Mt. Hood

May 26, 2017
Mt. Hood
Pearly Gates

Mt. Hood, or Wy'East as named by the natives is an amazing, beautiful volcano. From a distance, it is apparent that the routes on the mountain all are quite straight forward, and straight up. Laura and I had been relaxing and sightseeing for a few days since our climb of Mt. Rainier and were looking forward to our third volcano for the week. Originally planning to climb a different route on the mountain, we changed our plans due to heavy snowfall just a few days prior and switched to the commonly traveled Pearly Gates route.

Before we left on our trip, a friend of mine learned that we were headed to Mt. Hood and insisted that we go to Timberline Lodge at the base of the mountain. The lodge is unique in that almost everything is hand carved or forged, including all the furniture and fixtures hand built and unique in their own right. We spent some time in the lodge having dinner and looking out upon the mountain and our route for the next day.

Waking at midnight, we started hiking at 1 am. It was a windy night and I was not feeling great early in the morning. The route starts off walking up a gentle slope and I was not moving at a my normal pace. Laura was worried about me because I never move slowly unless something is wrong. She kept asking me if I was okay, but I pushed on. When were passed by several groups who had started behind us, she became worried even more, asking if I needed to turn around. I told her I needed a rest and food and so we took a 5 minute break and ate and drank. Within just a few minutes I began to feel better and my attitude improved. We hiked slowly for another hour and stopped for a break once again. After eating again, I started to feel like myself and the pace picked up. Pretty soon, I was out front again with Laura wondering what the hell was going on with me and considering telling me to slow down. She didn't slow me and within a short period we had gained ground on the groups who had passed us earlier. We were soon looking up the last 1/4 of the mountain with nobody in front of us.



The last 1,000' feet of the mountain is quite steep and has two small difficulties. We crossed the bergschrund without issue and worked our way up the icy slopes of the pearly gates, a narrow passage leading to the summit. Making it to the summit first that day, we enjoyed a colorful sunrise and chatted with a young man from Ecuador. We talked about the high volcanoes of his country and what we each had done there. It was interesting to have a local perspective on mountains and a country we had just recently visited and was cool to meet someone from there who is now enjoying our mountains!



After 30 minutes on the summit, we headed down the mountain, stopping to chat with several groups. Everyone wondered about how to get through the pearly gates section, so we took the time to explain the way we went. We had breakfast at the car and then went to a lake to camp for the evening.

Mt. Hood is definitely a mountain worth returning to, and next time we will plan for the Wy'East route.