Late June, 2000:

The snowcat slowly rumbled upward in a zigzag pattern, rattling the eight or ten passengers inside it in the freezing darkness. The loud rumble of the tank tracks gripping the frozen snow of the Palmer glacier made conversation out of the question. It was two in the morning. The sky was clear, with a panorama of sparkling stars overhead. The temperature was 15 degrees fahrenheit. We were on Mount Hood in the Cascades, known as Wy'east by the Multnomah tribe.

The snowcat made its way to the top of the ski lift area and stopped. As Oriole, one of our guides, opened the back door of the cat, the volume of the wind was immediately turned up, and I noticed a few frightened faces looking around. One by one we stepped out of the cat and onto the Palmer glacier. My turn came and I hopped out the back door to be hit with a gust of about 40 mph wind. I smiled. I'd been in this type of weather before and I relished it. The next person got out. She was a woman of about 35 years. "Oh, my God" she said nervously, even scared. To keep from freezing, we immediately started up the slope, our headlamp beams aimed downward on the slope in front of us.

We were heading up on the Hogsback route, the standard southside route to the summit, which is 11,249 feet above sea level, or 3429 meters. Somewhere above 8500 feet, we roped up and strapped on our crampons. We were four or five on each rope team. Then, as the slope steepened, we put away our trekking poles and took out our ice axes. In a little while we came to a section where great walls of rock shot up out of the slope, aiming toward the heavens above. Thus the name Hogsback.

The brightness of the snow and the stars allowed us to view this spectacular scenery clearly. We were now on the Coalman glacier. Around 4:30 the sky began to lighten and we switched off our headlamps. We stopped for a short rest and snapped a few photos. A little water and a few bites of a snack, and we were off again. We came to the uppermost part of the glacier where it separates itself from the slope of the mountain. This gap is known as a bergschrund and can be a few feet wide or twenty feet wide or more. Ice bridges freeze over the opening, creating the only passage over the abyss below. One by one we crossed over this bridge, peering down into the blue crevasse.

Next we climbed up the headwall, slowly making our way upwards until we reached the Pearly Gates, a gap in the summit rock formation. We then headed right onto the summit plateau and finally reached the summit itself at about 6:30. What a view that awaited us! The sun was still low enough in the sky so as to cast a shadow of the summit on the glacier below, forming a dark pyramid shape on the snow. It was unbelievable. The sky was blue, the wind had died down, and we were all looking out at other mountains in the Cascade range. We could see Mt. Adams and Mt. Jefferson, as well as other hulking volcanoes in the distance. What a picture perfect view.

After snapping photos and eating a bit, we began our descent, with me in the lead on the rope. I had to negotiate my way down the steep slopes through the Hogsback and over the ice bridge of the bergschrund, the whole time having four people on the rope behind me. It was a great feeling to be in the lead, navigating down the mountain. We took our time once we got lower on the glacier, enjoying the beautiful day. At about 11:30 am we arrived back at Timberline Lodge, the beautiful old, and huge, hotel at 6000 feet elevation. It was a perfect climb, one I will not forget.