The 2003 Cascade Climbs

The Cascade volcanoes of the Pacific Northwest stretch from northern California to northern Washington. The age of the oldest of these volcanoes is about 750,000 to one million years. The highest volcano is Mt. Rainier at 14,411' and the most recent major eruption was on Mount St.Helens in 1980.

The nearest Cascade volcanoes to where we live in southwest Washington are Mt. Hood, St. Helens and Adams. In the ten day period from June 17 - 27th of 2003, in the company of Ken and Lee Sampson, we climbed these three peaks in fine style. Ken and Lee, mutual climbing mates of Mal Hill, living in Brisbane Australia, came to visit with the express desire of "scaling a few Cascade peaks". They went home, well satisfied with their achievement.

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The first peak we tackled was Mt. Hood; probably the toughest of the three climbs because it's a one day affair ascending 5,300' to an elevation of 11,240' that often creates mild altitude sickness after driving from near sea level immediately before the climb. Mount Hood, the scene of many climbing accidents, does require some care and skill in ascending the last 400' to the summit. Sadly, due to Hood's proximity to the large population base of Portland, many first time mountaineers attempt the relatively easy "South Side" route and either have a nasty accident, or die.

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The second peak we climbed was Mount St. Helens; in good weather a very straightforward ascent of 5,000' to an elevation of 8,365'. For us, we spent most of the one day climb in cloud, rain, sleet and wet snow. We only determined the location of the summit along the crater rim from my handheld GPS device. There was no view.

Our third and last climb was Mt. Adams. Although this peak can be climbed in one day, the choice of spending a night camped on the flat area known as the "Lunch Counter" at an elevation of 9,000' is a very good option to allow some altitude adaption before the summit ascent to 12,280'. We were rewarded with excellent weather for both days on the mountain, a comfortable nights sleep and tremendous views from the summit.