Mt. Hood Beta

[Istoodupthere]

July just isn't a good month to climb Hood (though the first week can be OK in some years). Even in heavy snow years the conditions often deteriorate. I tried it on July 17 in a heavy snow year, but even then conditions weren't great. A few decades ago people used to climb Hood well into August, but a lot of the old snow and ice has melted off the walls making rockfall a much bigger danger than it used to be. Even when there is a lot of snow in July, rockfall can still be a problem since a lot of the ice holding the rock together has melted. People still do occasionally climb the peak after early July, but it just isn't a good idea most of the time. I'm only familiar with the standard route though, maybe there are routes that are better late season.

July is prime for Rainier so there is a temptation to try and do both on the same trip, but the prime season for Hood is earlier so they often don't combine well.

Maybe we can get a 14ers.com trip going for late May or early June next year.

I did Hood 7/8/19 and the snow conditions were perfect on the old chute. Very minimal rockfall. It’s interesting that it seems to be getting harder to climb. I know I had heard that in 2019. I had also heard that the pearly gates route was getting tougher because the hogsback has shifted and wasn’t lining up perfectly with the gates anymore. Not sure if that is still true. I was dating a girl from OR at the time and her dad was saying that decades ago Hood eas easy and you just walked right up in the summer with no snow. Even in the years close to 2019 it sounded like walking up in the summer was still a popular time to go even with the rockfall risk. Sounds like that’s changed which doesn’t surprise me with the amount of thermal activity going on up there. What a surreal experience it was walking through devil’s kitchen. Something I’ll never forget.

[arthurspiderman]

I did Hood about a week ago and the conditions were not perfect, but honestly better than I expected compared to what everyone has been saying. There was a ton of sun cupping but that wasn't a huge deal. Like other people are saying, rockfall is the biggest issue, but if you are back down to the hogsback by 8am or so it should be fairly safe. If you are willing to start early, I think you'll be fine!

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[Fisching]

I figured that I should follow up on this forum given the discussion we had over the last week. I decided to go up Mount Hood yesterday with low expectations of actually reaching the summit. I figured a day in the PNW, regardless of the result, would be worth it.

I made it up to 10,700 ft by 7am, right at the beginning of the old chute route. I decided to call it there, 500 ft short of the summit. Conditions just didn't warrant going further, especially solo. No one yesterday made it to the summit. However, getting inside that crater was incredible. Well worth the experience and I'm definitely looking forward to going back.

A few photos for those who are interested.