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Timberline Lodge is a mountain lodge at 6,000 ft (1,800 m) elevation on the south side of Mount Hood in Oregon, USA, about 60 miles (95 km) east of Portland. It is accessible through the Mt. Hood Scenic Byway.

History

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. Kohnstamm, "the man who saved Timberline," passed away at the age of 80 on April 21, 2006.

Ski Area

Timberline opened as Oregon's first major ski area. Its southern mountain spot was chosen over Cloud Cap on the northern face of Mt. Hood.

The ski area features six chair lifts with four high-speed quad lifts. The Silcox Hut sits about one thousand vertical feet above the main lodge, and was the unloading platform for the original Magic Mile chairlift.

Summer Skiing

Timberline is the only ski area in North America to offer year round skiing. It is scheduled for two weeks closure each September for maintenance. Skiiers and sightseers ride up the Magic Mile lift to the Palmer Glacier and its lift, where most of the summer skiing takes place. Dozens of summer camps host hundreds of racers all summer long. Virtually every snow sport is offered in camps. Ski racing is the most popular, but snowboard camps like Windells and HCSC are very popular. Mount Hood Summer Ski Camps have been a mainstay in the summer, hosting campers since the 1970s.

Pop culture trivia

File:Overlook timberline2.jpg

The Overlook (Timberline) in a still from Kubrick's film of The Shining

The 1980 movie The Shining, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, used aerial film of the Timberline Lodge as part of its opening scene. Film of the exterior of the Timberline Lodge is also used for some establishing shots of the fictional Overlook Hotel throughout the movie. However, several of the exterior shots in the film which purport to show the Lodge, for instance those with the hedge maze, were not taken at the Timberline Lodge itself, but at Elstree studios in England, using a mock-up of the south face of the Lodge. There is no hedge maze (and scarce level ground) at the Timberline Lodge as depicted. All interior scenes were shot at Elstree studios as well, and do not depict the interior of the Timberline Lodge.

The 1973 version of Lost Horizon, starring Liv Ullman, Michael York, Peter Finch, Sally Kellerman, John Gielgud and Olivia Hussey had portions shot in the Timberline parking lot. Blizzard conditions needed in the film were created by a helicopter. Other scenes were shot in the immediate area while the lodge was a base for the cast and crew.