It’s been a few years since I last went up hood, but the conditions looked promising.

When the weather held up, I found myself at Timberline lodge at 2:30am, Friday night. I wanted to start earlier (to catch a sumit sunrise). However, with temps well below freezing, I had reservations.

With firm snow, I made great time up to crater rock and passed most of the other climbers. From here, the mountain looked quite a bit different than any of my previous climbs. The hogsback was completely missing and you had to climb part way up crater rock and across a fumarole field to reach the route. From here, the incline became much steeper and icey.

Things looking sketchy, I waited about an hour for a few other climbers to catch up. They helped show the correct route (up the mazama chute), though it was still quite step. Having full crampons and dual ice axes was essential for the final accent and decent.