Mt. Hood High Route Circumnavigation

[gene mc]

Great trip and great trip report. Some of the photos start to give one a feel for what the route is like. The crevasse jump is a very nice "action" shot. I also like the scree crossing one where one of you is using a "questionably stable rock with the rest of us smearing on the loose steep ground" to finesse yourself along. And the one crossing the Coe amidst the multitude of fallen rocks. Heck most of the photos were good.

Like others, I have been thinking about such a late season trip even while not being entirely comfortable with the risk level. Nicely done, however! Very neat Adventure!

[Rabid Swan]

And based on your route, you also tagged 11 of the 12 glaciers on the mountain (you'd really have to go out of your way to tag Coalman, anyway)

Oh no! I can't believe we forgot the Coalman Glacier! Thanks for pointing out our blunder. We might as well cap the route off by tagging the summit if we're going all the way up there...

Clearly there are objective hazards on this route which discourage me, and I haven't seen a trip report of a full hiking circumnavigation until yours. As no one has really responded to your question about being the first, I did run across something of interest.

Chapter 17 of McNeil's Mount Hood (1990, The Zig Zag Papers), titled "The Glacial Tiara", gives a route, which McNeil describes as a "popular trip with the more arduous minded mountaineers". McNeil's route for the glacial circumnavigation was from Cloud Cap up onto the Elliot Glacier, and then counter clockwise across the glaciers. The route is not detailed enough to be useable on the ground, except for climbing the Reid Glacier up to and over Illumination Saddle, suggesting 1) McNeil considered the Reid the route's crux and 2) McNeil either climbed the Reid himself or interviewed someone who had. Of note is a photo of Ray Atkeson on the Elliot Glacier.

McNeil's book was originally published in 1937 with the title Wy'East, The Mountain. While McNeil makes it sound like a number of people completed the route, he gives no names or dates. Perhaps a curator from the Mazamas, Crag Rats, or other climbing group that archives Mt Hood historical info could enlighten.

Regardless, what an achievement! Congratulations!

Very cool find. I assume someone in the 20's did this with just a loaf of bread and a walking stick in one afternoon after chopping wood all morning. That's a good idea to email the mazamas/crag rats. I'll see what they can dig up.

[kepPNW]

Possibly the most incredible adventure I've read about here. Hat's off to you two!

Wow, wow, wow...

[Thunder Thigh 3]

After meeting you yesterday on the trail, we had to look up your trip report on the high route.

WOWZA! That looks like one wild trip! I'm glad you survived everything Wy'east threw at you! I hope you get the chance to do it again with the retrospective knowledge you have.

Another commenter mentioned the book "McNeil's Mt. Hood." I would highly recommend reading it if you are interested in the cultural history of the mountain. It is quite fascinating, and I think you will appreciate some of the wild tales of daring-do that are a part of our local culture.

Perhaps someday I will make a high route circumnavigation... but only if I get some more experience and training with glacier travel. For now, I will content myself with a vicarious experience of this route. The extent of my adventures will for now not be any more exciting than dangling my feet over the edge of Langille Crags, watching the thunderously slow movement of the Elliot Glacier (which is a pretty fine adventure).

Thank you for sharing you trip and photos with us all - fantastic!

[Rabid Swans]

It was pleasure running into you all yesterday and especially cool to see you guys taking the yougins up there. I just ordered McNeil's Mt Hood. It's about time I read it. Here's a pretty cool picture I snagged of your friends yesterday if you want to pass it along to them.