Daniel is growing up. He and Elizabeth looked scrumptious this morning, and Katie couldn't help but get a picture.
Friday night at midnight, I took 5 of my venture scouts and 3 other leaders to climb Mt Hood. Unfortunately the pictures don't do the mountain justice. 
It was incredibly steep and we walked straight up. 
Mt Hood is over 11, 200 ft tall and is the tallest mountain in Oregon. It is snow covered year round. 
The picture above is of two of my boys and the bishop. In the background you can see the tree line, the tops of the clouds and the ski slopes. We still wet another 2,000 vertical feet up after this picture was taken. 
It was beautiful and brutal on the body at the same time. We hiked for 14 hours with little to no sleep. We had to use crampons(pictured above), helmets, climbing boots, and ice axes that we rented from REI for each boy. We were roped together and climbing an almost vertical snow wall for the last 1,000 vertical feet. (Note: I have no pictures of this because I was trying to hold on to my ice ax so I wouldn't die :) ) 
There were beautiful rock formations all over. Unfortunately, we had to turn around at 10,960 ft. (Just 240 feet short of the summit) because we got there too late and as a result the risk of avalanche as the day got warmer kept increasing. It was great to work with the boys and accomplish hard things. I was exhausted and fell asleep shortly after I got home and slept for 13 hours straight. It was a memorable and fantastic day.
Friday night at midnight, I took 5 of my venture scouts and 3 other leaders to climb Mt Hood. Unfortunately the pictures don't do the mountain justice. 
It was incredibly steep and we walked straight up. 
Mt Hood is over 11, 200 ft tall and is the tallest mountain in Oregon. It is snow covered year round. 
The picture above is of two of my boys and the bishop. In the background you can see the tree line, the tops of the clouds and the ski slopes. We still wet another 2,000 vertical feet up after this picture was taken. 
It was beautiful and brutal on the body at the same time. We hiked for 14 hours with little to no sleep. We had to use crampons(pictured above), helmets, climbing boots, and ice axes that we rented from REI for each boy. We were roped together and climbing an almost vertical snow wall for the last 1,000 vertical feet. (Note: I have no pictures of this because I was trying to hold on to my ice ax so I wouldn't die :) ) 
There were beautiful rock formations all over. Unfortunately, we had to turn around at 10,960 ft. (Just 240 feet short of the summit) because we got there too late and as a result the risk of avalanche as the day got warmer kept increasing. It was great to work with the boys and accomplish hard things. I was exhausted and fell asleep shortly after I got home and slept for 13 hours straight. It was a memorable and fantastic day.
Oh, I failed to mention that we got to sled down from 9,000 feet to 6,000 feet in elevation it was a very fun 30 minute sled ride.
ReplyDelete"Sheer and vertical" would warn me to stay away!!
ReplyDeleteI like to read my "high adventure!" But kudos to you and your boys.
I'm glad we got the fuller, agonizing report last night over the phone. What an awesome activity. Sound's like a great "once-in-a-life-time" experience(?)
ReplyDeleteAnd now for a comment on the other part of the post... you have very sweet, good looking, growing up kids.
Great Mt. Hood report - and very very cute babies. Glad you are safe Dallin and so glad you were able to have this great experience for you and your boys.
ReplyDelete