Step by Step: Mt. Hood 2010

(Mt. Hood)

In the first week of May, my husband, Matt, and I were on a relaxing vacation somewhat contemplating the possibility of attempting Mt. Hood again this year. Halfway into our vacation, Matt quietly pulled me aside from our friends and said, "Carla, we have a window to climb Mt. Hood-but we have to leave in an hour and make it to the beach to drop off our daughter, Ava, and in the morning, head up the mountain!" I was in a little shock. I thought I had more time to mentally prepare! (Last May, Matt and I made two attempts, which were two whole other stories in and of themselves. The first trip we mainly scouted so we could take a team up later in the month, and it was so cold that our water froze and we turned back. The second trip with our team of friends was great weather but we missed the window to make the summit when the ice chunks started melting and tumbling past us.)

I was brought back to the present when Matt said, "So, do you think you can do it?" I admit I hadn't been working out for a good week. But when he put it like that, my first response was, "if we go, I will do it." He just laughed and told our friends we were leaving early.

This year I was torn about doing it again. On one hand, I had wanted to get on top of Hood, I wanted to conquer that last section I had turned around at twice. But another part of me also didn't ever want to go up there again! Even the possibility that Matt and I would get a window to climb (meaning, best possible weather and child care for a two day venture) had me going over WCS's (Worst Case Scenarios) in my head for a whole week. My husband would jokingly ask, "So, Carla, how many ways have we died today in your head on Mt. Hood?" And I would kind of laugh, but respond with something like..."at least 10." I was facing my fears once again, not only the ultimate fears, but also of the physical challenge of 10 hours of hard climbing and the process of making wise decisions along the way.

(Our tent set up...too close to the lift!)

But Matt and I were craving a mountain adventure! Our daughter, Ava, was was 2 1/2 at the time, is a joy. My heart beats with hers ever since I first heard her heart beating in my belly. But I wanted some time with my companion-lover! Even though I knew we'd be climbing hard, camping in 20 degree weather and bundled up in at least 3 layers most of the time!

(Looking North. I did not want to get oo close to the edge of that cornice!)

So, Thursday May 6th, we took off from Bend, OR after Ava's nap and drove 5 hours to Lincoln City to leave Ava with Matt's parents. We got up Friday morning, both a little giddy. We picked up our gear at REI and planned to hike halfway up Mt. Hood and camp until about 2:30am before starting our ascent to the summit. On our drive up the mountain, all we could see was white. By the time we packed up our gear, the sun was out and the peak was white ice against a blue sky. I was down to my under layer by the time we got to our camping spot. It is really just a hike in the snow the first trek past the last lift until reaching the cliffs. We discovered the hard way about pitching a tent too close to the lift when the plow lights lit up our tent at 1:38am and we were scrambling with our headlamps to make sure he didn't plow us over! I hadn't actually slept, but the 5 hours resting my body did help. We were ready to start climbing at 2:30am and the sky was clear and the stars as bright as diamonds!

(Coming down the Old Chute Route. Matt broke trail all the way from palmer (where our tent was) to the peak. Well, except for a brief phase where I broke trail on Hogsback)

This is one of the most amazing things about climbing such a long mountain, and especially Mt. Hood, because you are so far above everything else and it is like being in a different world. The snow was fairly think and Matt broke trail pretty much the whole way in snow sometimes up to our knees. We saw a few headlamps below us but we were in the lead. We had been climbing for about 3 hours when I hit a wall. I was getting really tired and as we moved toward the cliffs, the sun started shining through the valley and a little wispy cloud moved itself right on top of our summit. I am a praying kind of person and about that time I started praying that God would lift that cloud! It would open up and sock back in, and I knew that when we reached the Hogsback (the final ascent to the summit) we would have to make the decision to turn back if it didn't clear. I started to get a little discouraged.

(Me on Hogsback. This is on our way down. It was pretty touch and go on the way up so we didn't get too many pictures.)

Matt was getting a little further and further ahead of me and all of a sudden I heard my friend Leah's voice in my head: "I just think it is so awesome that you can praise God by climbing mountains like that!" It was her comment to me last year when we had attempted Hood before. That memory coming back to me was like an electric jolt of energy and perspective. I didn't realize how much mental and emotional weight I'd been carrying, feeling guilty about leaving my daughter for another trip and potentially risking so much to do the climb again. Suddenly my steps felt lighter; I remember smiling and laughing a bit, recalling all of the reasons why I love to hike and climb and especially be outside....and that God loves it when I do. Worshipping God is a way of life and sometimes we get the privilege of singing together with others, serving one another together. At other times, worshipping happens when we climb a mountain , pushing ourselves to the very edge of our limits, our fears, our hopes and our dreams.

Step by step Matt and I moved up the mountain, and it seemed as if the cloud lifted inch by inch as we moved. When we reached Hogsback, a kind of snow ridge that leads to the last steep ascent to the summit, it was socked in. We waited 20 minutes, hoping to see the path to the top but I couldn't take the cold anymore and I started trudging through thigh-high snow, hoping that when we reached the end of the ridge, the cloud would life that much more- it did! Step by step, literally, we kept moving and suddenly there was blue sky. We could see the whole valley below us and the way above us to the top. We were the first to make the summit that day. It was very cold and we didn't stay too long at the top. I peaked over the cornice just a bit for a quick picture and after about 10 minutes, we headed back down. We discovered a whole pack of people waiting to climb and as we passed at least 50 people, Matt pointed out that I was the only woman on the mountain that day! I felt a little bit like a trailblazer, which was quite literal for the two of us, since we broke trail to the top.

(Yea! We did it! I'm pretty proud of myself)

The rest of the day was beautiful, the climb down was gorgeous and our reunion with our daughter, sweet!