July 22, 2024 – Mt Hood, Snowdome

Could it really have been 13 years since I last visited the Snowdome and Mt Hood’s northside? Seems really hard to believe. Looking back at my trip reports and records however validated that was the case, so I was pretty excited when Joe and Dan were game to head up and try to score some late July turns. Dan met me at my house in the mid-afternoon on Sunday, and after loading gear into my truck we headed up I5, picking up Joe at the cop shop in Albany. Our drive went smoothly until we got to just past Sandy. A bad wreck on Highway 26 closed down all four lanes of the highway about 10 miles past Sandy, and we had to backtrack and take a long detour around which cost us about an hour and a half.

After the very slow detour with everyone else that wanted to get through on the highway, we eventually popped back out to 26 and made our way to Government Camp. After a quick stop in Govy, we headed east and then north, finally making our way towards Cloud Cap. The road wasn’t in the worst shape, but we were glad to have the four-wheel drive. It was slow going, but eventually we made our way to Cloud Cap.

Given our later than expected arrival, the campsites at Cloud Cap were all taken by through-hikers, but we managed to snag a parking place near the shitter that afforded a level place for Dan and I to sleep in the back of the truck and for Joe to pitch his bivy not too far away. After getting our gear somewhat in order, I headed out with my camera and made the short walk up the road to snap some pictures, something I used to do on previous trips so many years ago when frequenting the area with my old ski partner Todd.

After snapping several pictures of the sunset and Cloud Cap Inn itself, I walked back down the road to get my sleeping bag and bed situation setup in the back of the truck, which required unloading most of our gear we’d stowed in the back for the drive up. Once everything was nice and cozy, all three of us headed back up to Cloud Cap to enjoy the views one more time before the sun went down for the evening.

A couple of things struck me while shooting photos and taking in the sights – one was the reaffirmation of how beautiful this side of the mountain is, and two was how much snow and ice had melted off the Eliot Glacier since my last visit in 2011. After 20 minutes of so of enjoying the view, the sun began to set below the cloud deck on the horizon, and it was time to get a bite to eat and hit the sleeping bag, so we headed back to the truck to settle in for the evening.

We donned headlamps eating dinner, and just before we got done a large van pulled and parked next to us. Three very fit ultra runners stepped out, and we chatted with them a bit. Their plan was to run to Timberline in the morning, and then stay the night at the lodge before coming back to Cloud Cap the next day. One of the ladies had an injury she was coming back from, otherwise they said they would normally run the whole 41 mile loop in a day no problem! And I though I was in shape haha!

A bit later we crawled into sleeping bags, and slept really well through the night, with the exception of being woken up once by a loud deer wandering through camp. The next morning, we were up early to enjoy some fresh coffee and breakfast before shouldering packs and heading out. One of the thru-hikers (who also happened to be a skier) at Cloud Cap snapped the below picture of the three of us as we were about to leave the truck.

After a few minutes on the trail, we gained the ridge above Cloud Cap and got our first good views of the mountain, the Eliot and the Snowdome, all basking in the morning sunlight. The mountain, as well as the surrounding vistas were slightly obscured by a large wildfire to the east of Mt Hood, and Mt St Helens, Adams and Rainier, usually visible to the north, were not.

Nevertheless, it was still a beautiful morning on the mountain’s northside, and soon we made our way up the ridge to the cairn marking the trail leading down to the Eliot. After a bit of a scramble to get down to the canyon, we found a suitable crossing through snow and scree to approach the lower lobe of Eliot Glacier.

We worked our way onto the snow covering some of the remaining glacial ice, and started up. The snow surface was in good condition, with enough purchase to not need crampons, although I was glad to have ’em in my pack if needed.

As we continued up, I had to marvel at the beauty of the Eliot Glacier. Even in it’s much reduced capacity from 15 years ago (and certainly 25 to 40 years ago), it’s still the biggest glacier in Oregon. I snapped a few pictures as we crossed, and then continued on up to catch up with Joe and Dan.

We were careful as we crossed the last section to head over and make the climb up towards Snowdome, but overall the crossing was quite straight forward as it usually is. A few more pictures later, and we were ready to exit off the Eliot and head up towards the ‘Dome.

Once we left the Eliot and began climbing, the views of the glacier and Hood really start to open up, offering an excellent vantage point to take some nice photos. I snapped a few of the mountain, as well as Joe and Dan as they climbed up ahead of me, then continued on to link back up with them.

We climbed up to just a bit below the Snowdome proper, which made for a good place to enjoy a break, refuel and re-hydrate, and soak in the views. It definitely was smokey to the north and east and had been getting smokier as the morning progressed, but was starting to act like it might clear up just a bit with a shift in the wind direction, especially as we climbed higher.

Eventually we booted our way up to the Snowdome proper. The temps were just right, and the snow was in near perfect condition as we made the final approach towards the top, and the three of us were pretty excited about the conditions.

A few minutes later we arrived at the high point of our climb, and it was a great place to enjoy a break with a view. We ate lunch and settled in a the base of a big rock that was protected by a large moat. In past trips I hadn’t remembered seeing this big exposed rock before, but it was a great place for lunch. Later at home, I confirmed when looking at old pictures that the rock wasn’t exposed, and estimated that nearly 50 feet of ice must have melted since I was there last.

It was a good time as well to get our beers on ice, which I did after snapping a photo of my offering for the day – a super refreshing Fluffy India Pale Ale from Claim 52 Brewing.

Once my beer was cold, I enjoyed half of it while we listed to Bob Marley on my phone. Inspired by his “Jamming” song, we adopted it as our own but with “Doming.” We Doming would become the mantra for the rest of the trip! A bit later, we stuck our beers in the snow to stay cold while we skied a lap, and readied to make our first turns of the day. Dan (or Joe, I can’t remember, ha!) took a “sponsor” shot of me, and then we dropped in for some of the best July corn I’ve had in quite awhile.

I headed down first, and setup at a suitable place to shoot some shots of Joe and Dan as they came down, and watched them enjoy some super sweet corn. Below is a three-shot sequence of Joe…

Joe ripped turns all the way down to near where we’d taken a break earlier in the day, and then it was Dan’s turn to ski. He shucked the perfect corn as I snapped pics, and skied down to Joe. A four-shot sequence of Dan is below…

Once the skiers were down, I put my camera in the bag and made big, sweeping, fun turns down to Joe and Dan, and at the bottom we were all smiles. The harvest was as good as we could have hoped for, and we headed back up for another lap, happy to reuse our existing bootpack.

The hike up went much quicker on our second lap with an established bootpack, and it felt good to bet back to the top for a second time. This time the views had improved as well, with most of the smoke being blown out to the east. Mt Adams was visible to the north, and we could just make out Mt Rainier as well.

We spent a few more minutes at the top enjoying the views for a second time, and then it was time to head down again to enjoy a second lap, as well as begin to make our way back towards Cloud Cap. This time, we headed skier’s left, and enjoyed some really sweet corn. Dan grabbed the camera and headed down, and then shot a bunch of pictures of me as I descended. Below is a 6-shot sequence he took of me…

The turns on skiers left were steep, smooth and exhilarating. It’s hard to describe, but there’s nothing else quite like the feeling of sliding down perfect corn high on a pacific northwest volcano in the summer. After making my way back down to Dan, I took the camera back from him, headed further down the Dome to where Joe was waiting, and snapped several photos as Dan skied down.

After we regrouped on the lower section of the Snowdome, we set off again, working our way back towards the Eliot Glacier. I fired off several shots of the skiers as we headed down, including the four below…

We followed our up track back down to a small rock band that required booting across, enjoying nice turns and good views along the way.

Once back on the Eliot, we kept the skis on and carefully negotiated our way around several crevasses, as well as rocks and other glacial debris, before getting to some really nice snow on the lower glacier.

The lower Eliot skied really well, and was pretty much crevasse-free. I headed down first and then setup to shoot Dan and Joe as they skied by me. A few of the shots came out quite nicely.

The skiing was so good we milked the turns all the way down skier’s left of the Eliot until the snow ran out, which put us a hundred feet or so below the trail that leads out of the canyon. It was definitely worth it, as the pictures below show…

The hike out to the canyon trail took a bit of time to negotiate through the rocks and glacial debris, but eventually we made our way to the trail and then back up to the ridge. The views along the way were pretty excellent…

Once we gained the ridge, it was an easy hike down the train to Cloud Cap, where cold beer was waiting in the cooler. It felt great to change into flip flops and shorts, and we put some brats on the grill for some apres action. A few minutes later they were ready to go and they really hit the spot after a pretty epic day.

A bit later, with both the food and beer consumed, it was time to hit the road, so we loaded up the gear and piled in the truck. As expected, it was a slow drive down the rough road from Cloud Cap, but soon we made it out to highway 26 and it was smooth sailing home. All in all, it was an awesome trip to the north side of the mountain, and I know one thing — it definitely won’t be 13 years before I visit the Eliot and Snowdome again!