"SOUTH SIDE ROUTE - CLIMBING ..." a Mount Hood Travel Page by mtncorg

Mt Hood is Oregon's highest peak and is readily visible from the metropolitan Portland area - actually, from much of northern Oregon and southern Washington. As a visible peak and the 'highest', Mt Hood draws a lot of attention from people of all sorts who wish to scale its icy top. There are several routes on can choose, but 99% will take the relatively easy direct South Side approach starting from the day parking lot on the east side of Timberline Lodge. This climb is not particularly difficult though bad weather and poor visibilty can turn an 'easy' outing into an adventure with death. For any route on Mt Hood, you should use proper gear and be familiar with glacier travel - crampons, ice axe, self-arrest, ropes and how to use them, etc..

Basics on the route: Parking lot elevation 5960 ft; Mt Hood peak 11239 ft; Elevation gain 5279 ft wtih an estimated time of 6-10 hours.

From the parking lot, you head up through small tree islands between the ski runs, passing Silcox Warming Hut at 7000 ft and finally the end of the Palmer Ski Lift at 8000 ft. Climb to the east side of Crater Rock and then up and around to the Hogsback at 10600 ft. Up the Hogsback, you come to the Bergschrund which you can go directly over or around, depending upon conditions, and then up the Chute and through the Pearly Gates to the peak's top.

On weekends, in May and June, you will meet many climbers on the mountain, as this is the best time of the year to climb Hood. Early - March and April can be very good too with a spell of settled weather. Later than June and the rockfall danger increases, plus the Bergschrund opens up more making it more difficult to circumvent.

The Mazamas are a Portland climbing club of longstanding. They offer basic climbing classes to Portlanders - the whole course taking 6-7 weeks with a graduation climb normally of Mt Hood. I was involved in one climb with this group involving a camp out on the south side slopes at the 9000 ft level.

Our first day was a simple trudge up above the last ski lift and setting up our camp a little to the west of the main South Side route, about halfway between the end of the Palmer lift and the Hogsback. The day had started out cloudy below at the Lodge - though the weather report was for improving weather. We had climbed above the clouds and set up camp with improving spirits.

With camp set, we gathered the group on rocks above for a communal dinner and discussion of the day ahead. Rope teams were established along with the order of march. With the already established high camp, we only had another two thousand feet to gain. Instead of a start in the very early morning hours, we could sleep into the much more reasonable hour of 530 AM.

Traditionally, you start climbing Hood in the early morning hours well before the sun has made its appearance. This is in order to have snow and ice at their hardest, thus allowing crampons and ice axes to work best, and also, to have rocks more frozen on the cliffs above. The mountain is slowly eroding away and it is not to your advantage to have the erosion go on while you are on the slopes. Huge boulders can come down without warning, leaving you putting much at their mercy. A helmet can look pretty puny in those cases.

With a high camp at 9000 ft, we could rise at the 'civilized' hour of 530 AM. A quick breakfast over backpacking stoves and off we began to join the many others trudging up the highway tothe top.

By 6 AM in early June, you are beginning to see many other climbing groups heading up the route. Your group gets in line and up you go. With a large group, you will normally move at the pace of the group's slowest member.

Up and around Crater Rock. Higher above, you see earlier teams as they toil up the same slopes that your group will tackle in short order.

Crater Rock is the last halt before the final push. Groups gather. Sulphurous fumes are in the air from the large fumarole at the north side of the Rock. The South Side of Mt Hood blew away - on a smaller scale, much like what happened to the north side of Mt St Helens in 1980 - and you are in the ancient cone of the volcano here. The upper crest of the volcano is appreciated well from here as rotten cliff walls, covered with icy rime, tower above you. Up the Hogsback, over the Bergschrund, through the Chute and the Pearly Gates, you finally reach the Top.

On a weekend in May or June, with good weather, you will not be alone atop, though the peak is still wide enough you can find a spot for yourself. The view off the north face is straight down - Elliot Glacier is thousands of feet below. The Forest Service notes that around 14000 people climb Mt Hood a year, though many more are not counted as they don't sign in. Some call Mt Hood, 'the most climbed glaciated peak in the World', though I have heard that claim for other mountains, as well.