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Mount Hood Facts
Elevation: 11,249 feet (3,429 m)
Prominence: 7,706 feet (2,349 m)
Coordinates: 45.373514, -121.695919
Last Eruption: 21 September 1865 to January 1866
Volcano Type: Stratovolcano
Nearest City: Government Camp, Oregon
Range: Mount Hood is part of the
Cascade Volcanic Arc
Summits:
First Climbed: 11 July 1857, Henry Pittcock and team
Access to Summit: Timberline Highway, then Rock and glacier climb
Age: more than 500,000 year old
Native Name: possibly Wy′east
Mount Hood is located in the
Pacific Coast Region and
High Cascades Ecoregion
The Volcano:
The glacially eroded summit consists of several andesitic or dacitic lava domes. This volcano has had at least three major eruptive periods in the last several thousand years, however, older eruptions produced avalanches and lahars that traveled across the
Columbia River to the north. The tree most recent eruptions occurred from vents high on the southwest side and distributed primarily to the south and west along the Sandy and Zigzag rivers.
The most recent eruptive period occurred about two hundred and twenty years ago and caused dacitic lava domes, mudflows and pyroclastic flows without a major explosive eruptions. These eruptions also occurred before Lewis and Clark arrive on the scene in 1805.
Trails:
The forest of the same name has about 1000 miles of trails upon which the highest elevation reachable without mountaineering gear, is by the Coopers Spur trail which rises to 8,510 feet.
The Timberline Trail, a 40.7 mile (65.5 km) pathway, built in the 1930s by the CCC, encircles the entire mountain, rising to an elevation of 7,300 feet and is snow free from July until the first autumn snows begin. A portion of the
Pacific Crest Trail is concurrent with the Timberline Trail along the west side of Mount Hood.
Glaciers:
Mount Hood has 12 named glaciers and/or snow fields. The most visited of which is the Palmer which is accessible from
Timberline Lodge.
All of the glaciers are above the 6000 foot elevation, which coincides with the
treeline elevation on Mount Hood. Too, more than eighty percent of the glacial surface area is above 6900 feet in elevation. The total area of the glacial surface on Mont Hood is about 3330 acres, and total volume is about .0216 cubic mile or 117 million cubic yards (.09 cubic kilometers). Glaciers atop Mount Hood declined about 33 or more percent in the hundred years form 1904 to 2004.
The largest glacier by volume is Eliot Glacier on the northwest slope of Mount Hood and had the thickest depth measures at 360 feet.
Advancement of the Mount Hood Glaciers have at one time reached as low as 2300 feet in elevation and over nine miles from the summit. Moraines have been found over 15 miles east of the summit in Brightwood, Oregon. Near Parkdale, Oregon, the is a flatten area believed to have been cause by glacier about ten miles north of the summit.
Climbing Mount Hood:
The highest elevation in Oregon and visible from up to 100 miles distance attracts some 10,000 people each year to attempt the summiting of the mountain. The south side route is the easiest but even so is a technical climb wit crevasses, falling rock and frequent inclement weather, which requires crampons, ice axes, ropes, experience, fall protection and other mountaineering gear.
Climbing season is normally from April to June but varies greatly depending on weather.
From since the first records have been kept beginning in 1896, as of the end of the climbing season in 2002, more than 130 people have lost their life in climbing accidents on Mount Hood. Most of these deaths have been caused by falls and hypothermia.
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