Mount Hood

Mount Hood rises 11,249 feet above northwest Oregon, a stratovolcano so prominent it is visible from Portland on clear days, a constant presence on the city’s eastern skyline. It is the most-climbed glaciated peak in North America, with over 10,000 summit attempts each year. The mountain last erupted in the 1780s, and fumaroles near the summit still melt the ice from below, creating the unstable terrain that makes the upper routes deceptively technical.

This map traces the volcanic architecture of Hood’s cone. The contour lines converge toward the summit in a near-perfect radial pattern, broken by the deep notches of glacial valleys: the Sandy, Reid, and Eliot glaciers each carving their own signature into the mountainside. The south face, home to Palmer Glacier and Timberline Lodge, shows a more gradual grade that contrasts sharply with the steep, crevassed terrain of the north side.