Mt. Hood
Hood River County, Oregon

"But there are men for whom the unattainable has special attraction. Usually they are not experts; their ambitions and fantasies are strong enough to brush aside the doubts which more cautious men might have. Determination and faith are their strongest weapons. At best such men are regarded as eccentric; at worst, mad.... "
Walt Unsworth
Everest

This page is dedicated to a friend Mark Fraas of Hood River, who died in a climbing accident near this route on Saturday, September 6, 1997. Mark, the owner of Airtime, was killed when he fell into Eliot glacier from a traverse below the Cooper Spur route. Anyone familiar with his engaging smile and personality will miss him big. Godspeed Mark.
The following are some images captured from my last climb (April 97') Mthood4.jpg - 22.2 Kon Mt. Hood, Ore. (elevation 11,239 ft). I went with Dick Arnold (who's been on top about a million times), his oldest son Jake, Chris Wolf, His nephew Jay, Cam Axford (Who's also been up here a bunch), and Swain Wall.

We left Cloud Cap, base of the CRAG RATS (a Hood River SAR .org) friday night for Cooper Spur. We then left about 3:30 A.M. for the summit via the spur route. The snow was good and firm, with a westerly wind blowing about 15 knots and it was about now that I was Hood.jpg - 22.2 Kwishing that I had remembered my jacket. At the top, it was clear and virtually calm. It was the most pleasent time on top of Mt. Hood that I've ever experienced, with the fewest climbers on top that I've ever seen. So few clinbers in fact that I got more than one swig off the bottle of stout that Jake hauled to the top.

The down-climb was tricky (see note below) as the snow was quite soft, which required alot of toe-kicks and secure ice ax placements. But soon the glisading began........ I had brought my skies up with me, but from above the spur, the exposure is kinda huge. I want to climb this mountain again.

Click on the thumbnail images for a larger picture.