Mount Hood

Mount Hood is the highest mountain in Oregon and the fourth highest in the Cascade Range.
A stratovolcano considered the Oregon volcano most likely to erupt. Active sulfur boiling vents dot the mountain.
Located about 50 miles from Portland, Oregon, it has convenient access and minimal technical climbing challenges.
Home to 12 glaciers and very frequently climbed with about 10,000 people attempting to summit every year.
The most popular route, called the South Route, begins at Timberline Lodge and proceeds up Palmer Glacier.

Latest summits

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"Joined hundreds of other people up the regular south route. Started at 1am. Was at the hogs back at approx sunrise. Went through the right side pearly gates which were pretty busy but good foot holds due to all the traffic. Wonderful views of the surrounding areas including Helens, Rainier, Jefferson and Adams. Descended via the same route. Great and sunny days and was even able to wear a tshirt on descent. Fantastic time. " — MarkJPerkins • May 11, 2019

"Started up at 1:00am local time. Kept on following the trail of lights, which for a while I thought was related to the ski lift. Once the light came around it was a long line to the Pearly Gates. We're people dying to get in? haha. It was busy and a constriction point. From Crater Rock col, it was bucket steps to the top. The snow was hard which was good for the folks on foot. No one skied from the summit. That would likely have been suicidal. From Crater Rock Alex and Rick skied down and they said it certainly was survival skiing. Late in the morning we were walking off the last part by the ski area and the snow had gone unsupportive and I longed for the trudge to end." — BertB • May 11, 2019

"Part of a 2 Cascade volcano road trip with CSMC and birthday ascent of Hood. Rick and I had bagged Mt St Helens in the heat on Thursday. We met the others at a roadside pull off Friday evening and bedded down for 4 hrs. I didn't sleep. Up at midnight and on our skis by 1:30am heading straight up the line of head lamps in 8C perfectly clear night. Passed endless groups of people thru 900m elevation gain in under 2 hrs and then switched to crampons as the ski cramponing was getting steep. Left the skis on the Hogsback and proceeded up Pearly Gates with the masses to summit around 6am just after sunrise. Waited for other party members to appear and enjoyed stellar bluebird morning looking north to previous summits of St Helens, Adams, and Rainier...and south to future summits Jefferson and the Sisters. Descended to Hogsback and waited in sun for an hour for snow to soften. Gave up at 9am and skied crud for 95% of the descent until hitting slush near parking lot. Laid down on thermarest for hour and a half while waiting the others to return. Hit lunch (felt like breakfast) at Charlies in Gov't Camp and then headed for Hood River. Home in Calgary Sunday evening after a mountain bike rid..." — alexjoseph • May 11, 2019

"Drove down Thursday night. Climbed mid morning Friday to illumination rock, summit Saturday morning via pearly gates right. Desended old chute, as crowded up in the gates with teams that had roped up. " — ken_hercules • May 4, 2019

"Left Timberline parking lot at 1am. Passed Wilcox Hut @ 1:45. Took shelter inside Palmer Glacier lift shack, wind around 18mph steady and clouds moving in over summit. Passed 3 person team coming down at the Devils Kitchen @ 4:30 - they had decided the winds were too strong to summit. Chose to go up the right side of the Pearly Gates route, mixed ice and snow. 5:50am Gusts on summit approaching 30 mph and 10 ft visibility, not a total whiteout but no good sunrise photos. Dropped down through left side of Pearly Gates, snow was better but one tight chokepoint. Back at the Devils Kitchen for a rest at 6:30 and down to the car at 8:45. Not the worst conditions I have climbed in, but close. " — oregon-mt-goat • Apr 26, 2019

"Near perfect conditions for the day - arrived at timberline at 5 to summit at 10. Pearly gates were still solid even on descent with almost perfect stair-steps along the route. Bergschrund began to open up already, and two more crevasses had begun to form on old chute." — sklarguy • Jun 2, 2018

"Couldn't have asked for better conditions heading up Hood. Sean and I started at 1 and summited at 6. Pearly gates were perfect with basically stairs already kicked in. Could see all the mountains you would hope to, Jefferson, Sisters, Rainer, Adams, Helens. We had the summit to ourselves for 20 minutes before heading back down the gates. Real glad I finally got to stand on top of Oregon." — MatthewWinterberg • May 7, 2018

"Nice window opened up for a sunday summit. Left timberline at 1am, hit the top of palmer glacier at 2:45, the devils kitchen by 4:40, hogsback at 5:10 and summited 10 minutes before sunrise. I had other things to do that day so took some sunrise pics and dropped off the summit and was back at the car by 8." — oregon-mt-goat • Apr 22, 2018

"Timberline to summit via Old Chute. Bergschrund started below Pearly Gates, but ended just below the Old Chute. Snow on Old Chute in good shape, but there is extreme rock fall danger. Be aware of parties above and below you. We brought a rope, pickets, and ice screws as well, but we really only needed our helmets, ixe axes, and crampons." — mathiasricken • Aug 20, 2017

"1 AM departure from the parking lot, 12:30 PM return, mainly due to a logjam in the Pearly Gates (ascent) and Old Chute Variation (setting up anchors for cautious belay). The conditions could not have been more perfect (no wind, firm snow, clear skies with a gorgeous moon). Some parts would have had less pucker-factor with an ice tool in addition to ice axe." — TynanRammGranberg • Jun 5, 2017

"Left Timberline Lodge at 1am. Ascended via the pearly gates. Descended on some old chute variation. Bergshrund was manageable with a snow bridge. Perfect conditions throughout the day. " — seancasserly • Jun 5, 2017

"We had a successful holiday weekend!! Knowing that we would be climbing on one of the busiest days of the year on Mount Hood, we left Vegas right after work on Thursday night & drove straight through to Timberline Lodge, arriving a bit before noon on Friday. We scoped out the route and had a bite to eat, then tried to get some sleep in the busy parking lot. The plan was originally to start at 10pm Friday night, so we could take our time and avoid the crowds. Jodie insisted that we go at 11pm instead. Fine. We didn't really sleep well. I was up at 8pm and Amber was up not too long after that. We hung out in the warmth of the lodge until about 1030pm, then went to make sure Jodie was up (her alarm was set for 10). Of course, she was not awake, so we had to wait for her to pack everything up. We started at 1125pm, along with just about everyone else, it seems. We still took our time. The lack of good sleep after that long drive took its toll on me, but we were steady. There was a ton of snow, reaching well down the mountain, below the lodge. We reached the Hogsback as the sun was rising, so we were treated to some awesome views of the 'triangle shadow' that these big mou..." — Kevin • May 27, 2017

"Left parking lot at 1:30 with temps around 30*, pushed hard to Wilcox hut at 2:30, top of Palmer at 3:30. Then caught teams going up just a few bucket lines which slowed progress. Made Devils Kitchen at 4:30 then up hogsback and through the right line on the Pearly Gates for summit at 5:20am. Light winds temps on summit around 25*. Great buckets around the bergschrund and up the gates. Downclimbed the left line of the Pearly Gates and took advantage of some glissade chutes to end up at the parking lot again by 7:30. " — oregon-mt-goat • May 26, 2017

"Failed attempt at summit. Started from Timberline at 1:15am leaning into 25 mph winds steady with gusts close to 40 mph. Trail of headlamps bobbing along above me for a while until most starting turning around. The winds were kicking up marble sized ice chunks that pelted my face and head. Finally made it to the top of Palmer Glacier and found about 15 people huddled from the wind, slowly getting their gear on and keeping a watchful eye on the summit. Through the predawn light you could see clouds building in behind the mountain and start getting blown over the summit. All except 3 of the people in the group that began going for the summit turned around within 50 yards of leaving the sheltered area. My climbing partner could not stay warm enough and our concerns over whiteout conditions at the top forced us to turn. By the time we reached the Silcox Hut the summit was encased in clouds and the winds were only getting stronger. Got back to the car at 5:45 and the only bright spot was the great breakfast at Huckleberry Inn at Government Camp. Try again next weekend... UPDATE - Success!!!!!!!!! Started at Timberline again around 1 am on May 7th, winds were again up at around 15mph but..." — oregon-mt-goat • Apr 30, 2016

"With the great weather, we decided to head to Mt. Hood since we had planned to be down in the area. It was difficult to get any information about avalanche conditions, route conditions, etc. so we figured we would just go up as high as safety permitted. We left Timberline at about 6:15 AM, with very few cars in the Timberline parking lot. About 20 minutes in, the wind started in from the North/Northeast and it was almost enough to turn us around. I estimate sustained wind near 35 mph, with gusts much higher. We did see one person turn back. After gutting it out to the top of the Palmer lift, we met two climbers who had been on Hood numerous times and let us know that generally the wind dies down once you enter the crater, so we pressed on. Fortunately they were right, and as we entered the crater area and Devil's Kitchen, the wind died down considerably. Other than the wind, conditions were pretty good for the ascent, with the snow and ice being pretty hard and easily navigated with crampons. Once in the crater, the snow was softer in several areas so we were either on ice or calf deep in snow. We spent some time below the Hogsback and decided to go across, for what would..." — BryHong8 • Nov 28, 2015

"With wind speeds forecast for 31 mph, we weren't sure what we would find when we departed the parking lot at 12:45 am. The wind was steadily in our face most of the way up. We ducked into cover at the top of Palmer glacier at 3am sharp and were making good progress. The lack of snow this year made the climb into devils kitchen even steeper than normal and really took a toll on the legs. Unfortunately, one of my friends that I drug up with me has only been in crampons one other time and also is afflicted with vertigo. This slowed our progress down once we were out on the face below the old chute. I ended up chipping out holds for him most of the way up. We also opted for a variation on the traditional ascent and choose a side chute that put us out after the knife edge. This also took some extra time, so summit was not until 9am. The weather people happened to be wrong again and the wind was gentle, thank goodness. We spent an hour on summit taking pics and sharing fish tales before heading down. Apparently another summit climber had almost gotten lost in the bergschrand when he stepped out on it and it sank, but he was off before it fell into the abyss. We decided to take the tradit..." — oregon-mt-goat • Apr 18, 2015

"Hood lived up to the hype! What an awesome peak. A 24-hr epic. Drove down from Seattle Mon eve to meet my friends Phil & Holland in Hood River. After some pizza and beer in town, we tried to rest from 9:45 to 11:45 pm. With so much anticipation, I slept zero minutes before the alarm. This was a whole new level of "Alpine Start”… it was the "Bedtime Start". We raced down to the Timberline Lodge still caught in between late and early. After all the gear manipulation was said and done the 3 of us clicked in to our skis and started skinning up the climber’s trail at 1:38am. Things were busier than I would have ever guessed up there on a Mon night in July. 20 snowcats grooming the resort, some other climbers, and even another group of 3 skiers. Somewhere before the top of the Palmer chair we passed some people headed down. What time could they have possibly started? Was this a dream? The whole scene seemed surreal at 2 in the morning. We made quick progress up the 2,500 ft of frozen corduroy then put on ski crampons for the increasingly steep and bulletproof skin. We were still a bit groggy… lost my gloves because didn’t zip my pocket, Holland dropped her phone an..." — scott • Jul 1, 2014

"The Band got back together after last year's "Blizzard Summit" of Grand Teton! Jinxed again by Graeter's "weather report says 80 next week boys!", we slogged thru 30mph wind and freezing rain @ 2am -- only to get lucky as the clouds parted JIT for us to summit -- Straub, Pyfer, Power, Bush, Stern, Graeter, Krytzer, and Hess (and Chief Osage!). Great summit, never mind the pre-summit surprise visitors!" — BTG-MBHSA • Jun 20, 2014

"While visiting my girlfriends family in Portland, I roped her cousin Dave into climbing while I was out there. We woke up at 11:30PM and hit the road by midnight to drive to Timberline Lodge. We hit the ground running at around 2:30AM. Met another Oregonian local in the parking lot and he joined us for the miracle mile slog up the ski slope to get to the start of the Palmer glacier. At this point we parted ways and made our way up to Crater Rock at a pretty good clip and we hit the Hogsback spine around 6:30. The route was pretty crowded at this point, so we ascended the spine to the bergschrund which was wide open. We then made the safer decision to ascend via the Old Chute vs. the Pearly gates. When we got to the chute it was pretty crowded and slow going behind 2 guided groups from Indiana. We made the decision to pass them after our patience wore thin and they graciously let us through to climb the narrow chute. It was a blast of class 3 and had a lot of fun. Once on the ridge it was a 100 meter walk to the true summit at 8:30AM, where we enjoyed a Rise Up Red by local Portland HUB brewery. A delicious beer fit for a great view of all the surrounding mountains, including St. He..." — MooseHiker • May 16, 2014

"What a day! Left Timberline at 12:41am to begin our ascent. Mt. Hood had 11" of new snow in the previous 24 hours, but a nice window was opening so I had to go for it. Going was rough since Palmer Glacier has not yet been prepped for the summer season and there was lots of snow drift over the only cat track. Once I got past the chairlifts it was trail breaking for the rest of the morning. I hit devils kitchen by 5am only to run into thigh deep snow on the traverse up the hogsback. More trail breaking up the hogsback to traverse over to the old chute. One final push straight up the final 200 ft to break out onto the knife edge. Since no one had been up in about a week the knife edge was particularly sketchy, but made it to the summit at 7:15am. About 20 people arrived soon after following my blaze up the mountain. I am sure it will be the route for the next few weeks. After downclimbing to the hogsback, I was still feeling spry so went ahead and climbed Crater Rock for a grand twofer! Descent was better this year with the loose snow so I was back to the car by 10:30 for a ten hour day on Mt. Hood that will not be forgotten soon." — oregon-mt-goat • May 11, 2014