• print
• Share | e-mail Facebook Tweet Digg StumbleUpon Delicious Google Yahoo Buzz

Ski areas waiting for blast of winter

Coming weeks are crucial for successful season

By Jeff McDonald / The Bulletin

Published: December 14. 2007 4:00AM PST

Despite icy conditions reported by skiers and snowboarders at Mt. Bachelor ski area on Thursday, the mountain’s operators and riders were in good spirits, hoping that predictions for a series of storms expected to begin this evening would transform Central Oregon slopes into a winter wonderland for the busy holiday season.

Opening before the holidays could make or break this year’s business at Hoodoo Mountain Resort on Santiam Pass west of Sisters, said Chuck Shepard, company president.

The ski area has been closed since a brief, two-day opening in late November.

Hoodoo is counting on the predicted storms to drop enough snow that it can reopen by Dec. 20, Shepard said.

“Each day after Thursday (Dec. 20) becomes more and more critical for us to open,” Shepard said. “We know it will be a losing year if we don’t open before December 26. We make more that week between Christmas and New Year’s than any other month of the year except December, of course.”

Mt. Bachelor, which reported a 17- to 23-inch base on Thursday, also is counting on snowfall this weekend into next week to open all of its chairlifts and terrain in time for the busy holiday season, according to Matt Janney, company president and general manager.

Aside from Hoodoo, Willamette Pass ski area on state Highway 58 east of Eugene also lacks enough snow to open, according to its Web site, www.willamette pass.com.

The Mount Hood Ski areas — Mt. Hood Meadows, Mt. Hood Skibowl and Timberline — reported 38 to 48 inches, 19 inches and 37 inches on Thursday, respectively.

The Pacific storms are expected to drop between 2 and 4 inches on the east side of the Cascades tonight and continue through next week, said Diann Coonfield, a National Weather Service meteorologist based in Pendleton.

“There are a lot of systems coming through every 12 to 36 hours and all of them are going to bring varying amounts of snow to the mountains,” said Coonfield, who said Bend also could get snow tonight and Saturday.

The ski industry is a pivotal wintertime draw for Central Oregon’s $498 million-a-year tourism economy, supporting large chunks of the economy, from ski rental shops to hotels and restaurants.

Mt. Bachelor, the largest winter attraction in Central Oregon, launched a $250,000 winter marketing campaign on Tuesday with the Central Oregon Visitors Association called “Real Winter,” Janney said.

The campaign will flood the Portland market with 3,500 cable and network television advertisements per week, featuring images of abundant snowfall in Central Oregon and Mt. Bachelor’s sizable terrain.

Attendance at the mountain, which has all of its lifts open except Northwest and Outback, has kept pace with last year and has picked up the last 10 days, Janney said.

Mt. Bachelor is concerned, though, that Portland and the Willamette Valley residents may not think there’s enough snow, Janney said.

“We’d love to have more snow, but it’s a long season,” Janney said. “There’s a lot of time to make up for the slow start of the season” in terms of skier visits and snowfall.

Snow-making machines were in full operation at Mt. Bachelor ski area on Thursday, preparing the half-pipe snow park for an expected opening next week.

“Dang, that stuff by the snowblowers was tight,” said Matt Dubois, a 27-year-old Bend snowboarder describing to a friend his excitement of riding through machine-made snow as he completed a run off Thunderbird near Mt. Bachelor’s West Village Lodge.

Overall, conditions were good except for large patches of ice, said Dubois, a season pass holder who wanted to use the half-pipe to perform jumps and turns before the tourist traffic began to increase over the holidays.

Locals are experiencing good rides that are typical of early season conditions, said John Rollert of Bend, a season pass holder who said Mt. Bachelor had better snow than other Oregon ski resorts.

“The quality of snow is not too bad, but the quantity is still horrible,” Rollert said. “You have to watch out for bare spots and rocks, but this is still the best place to be in the state.”

Rollert brought out his “rock skis,” which had been scraped enough already that he wouldn’t mind if they were damaged by rocks.

“So far, I’ve managed to keep the scrapes off by staying on the main runs,” he said.

Mt. Bachelor has run six snow-making machines — which are fed by 450 to 600 gallons of water per minute — continuously on Thunderbird run since Monday, said Tom Lomax, mountain manager.

“We’re in snow-conservation mode right now,” said Lomax, who said the mountain’s half-pipe had been moved to the Thunderbird run because that’s where the snow-making equipment was located.

Outback will open Saturday and Northwest is expected to open by the middle of next week, Lomax said.

Jeff McDonald can be reached at 383-0323 or at jmcdonald@bendbulletin.com.

• print
• Share | e-mail Facebook Tweet Digg StumbleUpon Delicious Google Yahoo Buzz