Oliver was kind enough to extend an invite up to the Tilly Jane Guard station for a hut trip up at Mt Hood. I jumped on the invite and was psyched to check out a new area and have a new adventure.
The loose plan was to take snowmobiles up on an access road so we could avoid the 2.5 mile, 1900 ft grind of an approach. Taking the sleds would allow us to pack heavy and eliminate the steep approach to the hut. We would get there with fresh legs for the following two days of split-boarding.
We made inquiries and it sounded like sleds were allowed on the road to Cloud Cap (could not stray off the road) and that there was adequate snow coverage. We unloaded the sleds and started making our way up. It turned out to be much tricker than what we had originally thought. Once the road went into the more open areas, it was really difficult to discern where the road was. Fortunately O had his GPS with him and we were able to stay on the road by checking every few hundred feet that we were still on it.
The road was not maintained during the winter and what compounded the obviousness of the road was that snow had piled up on the sidehills rendering the road invisible. After several more stops to confirm we did not stray off the road, we started to encounter the next crux. This proved to be the stopper crux section as the terrain got steeper and the snow on the sidehills proved too much for our comfort zone and skill level on the sleds.
After a quick re-assesment we decided to forge ahead and see if things got better...a stuck sled later, and some pucker sidehilling on the sled made us reevaluate once again. We decided it would be prudent to turn around and head back as the terrain was only getting steeper and more challenging.
Long story short...we wrested sleds for a couple of hours, rode them back to the cars where we loaded them back up and succumbed to the harsh reality of still having to slog up the long approach.
The worst part was that we had packed heavy (turns out beer is heavy to carry, even heavier after sled wrestling). I had not really packed appropriately for the approach skin as I had only brought along an expedition duffle and my day touring bag. This was going to be an interesting skin up. I figured out how to carry the duffle on my bag and carry the day bag on my chest. I could now fully sympathize with someone who might have had a few too many big macs over the years as I could no longer see my feet with my day bag hanging off like a portly belly.
We questioned our sanity several times as we made our way up the hillside...it was slow going...70 pounds of crap hanging off you will slow you down a bit..go figure!?
After some groveling and pain, we eventually arrived at the guard station where we elated at the prospect of shedding weight and drinking the hard earned (and heavy) beers. All was well with the world as we settled in, enjoyed the fire, cracked beers, and discussed the next day's adventures.
Day 1 included heading up the ridgeline up towards Cooper Spur where we were treated to phenomenal views. We analyzed the snow situation on the way up and tried figuring out what our descent would be. As we got above treeline, the snow changed to more of a scoured snow pack with ice sections. In the interest of enjoying our turns, we turned around below the Cooper Spur and made our way back down to the hut for Lap 1.
We basked in the nice temps and amazing views while above treeline. You could see Adams, Helens, Rainier with views for miles and miles...nope, the views did not suck!
As we got back into treeline, the snow got better and the turns more enjoyable. We picked our way through the trees down a gulley and eventually ended up back where we had started.
We were back at the hut in no time where we ate some lunch and lolly-gagged for a couple hrs before the big O and I went out for a sunset lap. Rainier was basking in alpenglow and we enjoyed a few minutes of serenity until we transitioned back into ride mode and once again were picking our way through trees and gullies back to the hut. A solid effort for day 1...day 2 was still ahead of us and we were curious as to what mother nature had in store for us. It sort of felt like we got away with one relative to weather on day 1 (and the approach day for that matter). Would we hit the lucky trifecta of good weather?
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