June 8. 2013, Mt Hood, South Side by Bike from PDX
6/8/13
OR Mt Hood
5532
10
On the afternoon of June 8th I left SE Portland by bicycle (SE 65th and Duke) for Mt Hood, carrying my climbing/skiing gear.
Full story and photos on
I arrived at Timberline Lodge around 10:00 pm, and began climbing the south side around 10:30. I reached the top of the Magic Mile by Midnight, and Triangle moraine by 1 am. After ditching my skis there, I summited under a moonless sky at 3:00 am, the first to reach the summit that night.
The snow was excellent, allowing ski crampon use to triangle moraine, and facilitating fast travel in high dagger up the old chute.
The winds were incredible, sustained 30-40 mph until the crater, with gusts in excess of 50 mph on the summit ridge, requiring crawling on the descent.
I skied from triangle moraine on what would no doubt become great corn about 6 hours later, and after repacking, was back on my bike towards Portland by 5:30 am.
Total time round trip to Portland was 18:25'15. 110 miles by bike, and more than 12,000' vertical gained total.
This is no doubt not the FKT, and I am aware that this has been done before. Whatever. I'm happy to have finally ticked this project in well under 24 hrs.
Full story and photos on
I arrived at Timberline Lodge around 10:00 pm, and began climbing the south side around 10:30. I reached the top of the Magic Mile by Midnight, and Triangle moraine by 1 am. After ditching my skis there, I summited under a moonless sky at 3:00 am, the first to reach the summit that night.
The snow was excellent, allowing ski crampon use to triangle moraine, and facilitating fast travel in high dagger up the old chute.
The winds were incredible, sustained 30-40 mph until the crater, with gusts in excess of 50 mph on the summit ridge, requiring crawling on the descent.
I skied from triangle moraine on what would no doubt become great corn about 6 hours later, and after repacking, was back on my bike towards Portland by 5:30 am.
Total time round trip to Portland was 18:25'15. 110 miles by bike, and more than 12,000' vertical gained total.
This is no doubt not the FKT, and I am aware that this has been done before. Whatever. I'm happy to have finally ticked this project in well under 24 hrs.
Fantastic adventure, and beautifully written! Thanks for sharing. :)
Nice work and great telling of the trip! Scary to read about the wind gusts up there on top.
Sweet! Have been contemplating a version of this that could be called "Sandy to Summit". Glad to hear you blew our cycling mileage out of the water :)
Way cool. I have been contemplating a similar adventure (maybe not going quite so huge). Inspiring, thanks for posting it.
sweet trip dude
way to get after the adventure!
b
way to get after the adventure!
b
Very nice brother!! An inspiration, certainly from the physical perspective, but more so from the human perspective. Rebuffat is writing a poem right now about your harmonius communion with nature and human spirit for those < 24 hours.
Proof you can have an adventure in your own back yard. All it takes is an adventurous spirit and a little creativity.
Way to go kid! I've been thinking about a leisurely version of that from Seattle to ski in the cascades. My idea was just to do a totally "green" trip, not an endurance and adrenalin trip like you did. Very inspiring!
Strong work! I've contemplated a similar trip but thought about including a loop on the Timberline Trail as well. This led to a bike approach-circumambulation/trailrun-summit-ski descent-bike return on all the volcanoes with round-the-mountain trails; Three Sisters, Hood, St Helens, Rainier, Adams, and Glacier Peak come to mind. Call it the "Once Around and Up" tour.
However, I have not managed to get any further than casual contemplation, and I never dreamed of doing it in one push. So once again, strong work! It's always nice to see Portland represent.
However, I have not managed to get any further than casual contemplation, and I never dreamed of doing it in one push. So once again, strong work! It's always nice to see Portland represent.
Rad!
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