Mt.Hood skiing

[Andisoss]

The wife and I relocated from Truckee to Portland,OR this year (with a brief stay in Puerto Rico last year to get some surfing and diving in) for work reasons.

Never have skied Mt. Hood before, we are trying to decide if the "Fusion Pass" which includes both Timberline and SkiBowl or a Mt. Hood Meadows pass is our best bet. I hear Ski Bowl is the best on POW days and Timberline has some good hiking/skinning but Meadows overall has more to offer? We know its not going to compare to Squaw or Alpine (Meadows) but we are excited to shred something new none the less. Any advise would be awesome.

Some people have even suggested making the 3 hour drive south to Bend and skiing Mt. Bachelor for less people and better snow.

Thanks!

[klauss]

Yes, nothing up here compares to Squaw which has some of my favorite terrain. Overall I think meadows is the best.

Skibowl is a tiny mountain even by volcano standards, but has great terrain when the temp is cold enough (low elevation), good vibe, and is good for night skiing, but I have never bought a pass there. It's worth a few+ stops a year.

Meadows has its downsides. It is a slog on the weekends, only extra 15 minutes no traffic. This can turn into hour plus on weekends. It gets the most crowds and the terrain is not squaw like by any means, but I am happy with it. I am stuck skiing weekends mostly and the lift lines die down fast, but can be unruly at times. I have nothing positive to say about timberline, except the lodge is pretty cool. Leave real early in the mornings.

Bachelor has weather problems, but is another cool volcano. Bigger than meadows and timberline, more open, much longer runs. Not sure about less people; I have witnessed the largest soul crushing crowds there. I am likely in the minority saying that I like meadows better, but Bend is cool, so worth a trip or two a year.

[Shredhead]

For Squawesk terrain you could do a couple of missions to Crystal a year?

[Buster Highmen]

Mt Hood blows in general.
I lived in Portland for years and while it's a great city, the surrounding skiing really bites it. My apologies to the fine folks of Stumptown.

>> queue the defensive blast <<

The biggest ski area up there is Mt. Hood Meadows. It has it's supporters. I'm not one of them.

The best skiing is @ Ski Bowl which is low elevation, so even more prone to rain than even Meadows or Timberline.

Honestly, if I were you, I'd try a drive up to White Pass and see if that's too far. By SF-Tahoe standards, it's not far and it will get you a much better ski experience than Mt. Hood. The next closest decent skiing is either Crystal or Alpental.

[puma]

I agree with Buster for the most part. That said, it's what we have an a few good turns can be had here and there. To advise on a pass, it would be good to know how often will you be getting up there? When is your window? (weekend or midweek) Guessing kids are not involved at this point?

[DeathVan]

Two words:

Cooper Spur

[::: :::]

if you're willing to drive 3hrs plus (one way), go to crystal

if you want the 90min commute, do meadows

everyone agrees ski bowl has the best terrain, but it tops out at 5000' and is mush typically...so with an el nino on the way...i'd avoid the fusion pass. and, coming from squaw, t-line won't satisfy you

bachelor gets drier snow than hood usually so it can be a great getaway...it's also 3hr drive

[Buster Highmen]

Two words:

Cooper Spur

Nice spot, but 350 vertical feet of lift served?

[Andisoss]

Thank you for the replies. We do have a young child, but the mother in law will be taking care of that until she is old enough to ski.

We will be doing mostly weekends, if not long weekends. Our plan is to hit up hood 2 or 3 weekends a month with another weekend branching off to something else (IE Crystal) to expolore the area.

Another question while I am thinking about it though...

During POW weekends, is it generally heavy traffic on the road up to Hood all the way from Gresham? (Think 80 going up to Tahoe on a POW weekend) and I assume they enforce chain control as well?

Sorry for asking all these questions. The most I have got out of people so far is "You should go to Timberline! They have the best Hot Cocoa!". Good to know, but not exactly the information I am looking for 8)

[Andisoss]

Wow! With a name like "Acclerator", I better pack my beacon!

[Buster Highmen]

There are no POW weekends on Hood. They're only Wet Graupel festivals.

OK, so I'm being harsh, but the snow on Hood is generally pretty heavy; much more so than Tahoe.

Yes, the traffic can be atrocious, particularly on the bends past Government Camp past WhiteRiver to MHM.
No chains are not required the same way as in CA.

White Pass is the choice for you; I'm not kidding

[DeathVan]

Wow! With a name like "Acclerator", I better pack my beacon!

Well you know, the GNAR of Cooper Spur is not for everyone...

I skied Meadows for decades, you can have a lot of fun there if you can ski.
-trips to Crystal for the big dumps and the exotic appeal of Washingtonians

Mt. Bachelor is a shield volcano, so many of the runs have the same relative slope
(although newer lifts and access gates have opened up more varied terrain)

Timberline -summer skiing in speed suits, fine hot chocolate
Ski Bowl -cold stormy nights

[::: :::]

traffic is worse heading home than going up (in terms of slowness & car density)

but, best advice is: go up earlier than you want to
it's not so much the driving as the getting into the lot to park (at meadows anyway)

[Buster Highmen]

it's not so much the driving as the getting into the lot to park (at meadows anyway)

Just wait until you park at the lower Meadows lot and they close the runs so you have to take a bus to get to your car.

Worst ski area management evar.

[puma]

Buster seems to be very jaded on the Meadows experience. To me, this basically proves that he lived here many years. Meadows management sucks. I guess it has been said, but since I am typing...

Don't get a Fusion Pass. Timberline absolutely sucks. If you do not have a kid trying to learn to ski, there is not much reason to go there. Skibowl, as has been said, is simply too low. El nino looms, which does not help Skibowl...There will be some good storms, and for those, pay the 25 bucks and do some night skiing at the bowl.

Get a pass at Meadows. It's extremely expensive these days without the pass. The mountain is small, the terrain is not that great, but there are pockets of decent skiing. (4 linked steep turns). The crowds are ridiculous. Leave insanely early. Go through Hood River. Get there insanely early, be ready to go first thing. Stop by a brewery on the way back through Hood River.

Bachelor. Not that steep, but a better experience in my opinion than hood. Bend kicks ass, the breweries are sweet, and the commute to the mountain is pain less. Good tree skiing. Watch for the 4 time pass that will go on sale in October. Pick one of those up, and take a few long weekends this year, not around a holiday (Blackout dates apply)

travel north for the longer weekends. (Crystal, White Pass, Stevens, Baker)

For an easy week, or longer weekend, Whistler. 7 or 8 hours. After the border, go downtown and secure supplies for the trip!

All this, and I forgot to mention the mid mountain warming hut at Skibowl...So good on those cold stormy nights...

Welcome to PDX. I love the town. A bit over an hour to the coast, and the same to the mountains. Throw in the gorge for good measure... (I like beer and good food too...)

[wolfelot]

It is funny to hear people generally say the skiing on Hood blows. I live in Ohio at the moment. Fml

[spook]

i guess it's good i haven't been around much because i'm grateful to have hood as close as it is. loathe meadows' management but i have a fine time with little traffic during the weekday.

i'd rather live in bend, but until that happens i'm not going to complain too much.

[Andisoss]

Welcome to PDX. I love the town. A bit over an hour to the coast, and the same to the mountains. Throw in the gorge for good measure... (I like beer and good food too...)

Thank you. We love it so far (moved here in June). I did some surfing out near Seaside (Smugglers Cove) and holy $*@! was that some cold water! We have also made it out to Hood River a few times and hit up Full Sail. They have a nice Brandywine that knocks you on your ass. I have also learned that people here have serious issues with those from California. Not sure what we did to piss everyone off so much, but we did a good job at it apparently.

Wolfelot,

Hit up Mt. Bohemia for me! Although, Vermont might be more worth the drive for you 8)

[iggyskier]

Skibowl night pass + Meadows Season pass.

T-line is about as flat as can be. It's only value is in the summer. During the winter you might as well just take a nap in your car, it would probably prove to be more exciting.

Meadows is skiable. There are definitely fun sections and the snow is often pretty decent. It does get manky sometimes, but I skied Crystal in WA for 4 seasons (well...3 as you cannot count 04/05) and skied my fair share of mank up there as well. The difference is crystal actually has sustained vert and some real slopes to it, where meadows is much more mini-gulf type lines. In the right places it is fun, but it is definitely no crystal or squaw.

Weekends can be pretty bad. Even weekdays are getting busy when the snow is good. I don't think I am even going to spring for the full pass this season and instead opt for the midweek pass, as unless it is truly bottomless I have a hard time being motivated to make it up to meadows on the weekend.

Skibowl during the week can be a lot of fun. Not sure if your schedule would allow that to happen, but night passes are dirt cheap and great for getting a few hours of skiing after work.

If crystal was a 2hr drive each way, even maybe a 2.5 hr drive, I wouldn't ski down here much. But minimum 3 hours each way without traffic or bad snow conditions on roads that can get a bit sketchy (410) is just too much to do consistently. From NW/downtown pdx, it usually takes me 60 minutes to skibowl door to door. Add 15-20 for meadows. That is without traffic and I don't ski weekends. For sanity purposes, definitely get up there early on the weekends.

Generally the roads aren't that bad here. Most of the time if there is bad conditions, it is only the last stretch right before you get to skibowl and then on to meadows (though sometimes it will be down into sandy). The problem is that people here don't know how to drive in snow, so you just need to be aware there is a bunch of dumb people on the road pretty much all the time.

Pretty sure you don't need chains if you have snow tires (i've never had to chain up here), but you might need to have them in your car (fotgot if that is true or not in OR, but I am pretty sure in WA it is required).

While the skiing isn't what it is out of Seattle or Tahoe or SLC, the city is awesome. It is a pretty awesome combo of being reasonably sized, manageable traffic, a functional public transit system, , good access to the mountains, coast, rivers, and whatever else you want to do outside, tons of amazing bars and restaurants all over the city, great neighborhoods that are all pretty close in and accessible, and vibrant without feeling overwhelming.

Probably see you guys up at meadows or skibowl this year!

[puma]

i guess it's good i haven't been around much because i'm grateful to have hood as close as it is. loathe meadows' management but i have a fine time with little traffic during the weekday.

i'd rather live in bend, but until that happens i'm not going to complain too much.

Don't get me wrong. I go. And I've also had some EPIC days up there. My main complaint is the lack of SUSTAINED steeps. It could be much worse. I don't mean to come off as a whiney bitch...When the snow starts flying, I'll be as obsessed with it as any...

[spook]

Don't get me wrong. I go. And I've also had some EPIC days up there. My main complaint is the lack of SUSTAINED steeps. It could be much worse. I don't mean to come off as a whiney bitch...When the snow starts flying, I'll be as obsessed with it as any...

i didn't get you wrong. like i said, i haven't been around much so only bachelor has ruined meadows for me so far.

[powholic]

I do the Meadows pass with a Ski bowl night and only hit ski bowl 4X last year due rain and such. Meadows has the best terrain, and similar snow conditions to Timberline but more frozen than ski bowl. All in all, not great snow, not huge terrain, but you are skiing...and living the ski life.

My suggestions, get BC gear, weekend BC at TDH or White River Canyon...weekday pow days hit Meadows. Timberline is super flat. Meadows has a high percentage of shit heads, and Ski Bowl is fantastic - but the snow isn't.

[Scotsman50]

All of the above.....but Mt Hood ( the Mountain) has some fine ski-mountaineering objectives for the late winter/spring touring season.
The tour up to the Hogsback ( the normal climbing route) is a fine ski down on hero corn if you time it right and if you go for the summit, the ski down the Old Chute is nice and steep. Then there is Wy'East Face, Cooper Spur, Zigzag Glacier, SnowDome etc, etc, etc.
I have booked the Silcox hut it the past and had some great ski-mountaineering trips on Hood.

[DeathVan]

Just to note: after skiing the conditions typical for Hood,
you will travel to ski other "better" places and ski with more power and skill than you have skied in the past.

Tough conditions make for tough skiers who can handle them.

Ski the Camel's Toe!

[k2skier112]

Mt Hood blows in general.
I lived in Portland for years and while it's a great city, the surrounding skiing really bites it. My apologies to the fine folks of Stumptown.

>> queue the defensive blast <<

The biggest ski area up there is Mt. Hood Meadows. It has it's supporters. I'm not one of them.

The best skiing is @ Ski Bowl which is low elevation, so even more prone to rain than even Meadows or Timberline.

Honestly, if I were you, I'd try a drive up to White Pass and see if that's too far. By SF-Tahoe standards, it's not far and it will get you a much better ski experience than Mt. Hood. The next closest decent skiing is either Crystal or Alpental.

White Pass?! It's a fun place, but nothing more exciting that Skibowl, the new terrain is like Timberline. Might as well suggested a fusion pass.

Skibowl management is far worse than MHM, I know, I had a pass last year, ignorant fuckers they are...