Mt. Hood- Wy'east face

Perfect weather, climbing, and snowboarding conditions do not make for good trip reports. No adversity was overcome here; just a little bit of trembling leg muscles.

The freezing level the night before was very low for May, and I wasn't sure what to expect. I left Portland at 6:30 in the morning, hoping that the slopes would thaw to that perfect amount. They did.

I did this trip in classic Chris Benelli fashion, solo; with Bo (my dog) in the shotgun seat, Neil Young playing on the stereo and a beater car about to break down.

(Climbing and snowboard line is the looker's left chute to and from the summit ridge)

Bo ran around the woods for a bit, and I got all booted up. This was my second tour on the new hard boot setup. Skinning went fast and easy, and I didn't take a break until I reached the very last part of Vista ridge. There I ate a clif bar and switched to crampons and ice ax.

I made it to the summit ridge and and sat for a few mintues. Whenever I climb by myself I get extremely motivated and never take long breaks, I just keep on climbing on.

The ride down was primetime, steep, edgeable and extreme. The snow softened to four inches of killer corn on top. There were only a couple of hard spots, and they came right in the steepest section of the descent, just to keep things spicy enough to be fun.

The best corn snow was right around the Mt. Hood Meadows' Cascade lift, and the snow was fast and soft the entire run, summit ridge to parking lot.

I went car to car in 4 hours and 36 minutes.

After I got back to the car I let Bo out, and retrieved the chilly Sierra Nevada beer I stashed in the creek. I sat there at the waterfall, drank beer and threw sticks for Bo for quite a while.

The Kit: all I need for good times.

It was such a nice day I had to stop at the Salmon River on the way back to Portland.