265 The Mountaineer 
AN ASCENT OF MT. HOOD BY MOUNTAINEERS 
CHARLES S. GLEASON 
The prospectus of the Mountaineers’ annual outing for 
1911 to Mt. Adams, the Goat Rocks, and the Columbia river 
stated that the company would embark for the trip down the 
river at a point nearly opposite Hood River, the starting point 
for climbing Mt. Hood, and that a party might be organized 
for that purpose. 
The thought of climbine two mountains, each over 11,000 
feet high, in one season was fascinating. Alone the trail and 
around the camp-fires from Ashford to Killing Creek camp on 
the shoulder of Mt. Adams, eager questions were heard con- 
cerning the length and difficulty of the climb. 
The virus was working. When the summit of Mt. Adams 
was reached and the eyes sweeping the horizon above the clouds 
that filled the valleys, beheld in the north the massive pile of 
Rainier and in the west the rounded cone of St. Helens and, 
turning south and looking across fifty miles of rolling vapor, 
rested upon the sharp cross of Oregon’s pride, Mt. Hood itself, 
the disease became epidemic. 
By the time the company reached the Columbia a party 
of eighteen, thirteen of whom had climbed Mt. Adams, was 
organized for the Mt. Hood trip. A leader was chosen, a ecom- 
missary and a transportation committee selected, Carr engaged 
to do the cooking, and funds collected pro rata and placed in 
the hands of a treasurer to make the paying of bills as painless 
as possible. 
The transportation committee went to Hood River on the 
boat Friday afternoon, August 4, to find a camping place and 
arrange for a boat to meet the North Bank train at Underwood. 
After dinner the last camp-fire was held, Auld Lang Syne 
sung, good-by said and at 8:30 we took the train for Under- 
wood with our dunnage bags, commissary supplies and cooking 
outfit. By midnight we were in our sleeping bags on the sand- 
spit in front of Hood River. 
