Illumination Rock

Overview

The hardest (technically) summit to reach in the Pacific Northwest!

This mountain is a giant basalt massif separating the Zigzag and Reid glaciers on Mount Hood's West side. In the spring, it sports a great deal of relatively unexplored/unknown alpine ice routes. Very few people venture off Hood's trade routes to this spectacular satellite peak. It also contains some water ice flows on the basalt cliff on its South side and reportedly contains Hood's best rock routes (where rock is less than marginal at best).

Getting There

From Portland:
-84 East to exit 16 "Wood Village"
Right at stop sign on to 242nd
Follow 242nd to Burnside (approx. 3 mi.)
Left on Burnside (U-Haul rentals on the corner)
Burnside turns into Hwy 26 East at the Newport Bay restaurant
Follow Hwy 26 East to the Timberline Road turn-off (about 40 mi.); pass through the towns of Sandy, Welches, and Rhododendron.
Turn left on the the Timberline access road; follow the road to Timberline (6 mi.)

From parking lot, hike/climb up to top of Palmer ski area (climbers trail on left/east side of ski area). From here, head N/NW to the saddle between Hood massif and Illumination Rock, known as Illumination Saddle. Good bivy sites exist here.

You can get a Cat ride to the top of the ski area for about $100, not alot if you pile 10 people in...

Red Tape

Sno-Park permit required as well as climber registration. Check out need for forest service pass.

When To Climb

Ice routes are in at least through early May. Water ice a little earlier. Rock routes climbed in summer/late summer.

Camping

Camping is allowed on the mountain. Illumination Saddle is recommended for routes on Illumination and on Hood's West Side (Castle Crags, Reid Glacier Headwall, Sandy Headwall, Yocum Ridge and Leuthold Coulior). Car camping in parking lot is frowned upon. Timberline lodge has some chalets for pretty cheap.

Mountain Conditions

Mountain Conditions:
http://www.timberlinelodge.com/conditions/conditions.asp

Live Cam of Timberline/Hood Area:
http://www.kgw.com/livecams/popup_timberline.html

External Links

• Rime Dog
  Relatively obscure III 5.9 route on the formation courtesy of cascadeclimbers.com.