Everyone wants to know “When are you going to open?” And our reply is always, “As soon as we have enough snow and a forecast that lets us sustain a quality experience for our guests.”
Here’s what we are looking at right now. With the favorable forecast we have which has snow building this week and arriving most heavily between Wednesday and Friday (with bigger pulses over the weekend) we are cautiously optimistic about limited operations this Friday. We do need the snow from this forecast storm to open even on a limited basis. Just how much of the mountain we will be able to open depends on how much snow we get, and when it gets here. Our mountain crews need time to prep the snow and the rest of the mountain. This activity includes track-packing/grooming, ramp building, chair seat installation, avalanche mitigation efforts, running rope/closures, tower-pads, etc.
For the time being, and up until the time we begin active set-up for winter operations (beyond the Buttercup/ER/Daisy terrain) we will not enforce our restricted up-hill travel policy that is in place throughout the winter. However, if you are skinning for turns know that:
- There is currently no patrol or other assistance available.
- There is no hazard marking (low snow conditions create unexpected and barely visible hazards).
- Be aware of and stay clear of snow harvesting activities in the base
- Visitors are on their own and we strongly encourage that they go elsewhere.
- Once we start set-up we will no longer allow up-hill travel.
- As always sledding is not allowed (there are many other areas on Mt. Hood that accommodate that activity).
We will update our conditions page each day, and you can join us each morning this week at 9 AM on Facebook Live for a daily briefing about our opening plans as well as other information about the season. We will begin our daily snow reports the day we open.
Snow Report Sign Up
As a reminder - here are some of the things you can do to make it snow.
Make it Snow Rituals
We will see you on the mountain soon!