April 2006 - Posts
Hi Folks,
The Second Season Spring Splash has been going great.
As previously discussed in this blog, if we have 4,000 total snowboarders and skiers per weekend (Saturday + Sunday), we will then open the next weekend. If we don’t make 4,000 on any given weekend - that will be considered the last weekend. We hosted 5,208 people over the last weekend in April.
If we make it to Memorial Weekend, we will also open Memorial Day (Monday, May 29th). That would be a 3-day weekend. We’re also hoping to add the weekend of June 3rd and 4th for a big final bash. But we’ve got to make it that far!
Mt. Hood Meadows is going to put its best foot forward to encourage all skiers and riders to come more frequently this spring. We’ve had a great deal of positive feedback on the May challenge and we want to make sure the experience lives up to the expectations of our valued guests. We’ll continue with the music, special events, Sun Deck BBQ and Beer Garden to keep the vibe alive!
I think we can get there. Bring your friends every weekend. Leave the coast for later. Windsurfing, mountain biking, golf and fly fishing will still be there in July and August!
Below is our planned operating schedule (subject to change):
Lifts scheduled (weather permitting) 9:00am to 3:00pm:
Mt. Hood Express
Hood River Express (if Main Lot is full and we are parking cars in HRM)
Cascade Express
Vista Express
Shooting Star Express
Heather Canyon
Buttercup
Note: Some of these lifts may start dropping off based on demand and conditions down low.
Shuttle Buses:
Running between HRM lot and Main lot if parking cars in HRM
Food Services:
Schuss: open 8:30am (continental style)…Lunch starts at 10am. Closes at 3:30pm
Coffee Cart outside the Gear Box with muffins
Sun Deck BBQ and the Massive Meadows Beer Garden: open 10am (weather permitting). Last call at 4pm.
Alpenstube opens at 10am. Last call 4-4:15pm
South Lodge Rental Shop:
Open all day. HOT WAX and Tuning available in the South Lodge Rental Shop.
Ski Check:
Open all day on the deck
Retail Stores:
Gear Box open all day with a HUGE SALE, including demo gear liquidation! Remaining demo equipment is available to rent also.
Boutique closed – all inventory moved to Gear Box – great deals on nice soft goods for next winter.
Ticket Sales Locations:
Concierge Desk
South Lodge Rental Shop
Hood River Meadows Lodge (if parking cars in HRM)
Snow Sports Learning Center:
All adult and children lessons will be sold out of South Lodge Rental Shop
Beginner Ski and Snowboard lesson packages available
½ day Children’s Lessons - morning and afternoon sessions available
Day Care Center is closed for the season
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Let us know how you feel we're doing by posting a reply. We want to hear from you. See you next weekend. Thanks for your support! – Dave
Hi Folks,
Thanks for all the great feedback this week regarding my last blog posting on the possibility of opening on May weekends.
Its final, we’re going forward with the “May Challenge”. Again, here’s the deal: we host a minimum of 4,000 people per weekend in May and we’ll open the following weekend. If total visits drop below 4,000 on any given weekend then that’s the last weekend. Season passholders count in the total. All season passes are honored through the last day we’re open this year. If we make it that far, we’ll also open for Memorial Day (Monday, May 29th).
Remember, we’re going 7 days a week in April still.
We’ll see how it’s going in later May and then talk again about June as we get closer. Your participation in May will help drive that decision.
Scheduled lifts will be Buttercup, Daisy, and Cascade Express. We’ll open Mt. Hood Express if Cascade is closed due to weather. A variety of great parks will be expanded on Cascade. Hours will be 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. If we get bigger crowds than I anticipate we’ll punt and open MHE also so the lines are not a hassle for you. You may see a few upper managers out there operating lifts in that event!
You guys are going to win this bet - aren’t you? Email all your friends and co-workers. Call them Friday and Saturday nights in May and make arrangements to meet at the lift. Get the buzz going. Bring friends who purchase tickets or talk them into purchasing a $99 Spring Pass now. No brown bagging please ;-) let’s make this work.
We’ll have BBQ and a beer garden on the deck with music. The Alpenstube and the Schuss will be open. Retail blow out sale. Demo skis / board blow out sale. Rentals and lessons will all be available. Daycare will be closed in May.
Thanks for being such a great community of dedicated mountain sliders. We may be changing history at Mt. Hood Meadows this spring. This is going to be fun - we’ll make sure of it on our end.
Sincerely,
Dave Riley, GM
Hi Folks,
As you know, we already extended our published closing date from April 16 to April 30. I’m now getting a few questions from our guests about extending the season beyond April 30th.
Visitation at the Meadows has been very good through April 9th and then dropped off significantly this mid-week, even though the conditions have been great. I’m expecting this weekend to be well attended because of the expected winter storm which will bring rain to the valley and powder to the mountain. No mowing the lawn this weekend folks!
So far, we really have not had any spring-like days. This endless winter has really been amazing. After this coming weekend, there are only two weekends left in April for the possibility of some great spring skiing and riding in the sunshine – hard to believe.
Ski area operators all whine and cry (including me) about how Pacific Northwest skiers and snowboarders hang up their boards too early in the spring. I was talking with my Marketing Director, Dave Tragethon today about this phenomenon and he said “Dave, if we want to change the way it’s always been then we need to partner with the riders and skiers to make the change”.
We then came up with an idea. What if we approach this as a challenge: We’ll stay open -if you keep coming”.
Here is how it could work. First, I don’t think mid-week in May is even worth trying so let’s just focus on Saturdays and Sundays. So, we’d close May 1st through 5th, then open May 6th and 7th. If we host no less than 4,000 people over those 2 days (average 2,000 people per day), then we will open the next weekend - May 13 and May 14th. That goes on through the month of May. As long as we host an average of 4,000 people a weekend, we’ll open the next weekend. If we drop below 4,000 people any weekend, then that was the last weekend.
We did some calculations and feel that if we can sustain that level of visitation; we won’t suck wind too badly. We’d only be running Cascade, Daisy, and Buttercup. Mt. Hood Express would run if Cascade was weathered out. We’d keep a great park open on Cascade. The Schuss, Alpenstube, and Sundeck BBQ would operate. We’d be prepared with bus drivers should we need to park in the HRM lot. The Gear Box / Demos, rental, Snow Sports Learning Center, Concierge/tickets would all be open. Daycare would be closed.
To give you an idea of how many people 2,000 people per day is, when the upper lot is full of cars and no cars are parked at HRM or the Annex, we have approximately 2,500 people at the resort. So, the minimum threshold we have to reach is to park the upper lot about 80% full each weekend day to keep going. That seems pretty doable if people are motivated.
Are you up for the challenge?
This would be for May only. We would evaluate the snow conditions and other factors in June to decide what to do next.
I’d be real interested in hearing your thoughts on this. Please comment to this blog!