That's My World -- Mount Hood, Oregon

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Mount Hood is another one of the incredibly beautiful mountains in the northwest and it will take your breath away the moment you see it, whether up close or from a distance. It was always a good day in Portland when I could see Mt. Hood! It is one awesome, beautiful and sometimes frightening mountain.

The history and photos are courtesy of Wikipedia. I wasn't into photography when I lived in Portland, darn it!! But I wanted to share this incredibly beautiful part of My World.


Mount Hood is located about 50 miles (80 km) east-southeast of Portland, on the border between Clackamas and Hood River counties.


Mount Hood's snow-covered peak rises 11,249 feet (3,429 m)[1] and is home to twelve glaciers. (Older surveys said 11,239 feet (3,426 m), which is still often cited as its height). It is the highest mountain in Oregon and the fourth-highest in the Cascade Range. Mount Hood is considered the Oregon volcano most likely to erupt, though based on its history, an explosive eruption is unlikely. Still, the odds of an eruption in the next 30 years are estimated at between 3 and 7 percent, so the USGS characterizes it as "potentially active", but the mountain is informally considered dormant.

Timberline Lodge is a National Historic Landmark located on the southern flank of Mount Hood just below Palmer Glacier.


The mountain has six ski areas: Timberline, Mount Hood Meadows, Ski Bowl, Cooper Spur, Snow Bunny and Summit. They total over 4,600 acres (7.2 sq mi; 18.6 km2) of skiable terrain; Timberline offers the only year-round lift-served skiing in North America.


The Multnomah name for Mount Hood is Wy'east. In one version of the legend the two sons of the Great Spirit Sahale fell in love with the beautiful maiden Loowit who could not decide which to choose. The two braves, Wy'east and Klickitat, burned forests and villages in their battle over her. Sahale became enraged and smote the three lovers. Seeing what he had done he erected three mountain peaks to mark where each fell. He made beautiful Mount St. Helens for Loowit, proud and erect Mount Hood for Wy'east, and the somber Mount Adams for the morning Klickitat.


The mountain was given its present name on October 29, 1792 by Lt. William Broughton, a member of Captain George Vancouver's discovery expedition. Lt. Broughton observed its peak while at Belle Vue Point of what is now called Sauvie Island during his travels up the Columbia River, writing "A very high, snowy mountain now appeared rising beautifully conspicuous in the midst of an extensive tract of low or moderately elevated land (location of today's Vancouver, Washington) lying S 67 E., and seemed to announce a termination to the river." Lt. Broughton named the mountain after a British admiral, Samuel Hood.

Lewis and Clark were the first Americans to see the mountain on October 18, 1805. A few days later at what would become The Dalles, Clark wrote "The pinnacle of the round topped mountain, which we saw a short distance below the banks of the river, is South 43-degrees West of us and about 37 miles (60 km). It is at this time topped with snow. We called this the Falls Mountain, or Timm Mountain." Timm was the native name for Celilo Falls. Clark later noted that it was also Vancouver's Mount Hood.

More than 130 people have died in climbing-related accidents since records have been kept on Mount Hood, the first in 1896. Incidents in April 1986 and December 2006 attracted intense national and international media interest. Though avalanches are popularly considered a hazard, most climbing deaths are the result of falls and hypothermia. Despite a quadrupling of forest visitors since 1990, fewer than 50 people require rescue per year. Only 3.4 percent of search and rescue missions in 2006 were for mountain climbers.

I was living in Portland at the time the following happened and it was heartbreaking to watch the day to day search and the sad outcome.

On Thursday, December 7, 2006, three experienced climbers—Kelly James, Brian Hall, and Jerry "Nikko" Cooke—began what they expected to be a two-day expedition on the more-treacherous north slope of the mountain. On Saturday, December 9, 2006, the climbers failed to meet a friend who was scheduled to pick them up at Timberline Lodge. On Sunday, December 10, 2006 James made a cell phone call to his wife, and two older sons telling them that he was trapped in a snow cave and Brian and Nikko had gone for help. Rescue attempts were forestalled by freezing rain, heavy snowfall, low visibility and winds of 100 to 140 mph (230 km/h), caused by a widespread winter storm. Clear weather on the weekend of December 16 allowed almost 100 search and rescue personnel to scour the mountain. On Sunday, December 17, searchers found what they first believed to be a snow cave and climbing equipment, approximately 300 feet (91 m) from the summit. At that location, the rescuers found a rope, two ice axes and an insulating sleeping pad. At approximately 3:29 PM PST, the body of Kelly James was found in another snow cave near the first one. On Wednesday, December 20, 2006, as good weather ended, the Hood River County sheriff announced that the mission was now being treated as a recovery rather than a rescue. Brian Hall and Jerry Cooke remain missing and have been declared dead