jloomis's blog

The weather this weekend didn't turn out as good as we hoped, so we canceled our plans to climb Mt Rainier and decided to ski Mt Hood and maybe summit if the weather cooperated. Our plan was to skin up from Timberline Lodge along the standard South route to the Hogsback. From there we planned to evaluate the weather and possibly climb to the summit via the Pearly Gates (which use to be the standard route to the summit before the Hogsback shifted to the left (West). In either case, we would be able to enjoy a long ski down.

Memorial Day Weekend traditionally kicks off the camping season for many across the country. Growing up, my family always spent a full week at Yosemite National Park camping and enjoying the outdoors. While I always had a great time, I prefer to get away from the crowds these days. This year Katie and I planned a backpacking trip into the Jefferson Wilderness. Our plan was to hike a few miles up the Summit Lake Trail # 4014 from the Pacific Crest Trail off Hwy 20 just South of Three Fingered Jack.

On Saturday morning Matt, Louis, and I drove to Pole Creek Trailhead for a weekend of ski mountaineering in the Three Sisters Wilderness and hopefully a summit of Middle Sister. Middle Sister (10,047') is the shortest of the Three Sisters, located in Central Oregon. The Hayden Glacier North Ridge route starts from Pole Creek Trailhead near Sisters, Oregon. It's about 14 miles round-trip, so it makes a nice overnighter or a very long day trip. The trek starts off on Pole Creek Trail # 4072 and then follows Camp Lake Trail # 4074 before heading above treeline West toward Middle Sister.

Katie and I spent the Saturday of Mother's Day weekend hiking in the Jefferson Wilderness to Pamelia Lake and Grizzly Peak. It is still early season and we expected to encounter snow, so we packed accordingly. The weather was forecasted to be sunny and warm.

The Pamelia trailhead is approximately 62 miles East of Salem on Hwy 22 past Detroit Lake. The trailhead is off Forest Service road 2246 just past milepost 62 on the left. The parking lot is about 3.7 miles down the road (paved, but bumpy most of the way). There is an outhouse at the trailhead.

It seems like we had a very short winter this year, with Spring now in full swing. I am not quite ready to say goodbye to the snow. Luckily we still have snow in the upper elevations, so my friend John and I decided to go snow camping one last time this season. We hitched up my snowmobiles, loaded up my gear sleds, and headed toward Mt Hood. Our original plan was to head to forest service road 44 and see how far we could drive before unloading the snowmobiles and continue on FSR 4410 toward Lookout Mountain (before entering Badger Creek Wilderness Area).

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.

After climbing Mt Hood Saturday (we didn't quite make it due to weather conditions) and re-energizing with lunch at the Cascade Dining Room in Timberline Lodge, I went downhill skiing for a couple hours at Timberline Ski Area before they closed for the day. My friend Jordan from work had been skiing all day at Timberline, so we met up at lunch before hitting the slopes.

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.

I finally made it up to Mt Hood for a full day of downhill skiing at Timberline Ski Area on Sunday. It had been over a year since I last skied, but hopefully I will be up a few more times this season since I purchased a spring skiing pass. My friend is getting into ski mountaineering, so I figure I better brush up on my skills and spend some time on the mountain this spring.

My friend Matt and I picked a snowy weekend to try out hot tent camping (tent heated with a wood stove). We left early Saturday morning for Flattop SnoPark, Washington (SE of Mt Adams). Our plan was to snowmobile 10-20 miles or until we found a good area to snow camp. Flattop SnoPark is situated in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest near Indian Heaven Wilderness and Yakima Indian Reservation. It's NW of Trout Lake, Washington on NF-88 road.

On Sunday Katie and I headed to Skyline SnoPark to ride our snowmobiles. The area is South of Mt Hood and popular with snowmobilers due to the many groomed trails. This particular day started off cool and overcast, but later became a beautiful sunny winter day. We arrived at the SnoPark early, but there were already several others including many motorhomes in the parking lot. There was still plenty of parking, so we quickly unloaded and set off on the recently groomed trails.

My friend Matt and I spent Sunday snowmobiling and snowshoeing around Bonney Meadows. We had been hoping to go climbing over the weekend, but the weather did not cooperate, so we chose snowmobiling instead. We set off early, arriving at Frog Lake SnoPark around 7:30 AM. We were the first in the SnoPark besides a few overnight vehicles. Our plan was to snowmobile about 18 miles to Bonney Meadows and then snowshoe about half a mile up to Echo Point. Bonney Meadows is on the Southeast side of Mt. Hood about 1.5 miles NW of Boulder Lake.

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.

Katie and I took the day off Friday to spend the weekend at Hall House, part of the Fish Lake Remount Depot. It's a historic site with a handful of structures including two cabins (Hall House & Commissary Cabin) which can be rented during the winter. The first building on the site was a roadhouse built in 1867. Hall House was built in 1924 as a summer residence for forest supervisor C.C. Hall. The area was used as a remount depot by the Forest Service from 1905 until 2005 when the last packer and pack string came through. Today it serves as an interpretive site.

I have been eager to go snow camping this season and the opportunity presented itself this weekend. Since Katie is not fond of snow camping (she has a hard time staying warm), I went with my friend John. We packed up and left my house around 6 AM Saturday, destined for Skyline SnoPark (Mt. Hood National Forest). This SnoPark is off Hwy 26 SSE of Government Camp, Oregon. It's popular with snowmobiles, offering access to the areas around Clear Lake and Timothy Lake.