Ahh, the month of May. The month of my birth, the beginning of spring, and the first month where conditions on Mt. Hood are (usually) consistent and climbable. Until now.
Horrible weather patterns have resulted in serious avalanche concerns and a slew of poor outlooks for climbing conditions. Although I’ve had a few friends make the summit recently (under highly questionable circumstances), I’ve stayed down around 10,000 feet for fear of being swept into Zig Zag Canyon by sloughing on the Old Chute.
This doesn’t mean that I’ve been slacking, though! Absolutely not! I rounded out the months since my last update nicely by assisting with my friend’s Basic Climbing group – leading training hikes, teaching people about snow travel, and having a blast by using the proper French terms for crampon techniques in my snootiest accent.
My very favorite hike in the Columbia Gorge – Ruckel Ridge!
Sniped by Andrew Holman, as usual – hanging out above the Climber’s Parking Lot at Timberline during BCEP Snow Session.
My best attempt at explaining ice axe techniques for ascending and descending.
Despite being foiled on Hood a few times, I managed to climb St. Helens again on Mother’s Day. In the proud, longstanding tradition – I climbed in a dress, as did my entire climb party and the hundreds of other people we met on the mountain. It was a day of celebration and socializing as we ran into dozens of friends.
Photo by Andrew Holman. What a shock.
Climb season is almost fully underway! This next weekend will find me launching another assault on Hood (hopefully successful this time), and my season has already filled up nicely with solid plans for Mts. Adams, Stone, Rainier, Washington, Shuksan, Three Fingered Jack, Middle Sister, and Sahale, Wedding Cake, and Thompson Peaks. Plus whatever else I can fit in there – current considerations include backpacking the 40 mile Timberline Trail around Hood.
Fingers crossed, campers!
