Mountaineering

15
Apr
2012
jloomis

Climbing Mt Hood Cooper Spur Route

Climbing Mt Hood via Cooper Spur Route

After poor visibility sent us home 800 vertical feet shy of Mt Hood's 11,249' summit last Saturday, Matt and I decided to climb Hood again on Sunday. This time we chose the Cooper Spur route which starts from the Tilly Jane trailhead since there is still snow on Cloud Cap road (near Cooper Spur Ski Area). The route begins at around 3,800 feet elevation on Mt Hood's Northeast side and gains more than 7,000 vertical feet over about 5.8 miles to the summit. The route follows the Tilly Jane Ski Trail #643 to Tilly Jane Trail #600A to Cooper Spur #600B to about 8,500 feet in elevation.

07
Apr
2012
jloomis

Mt Hood Summit Attempt

Mt Hood, Oregon

The weather forecast finally predicted a mostly sunny day Saturday with moderate to low avalanche danger on Mt Hood. My last Mt Hood climb was an unsuccessful attempt up the Leuthold Coulior route due to illness and poor fitting boots. My friend Matt and I decided to try the Leuthold Couloir route again along with another climber Ryan. This technical route starts at Timberline Lodge (same starting point as the popular South route). Leuthold Couliour is to the West (climbers left) and above Illumination Rock.

17
Feb
2012
jloomis

Frostbite

Frostbite on Toes

Now that my toes are almost back to normal nearly a year later, I figured it was time to tell my story and share pictures of my frostbitten toes and their subsequent long recovery. It's not an experience I would wish on anyone, so hopefully this will serve as a warning to help others avoid frostbite.

10
Dec
2011
jloomis

Climbing Mt Hood Via Leuthold Coulior Route

Mt Hood, Oregon

The weather has been sunny and cold, so the snow from November's storms is very consolidated up on Mount Hood. My friend Matt and I have been eager to climb and decided on the Leuthold Coulior route on Mt Hood early Saturday morning. This a technical route that starts at Timberline Lodge (same as the popular non-technical South route). Leuthold Couliour is to the West (climbers left) of Illumination Rock. Our plan was to climb up Leuthold Couloir and then return via the South route (approximately 7 miles round-trip).

16
Oct
2011
jloomis

Solo Climb of Mount Hood, Oregon in October

Mt Hood in October

It's been awhile since my last climb, but mother nature cooperated on Sunday, providing ideal conditions for climbing Mount Hood via the South route. My climbing partner wasn't able to join me, so I went up solo on this trip. October is often a poor month to climb Hood due to rockfall, but this year's combination of leftover snow and a couple early season snow storms yielded great conditions on Sunday. There have been several freeze-thaw cycles the past week to consolidate the new snow.

14
Aug
2011
jloomis

Climbing the Matternhorn and Sacajawea Peak - Wallowa Mountains, Oregon

That Matterhorn from Unnamed Peak

After hiking to Ice Lake and spending Saturday night, Matt and I woke up at 3 AM Sunday to climb the Matterhorn and Sacajawea Peak. The Matterhorn is the second tallest peak in the Wallowa Mountains at 9,826 feet. Sacajawea Peak is the tallest at 9,838 feet. The West face of the Matterhorn (not the side we climbed) rises steeply about 3,200 feet above Hurricane Creek. The easiest route (and our chosen route) starts from Ice Lake.

12
Aug
2011
jloomis

Climbing Mount Shuksan Fisher Chimney Route, Washington

Mount Shuksan from Artist Point Trail - Photo by Frank Kovalchek

Matt and I planned to meet up with Ryan (a new climbing companion) in Northern Washington on Friday evening before heading to the Lake Ann trailhead to climb Mount Shuksan via the Fisher Chimney route. Mount Shuksan is 9,131 feet tall and lies within the North Cascades National Park. It's about 6 miles East of Mount Baker and 12 miles South of the Canadian border. Mount Shuksan is a glaciated massif (non-volcanic) in the Cascade Range formed by tectonic plate collision.

30
Jul
2011
jloomis

Climbing Mount Bachelor, Oregon

Mount Bachelor, Oregon

After hiking to the top of Tumalo Mountain this morning, Katie and I headed across the road (Cascade Lakes Highway) to Mount Bachelor Ski Area. Mount Bachelor is a stratovolcano atop a shield volcano that is 9,065 feet in elevation. We wanted to climb to the summit and decided to shorten the route by riding the Pine Marten Express chairlift up to 7,775 feet elevation. From this point, we only had to climb about 0.9 miles and 1,300 vertical feet to the summit.

29
Jul
2011
jloomis

Climbing South Sister, Oregon

South Sister, Oregon

Katie and I both had the day off Friday, so we drove South with our tent trailer to Cultus Lake campground on Thursday night. We woke up early Friday morning to hike to the top of South Sister (also known by the name "Charity"), Oregon's third tallest peak at 10,358 feet in elevation. The approximately 5.5 mile long South Sister Climber trail # 36 (11 miles round-trip) starts at Devils Lake off the Cascade Lakes Highway and climbs nearly 4,900 feet to the summit.

24
Jul
2011
kloomis

Snowshoeing In July: Illumination Rock - Mount Hood, Oregon

Illumination Rock - Mount Hood, Oregon

After spending Saturday cleaning house and hearing about Jason’s summit attempt on North Sister, I was ready for another adventure. Never one to sit still for long, Jason was game for more activity after a good night's sleep. Temperatures were expected to climb into the upper-80’s on Sunday, so we decided it might be fun to beat the heat with an adventure to Illumination Rock on Mount Hood. At 9,543’ elevation, Illumination Rock sits on the Southwest side of the mountain, North-Northwest of Palmer chairlift.

23
Jul
2011
jloomis

Climbing North Sister, Oregon

North Sister, Oregon at Sunrise

Friday night, five of us (Al, Matt, Paul, Phillip, and I) drove from Portland through Sisters, Oregon in order to get an alpine start (i.e. way before sunrise) climbing North Sister Saturday morning. At 10,085 feet tall, North Sister (also known as "Faith") is the fourth tallest peak in Oregon and the oldest and hardest of the Three Sisters to climb. It is a shield volcano while neighboring Middle and South Sister are stratovolcanos. North Sister is highly eroded with rockfall, a common occurrence.

17
Jul
2011
kloomis

Mount Adams, Washington Summit Attempt

Mount Adams Sount Climb Trailhead

We headed to Washington state this weekend for a summit attempt on Mount Adams. The weather forecast was not stellar, but we were hopeful that a weather break would allow us to make a push for the summit. Mount Adams is the second highest peak in Washington, standing at 12,276 feet. We opted for the easiest and most popular South Climb Route, which begins near Cold Springs Campground on the South Climb Trail # 183. This route gains over 6,600 feet in elevation over approximately 5.7 miles.

21
Jun
2011
jloomis

Climbing Mount Dana via Dana Couloir - Yosemite, CA

Mount Dana - Yosemite, California

My bother-in-law Scott and I headed out early (3:15 am) Tuesday morning toward the Tioga Lake overlook on CA SR-120 (Tioga Pass Rd) just outside Yosemite National Park. We wanted to get an early start climbing Mount Dana (second tallest peak in Yosemite at 13,053 feet) via the prominent Dana Couloir (YDS class 3-4). Our original goal was to then climb neighboring Mount Gibbs (12,773 feet) and hike back along CA SR-120 to form an 11 mile loop. We ended up only climbing Mount Dana and heading back along the NW ridge (6.1 mile round-trip).

12
Jun
2011
kloomis

Climbing Mount Saint Helens, Washington via Worm Flows Route

Mount St. Helens

Although we had been eyeing a climb on Mount Saint Helens all winter, a good weather window didn’t present itself. Just in time for summer, we got a much-needed break in the weather this week. We were able to find two permits to climb on Sunday. Mount Saint Helens (50 miles NE of Portland, Oregon), an active stratovolcano, is most famous for its eruption on May 18, 1980. Now only 8,364 feet tall, the mountain previously stood at 9,677 feet tall.

23
May
2011
jloomis

Climbing Mount Mitchell, Washington via NW Couloirs

Mount Mitchell, Washington

My climbing partner Matt and I set off to climb Mount Mitchell (about 11 miles South of Mount Saint Helens) early Saturday morning. The normal route is a 2.5 mile (one-way) walk-up hike around the back of the mountain (South side) on a marked trail. But Matt and I wanted to be more adventurous and climb the snowy couloirs on the Northwest side of Mount Mitchell. We came prepared with full mountaineering gear (ice axes, helmets, crampons, rope, snow pickets, etc.) as we didn't know what we might encounter.

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