Hold the Axe from The Shining
Lobby interior of the Timberline Lodge, Oregon
Experiencing a movie location, standing right in the same spot, is an amazing feeling to a fan of that specific scene. But when there’s part of the movie set you can interact with, that makes it an even more special experience.
And then there are locations that hand you an axe.
I recently drove up Mount Hood in Oregon to visit Timberline Lodge, the hotel used for the exterior establishing shots of the Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”.
What I had heard, but had not verified myself, was if you politely ask at the front desk, they may actually hand you Jack Torrance’s axe and let you walk around the lodge with it. This was going to be one of the prop axes from the set of axes available on location while filming, not the one Jack Nicholson actually held in the scene.
So, naturally, I asked. And a few moments later, I was wandering around one of the U.S.’s most historic mountain lodges carrying an axe from one of the most famous horror movies ever made.
It was fantastic!
First, a Little The Shining History
For anyone who hasn’t seen The Shining, Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film stars Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance, a writer who takes a job as the winter caretaker of the isolated Overlook Hotel.
Jack moves into the hotel with his wife, Wendy, and their young son, Danny. Things don’t go particularly well.
By the end of the movie, Nicholson is stalking his family through the hotel carrying an axe, eventually chopping his way through a bathroom door and delivering one of the most recognizable moments in horror-film history: “Here’s Johnny!”
But if you visit Timberline expecting to walk through the hallways you’ve seen in the movie, you’re in for a surprise: those aren’t these hallways.
Hero Axe on Display at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado
The prop axe you can hold. Timberline Lodge, Oregon
Timberline Lodge was used only for exterior establishing shots of the fictional Overlook Hotel. The hedge maze, loading dock, and other supposed exterior portions of the hotel were created and filmed at Elstree Studios in England.
The primary “hero” axe used by Jack Nicholson during the famous door-smashing and chase scenes in The Shining is now displayed at the Stanley Hotel in EstesPark, Colorado – the hotel that inspired Stephen King to write the original novel. Several axes were reportedly created for the production, including a heavy, wooden-handled version for principal shots and lightweight foam or resin replicas for safer stunt work. The hero axe sold at auction for US$175,000 before its anonymous buyer donated it to the Stanley, where it became a centerpiece of the hotel’s film exhibits and tours and was designated for the Stanley Film Center.
That doesn’t make arriving at Timberline any less surreal; it makes it more interesting, as if it’s a piece of a movie scene puzzle.
The Drive is Part of the Experience
The drive up to Timberline Lodge, Oregon
Timberline Lodge sits at approximately 1,829 meters (6,000 feet) on the south slope of Mount Hood.
As I drove toward the lodge, Mount Hood increasingly dominated the view ahead of me. Eventually, you’re climbing up the mountain itself, winding through the forest until the Timberline Lodge appears.
This is the movie connection. You know that building, and you feel like you were on the same drive Jack Torrance took with his family. Even if you’ve never been anywhere near Oregon, there’s a good chance you’ve seen it before.
The Torrance family’s ominous drive into the mountains was filmed far from the fictional Overlook Hotel in Colorado and the real Timberline Lodge. The sweeping aerial sequence follows their yellow Volkswagen Beetle along Going-to-the-Sun Road in Montana’s Glacier National Park, passing Saint Mary Lake and Wild Goose Island. Shot from a helicopter, the winding road and immense mountain landscape create the growing sense of isolation that sets the tone for everything to come.
The “movie drive” to Overlook Hotel. Actually, Going To The Sun road. Glacier National Park, Montana.
Kubrick used aerial footage of Timberline in the opening title sequence of The Shining, along with exterior shots throughout the film to establish the Overlook’s remote mountain setting.
But once I got there, I discovered that The Shining is only one chapter of Timberline’s story.
The Real Timberline May Be More Interesting Than the Fictional Overlook
Exterior of the Timberline Lodge, Oregon
Timberline wasn’t originally built as a luxury resort or a movie set, it was a Depression-era public works project.
More than 500 workers constructed the lodge through the Works Progress Administration, using local volcanic stone, massive timbers, and hand-forged iron.
Timberline Lodge circa early 1940’s
Much of what you see inside was made specifically for the building by craftspeople working during the Great Depression.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt came here and personally dedicated the Timberline on 28 September, 1937.
Grand Fireplace. Lobby of the Timberline Lodge, Oregon.
Forty years later, it was designated a National Historic Landmark. Today, nearly 90 years after it was built, it’s still operating for essentially the purpose for which it was created: giving people access to this extraordinary environment around Mount Hood.
You notice that history when you walk inside. Stone. Timber. Wrought iron. Huge fireplaces. Handmade details everywhere.
It looks like a movie set of a mountain lodge, but it’s a real place.
Although not the same interiors as in the film, walking through the lodge carrying Jack Torrance’s axe still connects you with the film and is very entertaining.
Timberline Lodge from The Shining
The Overlook Hotel was a cinematic composite of several real places. Stephen King conceived The Shining after staying at Colorado’s Stanley Hotel, while Oregon’s Timberline Lodge supplied the film’s exterior. Its interiors, however, were constructed at England’s EMI-Elstree Studios and modeled largely after the Ahwahnee in Yosemite National Park. The Ahwahnee’s Great Lounge, massive stone fireplaces, timber beams, lobby, and distinctive elevators were recreated so faithfully that many viewers assume the scenes were filmed inside the California hotel.
So, About That Axe…
I had heard that Timberline had one of the sister prop axes of the hero axe used in The Shining, so I went to the front desk and asked about it.
Sure enough, they brought it out, and they let me take it around the lodge and take pictures with it. There are rules, of course. I was told I couldn’t take it outside, into the bars or restaurants, or back to my room.
Fair enough.
ShotSync from the SetJetters movie locations app.
But within those boundaries, I suddenly had the opportunity to explore the lobby and pose for photos carrying one of the most recognizable props associated with the film.
And this is the kind of thing I love about visiting filming locations.
Watching a movie is passive. Standing where it was filmed makes it physical, and that’s real engagement with content.
But when a destination finds a way to let you actually participate in the connection, even through something as simple and slightly ridiculous as posing with an axe, the experience becomes something else entirely.
I was participating in a movie location and creating some great memories.
And Then There’s Room 217
Room 217. Timberline Lodge, Oregon.
There’s another fantastic connection between Timberline and The Shining hiding upstairs.
In Stephen King’s original novel, the haunted hotel room is Room 217, a room that actually exists at Timberline.
According to Timberline, when Kubrick made the movie, the lodge asked that Room 217 not be depicted because they worried future guests might be afraid to stay in it. So Kubrick changed it to Room 237, which doesn’t exist at Timberline.
The plan apparently backfired spectacularly. Today, Timberline says Room 217 is requested more often than any other room in the lodge. Film fans are funny that way; tell us a room is haunted and apparently our first reaction is: Can I book it?
Don’t Just Come for The Shining
Was it worth visiting the Timberline Lodge?
I went because of a movie location, but that’s not why I’d tell you to make the trip.
Tucker Sno-Cat. Timberline Lodge, Oregon.
After exploring the lodge and, yes, taking far too many pictures with an axe, I went outside, sat on the patio with a glass of wine, and looked out across the mountain landscape.
This was way more fun than just The Shining experience.
Timberline is a living piece of U.S. history sitting 1,829 meters (6,000 feet) up one of the Pacific Northwest’s Cascade mountains. It’s still a working ski lodge and mountain retreat, surrounded by hiking, skiing and an extraordinary alpine landscape.
You could visit without seeking out The Shining at all, or without an axe, and still have a remarkable day. But if you’re a movie fan, you get something extra.
Put This Location on the Bucket List
For me, the perfect Timberline visit is the whole experience beyond the frame.
Drive up to Mount Hood. Watch the Overlook Hotel emerge.
Back Patio, and yes you can bring a wine outside. Timberline Lodge, Oregon
Walk through a lodge built almost 90 years ago. If you’re inspired, there are great hiking trails in the summer, skiing in the winter, and the whole property is family-friendly with views for kilometers.
Ask about the axe and take the ridiculous photographs. Explore the building. Then give Jack Torrance his axe back, order yourself a glass of wine, find a seat outside and take in the view.
That’s what I love about movie locations: sometimes the film is the destination, and often the film is simply the reason you discovered a place worth visiting.
About the Author:
Erik Nachtrieb
CEO & Cofounder, SetJetters
ShotSync Image: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
