We Do Stuff: Mt. Hood, OR

May 29, 2023

Mt. Hood, Oregon

Trip report written by Ryan Robertson

It had been 2 years of previous attempts at Mt. Hood. I’d only hiked as far as the top of the Palmer Snowfield. The first time it was full-on blizzard conditions with visibility of around 10 ft. The second time the mountain got 17 inches of snow the night we were supposed to start the hike. My other PNW hikes included summits of Mt. Rainier and Mt. Baker, so naturally, Mt. Hood was on the list. Then one evening, I got a call from Justin and he cut to the chase, asking if I still wanted to do Mt. Hood.

Sure enough, the following summer I was back out in the PNW again for a 3rd attempt. Third time’s the charm, right?!

Neat display in the timberline Lodge

We all met up at Government Camp - Justin, Laura, Hazel (their soon-to-be 3 year old daughter), Laura’s dad and his wife, and myself. It was about as close as you can be to the mountain without being at Timberline Lodge (the trailhead) itself. We made a quick trip over to the Lodge to scope out the route and do a run through of the hotel. Pretty incredible that all that wood was brought up there and hand cut to build the place. From the lodge there’s a good view of the South Side route. And whaddya know, you could see the bergschrund running right across the Hogsback (the narrow ridge that runs right up to the Pearly Gates). With the unseasonably warm conditions this spring and summer, it was no wonder that the crevasse was open this time of the year.

The whole gang at the base of the mountain on the patio behind the Timberline Lodge

The plan was to have Justin and I paired up, and Laura and her dad as another pair. They would have a slightly earlier head start (12am), while we would leave around 3am. We ate a good dinner, tried to catch as many Zzz’s as we could, and since it was my third attempt at this, I tried not to think too much of the big hike ahead, and of course.. the bergschrund.

Laura and her dad starting the hike at midnight

We arrived at the trailhead early that next morning, and you could make out some headlamps in the distance, about an hour or two ahead of us. There was a slight chill to the air. The sky was still pitch black, with a slight glow in the direction of Portland.

Headlamps, stars and Mount Hood

We started the hike at a whopping 2mph! I found that my recent triathlon prep seemed to make the steps all that much easier. We stopped about every hour for a quick bite and to down some water. We passed a couple hikers along the way on the Palmer Snowfield that were headed back down the mountain. The weather was great, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Two hours into the hike, we got to another stopping point where we put on our crampons. Justin radioed in to Laura to see where they were. About 15 mins ahead, you could see their headlamps in the distance. We caught up with Laura and her dad, about an hour before reaching the crater. It looked like her dad was digging deep for this climb, but no doubt was in the best of company with Justin and Laura to help get him to the top. The steps got a little harder towards the crater, and you didn’t want to wander off too much from the straightest line of the route. Looking up, other hikers were all over the place, some left of the path, while others were to the right, all seeming to move in no particular direction. With the headlamps dancing around ahead of us all over the lower portion of the crater, it looked like a dance party (insert dancing climbing pic). After hiking for hours in darkness, you start having all sorts of thoughts cross your mind, the dance party was one of them.

Lots of climbers above us approaching the Devils Kitchen area

Lots of climbers below us as well

We made it up to the crater, around the snow slopes next to Crater Rock, and up towards the Hogsback. The smell from the fumaroles was enough to make you a little woozy. From the Hogsback you had a good look at the bergschrund if you walked up the ridge. Only a group of 3 was headed that way. Everybody else was headed up the Old Chute or Mazama’s Chute (a variation more to the right, bypassing a more narrow section of the path). We spent a good 30 mins going back and forth whether to have Justin place running belays, end run the crevasse, and make our way up the Pearly Gates, or to just take one of the chutes up. Besides having to navigate an open bergschrund, the runnel into the Pearly Gates looked icy and slushy, which no doubt would’ve made for an interesting, but perhaps precarious path.

Justin and Ryan checking out the bergschrund with another group of three above approaching the Pearly Gates.

Conga line on the Old Chute route.

In the end, we decided to join the rest of the Conga line and make our way to the chute. We tried to limit our time in the shooting gallery. At any given time there were baseball-sized blocks of ice that would get kicked loose and zoom past you. Up the chute for another hour and a half and we were at the top of the ridge line. From there it was a relatively flat 5 minute walk to the summit. Spirits were high on the summit; the conga line had finally made it to the top. It was a bluebird day. You could make out Mt. Jefferson to the south, and Mt. Adams and just barely Mt. Rainier to the north. The sky was a little hazy from the Canadian wildfires.