March 31-April 1, 2016, Mount Hood

Moderate avvy conditions South warranted a trip to climb Mount Hood, a feat I have wanted to attempt since taking a trip last year to Crater Rock. Our weather window was better than I could have hoped for, clear skies and icy conditions. Outright, these were less than idea for snowboarding but because of the time and effort spent to get down there, myself and Nick decided to bring our skis/splitboard along. A 7pm start on Thursday evening put us past Palmer ski lift, our camping spot, by 9pm. My concern was a late start may have meant variable conditions higher up, so the decision was made to start at midnight. The ascent was near-perfect and the Pearly Gates were exactly as I had hoped: iced over and an easy walk up with crampons. The climb itself was fantastic! On the downhill, my snowboard was met with awful snow from start to finish at sunrise, which ultimately ended with a dislocated left shoulder about .5miles before the parking lot.