June 25, 2012, Cooper Spur, Mt Hood

Headed up Monday morning to check out the snow on Cooper Spur. Unfortunately, the road to Cloud Cap is still gated and so had 3 miles of dry trail to hike. Snow started at the Tilly Jane cabin, and we skinned up to the top of the Spur from there on 98% continuous snow. The trip down was terrible. Well, the first few hundred feet were ok, but then things got rough. The snow was decent, but was covered with volcanic dust that stripped our planks down to their bases. The friction was incredible. There were times that I was vigorously poling just to keep moving while going downhill. Terrible skiing, but decent weather and good company.

As a capper, we stopped in Hood River at the Big Horse brewery for lunch and I got the worst food poisoning of my life. I got to act on the advice that I sometimes give to my patients with intractable vomiting "Keep puking till you feel something round and hairy in the back of your throat. That's your butt hole, swallow it back down cause you'll need it later!" On the plus side, I lost 10 lbs in just 2 days, hello swimsuit season!