been over there in years but I enjoy the view from Portland.

 

So, I guess you both had good excuses for missing my competition

 

It looks like it was a lot of fun and of course very beautiful up there. Thanks for the recap and photos of the event. I'm sure our visitors this summer will enjoy seeing Mt. Hood (which I think is one of the only places around in the US where you can snowbaord 365 days a year). Is that right?

[cubby2112]

Awesome photos! Oregon just gets cooler all the time.

[loveliberate]

Sounds like a great adventure!

I'd love to see more of us here get together for stuff like this. I'm not sure I'm ready for summiting Mt. Hood but I'd personally love to do some hikes & camp-outs. I'm also looking for folks to help me get started with rock-climbing and kayaking.

[Guest]

Awesome pics...pretty crazy to think of the cold though when i was sweating my butt off yesterday.

[endurancewannabe]

Awesome pictures. I would love to visit Oregon someday and snowboard Mt. Hood. Portland also sounds like a great place to live from everything I've read on the board.

[markc7]

Great stuff! That looks like tons of fun and I'm glad you made the right decision about turning back. Thanks for posting the pics!

[andgbr]

awesome..