Somewhere on Mt. Hood

This is my new favorite secret stash on Mt. Hood. Someone mentioned there was some good skiing in this area and a quick look on a Topo made realize I should have discovered this long ago. This was great for first turns of the year!

Mt Hood Back Country Skiing: Gnarl Ridge

Evan and I took off from the HRM lot at Meadows and followed a trail east. After breaking onto the lower part of the ridge we followed the trail up to Gnarl Ridge. When that trail hits the mountain circumnavigation trail you are on your own working up the ridge. By that point the trees are thinning out so finding a route is pretty easy. Go up as far as you want and be careful finding a route down, some of the cliffs are LARGE. It was about 7 miles round trip for about 1200 vert of skiing. The terrain has real potential to be good, but it's a ways to get to it.

Evan Crossing creek 1

Crossing creek 2
Crossing creek 3
Making the ridge under dense tree canopy the snow was extremely minimal. We ended up finding it easier to carry with the lack of snow, multiple small creeks, and steepness.
Near the Top of Gnarl Ridge
Investigating the cliffs to find a chute that went
Our chute

Tom Dick and Harry skiing near mt hood

Here is some info from a day around the first of the year where 4 of us decided to climb Tom Dick and Harry peak, ski back down to the lake, re-summit and ski back to our car in the parking lot at Ski Bowl. Good overall day, not great snow, but eh. From the road it took us about 1.75 hours to summit. We followed the trail on the first ascent which adds a good bit of distance west vs just hiking the ridge. On the second ascent we followed the ridge and while shorter was a bit harder, especially for route finding in the thick trees.