Asit Rathod’s long-awaited book about the seven classic descents from the summit of Mount Hood is published and available for purchase.Rathod, who recently survived a serious cancer scare, has summited Mount Hood more than 300 times. He has ridden all seven high-consequence lines down through the upper elevations of Mount Hood, from the South Side to Wy’East to Newton Clark to Cooper Spur to the Sunshine Route to Sandy Glacier Headwall to Leuthold Couloir.
The full title of the book is “11,239: A Skiing and Snowboarding Guide from the Summit of Mount Hood.” It is part guide and part memoir, combining precise drawings and details about each line with lively stories about high elevation adventures. Asit writes with humor and honesty about his love for the mountain, mistakes he has made exploring it, close calls, lessons learned, hard-earned pristine powder days, and the strong bonds of friendship forged on the mountain.
Action sport photographer extraordinaire Richard Hallman contributes more than 30 gorgeous color photographs to the book. Hallman, who has taken some of the most beautiful photos of Mount Hood ever captured, is currently recovering from a serious injury sustained in February of 2025 while shooting riders launching off a cornice.
Asit Rathod grew up skiing cross country with his family. He was 18 when he finally got his chance to ride Alpine, and what he lacked in experience he made up in energy. He made it to the summit of Mount Hood for the first time at the age of 19. That same year he left Portland State University for Chamonix, France, where he quickly gained a reputation as the “Air India” kid who would jump off of anything. He spent five winters exploring Chamonix and the Alps and four summers in Las Leñas, Argentina skiing the Andes. For two and a half years he competed on the big-mountain freeskiing tour in its early days with the likes of the late, great Shane McConkey and other close friends, all too many of whom have died young in the mountains.
Back on his home mountain of Mount Hood, Asit has earned legendary status for his super-fast smooth riding style, his outrageous sense of humor, his tradition of enjoying a cigar and a bottle of Jameson’s at the summit, and his propensity to shake things up by skiing buff-naked from the summit. In fact, if you take a look at the Amazon page about the book and toggle from the front to the back cover, you’ll see that the photos are very similar, with the key difference being that Asit is wearing clothes on the front cover, and one the back cover:
Asit’s thoughts on skiing naked come clear in the chapter on Cooper Spur, where he surprises a group of friends including big mountain skiing legend Chris Davenport:
Skiing naked has always been about one simple fact: We enjoy a sport with serious consequences, but we need to take ourselves less seriously.
My close friend, hell every skier’s close friend, the one and only Shane McConkey, was the guy who reminded all of us that no matter how cool or bad a$$ you think you are, it doesn’t matter if you’re not having fun. Take your dreams and passions seriously but never take yourself too seriously.
As someone who has worked closely with Asit and shared quite a few laughs with him, I can testify that Asit is an excellent skier, a great story-teller and a fantastic friend, with a personality large and generous enough to fill a mountain.
—Ben Jacklet, Editor, Shred Hood and 11,239
Last modified: March 13, 2025
