Mount Hood & US Northwest, June 2000
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The group on the summit of Mount Hood
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Friday June 9 - Arrival in Seattle
Andy and I flew from Houston to Seattle to meet Mark and Ryan, who had flown from Chicago, and Todd and Ken, who had driven down from the Canadian Rockies.  We drove south along the coast to Portland, where we turned east into the Columbia River Gorge valley on I-205.  The weather was cool with light misty fog, and we chose to camp at one of the national forest campsites in the thick forest of the gorge.
Saturday June 10 - Mount Adams Day 1
We woke up early, packed up the tents, and headed for Mt. Adams, about an hour north of I-205 from the Hood River exit.  Mount Adams is the third highest peak of the Cascade range, just behind Mount Rainier (14,410') and Mount Shasta (14,162').   The clouds were still thick, and we could not see the mountain as we approached.  We drove to the local ranger station, chatted with the on-duty ranger, and checked in for our climb.  The normal route on Adams is a ~1 day basic climb called the "South Spur", on the south side of the volcano.  But, we intended to climb the "Adams Glacier" route, known to be more difficult and technical, on the northwest side of the mountain.  We were told that the road leading to this side of the mountain was still under heavy snow, and would likely be unpassable for the last few miles.  We purchased maps and a few other necessities, and headed up the road.

As predicted, the road climbed in elevation, and ended in a steep snowbank that marked the limit of the spring snowplowing.  The road and surrounding forest ahead  covered with at least three feet of snow.  We unpacked the cars, loaded up our gear, and headed off through the forest. The skies were still overcast, and light flurries fell as we left the car behind.  We traveled through the thick forest using only the compass for direction. We hoped to reach the edge of the glacier after a full day's approach hike through the forest.  For the next six hours we navigated and ascended through the trees - the clouds were remained thick and we could not catch any glimpses of the mountain.  At the end of the day we had successfully reached the edge of the treeline, but we still could not see any of the glaciers ahead.  We made camp for the night in a peaceful snow valley just within the treeline.  We hoped for better weather and progress onto the glacier tomorrow.

Sunday June 11 - Mount Adams Day 2
We woke early and packed up camp.  The weather was still overcast, and glacier was still invisible ahead.  We did not completely know our position on the mountain, but proceeded after catching a few the short glimpses of ridges and glaciers ahead.  We ascended out of treeline and onto the snow-covered glacier.  We followed a ridge and ascended unroped for several hours.  As we proceeded the weather deteriorated further to a combination of high winds and driving rain/ice.  Visibility remained poor.

We climbed in this fashion  for several more hours, with no idea of our exact location, or if we were even on the correct glacier.  Finally the wind and freezing rain became too severe to proceed any further, and we decided to stop and make camp on the glacier.  The visibility was limited to 50 feet, and we did our best to choose a spot on the glacier that we thought was adequately sheltered from avalanche.  We spent the next two hours digging two tent spots into the glacier, which culminated with a respectable looking snowcamp.  The wind was howling, and we retired into the tents to wait.

The storm howled for the rest of the day and into the night, which did not afford us much sleep.  We had not optimally secured our tent fly within the snow shelter, and the heavy wind, rain, and snow resulted in significant water inside the tent.  We did our best to keep the puddle collected in a corner, but still suffered from some gear soakage.

Monday June 12 - Mount Adams Day 3
The morning brought no change in the winds or the storm, and we were faced with two choices - wait for another day to see of the storm cleared, or begin descending for the car.  If the storm lasted for another day, then we would not have enough fuel or food to make the summit and return.  This limitation, combined with our inability to estimate our true position on the mountain and soakage of gear, swayed our decision to return to the car.

We packed up the now sagging snowcamp and began the descent.  We found the treeline and our camp location from the first night, but were unable to follow our original route through the forest. The storm continued, and the pelting ice/snow turned to rain as we descended.   We again referred to the compass, which had served us well so far.  We hiked through the forest until we found a frozen river bed that we thought beared directly for the car.  We followed the frozen bed for the next several hours, until our altitude had dropped enough that the river frosted and was no longer stable to walk on.  The river had turned into a deep gorge, and we were required to climb up and out into the thick forest.  We followed the steep banks of the river and descended for another hour.  It slowly became obvious that we were nowhere near our original location, and that we had confused rivers on the map.

As more doubt seeped into the drenched group, we heard the sound of construction machinery ahead....there was only one road in the area (our road), which meant salvation for the group.  Twenty minutes later we reached the road, but emerged about three miles downhill from our car.   We walked up to the construction crew, and managed to find a lift back to the car from two women rangers that were just leaving the site.  They drove Todd and I  to the car, and we returned to pick up the rest of the group.

We drove back to town, and found a nearby Laundromat where we washed and (in most cases) dried our gear.  Two hours later we were completely dry, and we went directly to a diner in town for a meal.  We contemplated what to do about the weather, which had still not calmed  - the skies were overcast, and the mountain was nowhere in site.  During dinner we decided to camp that night the Columbia river gorge, and see how the weather looked on the next morning.

Tuesday June 13 - Mt. St. Helens & Lava Tube
We awoke to a damp morning and more overcast skies.  After minimal discussion we decided to head north up to Mt. St. Helens for a day of hiking and sightseeing.  We had lunch on the edge of the park, and were only able to see the bottom of the volcano beneath the clouds.  We stopped at one of the visitor centers, and decided to hike through an underground lava tube that had been left hollow during the 1981 volcanic blast.

The tube was about three miles in total length, and we were required to carry headlamps to find our way.  There were few other tourists along the hike, and we were able to enjoy a two-hour stroll through the dark passage.  After leaving the lava tube we did a small hike into a nearby river valley, and were able admire the now visible mountain.  We returned to the car and found a campsite inside the park.  We speculated that the weather would clear completely the following day, and we decided to attempt climbing the south spur route on Mt. Hood.  Mount Hood is the highest mountain in the state of Oregon at 11239 feet, and is located just south of the Hood River exit on I-205 (also just south of Mt. Adams).

Wednesday June 14 - Mount Hood Day 1
We drove back south to the Columbia River Gorge, stopped to admire some of the roadside waterfalls and attractions, and arrived at the Mt. Hood ranger station and ski resort (Timberline Lodge, located at 6000 feet) late in the morning.  We found no formal climbing office or ranger station, but did find a lot of skiers and snowboarders using the open ski lifts (some are open year round).  There was a small booth outside the resort entrance that contained maps and climbing permit information.  Climbing involved self-registration, with no other advice or requirements.  Many groups tried to summit the South route in one day, by hiring a snowcat to drive them up the Palmer glacier to almost 8000' elevation.  We decided that it was more interesting to climb up the glacier that day and establish a high camp, and then summit the following morning.  We considered the various high camp possibilities on the map and in the guidebook, and decided to stay at a rock spur on the east side of the route at about 8400 feet elevation.  We also decided to expedite the trip to high camp by taking the ski lift to 6900 feet (the Silcox Hut), and then climb the final 1500 feet to camp.

We packed up our gear, and caught the lift.  The weather had been blue skies during the morning, but had clouded over significantly as we packed.  The peak was no longer in view when we boarded the lift.  The top of the lift was well  into the clouds, and we were greeted by a semi white-out upon exiting the lift.  We headed east to the edge of the glacier, and followed a rock prow during our ascent.  After less than two hours we found the camp, situated on the rock prow.  A rock fortress had already been half-constructed, but had deteriorated into a pile of rocks.  The camp was not big enough to fit both tents, so we decided to put one tent in the rock camp, and another onto the glacier just below the prow.  We began the two-hour long process of digging snow and moving rocks, and the wind howled the entire time.  By nightfall we had completed the camp and were gladly in the tent....once again fighting the wind and rain.  This time we better arranged the rain tarp, so that the amount of water penetrating the test was minimized.  We spent another night listening to the pounding of the wind against the tent wall.  I had brought with several pairs of earplugs, which afforded me a bit more sleep during the night.  Images from the day:
 
Aaron in the tent - nice wind burn?
Ryan during the approach hike

Thursday June 15 - Mount Hood Day 2
We awoke at 6am - the predetermined time to start our climb - and found that the rain was still falling heavily.  We decided to go back to sleep, and wait for the storm to subside.  If necessary, we would spend the day in the tent and try to summit on the following morning.  Over the next three hours the storm subsided, and we saw the first blue skies at 9am.  We contemplated the snow conditions, and decided that we would try to summit, despite the late start and warm conditions.

We climbed from camp to the east side of Crater Rock, about 2 hours from our camp.  Crater Rock is a remnant of an ancient crater wall protruding from the south side of the mountain.  The angle steepened as we climbed up to 10,000 feet and passed east of the Devil's Kitchen, a heated volcanic rock dome pocked by sulfurous geothermal fumaroles that expose the dome even during winter conditions.  From this point Steel Cliff towered to the east, and the route approached the hogsback, a sharp snow ridge several hundred feet in height.  The angle grew steeper as we crossed the hogsback towards the base of the chute.  The sulfur stench was strong, as there were several active fumaroles on either side of the hogsback - it kept us moving as we crossed.

At 10,800 feet we had fully crossed the hogsback and came to the Bergschrund, a huge crevasse which pulls away from the steep chute entrance.  We crossed the Bergschrund on the left and started up the chute.   The chute is often jammed with climbers, but today there was no one on the route (due to the bad weather and our late start).  We climbed up the chute on the length of one picket's protection, and passed through the Pearly Gates (rock protrusions coated with lime ice on either side of the top of the chute).   We were on the summit shortly thereafter, by 1pm.  There were other alternative routes visible on either side of the chute, but access to them required closer contact with the fumaroles below.

The skies were now clear, and the view was spectacular.  Our patience with the weather had finally paid off.  We were able to see several of the other volcanos, including Rainier, St. Helens, and nearby Mount Adams, which had rejected us earlier in the week.  Several other groups had summited earlier (at the end of the storm), but we were the only group on top at this time.  We admired the surroundings, took a few pictures, and then began the descent.  The snow was soft and the glacier was mush.  We slid back down to camp, packed up the site, and slid all the way back down to the car.

We drove directly from Mt. Hood northwest to Olympic National Park.  We arrived after nightfall and camped in one of the park's campgrounds.  We made an impressive fire and celebrated our well-deserved summit of Mt. Hood - we were fortunate that our campsite was located well away from other parties staying on the campground.  Images from the day:
 
Andy taking care of business on the summit
Aaron on the summit

Friday June 16 - Olympic National Park
We woke up late, and drove north along the coast.  We chose to stop at one of the many national park beaches, where we spent the day climbing the sea stacks, bathing in the freezing water, and enjoying the clear blue skies.  We finished the afternoon with a two-hour hike through the Hoh rain forest, where we saw banana slugs and other interesting jungle flora.  We had originally intended to spend two days hiking the Hoh rain forest, but our energy was low and our laziness was high.  We spent the night enjoying another fire in the national park campground.  Images from the day:
 
Standing in front of a sea stack
Deep in the Hoh rain forest
Saturday June 17 - Beach hiking and return to Seattle
We spent the morning at Rialto Beach, another of the Pacific coast beaches, then started the long ride around the north side of the Olympic Peninsula to Seattle.  One of the highlights of the day was drinking Thomas Kemper Raspberry beer while ferrying across the Puget sound, with blue skies and perfect views of Mt. Rainier far to the south.  We checked into a hotel near the Seattle airport - and enjoyed a long awaited hot shower.
Sunday June 18 - Return to Houston
We woke up early and headed directly to REI Seattle, where Mark and Ryan returned their rented gear (minus one lost ice axe).  We browsed through various equipment, sent Todd and Ken on their way, then headed south to the airport.  Andy and I had originally booked the redeye flight back to Houston, with arrival at 6am on Monday morning.  We intended to go standby on a Continental flight on Sunday afternoon, but had difficulty changing our tickets due to packed and canceled lights throughout the day.  Eight hours later we were on the red eye flight, and were back in Houston just in time to start the workday.  Despite the tough ending at the airport, it was another great trip with a bunch of great guys!

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