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On Tuesday morning I got an email from a friend of mine, a Mazamas Climb Leader, saying that weather conditions on Mt. Hood looked great for a climb Thursday morning, she was trying to put together a group to go, and did I want to be included?  After checking my work schedule (yay! no meetings all day), and checking the home calendar with Beth, I responded in the affirmative.  So I met with 3 of the others at one of their houses in Portland at 11 p.m. Wednesday to car pool up to the mountain, where we met up with the fifth climber in the Timberline Lodge parking lot for a 1 a.m. start.  After hiking uphill several hours we arrived at the large “Hogsback” snow ridge in the summit crater, the spot where technical climbing really begins.  After pausing to put on our harnesses and dropping off our hiking poles, we decided to head up the eastern “Pearly Gates” route, which these days is a steeper and much more technical route than the more popular “Old Chute” route to the west (interestingly, the Hogsback drifts back and forth from east to west front year to year, and the 10-15 years ago, the Pearly Gates was considered the easy route).  Here’s a few photos from the trip.

A moustache, a bit of a runny nose, and freezing weather is not a good combination

The group arriving at the top of the Hogsback

Lisa heads up the Hogsback to scout out whether or not the Pearly Gates are passable. We ended up taking the “left chute” right near where the Hogsback tops out

I’m just about done with the traverse over from the Hogback to the entrance to the chute. High angle snow face, necessitating kicking in steps in the snow and a tool in each hand. The ice tool that I got as a Christmas present from the family came in handy

Lisa leads up through the chute; Dave and Amy wait to follow

I’m almost at the top of the chute; Lisa at the rope anchor on the right; Dave chillin’ near the summit

At the summit, with Mt. Jefferson in the distance: me, Dave, Amy, Lisa, and Tommy

Me stylin’ in my new prescription glacier glasses. Beard does a good job of catching frozen drool

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