Tag Archives: Snow

Jun9

BCEP – An attempt on Mt. Hood

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Last year, I took the BCEP class with the Mazamas – Basic Climbing Education Program. It was interesting; a great chance to review my well-trained skills, practice some that I hadn’t used in ages, and get to meet some new climbing and outdoors people. It was fun, and ticked all the boxes that I had hoped that it would.

My faith in the outdoors community reinvigorated, I quickly and happily volunteered to help teach BCEP this year. I was expecting to assist with the same group that I’d taken the class with the previous year, since leaders tend to continue teaching year over year, so I was a bit surprised when I was placed with a different group… but it turns out, this new group was just starting out – the first year the leader had led a BCEP team on their own.

The chance to help out with a new group, and to help build a similar culture of excitement and optimism for the outdoors? All while getting to show people the unbridled joy of rock climbing? Of seeing new views off the side of a mountain?

Well. Sign me right the heck up.


Sunday, 23-Apr-2023

Traditionally, the “final climb” of a BCEP team is an ascent of Mt. Hood… or at least, the offer that students can join the group leader on an attempt. As part of preparation for that possibility, our team decided to give it a partial go the day after Snow School – aiming to leave the Mazamas lodge sometime around 4am, and making an attempt on the top of the Palmer Glacier.

We rose (no shining, I’m sorry to report), we packed, and we made our way to the trailhead… arriving just in time for the freezing rain to start.

In the mountains, conditions aren’t always the same as they are in the front-country… and sometimes things are better or worse than you’d expect them to be. Freezing rain isn’t one of those things. It’s bad in the front country, it’s bad in the back country, it’s just not a good time for anyone. Especially for someone working on a FAR too early wake-up, being tired from the day before, and who doesn’t really like sufferfest trudgeshows in the first place.

Me.

That’s describing Ben, right there.

It was horrid. I can’t put it any simpler than that.

I was in a bad place, I freely admit. I was slow – I could try blaming the heavy boots I was wearing (Ed Note: Ben was trying out an ascent in double-plastic technical boots… vaguely twice the weight and half the flexibility) but… in the end, I was the one who chose to wear those boots. I was cranky – I could try blaming the early morning, or the dark, or the rain… but in the end, I was the one who chose to attempt the ascent. I was the last person in line – I could try blaming any number of things, but in the end… I was just a sorry and cranky mess.

I made it up about 1,200 ft vertical before calling it quits. Maybe less, even, since I couldn’t really see anything in the rain and darkness. I’d lost sight of the majority of the team a while ago, not even able to see the headlamps of the spearpoint of the group.

All I saw was two folks ahead of me, and one headlamp coming down toward us…

Jess was along with us, and it turned out that the lamp coming toward us stragglers was her – She was actually having an even rougher time of it than I was, and had hit her limit. Recent injuries gave her a reason to be extra cautious, and she’d made the hard decision to turn around… as an assistant, I was in the position to descend with her and make sure no one was left alone… an opportunity I jumped at.



We descended slowly and carefully, making sure not to leave the path or fall prey to one of the gullies that would cause us to miss the parking lot. We watched as the world grew lighter, shade by shade, never quite reaching daylight. The rain persisted.

Finally, the parking lot appeared and we were able to drop our packs and head down the pavement to the warmth awaiting us. The Timberline lodge reared out of the mist, and we made our way to the main floor, the huge hearths, to let our gear dry while we waited for the breakfast buffet to open.

It was 6am, a full two hours before food was to be had… we’d only been ascending for two hours, though it’d easily felt like half a lifetime in purgatory.

We ate waffles and drank coffee, and slowly became human again.

Drove home, spread the gear out to dry, and appreciated the warmth of my fireplace and the comfort of my couch.

Feb21

The first climb of the year… at 18 Deg.F

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Sunday, 29-Jan-2023

How long has it been since I’ve climbed at Smith? Let’s see…

According to my photo record, It’s… been a really long time. We’re leaving it at that.


Jess and I left Bend early-ish… and by “early-ish” I mean “not even remotely early”. The dawn had broken over a solidly single-digit temperature, with thick snow and ice covering both the truck and the world around us. We slept in, relaxed, and took our time showering and getting packed up.

It wasn’t like the world would thaw before noon, anyways.




A quick breakfast in Terrebonne helped us rally and energize, and gave the world a little bit more time to dethaw and start warming up to more bearable temperatures. By the time we left the truck behind and began our descent into the gorge it was a (relatively) balmy 18 Deg.F by our thermometer.

The rock, of course, helped reflect the heat of the sun back into us. By the time we’d roped up and I’d started climbing, the rock face was legitimately warm – literally warm to the touch. I didn’t feel the need for a jacket, despite the cold, and even ended up rolling up my pant legs to help vent some of the heat that climbing generated.

What did we climb?
Five Gallon Buckets, 5.8, Sport, Lead then top rope.




Yep, just the one…

We got two runs of the climb in when we realized the danger – While the Sun wasn’t hitting the horizon for another two and a half hours, it didn’t need to hit the horizon. The Smith Rock cluster was in the path of the sun, and the shade was creeping up on us surprisingly quickly. There were only two other teams nearby, and of them only one was climbing… and that climbing team was rapidly packing up to avoid being plunged into darkness and cold.

(As a quick interesting note – there were three teams climbing this Sunday at Smith. Ourselves, climbing a 5.8. A team to the East, climbing a 5.12c and a 5.13a. And a third team of 12, re-bolting a handful of routes. Yep – we hang with super cool folks!)



With the shade fast approaching, I took a quick final run of the route to clean the anchors. We had warm gear with us, of course, but nothing that I’d be comfortable leading in… so instead of continuing the climbing, we started into the exploring. We hikes around, checked out Asterisk’s Pass, and got the chance to appreciate the sun dropping down lower.

We packed up our gear, and headed out. The desert passed, the trees grew, and we stopped to take pictures of a beautiful sunset.



We dined at a small restaurant in Rhododendron, and continued our way home. The snow gave way, then the trees followed suit. The city grew up in their place, and soon enough we were unpacking the truck once again after a very good weekend!

Feb20

Hiking up Tumalo Mountain

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Saturday. 28-Jan-2023


It’s cold up here.

Like… really cold. I love it, but it’s definitely cold. The rime ice isn’t nearly as long as some crazy places I’ve seen, but… man, it’s definitely there.

It’s so gorgeous, and I’m having such an amazing time reading up here, on top of the world… in the mist… with the freezing cold pulling away any stress and warmth I have in my body…



Earlier in the day, I met up with my friend Jess and made the long drive down to Mt. Bachelor – she was going to spend the day skiing, and I’d spend the day snowshoeing up the nearby Tumalo Mountain. A nice double-header, if I do say so myself, and a great chance to actually do a non-solo adventure for the first time in… yeah I wasn’t going to think about how long it’d been since I’d done a non-solo adventure.

We drove, and it was absolutely lovely. A bit of a change of pace, driving her truck through the snow, but I definitely appreciated not having to stop to put the chains on for the snowy passes, and having an active DJ for the drive was definitely an extra cherry on top. Not that we really stayed quiet to listen to music, mind you, but… hey, having the option was nice, you know?



After dropping Jess off to ski, I headed into the woods on my own adventure. The hike was… interesting, to say the least. Now, I don’t usually talk about the hiking itself, because… hiking… but this time was interesting. The first 1/4 mile took me nearly 40min, by my watch, but then the next nearly 2 miles flew by in… maybe a bit over an hour?

Strange, and I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t been tracking my steps. Maybe getting used to the snowshoes? I didn’t use snowshoes for the first few hundred feet, so… maybe they made more of a difference than I thought? Who knows. All I know is that, soon enough, I found myself looking up at a beautiful summit peak.

I summitted, I relaxed, and I had some snacks.

I didn’t drink water, since it had frozen solid, but I did take the chance to make some good progress on my book, which was nice. I let myself cool down, enjoying the views and watching the steam seep off my body… even through the jacket that I was wearing.

It was lovely.

It was cold, and… surprisingly quiet, truth be told. The parking lot had been full – absolutely slammed – but I hadn’t seen a single person on my walk up. At the summit I saw four or five people total… but interestingly, none of the folks that I’d spoken to at the parking lot. They’d all said that they were heading upward… so I’m not quite sure where they all went. Maybe a different trail, and they were just that much faster than me? Or… was I that much faster than them?

No matter. I got cold, I got thirsty, and I got bored.

I turned around, and hiked down.



My timing on the return was impeccable. I got to the car just in time to check my phone and see a text from Jess that she’d finished up her runs for the day. I removed my anti-snow-armor, revved up the doom-truck, and we headed off into the sunset of our evening.

Amazing BBQ (Ribs, pulled pork, brisket, just so much) led to a warm AirBnB full of reading and hot baths. Some fancy wine, and a glorious night in after a perfectly cold day in the snow.