Mt Hood Climb

Scott, Matt, Brian and Sean climbed Mt Hood (11,237 feet) on Saturday 6/25/11. This was our second attempt on Mt Hood this year. Our first attempt was ~10 days prior, but we never got out of the truck in the parking lot due to very high winds and rain. For our 2nd attempt, the weather forecast was improved (no moisture), but we still had to deal with high winds (20-40mph).

We decided that since we were climbing on Friday/Saturday we should get an early start to beat the crowds to the top. We left Portland at 10:00 PM and arrived at Timberline Lodge at 11:30 PM. We started the climb at just after midnight.

Brian near Timberline Lodge. Notice the flag blowing in the background.

Matt, Brian and Scott during a food and water break at 2:30 AM

Sean

"Hey guys, I can't feel my hands". Matt trying to regain feeling in his hands. He was only wearing medium weight gloves and the cold temps and wind were stealing all the heat from this fingers. Luckily as we climbed higher the winds decreased and the cold hands were soon forgotten.

Brian making his way up to the hogsback.

Twilight moon near the Hogsback - 4:31 AM - 10,500 feet

Sunrise light while ascending the old chute. 5:00 AM. ~10,800 feet.

Sean and Brian ascending the old chute. Notice all of the climbers on the Hogsback (middle left). Our group ended up being the 2nd group to reach the summit. Luckily we didn't get caught in the traffic jam.

Matt in the old chute. Notice all of the rime ice on the rocks near the horizon. This is not normal for the last week in June...it usually would be all rock by now.

Mt Hood Sunrise - 5:40 AM - 11,237 feet

"Stands in Silence" As the sun rises behind Mt Hood, a perfect pyramid shaped shadow is cast upon the surrounding landscape. Definitely my favorite image from the climb!

A view of the Cascade Range looking south from the Summit. Mt Jefferson is the first peak (~50 miles away) and the Three Sisters and Broken Top are further back. A nice fog layer was filling the valleys below.

Brian and Matt

Sean

Scott

Brian, Matt, Sean

Brian

Sean and Matt.

Matt preparing his pack for the descent.

Brian, Sean and Matt on the summit ridge. The summit ridge has a knife edge this year. One wrong step in this area would not be good!

Looking down the northeast face of Hood. It is a LONG way down from here!

Old chute traffic jam. This is why we started early. There are 35 climbers visible in this photo and there were about another 20 who had just reached the top.

Looking up the hogsback to the bergschrund.

From here Matt and Brian skied down and Scott and Sean descended on foot. It was too cold to glissade so the descent took a bit longer than anticipated. Everyone was down by ~9:15 and we were on our way back to Portland by 9:45 AM.

Mt Hood/Columbia River Gorge Photography

It's been quite a while since we have posted any new content on the blog. We have several posts lined up and just need to get them online.

Here are a few images from Scott's "photography day" in January.

I had a full day and decided to focus on the Mt Hood area. My plan was to get up early and catch the sunrise from White River Sno Park, then snowshoe to Tamanawas falls, then photograph a few waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge. Amazingly, I was able to visit all of these areas in a single day. Here are a few images from the day.

"Winter Majestic" Sunrise alpenglow on Mt Hood from White River. To read more about this image please see the blog post on Scott's Photography Blog

"Fresh Fallen" Fresh snowfall in White River Canyon near Mt Hood.

"Tamanawas Falls in Winter" At the end of a 2 mile snowshoe is beautiful Tamanawas Falls.

"& the Creek Don't Rise" A secluded waterfall deep in the Columbia River Gorge. The green moss in the Gorge was quite a contrast from the snow up around Mt Hood.

Middle Rock Lake Backpack

Angie, Scott, Cami and Warren backpacked to Middle Rock Lake in the Mt Hood Wilderness in mid July. This was a fairly short backpack for us (~4 miles round trip), but the hot weather (~95 degrees) that weekend convinced us that a short backpack was a good idea. We enjoyed a nice day at the lake with the warm water and sunshine. The mosquitoes were pretty bad on this trip, but with enough deet on they mostly left us alone. Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Middle Rock Lake is currently the central location of a search and rescue operation for a guy who has been missing since early July. He was reported missing the day we arrived at the lake. Other than his tent, we didn't see any sign of him. Hopefully they figure out what happened to him.

Large rock slide on the slopes around Middle Rock Lake.
Some wildflowers at Middle Rock Lake. 2 exposure blend, 1/3 sec and 1/13 sec at f/16, ISO 200.
Rhododendrons in bloom.
Upper Rock Lake. The lake was like a mosquito breeding pool and Scott was bitten about 6 times just trying to get this picture!
Middle Rock Lake looking east.
Warren and Cami both playing with the same stick.
Cami, Scott, Warren
Cami, Angie, Warren
Sunset at Middle Rock Lake. 1.3 sec at f/22, ISO 100
Campfire under the north star.
There was another group of backpackers across the lake who were in perfect position to capture this photo. This is a 5 exposure blend to capture the glow of the fire and the motion of the stars rotating around the north star. Exposure 1 (34 sec at f/4, ISO 100) was taken at twilight to capture some of the glow in the sky. Exposures 2-5 were started ~30 minutes later. Each exposure was ~22 minutes at f/4, ISO 100.
Cami watching the fish rise at sunrise.
Middle Rock Lake Sunrise
Bear grass

Upper Twin Lake Backpack

Angie, Cami, Kurt and I backpacked to Upper Twin Lake in late June. Upper Twin Lake (elev 4388') is located in the Mt Hood Wilderness, south of Mt Hood. The trip was ~9.5 miles round trip with ~1500 feet of total elevation gain. We also made a side trip to Palmateer Point (3.4 miles round trip).

Upper Twin Lake is a very nice shallow lake. The lake doesn't hold many fish because it usually freezes solid in the winter. The lake has a partial view of Mt Hood from the very southern end of the lake. There were 3 other groups of backpackers at the lake, but we arrived first and got the best campsite on the east end of the lake.

This was an enjoyable backpack with minimal bugs and almost no snow. It's good to see the mountain snow is finally starting to melt out.

Angie enjoying the afternoon sun at the lake.
Cami, Angie and Kurt
Cami
View of Mt Hood along the trail leading to Palmateer Point. Mt Hood usually doesn't have this much snow in late June, but our cool spring with lots of rain/snow has kept the mountain covered.
Palmateer Point. Elev 4410'
The only wildflower I could find on Palmateer Point!
Cami making a bed in the beargrass.
Cami looking hungry.
Kurt cooking on his new MSR stove.
Angie's bug hat.
Partial view of Mt Hood from Upper Twin Lake. 3 exposure manual blend in Photoshop. 1/20 sec, 1 sec at 1.6 sec at f/16, ISO 100. Not much of a sunset, but I still like the photo.
Moonrise over Upper Twin Lake. 3 exposure manual blend in Photoshop. 1) 5.5 sec at f/16, ISO 100 taken during twilight to maintain some texture in the water/trees/logs.
2) 30 sec at f/4, ISO 200 - 30 minutes later for the stars/sky.
3) 27 sec at f/22, ISO 400 - 45 minutes later for the "moon star".
Early morning at Upper Twin Lake.