PNW Road Trip – Mount Hood, Smith Rock & Mount Adams

We had this trip to the Pacific Northwest planned, and the original idea was to go to Smith Rock first. We have a friend who’s guiding there and we wanted to see him — and of course, do a bunch of fun rock climbing. But we got a nice weather window, so we decided to send it straight to Hood and start the trip off with that.

Mt. Hood — the tallest point in Oregon and our first objective

Mt. Hood

We had an awesome day of climbing and exploring Hood. Summited really quickly with no issues — very straightforward. The climbing was good, not too busy, good climbing snow. Got to the summit, and unfortunately it was a little colder than we thought it was going to be. We waited for a while, but it was clear the snow wasn’t going to soften up to the point that we wanted. So we decided we might as well just get moving.

Summit of Mt. Hood — bluebird day, skis on our backs

Had a pretty scary ski down on some sheer ice above crevasses, fumaroles, and rocks — but made it down safely. Had a great time. Super stoked that we tagged Mount Hood, the tallest point in Oregon.

We made great time, and we were back at the Mount Hood Brewery by noon, drinking beers and eating a bunch of food. Really happy that that went off without a hitch.

The skin up — Cascade views stretching out forever behind us

Smith Rock

After a good night’s rest we packed up and headed to Smith Rock to meet our friend Thomas. Got there with plenty of time and did a bunch of climbing the first day, which was great — did some hard, scary, sandbag 5.10s. Super fun. Found a spot to camp at Skull Hollow, a wonderful little spot that was perfect for us.

Smith Rock — Oregon’s climbing mecca rising above the Crooked River

The next day was a pretty similar, chill day. We went crack climbing, and the highlight was this awesome 11c called American Nirvana — really fun climb.

Working the golden tuff — Smith Rock’s signature volcanic rock

The third day, Cole and I went up and did Wherever You May Roam, a very fun five-pitch 5.9 sport climb that added a little adventure to our climbing trip. Three days of climbing at Smith, and it was everything we hoped for.

Top of Wherever You May Roam — five pitches of fun with the whole canyon spread out below

Aldo — crag dog, road warrior, the best boy

Mt. Adams

We had another weather window pop up, and Mount Adams was very high on our list — one of the main objectives for this trip. We had a buddy, Drew, in Yakima who wanted to come out and do Adams with us. So we packed up and headed out to Trout Lake, stayed there for a night, and got all ready.

First views of Adams from Trout Lake — towering over the valley, very intimidating and very beautiful

While we were hanging out in Trout Lake, we got our first views of Mount Adams. It just towers over the valleys in the area. Very intimidating, but very beautiful. We watched a perfect sunset the night before we were going to wake up and go do Adams.

Heading out — golden hour on the approach through the burned forest

Next morning, woke up bright and early, drove up to the trailhead by about six AM and started hiking. We put on skis very shortly after and started the long, sluggy skin up to the peak. Way more people than I thought there would be, but still a beautiful setting and so much snow.

It was actually quite hot on the way up, which we didn’t expect. That was kind of the crux — just getting too warm. But we summited with no issues, made really good time.

Summit of Mt. Adams — all smiles after the long push up

Our objective for the day was the Southwest Chutes — a four-thousand-foot chute on the southwest face of Mount Adams. For any skiers, this is a crown jewel objective. Just one of the best ski runs I’ve ever done. We were at the top debating if it was going to be soft enough — after our experience of ice on Hood, we were kind of scarred. Luckily, we’d made some friends on the way up, and we watched a bunch of them ski it. They looked like they were having a blast — perfect corn. So we decided it was good to go.

It was one of the best corn runs of my life. Just four thousand feet of perfect corn turns. Not much more you can ask for. Got to the bottom, and turns out one of the guys we linked up with used to live in Bozeman and worked at the Lone Mountain Ski Club as a ski patroller. We had tons of friends in common. Small world.

Looking out from the summit — the Cascades stretching in every direction

Back at the bottom — Adams towering behind us, the Southwest Chutes still visible

Then we went back to Trout Lake, had some beers, relaxed, recovered, ate a bunch of food, and reveled in the glory of our wonderful trip.

Looking back, it was just such a rewarding and fulfilling trip. All these new, beautiful places. Really hard things. I think me five or six years ago would probably think I’m the coolest guy ever. This is stuff I only could have dreamed of doing back when I still lived in the Midwest. It feels really good to be strong and capable and able to go out and do these things — plan them, prepare for them, execute them, revel in them.

I feel very lucky to have the skills, the strength, and my health. And of course, most importantly, good friends who want to do it with me. And a shoutout to Aldo for being such a good road warrior, adventure buddy, and for chilling in the hotels while we went out and did our big ski days. He’s the best.