Location: Mount Hood National Forest, Oregon, USA
Dates: April 27, 2025
In late April 2025, I summited Mount Hood in Oregon. The easiest route to the summit and commonly climbed south side route crosses the Palmer snowfield / Palmer glacier. Apparently, the glacier stopped moving in the 1980s and is now technically considered “extinct” - this explains why climbers rarely rope-up (although I definitely crossed a well-defined bergschrund on my way to the summit headwall).
Additionally, the extinct glacier contains a number of hazards including several no-fall zones due to cliffed-out sections, the bergschrund, and numerous open fumaroles, notably around “Hell’s Kitchen”.
(Alpine start from the Timberline Lodge parking lot - Mount Hood National Forest, about 1.5h drive south east of Portland)
(Sunrise on the Palmer snowfield/glacier)
(Rime ice and steep snow couloirs to the summit)
(Devil’s Kitchen area - very smelly)