July 7, 2006, Cooper Spur, Mt. Hood
7/7/06
OR Mt Hood
2423
1
We drove south from Hood River and turned right on the second Cooper Spur road which is near mile marker 74. You could take the first Cooper Spur road near the Old Country store for a different view and arrive at the junction to the Cloud Cap road. We drove about 2.5 miles along the Cooper Spur road, turned left and followed the paved Cloud Cap road until the gravel road begins. A sign indicates it is 11 miles to Cloud Cap, but our odometer indicated that we only bumped and rattled for 9 miles. The gravel road is in good shape with a very rough rock scattered surface. Even with our campervan it was easy but slow going. For all of the folks who parked at Inspiration Point and hiked to the Cloud Cap trailhead before the road opened YOU ARE ¦
We spent the night parked at the TH at 5900 feet which has a primitive camp area with toilet. You need to display a Northwest Forest pass or your Golden Eagle pass. We filled in the Wilderness Permit at the TH, no fee, and started to hike at 8am. Trail # 600 WEST BOUND for Snow Dome, Timberline trail, is officially closed and has a rope across the west bound trail. The bridge is not yet installed across the stream; there is a detoured trail that directs you to the east moraine where you then descend the moraine, cross a snow bridge and ascend the west moraine to continue the standard route to Snow Dome. We followed the detour trail to the east moraine where BIG VIEWS of the north side of Mt. Hood fill your viewfinder and your eyes. We have already skied Snow Dome and decided to ski Cooper Spur which is on the east side of the Eliot Glacier. I have to confess that we rarely hike to snow, but you just dont have a choice to ski anything on the north side of Hood. We saddled our skis AND boots and hiked on dirt until we reached snow around 7100 feet. The wildflowers are everywhere and Jill took pictures all along the ascent route. It took a couple of hours to reach the snow due to all the views and wildflowers.
For those folks heading for Snow Dome, it looks wonderful. The trail appears snow free until you wrap around the cliffs at Langille Craigs. There were numerous tracks on the main face and a few old tracks from skiers who descended the Snow Dome and the lower portion of the Eliot Glacier and then crossed over to the east moraine. We followed the climbers trail along the east moraine and ascended the spree/sand slope to the snow on Cooper Spur at about 7100 feet. Here we finally removed the skis and skinned the slope to the top of the snow field at 8500 feet. This is along the standard climbers route and there are numerous stone wind breaks for climbers tent sites. The snow fields toward the Newton Clark glacier were in great shape for those wanting a bit more exercise. From our high point the surrounding views of the north side of Hood can fill a memory card. One view north of St. Helens, Rainier, Adams and the line differentiating the moisture of the west side and the dry eastern side of the area was particularly interesting. We noticed that the snow fingers along our descent route would allow us to ski just past the shelter on the Timberline trail thereby bypassing the long hiking ascent. The ski descent was ideal. There were shallow sun cups that just shaved off as we barked and yelped along the route. We were able to link together the snow fingers and skied down to 6200 feet which is only 300 vertical from the TH. We left our ski boots on for the short hike back to the car along the Timberline trail. The wildflowers slowed our progress a bit.
For those planning to ski Cooper Spur, the fastest approach to snow is taking the Timberline trail east to the shelter where you can skin up and be on snow, snaking your way upward. If you want the wildflower experience and BIG Views as you hike then the east moraine is a good choice. Zap & Jill
PS we dropped a Cobra handheld radio somewhere along the lower part of the east moraine trail area. Please send a PM if you found it.
Photo #1-Jill and I on east moraine with Cooper Spur off to left and out of the photo with ski lines thru the Eliot Glacier and Snow Dome on right.
Photo #2-A view from our high point at 8500 feet down the various ski routes on Cooper Spur. The shelter is skiers left and almost at the end of the snow patches.
Photo #3-Jill descending Cooper Spur with St. Helens, Rainier and Adams in the background.
We spent the night parked at the TH at 5900 feet which has a primitive camp area with toilet. You need to display a Northwest Forest pass or your Golden Eagle pass. We filled in the Wilderness Permit at the TH, no fee, and started to hike at 8am. Trail # 600 WEST BOUND for Snow Dome, Timberline trail, is officially closed and has a rope across the west bound trail. The bridge is not yet installed across the stream; there is a detoured trail that directs you to the east moraine where you then descend the moraine, cross a snow bridge and ascend the west moraine to continue the standard route to Snow Dome. We followed the detour trail to the east moraine where BIG VIEWS of the north side of Mt. Hood fill your viewfinder and your eyes. We have already skied Snow Dome and decided to ski Cooper Spur which is on the east side of the Eliot Glacier. I have to confess that we rarely hike to snow, but you just dont have a choice to ski anything on the north side of Hood. We saddled our skis AND boots and hiked on dirt until we reached snow around 7100 feet. The wildflowers are everywhere and Jill took pictures all along the ascent route. It took a couple of hours to reach the snow due to all the views and wildflowers.
For those folks heading for Snow Dome, it looks wonderful. The trail appears snow free until you wrap around the cliffs at Langille Craigs. There were numerous tracks on the main face and a few old tracks from skiers who descended the Snow Dome and the lower portion of the Eliot Glacier and then crossed over to the east moraine. We followed the climbers trail along the east moraine and ascended the spree/sand slope to the snow on Cooper Spur at about 7100 feet. Here we finally removed the skis and skinned the slope to the top of the snow field at 8500 feet. This is along the standard climbers route and there are numerous stone wind breaks for climbers tent sites. The snow fields toward the Newton Clark glacier were in great shape for those wanting a bit more exercise. From our high point the surrounding views of the north side of Hood can fill a memory card. One view north of St. Helens, Rainier, Adams and the line differentiating the moisture of the west side and the dry eastern side of the area was particularly interesting. We noticed that the snow fingers along our descent route would allow us to ski just past the shelter on the Timberline trail thereby bypassing the long hiking ascent. The ski descent was ideal. There were shallow sun cups that just shaved off as we barked and yelped along the route. We were able to link together the snow fingers and skied down to 6200 feet which is only 300 vertical from the TH. We left our ski boots on for the short hike back to the car along the Timberline trail. The wildflowers slowed our progress a bit.
For those planning to ski Cooper Spur, the fastest approach to snow is taking the Timberline trail east to the shelter where you can skin up and be on snow, snaking your way upward. If you want the wildflower experience and BIG Views as you hike then the east moraine is a good choice. Zap & Jill
PS we dropped a Cobra handheld radio somewhere along the lower part of the east moraine trail area. Please send a PM if you found it.
Photo #1-Jill and I on east moraine with Cooper Spur off to left and out of the photo with ski lines thru the Eliot Glacier and Snow Dome on right.
Photo #2-A view from our high point at 8500 feet down the various ski routes on Cooper Spur. The shelter is skiers left and almost at the end of the snow patches.
Photo #3-Jill descending Cooper Spur with St. Helens, Rainier and Adams in the background.
Thanks for the info Zap. Was thinking about heading down there some time soon.
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