Mt. Hood Meadows is open for skiing, snowboarding and other activities such as snowshoeing and cross-country skiing all week with temperatures well-below freezing and more accumulation expected.
Sam Stites / OPB
Heavy snow is falling in the Cascades causing headaches for travelers and transportation workers alike throughout Oregon and Southwest Washington.
But with storm warnings in place for areas such as Mount Hood, those unmistakable signs of winter bring with them a sense of joy and merriment for skiers and snowboarders who are happy to see snowfall just in time for the holidays.
Nearly 30 inches fell on Mount Hood over this past weekend where resorts have just begun to open up for the season.
According to Dave Tragethon, vice president of marketing sales at Mt. Hood Meadows, these early season dumps are critical to local resorts’ ability to open as much terrain as possible at a time when outdoor recreation is in high demand.
“Particularly during the holiday periods when people are going to want to get outdoors and do an activity with family and friends that’s relatively [COVID] safe compared to a lot of other options that might not be available,” Tragethon said.
As of Monday, there is approximately 61 inches of snow at the base of Meadows and 73 inches at higher elevations, with accumulation expected to continue throughout the week leading up to the Christmas holiday weekend.
While skiing and snowboarding are often seen as the major attraction at a resort like Mt. Hood Meadows, Tragethon said that snowshoeing, cross country skiing and other “snow play” activities that don’t require a lift ticket are attracting a great percentage of the resort’s audience each year.
“When you think about it, there are a lot more people that live in the Northwest who don’t ski or snowboard, but want to come up and play in the snow. So we expect those activities to be busy as well,” Tragethon said.
Tragethon also noted that all of Mt. Hood Meadows’ lodges — including the newly constructed Sahale Lodge featuring a new dining area and bar — have reopened to the public following closures last season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The long-awaited public opening of the Sahale Lodge comes this year following a dedication ceremony in October. Construction began on the building in April 2019 and was completed in time for this past season, but with the coronavirus restricting indoor gathering, the new lodge provided only grab-and-go dining options and use of its outdoor deck.
According to Tragethon, the resort is excited to reopen to the public for indoor service in an all new setting featuring a new air exchange ventilation system which refreshes the air inside the lodge six times every hour. Ventilation systems in the North and South lodges have also been upgraded for improved health and safety of both guests and staff members.
Although Mt. Hood Meadows no longer requiring masks in lift lines or in outdoor areas, masks covering the mouth and nose are still required anytime guests are inside a building while not actively eating or drinking.
Tragethon said he encourages all guests to follow health and safety protocols so that they can continue this ski and snowboard season uninterrupted as long as the flakes continue to fly.
“We’re still in a pandemic, and our goal is to protect our team and operate every single day of the season and not let this interfere with us,” he said. “And we do wish everybody happy holidays and hope that you can enjoy some good time with your family up on the mountain this year.”