Mount Hood is a dormant stratovolcano . Its snow-covered peak rises on the border between Clackamas and Hood River counties. It is the highest mountain in Oregon and the fourth-highest in the Cascade Range. It can be seen easily from both Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington.

Mount Hood is second only to Japan's Mt. Fuji in the number of climbers reaching the summit. It is part of the Mount Hood National Forest, which has 1.2 million acres (4,900 km²), four designated wilderness areas and more than 1,900 km (1,200 mi) of hiking trails. The popularity and relative ease of the climb has led to some carelessness and tragedies, especially climbers in late-spring when the glaciers tend to soften. Avalanches haven taken their toll from time to time. And in a partly live-televised incident on May 30, 2002, several climbers were killed and others injured when they fell into a crevasse in the "hogsback" that connects the crater rock with the summit ridge. Most unusual was the startling crash-and-roll of a rescue helicopter whose rotors clipped the sloping ice bridge.

The mountain has five ski areas, including the only ski area in North America that's open 12 months of the year. Timberline Lodge is a National Historic Landmark located on the southern flank of Mt. Hood. The Palmer Glacier, uphill from the lodge at about the 8,000 foot level, has been used for summer practice by the Olympic skiing team from time to time. The other areas are Mt. Hood Meadows, Ski Bowl, Cooper Spur, and Ski Bunny.

It was constructed between 1936 and 1938 as a Works Progress Administration project during the Great Depression. Talented workers used huge timbers and local stone, and placed intricately carved decorative elements throughout the building.

Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the Lodge on September 28, 1937. In his remarks, he commented on the reasons for the project:

This Timberline Lodge marks a venture that was made possible by W.P.A., emergency relief work, in order that we may test the workability of recreational facilities installed by the Government itself and operated under its complete control.

Here, to Mount Hood, will come thousands and thousands of visitors in the coming years. Looking east toward eastern Oregon with its great livestock raising areas, these visitors are going to visualize the relationship between the cattle ranches and the summer ranges in the forests. Looking westward and northward toward Portland and the Columbia River, with their great lumber and other wood using industries, they will understand the part which National Forest timber will play in the support of this important element of northwestern prosperity.

Those who will follow us to Timberline Lodge on their holidays and vacations will represent the enjoyment of new opportunities for play in every season of the year. I mention specially every season of the year because we, as a nation, I think, are coming to realize that the summer is not the only time for play. I look forward to the day when many, many people from this region of the Nation are going to come here for skiing and tobogganing and various other forms of winter sports.

Roosevelt's vision of winter sports at Timberline Lodge was fulfilled, eventually. The lodge and its grounds are host to a ski resort also known as Timberline Lodge. It has the longest skiing season in the U.S., and is open for skiiers and snowboarders every month of the year. Activities include skiing, snowboarding, walking, hiking and climbing.

Lifestyles Northwest published a story about the history of Timberline Lodge in its February 2005 issue, based heavily on interviews with the family who have operated the lodge for fifty years. The story noted that in the lodge's early years, it had had four different operators, none of which was willing or able to maintain it. By 1955 Timberline Lodge was closed and in disrepair. Richard Kohnstamm, the patriarch of the family that currently operates it, remembered those difficulties as being due to financing problems arising from the fact that the government owned it. Kohnstamm decided to maintain the place as if he owned it himself; he lost money during his first five years of operation, but his timing turned out to be fortuitous, since he began operating it only a few years before skiing started exploding in popularity in the late 1950s. That popularity helped the family generate a profit starting in 1960.