Avalanche
Three huge avalanches triggered earlier this week inside gate-accessed terrain at Mt. Hood Meadows, OR resulted in the resort closing entry to the popular Heather Canyon. Two of the slides occurred on Tuesday and the third Wednesday as a result of mitigation work by the resort.
Meadows sees slides of this magnitude maybe two to three times every couple of years, resort spokesman Dave Tragethon told Oregon Live. He said they would likely occur more often if the resort didn’t perform ongoing avalanche control work, which regularly produces small slides.
The crown of the third of the avalanches was estimated to be 20-feet deep and avalanche debris is piled 30-feet high in spots. Heather Canyon, some of the most rugged terrain at the resort, will be closed at least through the weekend, and will only reopen once crews can clear egress for skiers and snowboarders.
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According to Oregon Live, the slides originated in the resort’s Super Bowl and upper Clark Canyon, as well as an area Meadows refers to as “the Basalts,” which is above the resort’s A-Zone. Meadows remains open, and skiers can safely ski elsewhere in the resort.
