After more donuts we went to meet Rudy, who is an old friend of Jeff's. We unloaded all our stuff and tried to catch some sleep to be ready to start climbing in the evening. Sleep was elusive for all of us except Chris, but we tried for various amounts of time before giving up and going for relaxation in the hot tub instead. We regrouped at eight pm, loaded stuff into cars and trucks, drove off, drove back, picked up the stuff which had been forgotten and then headed for the mountain. It's about an hour and a half from Rudy's and we were treated to a magnificent sunset over the mountains.
Mt. Hood is an imposing, snow capped volcanic cone, rising out of forested hills.
It looks pretty much like a volcano should. We were there at ten-ish. It was dark, there were bats circling the lights of the ski lodge which was our starting point. It was an interesting contrast between the days skiers drinking and partying the last of the evening away and the climbers earnestly preparing to go to the top of the mountain for the night. We climb at night so that the snow is frozen when we get to the top as the sun rises.