Mt. Hood - Pearly Gates
Route Details
Area - Mt. Hood, OR
Access - Super easy! Access is from Timberline ski resort and lodge. Climbers parking is in the parking lot to the right below the trailhead. After the snow melts on the lower mountain (usually by mid to late June) the trail follows the obvious path towards Palmer (used as a service road to the hut below Palmer). Earlier in the year when there is still snow from the parking lot you can take a slightly more direct route, though be aware of downhill skiers and resort policies. See guides section below for more details.
Total Trip Time - 5-7 hours
Total Distance - 7 miles
Main Ski descent - 5300 ft
Elevation Gain/Loss - 5300 ft
Max Slope Angle - 45-50 °
Guides
FATMAP (below)
Local Beta - Timberline Lodge has historic and comfy lodging to make for a super convenient alpine (early morning) start. There's a historic solid wood ping pong table and shuffle board in the Barlow room just to the right after the main entrance. Make sure to stock up on last minute supplies when passing through Government Camp.
Trip Report 5/11/2024
Mt. Hood is a classic PNW volcano with a twist. It has a ski resort halfway up the mountain that stays open during the summer months. And halfway up the mountain at 6k feet elevation Timberline Lodge, one of the coolest mountain lodges ever built in North America making it uniquely easy to get a good night's rest and also get an alpine start, all with a peak to car 5k feet ski descent. It's little wonder then why my ski buddy Antoine who grew up hut to hut skiing in the European Alps is such a big fan of Mt. Hood! To be honest, it has grown on me too. Coming from Seattle the only downside is having to deal with i5 traffic, but that just comes with the territory.
We spent Friday night in a room at the lodge, and woke at around 1am. We were skinning by 1:45 with the northern lights dancing behind the mountain. The mountain was already peppered with the headlamps of other climbers.
We made good time, passing multiple parties as we climbed the Palmer and gained the snowfield below Crater Rock. We were also able to keep our skis on longer than other parties which helped us maintain the tempo.
Antoine was able to keep his skis on longer than me (he has ski crampon super skills). We met up and took a quick brake at the natural resting spot just right of the Triangle Moraine where many other climbers were also taking a break.
No one was climbing Pearly Gates this morning, instead a conga line had formed up the Old Chute route to the summit. I was thankful though for the well-beaten path since I had stupidly forgotten by boot crampons.
We made it to the summit in just under 5 hours. Not speedy gonzales but not too shabby either. Antoine took the ridge to the summit and I went as far as just above Old Chute but didn't traverse the ridge to the summit given the risk of a potential fall without my boot crampons.
The snow was rock hard neve, and while I very much wanted to wait for the sun to soften the crater rim Antoine wanted to head down.
In retrospect it would have been better to wait. Antoine took a fall, I had a pre-release thankfully not in a terrible spot. And then Antoine took another fall, this time as a result of his toepiece ripping out of his ski and delaminating the ski in the process.
After getting back to the car we then headed to the pool at the Timberline Lodge and then drove down to Hood River to look for a shop that could either fix Antoine's ski or rent a touring setup for the next day (we wanted to keep our original plan to Ski Adams the following day). Thankfully Hood River surprisingly has a couple excellent outdoor shops, and Antoine was back in business with a touring rental for Adams the following day. We went mushroom hunting by the Deschutes River (no joy), and had a sushi dinner before crashing for the night, ready to tackle Mt. Adams the following day.
