Mt. Hood Meadows Conditions Report: 12/18/13

Bevan Waite | | Post Tag for Conditions ReportConditions Report

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Mt. Hood Conditions Report:

Mt. Hood Meadows is one of three resorts on Mt. Hood and holds the most advanced terrain Oregon ski resorts have to offer.  This season seems to be starting off slow, however, and much of the lower resort facing south(ish) is completely melted out.

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There are many runs that looks like this.. as you will see documented.  Snow coverage is something that cannot be forced (to a certain extent), and the resort is doing everything it can to provide the access to it’s most filled in areas.  Ski patrol and other workers were hand shoveling snow for hours onto the half brown ski trail that connects mt. Hood Express with Cascade.

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Even though some runs are melted out, others (mostly east-north facing) have decent coverage.
The snow quality is variable spring conditions.  What’s in the sun is soft and mushy within an hour or two and what’s in the shade is icy and/or cruddy.

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Regardless of the coverage, there is still LOTS of fun to be had on those parts of the mountain that are filled in.  Cascade was open for a few hours, but closed down because of wind by noon.  The upper Cascade runs are by far the most covered runs on the mountain.  Because of the sun exposure up top, most everything gets soft and fun on Cascade sometime throughout the day. The ridge run/cornice run is shaping up quite nicely and is already jump-able.

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3 1/2 bowl chutes are not even close to being ride-able.

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The face, 1 bowl, 1 1/2 bowl, 2 bowl, 3 bowl and 4 bowl all have decent coverage and are fun when the snow softens up.

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Because of the low coverage, 1 bowl has an intermediate cliff band below and skiers right of the blue chair cliffs.  When 1 bowl softens up these have been quite fun to drop.

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The upper portion of the mountain is filling in slowly, but nicely.  With another storm these lines will be good to go.

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Sunset skiing at Hood (when the sun is actually out) is amazing.

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