Two Days on Mount Hood
date: 18-19 Feb 2010 -- updated: 19 Feb 2009
I took Thursday and Friday off in order to climb up Mount Hood, and principally to capture some images of Illumination Rock, the remains of a vent on the south-west side of the mountain. I didn't go to the summit, but covered about 8 miles and 9,000 cumulative feet the first day, and 4 miles and 6,000 feet the second. That tired me out a bit. On Day 1 I left the Timberline parking lot around 5.45am, reached the Hogback at 11.15am, then descended towards Illumination Rock and arrived back at the parking lot around 3.30pm. On Day 2 I timed my arrival so that I left the lot at 2.30pm, then descended at dusk, arriving back at the lot around 7pm.
The dynamic range of a camera (the difference between the lightest and darkest areas that still contain detail) is really challenged in the sun on snow. I've been experimenting quite a lot with exposure and contrast, trying to figure out how to get the best detail, so these images exhibit quite a range from one to the other, from underexposed to overexposed. They will appear differently on different monitor/display combinations as well, so it is hard to get it right for everyone. If something looks particularly bad to you, please shoot me an email at bradley.mclain at gmail.
You are welcome to use these photos for any personal purpose, but please remember that they are mine (and I worked hard to get them) so give me credit (at least!). I'm not trying to make money from them, so if you have a commercial purpose in mind, just email me and I'm sure we can work something out. Thanks.
A team preparing to tackle the Wy'East route.
A couple of climbers very close to the summit, via the West Crater route. The Hogback is illuminated below as the sun peeks over Steel Cliff.
