Mount Hood guides

[Bill and Sheep]

I;'m going to be in Oregon in June next year and was thinking that I should give Mount Hood a shot. Does anyone have any recommendations or direct experience with any guides out there?

Google points me to Timberline Mountain Guides. The website looks good but I'd rather go with a recommendation rather than a random pick off of the web.

I have no real technical climbing experience so I'm looking something with some training followed by a summit attempt. Timberline has a nice looking 3 day trip which seems perfect for my time frame.

Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom here.

 

[giggy]

I don't think you will go wrong with them - I did not use a guide on Hood, but did see them on the hill and can't say I saw anything "bad" with them. They are certainly the "service" for the Oregon peaks, know the peak, etc.

Mt Hood is a classic, have a great time.

 

[erugs]

We hired Timberline when we were there in 2009 and thought they were great. Our guide was Joe Owen. Brian and I signed up for the three-day training and climb. Joe was helpful and, most of all, supportive and encouraging. I have not always found that to be the case with guides, but don't get me started! Let me know if you want more information, including my "trip report" of that vacation.

 

[Chip]

Looking at their site I would do the "Three Day Summit Overnight Program" for a few reasons. 1) If you do the regular 3 day program you may draw a weak group, which reduces your chances of summiting (sounds harsh, but let's be honest, you're not attempting Mt Hood to be turned back cuz Bobby Joe never wore a backpack before (which will absolutely happen.)) Frankly the Overnight program will discourage and eliminate some of that, even if it's on the way to 8,900'. 2) If there are any weather issues or you have any problems, at least you're at 8,900' getting some good instruction and mountain time. 3) Starting at 8,900' would substantially increase your chances of summiting. IMHO. That's what I would do.

 

[TEO]

Spend at least two nights at Timberline Lodge! The bunk rooms--they call them "Chalets"--are very reasonably priced (note that the price is per room, not per individual), and it is an experience that you'll never forget.

Room rates.

(Make sure to make frequent use of the pool and the hot tub.)

 

[Bill and Sheep]

Thanks for all the excellent advice! I was thinking of the instruction and summit but now I think I will go for the overnight version of the trip. Thanks for the heads up there!

 

[Peakbagr]

I second staying at Timberline Lodge. It's a WPA constructed building and a gorgeous place to overnight.
Take a course with your climb. Even if you're comfortable with big moutain snow travel, the refresher can't hurt.
We had a wonderful experience.

 

[J.Dub]

I've not used TMG, but we considered them two years ago when my partner and I were contemplating doing Hood. At the time, I spent about 20 minutes on the phone with them discussing various options and came away with a good impression, though.

All the reviews that I saw when doing the reasearch were pretty positive.

 

[Bill and Sheep]

Thanks again for all the advice. I'm definitely taking the 3 day climb that includes the training course. My technical climbing skills are zero and I'd be insane to do anything else.

 

[Chip]

One of the things they'll teach you is regarding rescue if one of your rope partners breaks through and you need to haul him out. I found this, which is pretty good, but I'm sure there's plenty of instruction out there. If you could learn to assemble these rescue pully systems ahead of time, you'll get alot more out of the instruction. Everything else is pretty logical.

And you won't be doing any vertical climbing, but if you familiarized yourself with some basic climbing gear (harness esp) and knots, you'd be ahead of the game. You don't want your guide to have to tie your Figure 8 Loop Follow Through or Alpine Butterfly for you every time you rope up.

 

[Papa Bear]

When I summited about 6 years ago, my daughter and I use Portland Parks and Recreation. It was 2 days and 1 night and we stayed in a camp nearby that they owned or leased. We napped and got up around midnight, took the Snow Cat to the top of the ski slope and summited at dawn.

Good experience, but perhaps you would need a higher fitness level compared to the 3 day version (although let's face it, you're not going to get fit in 1 extra day).

One guy on our rope team was "tagged and bagged". Left at the triangle morraine in a super sleeping bag the guides brought. He agreed to be left behind. It happens. We made it fine without him, but before that we were dragging him along. Find out if your guides will do that.

Taking the Cat helps a lot, especially since the snow tends to be very soft lower down along the side of the ski area which is VERY tiring. We did not use snow shows lower down, but if you don't use the Cat, you might want to use them and stash them where your put on the crampons. Some used ski poles before we switched to ice axes. That probably helps a bit.

Here's my report with more details: Mt. Hood Report

 

[Peakbagr]

We dogged it right from the the Lodge. Left at 11pm, climbed thru the night and waited for daylight at the bergschrund. They up to the top for sunrise....wonderful.
Did multiple glissades until we ran out of snowfields.

One thing we didn't like. One of our party was a little uncomfortable climbing on ice up thru the Gates. The guide took us down a different route on the way back down. Unfortunately, 100 yds of the route was exposed to the bottom end of a chute and with the sun up, lots of rockfall. The snow was littered in front of us with rocks of all sizes. We crossed one at a time and could hear the whizzing of the missles as we ran.
Very unsettlling even with helmets and having to resist the urge to look up as we hurried across.
Don't remember the guide service but it wasn't Timberline Guides.

 

[Puma concolor]

Ditto on the recommendations for TMG. I'm in the process of planning a March attempt of Hood via Leuthold's Couloir with TMG. Not planning on staying in Timberline Lodge, however. I'm sure the prices are reasonable in the off-season, but I'll stay at the $70/night Comfort Inn in Portland and commute instead.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

Mazama Lodge

Another place to stay is the Mazama Lodge which located in Government Camp, at the bottom of the access road. The Mazama's are to Oregon as the Green Mountain Club is to Vermont, and Mountaineers are to Washington state.

They have limited service in the summer, but I made arrangements for a party of 9 to stay in mid-August two years ago, and the lodging, meals and ambiance got rave reviews.

 

[TomD]

One of the things they'll teach you is regarding rescue if one of your rope partners breaks through and you need to haul him out. I found this, which is pretty good, but I'm sure there's plenty of instruction out there. If you could learn to assemble these rescue pully systems ahead of time, you'll get alot more out of the instruction. Everything else is pretty logical.

And you won't be doing any vertical climbing, but if you familiarized yourself with some basic climbing gear (harness esp) and knots, you'd be ahead of the game. You don't want your guide to have to tie your Figure 8 Loop Follow Through or Alpine Butterfly for you every time you rope up.

I agree with Chip. When I took my mountaineering course in NZ years ago, I had to learn all of the basics except a couple of knots I already knew. Learning to construct a Z pulley takes time, especially learning how to do it when you are holding someone at the end of the rope, so that the rope has their weight on it. Not an easy task. Having the right biners, pulleys and prussiks helps.

 

[giggy]

heck - if you can, and your gonna pay the cash anyway, try getting on a different route than the south side. The southside is good as its a classic, but for that kind of cash, see if you can do a less travled route for $720 bucks.

to give you an idea of the soutside route - its 3.5 miles and 5.6 vertical one way. 90% is walking on moderate snow. The last few hundred feet is really the only "challenging" part.. people with climbing experience say its a walk up - those that don't can get un-nerved near the summit (its pretty steep). I found the most challenging part was getting off the ridge and heading down the old chute - the first 50 feet or so was ice and rock and steep enough that had to be downclimbed - but all in all, its not a hard route.

My fondest memory was walking the knife edge and looking down thousands of feet to the eliot glaicer (I think it was the eliot).

and then of course getting back to the lodge at like 9am..and starting to pound beer.

I do recall it being a heavy rockfall mountain. That takes some getting used to hearing the stuff come down while your going up or down.


I wouldn't put Hood in the same ballpark as Rainier as far as physical output. In fact - not even close, that being said - be in top shape...Cascade standards are not white mountain standards. what I mean is 3.5 miles there does not equal 3.5 miles here. On the volcanoes, I find the miles harder there. Just my 2 cents.

 

[una_dogger]

I want to know who is going to take Sheep hiking while you are out West?

 

[erugs]

One of the things they'll teach you is regarding rescue if one of your rope partners breaks through and you need to haul him out. I found this, which is pretty good, but I'm sure there's plenty of instruction out there. If you could learn to assemble these rescue pully systems ahead of time, you'll get alot more out of the instruction. Everything else is pretty logical.

And you won't be doing any vertical climbing, but if you familiarized yourself with some basic climbing gear (harness esp) and knots, you'd be ahead of the game. You don't want your guide to have to tie your Figure 8 Loop Follow Through or Alpine Butterfly for you every time you rope up.

We weren't taught any rescue techniques on our climb with them, but after we had the basics down (especially the figure 8 configurations) we were asked if there was anything else we would like to know about, and that was incorporated. My favorite way to climb with a guide, I've decided based on experience, is me and my buddy and one guide. When there is a group, it seems I have felt like I am the weakest link and am intimidated. Our guide, Joe, was super encouraging, and that helped so much.

 

[Chip]

My favorite way to climb with a guide, I've decided based on experience, is me and my buddy and one guide. When there is a group, it seems I have felt like I am the weakest link and am intimidated.

Some people here have alot more experience with roped travel than I do. Having said that: If you've never been on a rope or with a guide, you need to recalibrate your head. My experience is that roped travel, especially with guides and guests you don't know, can become a demanding test of patience. On Rainier I thought they'd separate the weak and strong and let the strong forge ahead, and turn back the weak, if necessary. That's not what happened. They kept the groups mixed. We made the summit rim (one person BARELY, he was basically "mushed" by a guide) but we didn't make the true peak across the crater. This frustrated me as there were a few of us that easily could have made it. I admire people, like Giggy's crew, here who've screened and formed and trained their own teams before heading out west or to Europe. That's ideal.

This is why I suggest Bill do the overnight at 8,900'. We lost one guest at 6000' and another stayed at Muir at 10,000', so right off we weeded out the 2 weakest. Again, I'm not trying to suggest "weak" is wrong or bad, but you want to increase your odds of success, especially if you've paid the bucks to travel, train and hire guides.

 

[Bill and Sheep]

Sabrina, shhhh... I'm trying to keep this trip a secret. If Sheep knew of the climb he was missing out on, he'd be heartbroken!