MEADOWS BLOG

Meadows' team addresses the issues you're interested in!

Summer Improvement Update

Hi Folks.

Here’s a midsummer update of the projects we are currently engaged in as we ready for the upcoming season.

The big construction project is the new Medical Clinic and Ski Patrol HQ – which is located in the main base area between the bottom of Daisy and the vehicle shop. The new building will double the space for the Medical Center and provide a state-of-the-art facility for medical response. It will also house a larger base of operations for our expanding ski patrol operations. There will also be room for parking and transportation offices. The building is a significant upgrading that will provide improved working environments for our clinic, patrol and transportation staffs. We are following LEEDS standards in the construction of the new building, which furthers our commitment to sustainability and to safety.

The Schuss is undergoing a major remodel. The front counter has been redesigned to move the line more efficiently and reduce the order to pick up time. We’re replacing the equipment and appliances in the kitchen and the tables out front.  All the food and beverage areas are undergoing general equipment upgrades and equipment replacement designed to improve quality and service for the guest as well as allowing us to become more energy efficient in those operations.

We are also remodeling the North Lodge bathrooms on the slope level, similar to the improvements we made to the 1st floor bathrooms last year. Speaking of bathrooms – our season locker holders will be glad to hear that we are installing a unisex bathroom in the locker room. No more having to run upstairs.

There’s some big news in the “Fun Zone” – we’re replacing our rope tow with a WonderCarpet skier/rider conveyer. It’s 280 feet long and is fully enclosed. It’s a far more comfortable uphill conveyance than a standard WonderCarpet and certainly the rope tow it replaces. The whole length is supported on a deck that can be raised and lowered with the snow depth allowing us to open this lift reliably on time, regardless of snowfall. It will make the first-time experience for beginners and especially kids even more enjoyable.

It is a very busy summer for our I.T. department. We’re significantly upgrading our season pass software, allowing greater flexibility for picture taking and products in the future.  We’re also installing direct to lift access with a scanning system at our chair lifts. Our lift attendants will have scanners to read tickets and passes. This will allow certain products – such as the 10 Time Pass – to bypass the ticket window and go direct to the lift. We’ve also changed over to a new email server and phone system – internal improvements that ultimately will improve communications both within our company and with our guests.

We’ve placed a significant order for new rental equipment – Salomon skis, snowboards, boots and bindings. We’re in our third year of partnership with Salomon and have basically replaced all of our rental equipment during the partnership.

We've purchased three Prinoth 350 snow cats all with terrain master tillers and blades to replace older cats. Meadows continues to differentiate itself from other ski resorts with one of largest and current snow cat fleets, and highly skilled team of professional groomers who are also riders and skiers.

Our web site skihood.com is undergoing a redesign that eventually will improve social networking capabilities on the site. It will still provide our guests with the most updated mountain information, as well as the place to purchase season passes and eTickets.

Over at Cooper Spur Ski Area we are building a new ticket office – which will expedite ticket lines. In the past all business had to go through the rental shop – now those that only need lift tickets will be served much faster.

This is just a quick listing of the more visible projects we are working on this summer. This is over and above the general lift and facilities maintenance that occurs every season, which is also considerable.

Season passes will be going on sale September 1, just a month away, so get ready. The season will be here before we know it!

Onward!

Your Meadows Team

Posted: Jul 29 2008, 08:44 PM by MatthewDrake | with 7 comment(s)

Comments

Paco said:

No mention of artillery?  I guess we can safely assume this was nothing but a pipe dream for the 08-09 season.

Remodels are always a nice thing but have very little impact when your on the snow.  New rental equipment will enthuse a small amount of customers preparing for the coming fall.  Most of these improvements sound more like required yearly maintenance/revision.  I see nothing 'new' to get excited about this coming season.

Not to sound like the glass half-empty person, but myself I would have liked to see some type of improvement that would extend operating conditions or on-piste safety to allow earlier opens or during storm cycles.

The website has changed very little from closing day months ago,  this new website must be inhouse still.  Still very minor when the focus should be all about sliding on snow.

I hope prices do not increase too much, as the facilities and serviceable terrain are much the same as previous years.  The cost to reach your resort has doubled and in some cases tripled so we are already having to pay extra to even show up.  With all the renewable energy you proudly tout Meadows uses, your own facilities should be impacted by the cost of oil less than your customers.

Thank you for your work and dedication,  this is just one gaper's opinion.

Meadows Response:

Paco: Great post! The howitzer project is moving forward, but we're still meeting with the numerous agencies, contingents and stakeholders as we move through the administrative process. We haven't reached a point where we can make any public comment or announcement.

The remodels, improvements and upgrades will have a noticeable impact on both our guest and staff experience, which is consistent with our desire to become the  "Best in the West in Guest and Employee Loyalty." But we do understand what you're saying about being able to offer more off-piste experiences. We're working on it.

The website is internal at this time - we're switching the backbone upon which it operates to allow us to more easily and frequently update content, particularly content which our guests and web visitors believe to be important. We have just updated the Cooper Spur Mt. Resort site - it does a much better job showing the beauty and uniqueness of the property with large format photographs, many slide shows and video capabilities. You can preview the new site here.

We'll be announcing season pass pricing September 1 when passes go on sale on our web site. 

Again thanks for the post! We appreciate the opportunity to be able to address your comments.

-- Meadows Team 

# July 30, 2008 5:33 PM

nicbot said:

Sounds like some good work is being accomplished up there as far as safety, families and new-comers are concerned.  I applaud that.  But I must add that as someone who has no children, will most likely be a season pass holder again, and doesn't spend the majority of my time in the lodge, I'm left feeling a little left out <cry>.  I'll wait till the season is actually upon us to pass judgment though ;)

"...The whole length is supported on a deck that can be raised and lowered with the snow depth allowing us to open this lift reliably on time, regardless of snowfall. It will make the first-time experience for beginners and especially kids even more enjoyable."

Can this be done or applied throughout all of Meadows? :P  I think at least the motive should be.

Is it normal to have to wait till September to know how much season passes are going to be?  I can't remember how it was the last few years.  I just knew I had to have my 400 bones ready and that was that.

Thanks for the update Meadows Team.

Meadows Response:

Nicbot: Great to hear from you. Good points - we are making improvements that will improve the experience for all of our guests and we appreciate you reserving judgment until the season gets underway. We will be focusing on consistency this season in opening the lifts and runs as early as safely possible.

We've traditionally announced pricing around the first of September - last year because of the 40th Anniversary we set and announced pricing a bit earlier. But as you know this last month of summer is going to shoot by fast! Enjoy it and we'll see you on the  mountain soon.

-- Meadows Team 

 

# July 31, 2008 4:53 PM

mastercraft1995 said:

What are the plans for improvements for us RV'ers? Are we going to get power this year? Since my son and I spend about 20 nights a year in the parking lot we would like to know.

Are you making the actual lodge (seating) any bigger?

Are you doing anything about the cattle crossing (Express and Shooting Star intersection) to make it safer?

Did High Cascade move to MHM like they where talking about?

Are you going to have Friday night Snowboard and Ski Lessons from 6pm to 10pm again for 30 bucks for kids?  

Meadows reply:

mastercraft: Hope your summer is going well. Here's some quick answers to your questions:

We'll still have overnight RV parking, same as in the past. No RV services are being installed this summer. We may be putting a limit on the number of RVers who can overnight park to prevent overcrowding, and placing a limit on the number of consecutive nights. More on that later.

We're not doing any summer grading at the cattle crossing area, but we will continue to push snow into the dip this winter to even out the transition so riders don't have to carry as much speed into the area.

We've remodeled the North Lodge restaurant seating area and added about 36 additional seats there.

High Cascade runs its summer camps at Timberline as Meadows is not open those months.

We're still planning on the Friday Night Clinics for this season, although the decision isn't yet final and we haven't set pricing for it.

Thanks for the post! Sorry for the delay in responding (see Meadow Lark post for explanation).

--Meadows Team

# August 1, 2008 1:59 PM

Meadows Lark said:

"installing direct to lift access with a scanning system"

Seems like a big change.  I'm not too bothered by it.  I guess it is the E-Age, huh.  It is kinda funny though how it was strategically mentioned.  Quick, and in middle of a multiple subject paragraph, very smooth.  I remember a huge discussion about it sponsored by the blog last year.  My real concern with that is the personal touch.  Just make sure we're still being greeted by friendly and helpful human lifties.

Thanks for the new carpet.  My boy will take advantage of that in a year or two.  As long as I can still afford to buy a pass and drive to the Hood.

BTW, Paco said the rest of how I feel.

Meadows reply:

Lark: Great to hear from you! Didn't mean to bury the lead - we are excited about the direct to lift aspect that scanning provides. We'll staff up for it and make sure we  provide the personal touch. We know how important it is to welcome and greet our guests at the lifts.

My apologies for the delay on the post. We are upgrading the application which runs the Blog and needed to work through the glitches.

--Meadows Team

# August 4, 2008 10:56 AM

intelisevil said:

Meadows Team

I don't see any mention of changes or improvements over on the HRM/Nordic side of the mountain.  Are things going to be left alone to continue with the smaller, friendly atmosphere we've come to enjoy?

I'm looking forward to seeing the new scanning equipment out at the lifts.  It should help shorten the ticketing lines considerably!

Summer just got here and I'm ready for it to be over . . .

Meadows reply:

intelisevil: Not to short change anyone's summer, but a couple of days in the relatively cool August sure felt like fall was around the corner! This week's heat wave will remind us to enjoy summer while we can. Other than normal building, trail and lift maintenance Hood River Meadows will be much the same - friendly as you described. We will be able to scan at the lift, which means those 10 Time Pass holders who park at HRM will be able to go direct to the lift and avoid the lift ticket line.

Thanks for the post!

--Meadows Team

# August 8, 2008 3:01 AM

jamie said:

I like how the paragraph about the Sno-Cats is EXACTLY the same as it was in a blog from last summer.

Meadows reply:

Jamie: Meadows has been purchasing three new snow cats each season for quite some time now. Sorry for the redundancy, we should freshen up the description since these Snow Cats are so capable of making the most of snow conditions, whether building features in the terrain parks or laying down corduroy.

Thanks for the post.

--Meadows Team

# August 10, 2008 10:04 AM

Boarder93 said:

hey im getting phsyched for the upcoming season! im already drooling for some fresh pow and deep snow. But as i was thinking... since im usually a night boarder, it would be totally awesome to put some lights over on hood river xpress which could be accesed by Stadium. simply because i usually get bored of going down the runs on mt hood xpress. maybe you should take a poll and see who thinks its a good idea. another thought was to some day get another bigger lodge over at HRM. simply because it would make the main lodge way less crowded, and if you're a HRM boarder you wouldnt have to go all the way to the main lodge just to get one thing. any way i think this season is going to be the bomb... and thanks for putng out the awesome deals again this year!!!!

Meadows reply:

Boarder93: Thanks for the energy! We're excited about the upcoming season as well. We have studied lighting HRM - it's too expensive to pursue at this time. And we are exploring options for additional lodge facilities on the mountain. See you on the slopes soon!

--Meadows Team

# August 26, 2008 12:42 PM