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.

Jefferson Park Backpack

Here are some pictures from Scott's solo backpacking trip (Angie couldn't make it due to work) to Jefferson Park in late July.

Jefferson Park is one of the most popular backpacking destinations in Oregon and the weekend crowds here can be overwhelming. I was able to get 2 days off mid week, which made this a very nice trip since there were very few people out. I only saw about a half dozen other backpackers on the night I was there. On the way out I passed ~30 people heading into Jefferson Park and it was only Thursday! I can only imagine how many people were there for the weekend. On the trail out I ran into Matt and Chris who were headed in that day for an overnight trip.

This was an amazing trip from a photography standpoint and the pictures definitely show it. It was basically an "early season" trip due to the amount of snow we had this past winter combined with the cool spring. The bugs were pretty bad in the evening (think head net, long sleeves and deet), but the scenery made up for it. I hope you enjoy the photos.


"Fractured Ice" 1/30 sec at f/16 ISO 100, polarizer. This scene worked perfectly in black and white. The ice crack was on an "iceberg" floating in this small tarn below Mt Jefferson.

"Thunderstorm Over Mt Jefferson" 1/20 sec at f/16, ISO 100, polarizer. During the afternoon some fairly large thunderstorms built up over Mt Jefferson. Listening to the thunder rumbling in the distance was quite relaxing.

"Gently Down the Stream" 3 exposure blend for depth of field and exposure. 0.25, 0.5, 0.8 sec at f/16, ISO 100, polarizer. This was a beautiful spot where I spent the evening photographing the sunset...and trying to keep the mosquitoes from carrying me away!

"Stars Over Mt Jefferson" 30 seconds at f/4, ISO 400. This was from a small tarn near my camp at Russell Lake.

Self Portrait. 1/4 sec at f/16, ISO 200. Not a bad place to spend a morning!

Sunrise light on Mt Jefferson. 0.6 sec at f/16, ISO 200, polarizer, 3 stop GND filter. This is from the same area where I shot the sunset the night before.

Frog hanging out in the stream.

"Veratrum and Wildflowers. I really liked this scene. 1.8 sec at f/16, ISO 100

Mt Jefferson above Jefferson Park. Taken from the Park Ridge Trail north of Jefferson Park.

"Paintbrush and Mt Jefferson" It was a bit early for wildflowers in the park, but in the next few weeks this place will look incredible.