Meadows Blog

Awesome Saturday Leads to Easter Sunday

4/3/2010 9:20:00 PM by Meadows Team in Connection, Media Center | 11 comments

Our miracle March has taken us into Amazing April. Saturday was our peak day of the season - it's amazing what the attraction of 6 feet of fresh powder will do. Our apologies to those who were turned away today - but our lots were full by 10:30 AM and we had no place to park, resulting in some turn aways. In situations like this we update our snow phones, web page, twitter feeds and Facebook page regarding parking lot status. We started those today at 9:30 AM anticipating a busy day. As some of the morning powder hunters left for the day, we allowed parking on a space by space available basis - and by 11:40 AM we were back to parking most everyone coming up at that time. 

Visibility and storm recovery prevented the operation of Cascade and Vista - the storm continued throughout the day. There's so much powder cats couldn't even make the climb this morning to the top of Cascade. We'll continue working on both lifts to get them open Sunday - a nice Easter gift for sure! We also couldn't open Heather due to extremely poor visibility - significant debris in the main Heather gut at Twilight with evidence of airblast - significant concern about the Clark side and debris/airblast hitting the run out. We know it was disappointing for guests not to be able to get into Heather today but safety comes first. 

 

Sunday should present the same exceptional conditions - but being Easter we don't expect as many guests. But you never know, as awesome as the conditions are (and as the pictures below will attest to) what would you rather be doing with your Sunday?

Happy Easter - and we'll see you on the mountain soon!

Sammy Carlson on a powder day @ Mt. Hood Meadows Richard Hallman Photograph
Sammy Carlson in S&R Cliffs photo by Richard Hallman.
Sammy Carlson on a powder day @ Mt. Hood Meadows Richard Hallman Photograph
Who needs a terrain park - Sammy can fly anywhere! Richard Hallman photo.

 

Randy Boverman in the powder at Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Resort
Photographer Randy Boverman puts down his camera long enough to enjoy the powder! Grant Myrdal Photography.

Skitch the Sasquatch in powder at Mt. Hood Meadows - Aaron Schulz photographer for Grant Myrdal Photography
The powder even brought out the elusive Sasquatch - that's how good it is! Aaron Schulz photographer, Grant Myrdal Photography.

11 Comments

  1. Kraemer

    April 4, 2010

    Great job with the singles lines lately! You guys are doing a great job flushing through 3 chairs of singles when it's crowded!

  2. Karl g

    April 4, 2010

    Great day today, but someone took my black Burton Malolo 166 snowboard with purple burton cartel bindings out of the HRM parking lot. If anyone hears anything or can return it to me, please email karl@blancomedia.com.

  3. Keith N

    April 4, 2010

    Sunday 4/4. To the snowboarder in gold coat who must of got a great untracked run in upper Heather around 2:30 pm. I witnessed that run away ski smack you straight on. So glad it didn't do damage. Couldn't believe that ski could find you on such a big hill.It was like a heat seaking missle. Nice job surviving a big hit.

    Meadows: A reminder to everyone about rule #5 - Always use devices to help prevent runaway equipment.

  4. evan

    April 5, 2010

    um, i thought S&R was closed on saturday? so, sammy carlson got his own private run for the day? : )

    Meadows: Hi Evan. Good catch. The pictures were sent to me Saturday - they were shot Thursday, April 1. There wasn't a private session, but there were some great shots taken that day!

  5. buster

    April 5, 2010

    when will we see reduced lift ticket prices this spring?

    Meadows: The daily ticket price may not change. The $99 5 time pass really presents the best deal.

  6. k2skier

    April 5, 2010

    I was I could echo your statements Kraemer. I came up by myself on Tuesday the 30th (i'm usually with my son) and took the singles line all day. First chair of the day was Express which went smoothly, then I skied SS and Vista to avoid the crowds. Around 10:30 I ended up back at Express with a full maze and picked out a pereson who entered the main part of the maze as when I entered the singles line. They got on the chair about 15-16 chairs ahead of me, so I mentioned to the lift host that he should manage the singles line better, his responese, why dont you find 3 other people then. WOW! Isn't that what the singles line is for or am I wrong??!!

    Meadows: The singles line is intended to supplement the other maze lines to complete four people to a chair. It isn't intended to be an express lane or even to match speed of the other mazes necessarily. We'd prefer that our guests group themselves together in the regular mazes as much as possible and only use the singles lane to turn a triple into a quad. You shouldn't enter the singles line thinking that you'll be riding with others in the singles line - although sometimes we may take two out to combine with a two-some.

  7. k2skier

    April 6, 2010

    You missed the point completely. I'm fully aware of the purpose of the singles line, and I saw it abuse by couples all day long. When the maze is full it is up to the lift host to make sure the singles line isn't stagnant. On all other rides the lines moved nicely, but the one host wasn't letting any singles go unless it was 1 to fill a triple.

    So you're saying, when one goes up solo, that we're supposed to find others to quad up with and avoid the singles line? Isn't that what the singles line is for?

    Meadows: I think we're saying the same thing pretty much. Singles line is to match up a single or two to fill a quad. We will pull a quad from the singles line if the line is causing runs to be blocked. When I'm skiing by myself I always go to the main mazes and ask to join up with a double or triple. It's a great way to meet people.

    To have a lift host tell me to find 3 others was rude and just down right wrong! If the point is to find 3 others to ride with why not just get riid of the singles line altogether?

    Such a weak response.

  8. joshua Tappert

    April 6, 2010

    I totally agree with the way Meadows handles the "singles" line. Its not a place for everyone to jump in to get a quick ride. Everyone starts doing it as soon as they see the lift operators trying to keep the line down by running it faster than the rest. This causes a big mess and makes us organized people mad to see everyone get on before us. Then we jump over to the singles and then its all a big mess. The best way to run it is to keep pace with the rest of the lines. Then groups of 3 and 4 wont jump into the line and make it take longer for the real singles that need to be in the line...

  9. lift line gazer

    April 7, 2010

    w/r/t singles lines.....someone should do the math. in order to be fair to everyone in all lines, the singles line should proceed 4 times as fast as a quad line. similarly, a triple line should move at 4/3 the speed of a quad line, etc. everyone that gets in line deserves to be seated on a chair at the same rate, regardless of how big their group is. furthermore, people should not be "saving spots" in line for their friends after they are already in line. the place to wait for people is before getting in line. thanks for listening. : )

    Meadows: Thanks gazer. Although higher math and a day on the mountain don't always coincide =0}

  10. Harrison

    April 8, 2010

    Dear Mount Hood Meadows,

    Your place is fantastic. I try to come to your place often. I like your web site. I was wondering. Why can't you be open till 7:00 PM instead of 4:00 PM? The reason I would like to know is because it gets darker later. Hope you're doing well.

    Meadows: Thanks Harrison. The additional costs of extending our lift operational hours is not affordable particularly at this time of year. So we set our operational schedule during the hours that the most people are able to ski and snowboard. Thanks for the question!

  11. Jason

    April 12, 2010

    "The singles line is intended to supplement the other maze lines to complete four people to a chair. It isn't intended to be an express lane or even to match speed of the other mazes necessarily"

    I agree and usually ride with 3 others so we always have 4 and take the "maze." But, and I have always thought this, why on a busy day when you are pulling sides don't you always pull 2 singles from each side to make a chair of 4? The singles are right in the front so it could easily be done....Just a thought

Add a comment

  1.  
  5. Submit