The hotter than normal conditions in the Gorge have accelerated the pear harvest in the Hood River Valley by about two to three weeks.  Lower valley growers are already picking winter pears, and Bartlett harvest finished up in the Upper Valley last week and the winter varieties about ready to be picked.  Upper Valley orchardist Ron Rivers says in spite of the hard freeze in early winter and the heat of this summer, the fruit isn’t doing too badly, even though the size of the summer pear crop in the Northwest was down.  If the larger winter pear crop follows the same pattern, then the overall crop will be smaller than usual.  Rivers did say that pests have been a constant problem this summer because of the warmer than normal temperatures.  He added most orchardists were able to get through the drought conditions this summer with enough water to maintain their crops.