Mt. Hood is a jewel among the Oregon volcanic summits rising to 11,240 feet. With eleven glaciers carving their path down its steep slopes, Hood's beauty has been sculpted over hundreds of thousands of years by fire and ice. Just an hour from metropolitan Portland, the city's skyline is dominated by Mt. Hood's lofty presence.
Mt. Hood is among the most climbed alpine summits in the world, second only to Mt. Fuji in Japan.
The traditional route to Hood's summit starts at historic Timberline Lodge perched at 6,000 feet. Together with my good friend Tom Ewing, we started our climb up the ridge that runs along side the ski area above the lodge. After gaining nine hundred feet to the level of Silcox Hut, the sky was clear but a stiff wind was already chilling exposed skin as we moved forward under the heavy loads of our packs which carried everything we would need to survive the night on the mountain. Slowly we ascended to an elevation of 8,000 feet near the highest point of the Palmer Glacier. There we searched about the exposed rocky ridge until we found a camp frequented by previous climbers who had constructed a low stone wall as a wind break.