Climbing a Strawberry

A trip with Kip and Max to climb a mountain of vast proportions! Story below pictures.

The View from Strawberry Lake

No Ice now :(




Wait there is some... Just we can't get to it.

Kip near the summit

Max gives the mountain a blessing of peace

Not the fruit the mountain! One night when the climbing bug got the better of me I decided to head out to Strawberry Mountain. Strawberry Mountain is located in Eastern Oregon in the Blue Mountains. It is Oregon's 28th highest peak at 9038ft. I recruited local climber Max who not only owns a car but has the spirit of the mountains. After a Mountain Dew to keep me up we were off. The drive although a bit long and curvy went by quick. We arrived at the trail head at about 1:30 A.M. Not bad. As Max hit the sack I bundled up in every piece of clothing I had. I forgot my bag. So while I'm chattering my teeth Max is kick'n it with his -20F deg bag. No worries.

Morning comes and we kick off the day with many an oatmeal packet. Brought to us by our sponsor "Grandview Food Court". The hike is good and we even spot ice. This time it isn't for us. That climb is a WI5+ (hard and scary) and known as a "full alpine endeavor". We spot Strawberry Falls which we plan to come back and climb "once it freezes".

As we near the summit the T-Shirt weather quickly turns to 50mph winds and the "holy crud let's get down weather". As I dream about climbing the ice Max envisions hitting the powder slopes. Max, a Jackson Hole native, was once ranked 33rd in the nation for Nordic Ski Racing. After getting out of the wind we stopped and ate some Strawberry Jelly sandwiches. Jelly brought to you by our sponsor "McDonalds". Yes they have jelly packets!!! The whole hike took us only 5hrs round trip. Not bad considering it is 13 miles and 2000+ft elevation gain. The 3.5hr journey home took a bit longer this time. We wanted to get back for dinner so we booked it back. We made it with ten minutes to spare!

Stay tuned for the recon mission- Ice Climbing in the Strawberries -coming soon!