mt. hood ski circumnavigation

[floodster]

can anyone give beta on a ski-circumnavigation of mt. hood? i may not even try until the spring, but am curious if anyone has completed, attempted, or seriously considered it.

[iain]

It has been done by a number of people on this board. It is usually done clockwise. There might be some photos from people in the gallery. It is a lot of fun and can be done easily in a day by a fit group.

 

http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/

[floodster]

do you know of any route suggestions online? to my knowledge, there isn't much in the way of published guides.

 

thanks for the reply, i will search the gallery.

[b-rock]

Oregon Descents has a route description. Do a search of the Oregon forum, you'll turn up a few TRs.

[iain]

I think Oregon Descents suggests going below Illumination Rock to cross the Reid Glacier though. I would choose to ski through the saddle instead. Then drop low around Yocum Ridge. An axe and crampons would be nice to have along. Pretty much just stay in the 8000's on the altimeter and follow the path of least resistance.

[Gaper_Jeffy]

An axe and crampons would be nice to have along

Doesn't crossing a few of the ridges involve some pretty spicy climbing? Didn't I hear a rumor you did it in mtn boots?

[iain]

Yes I did it with scarpa invernos. I'll never do that again.

[floodster]

did you need to rap of any of the ridges, or find it all skiable?

[iain]

Well anything's skiable by the right people right? We skied all of it w/o any problems. The ridges are not bad at all. You could almost skin them in the right conditions. We had to de-skin once or twice due to some bulletproof icy sections. That's always a lively transition to crampons, where you find things too icy/steep to skin but have to take the skis off and put on the crampons on ice.

 

edit: this was in May.

 

[rbw1966]

I'm a shitty skier and I did it, no problem. Bring crampons and ice axe for the spicy parts. Iain's advice was spot on. Its a fun tour and can easily be done in a day.

[treknclime]

What's a summertime hiking circumnavigation like? I've heard of a trail around parts of it. What's the best source for info/beta??

 

Was thinking to go in July, and figured a couple of long days would get the job done. Anyone have info they'd like to share??

[iain]

I have done this as a run a few times. It is called the "Timberline Trail" (#600, I believe). 2 days would make it pretty fun, with a camp on the north side somewhere down in the meadows. It is a beautiful trip, and if you have not been in the area that much, worth it to take your time over a few days. Many people do this hike over 3 or 4 days. The trail is usually snow-free by mid summer, though if the split in the jetstream is maintained through the rest of the season, it should open much earlier. The tricky parts are the river crossings. A girl died last year trying to do this in a rain storm.

[Ricardo_Montalban]

if you hike it in mid-august to mid-sept you can feast on natures candy...blueberries and huckleberries

[rbw1966]

The timberline trail is a fun outing for sure. Watch the weather forecast though--heavy rains make some of the stream crossings very spicy.

[treknclime]

Nice beta, folks. Graci.

 

Anyone happen to know the mileage on the trail?

[iain]

~41 miles, with about 10k' of climbing.