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Anyone heard of a “Mt Hood High Route” 360 Loop?

Posted: September 16th, 2018, 4:37 am
by mjirving
Hi All,

I’m curious if anyone has heard about anyone doing a Mt Hood High Route-style hike which would be a 360-loop that would be above the Timberline Trail as much as possible?

I know that some people ski a 360, but that is super high and requires the perfect snow conditions/levels. I’m talking more about hiking than that.

Thanks...I’ve never heard of it, but would think that someone’s done something like that before. (In one continuous loop too...as opposed to multiple trips/segments)

Mike

Re: Anyone heard of a “Mt Hood High Route” 360 Loop?

Posted: September 16th, 2018, 6:15 am
by retired jerry
There are multiple threads talking about this but no one has done it that I know pf

A really high route would be to go to the summit, down a few feet, then walk around. That wouldn't really count though. It's been a few years but as I remember it's pretty steep on the east side so hard to go down from the summit :)

Was it Chip that just did a report about the meadow area above Sandy River? I think you could get there from 6750 feet elevation above Paradise Park. Then continuing on to Yocum Ridge. There's this ridge coming down from Illumination Rock that would be difficult maybe. And some steep slopes of loose rock.

Multiple threads about going between Yocum Ridge and McNeil Point. Check out ice caves. Get onto McNeil point ridge at about 6250 feet.

Straightforward to go from there to Barrett Spur.

Looking east from Barrett Spur is a jumbled glacier. The only way forward I can think of is to go down to Timberline trail by Dollar Lake, then to Elk Cove.

There's a use trail up Elk Cove to about 6250 feet. Then over to that airplane. Loose steep ridges to get past. Continue to the ridge on the west side of Eliot at about 7000 feet.

Cross Eliot at base of glacier. There's a nice use trail out of Eliot that takes you to Cooper Spur shelter.

Maybe go up Cooper Spur to tie in rock, and then traverse over to upper Mt Hood Meadows ski area. There have been trip reports about going above Lamberson Spur ridge and Newton Creek.

Traverse over to above Timberline ski area. I think that would be straightforward.

Lots of reports going from Timberline ski area, above Mississippi Head, back to above Paradise.

I've spent a lifetime going up to high points all along the way and visualizing this, but I think it's above my skill level and I'm too lazy. Might be better when there's some snow around, June or July, which covers a lot of loose rock. Global warming keeps melting the glaciers which could make this easier or more difficult.

Re: Anyone heard of a “Mt Hood High Route” 360 Loop?

Posted: September 16th, 2018, 6:34 am
by mjirving
Thanks Jerry. I might have a report on this...stay tuned. (I have a few PCT reports to catch up on up in a Washington first.)

Mike

Re: Anyone heard of a “Mt Hood High Route” 360 Loop?

Posted: September 16th, 2018, 6:53 am
by retired jerry
great! I'm looking forward to it :)

Re: Anyone heard of a “Mt Hood High Route” 360 Loop?

Posted: September 16th, 2018, 5:21 pm
by BurnsideBob
Here is a trip report by Rabid Swan on the Mt. Hood High Route. viewtopic.php?f=10&t=20209&p=150441#p150441

Fred McNeil, for whom McNeil Point is named, devoted chapter 17 of his book to this route. Long out of print, the book was brought back as "McNeil's Mount Hood" by Fred H. McNeil, published by Zig Zag Papers in 1990.

Sounds wonderful!

Re: Anyone heard of a “Mt Hood High Route” 360 Loop?

Posted: September 16th, 2018, 7:02 pm
by mjirving
Awesome! Thanks for the link. The goal of my route was to not require crampons, ropes or helmets...more of a hike than mountaineering. (And no type 3 fun)...and hopefully not type 2 either...but I did have some of that...which I have fixed in my recommendations. This is so cool to look and compare routes. I'll have a report up in a week or so as I need to catch up and it will be extremely detailed.

Thanks!
Mike

Re: Anyone heard of a “Mt Hood High Route” 360 Loop?

Posted: September 17th, 2018, 5:25 am
by retired jerry
I forgot about that report from rabidswan

That looked pretty difficult, steep loose slopes and glaciers

Re: Anyone heard of a “Mt Hood High Route” 360 Loop?

Posted: September 17th, 2018, 5:47 am
by mjirving
retired jerry wrote:
September 17th, 2018, 5:25 am
I forgot about that report from rabidswan
Yeah, that’s way out of my league/comfort zone, but super cool to read about.

Re: Anyone heard of a “Mt Hood High Route” 360 Loop?

Posted: September 17th, 2018, 9:27 am
by Chazz
Good lord, that trip report does not sound safe or sane! Hats off to them for completing it but it could have also ended up in disaster.

Re: Anyone heard of a “Mt Hood High Route” 360 Loop?

Posted: September 18th, 2018, 5:04 pm
by Chip Down
There's so much to comment on here, but the #1 thing that I find most interesting:
retired jerry wrote:
September 16th, 2018, 6:15 am
Looking east from Barrett Spur is a jumbled glacier. The only way forward I can think of is to go down to Timberline trail by Dollar Lake, then to Elk Cove.
Perhaps there's no need to get up onto Barrett Spur. Going clockwise, I've passed through the saddle between Barrett and Pulpit Rock, and I've crossed Coe Glacier, but not on the same trip. Question is whether it's reasonably safe to do it in one continuous route, this time of year.

One could spend years studying all the possibilities for this circ, and then finally go do it in one push (linking segments previously scouted). But doing it on the fly is really impressive. Almost certainly more difficult than most folks would imagine; there's so much to go wrong, so many spots where a tough 20' section can shut you down.