Good Views From Summit

Great outing on sunny and warm day (80F at 2:00 PM).  With Loren Chotzen, Dexter the Labrador and Max the Husky.

This was a fun activation of Mt. Hood. I decided to splurge on weight and bring the FT-817 and Buddipole (no coils) for 6m and 2m SSB. Once I got the antenna up, I found a number of chasers waiting on 50.125, so I'm glad I brought equipment for 6m. The mast was supported by shoving it into the hard snow on the summit.

It was a beautiful day, all the way around.  Kelly Butte is a great hike, a bit steep and exposed on the beginning switchbacks, but with wildflowers this time of year, and open views from the fire lookout.

Rainier filled the view to the south, and Seattle was visible through the foothills.  Mt. Stuart, Glacier Peak and the "backside" of the southern Snoqualmie pass summits made a nice panorama.

Unicorn Peak was a short easy climb compared to the Little T attempt the day before. It's about a 6 mile round trip with 2500 ft of elevation gain. We were on snow most of the way.

Little Tahoma is a 11,138 ft summit on the east flank of Mt. Rainier. The route requires crossing the Frying Pan and Whitman glaciers.

Tuesday last week, with the help, support, and expertise of friends and an experienced mountaineering guide, I summited Mount Hood for my first time, and activated Mount Hood for its first time in SOTA. The climb began under a crystal clear starry sky around 00:37 on Tuesday, 11 June 2013, heading up the snowcat-groomed climber’s trail from Wy'East Day Lodge at Timberline Lodge. At midnight, I had met my guide, Rodney Sofich, at the Climber's Register just inside the day lodge to discuss what I was about to undertake.

Goat Mtn is located southeast of Molalla. It is a radio comm site with numerous VHF antennas (+ other transmitters) on one tower at the summit.

Wolf Mtn is located southeast of Oakridge. It is a radio comm site with numerous VHF antennas (+ other transmitters) on one tower to the west.  The other east tower is an ATT celltower (good coverage!). The access roads are good and 2wd passable with some careful driving especially on FS2316 which is narrow in places.                                  

2012-07-07 W7W/RS-046 CN96as86

After the long Iambic adventure I was looking for something easy and short. I choose Mount Wow, and read a lot of trip reports about the mountain. I had three choices to get onto the top. On the west ridge, from south following the old national park border trail, or from east using the Alan lake trail, which is also abandoned. At the end I decided to try it from west. This one is the shortest and most likely the easiest too.

Most of the Oregon south coast summits are accessible only by dirt roads.  access to summit bases are on un maintained dirt roads.  Since the South Coast gets, on average, 6 feet of rain a year, well, you can imagine what a steep unmaintained dirt road looks like.