Oregon's Mountains

In the interest of preserving my sanity, I am only going to include mountains with which I have personal interest (e.g. I've climbed them).

Mt. Hood (the only mountain I've climbed)

This is a fun mountain. Considered the second most climbed mountain in the world, it is climbable for anyone in decent physical condidtion who has crampons and an iceaxe, weather permitting. I personally have climbed it four times, and each time got better and better. This picture was taken close to the bottom, with over two miles of hiking up a vertical mile of mountain before you reach the summit.
Climb 1
The first time we climbed it, we didn't realize that we needed crampons, so we couldn't climb the last little stretch. Plus, I dropped my jaclet on the way up, so I had to run back down the mountain to find it, then catch up to the group again. Obviously, I was tired, but I had fun anyway.
Climb 2
The second time we did it, we took a much smaller group, and this time we came prepared. We had our crampons and our ice axes, and the only thing standing between us and the summit was... well, a pretty big mountain. To understand this mountain, you have to realize that it's about 3.5 miles to the summit, which doesn't take into consideration the full vertical mile increase in elevation. Plus, the snow starts to get dangerous after 10:00 in the morning, and since the average climbing time is about 7 hours, it's usually advisable to start at 2:00 a.m. So imagine climbing a mountain at 2:00 in the morning, with maybe 2 or 3 hours of sleep behind you and a whole mountain in front of you, carrying 3 litres of water and some food on your back, sweating one minute and shivering the next. You're exhausted from climbing, but if you stop more than a minute or so, you start to get pretty cold, so you must press on.
Exhausted, we finally made it to the top, one of us getting altitude sickness along the way, but we made it! Unfortunately, it was overcast, so we couldn't see much, and the wind was blowing so much that it was freezing cold, so we only stayed at the top for a few minutes before having to go back down again.
Climb 3
The third time we started much like the second, but I started to feel queasy in the first stretch of the trip. We had one member become physically sick and two more who couldn't keep up so they went back down again. But after the first mile or so, I felt better, and so kept going. I found a hiking buddy from our group, so we paced each other and talked for the next mile and a half. It was nice and warm this time, and the going didn't seem as tough, so we had a great time climbing. As a matter of fact, we kept congratulating ourselves on how easy it was this time.
That is, until the last half mile or so. Once you reach that, the angle gets much steeper and the altitude really started getting to us. Once we reached that point, all the chattering stopped as all we could do was try and breathe. And then things got worse. As time progressed, most of our group began to feel ill from the altitude. We queasily made it up the last section called the Chute and emerged victorious at the top once more. Unlike the last time, however, there was no breeze and the sun was shining brightly and it was actually warm! It was so warm, in fact, that we all took off a layer of clothing, set it on the ground, and took a quick little nap on the top of the mountain. Refreshed, and after a long break, we began our trip down again.

Stay tuned for my account of the fourth ascent, and more pics of the mountain! Eventually, I'm even going to add my 360 degree panoramic view from the top of the mountain!
All right, as promised, here are some of my Mt. Hood Pictures. Not a lot, but be patient with me.


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