Hood in late august

[PacRimRider1]

My buddy and I spent yesterday hiking up palmer glacier on mt. Hood. Great hike, I'd recommend it for weeks to come.

When we left Timberline around 10:00 the sky was 90% clear with a tempature of about 60 degrees. Following a trail to the left (west) of the lifts and glacier we were able to reach the top of the glacier (the main part anyways) by 1:30, taking it pretty sleazy. We reached our destination about the same time as the storm front comming in, and were able to ski down before any precip.

Like the morons we both are, a camera was forgottten and some great photos were missed . And while I am on the subject of being a moron, I had turned my dins down for the summer (never doing that again) and forgot to reset them. I made two turns and was able to push myself out of both skis. We were on the upper part of the glacier where the racers train and lay salt all summer, so it was like falling on an ice rink. But other than knocking the wind out of myself and a few good looking rasberries, I was fine.

It was great to be able to ski in august, but if there is one thing I took away from yesterday, it is that I am in terrible shape. My legs were cramping after every 5 or 6 turns, and that mile long run may as well have been 10. Its time to start taking care of that, as last night the snow level was supposed to go down to 8000 ft, and we had the first rain in Oregon in what seems like all summer.

Again, I would recommend for anyone who is near one to get out to your nearest glacier and make a few turns, as this was one of the best memory I've made for summer 2004.

[Jumper Bones]

I was all sprung to go skiing at Hood today, was all set to go last night, but good thing I held off for the weather...Hood's lifts ended up being closed today due to clouds and winds. My fault for waiting a day, I should have gone and overnighted friday and skied saturday, but I wanted to see some friends in Porkland and they didn't get in town until saturday morning.

Looks like I'll try for next weekend, hopefully it'll dry out.