Industry News
This past weekend Mt. Hood Meadows, OR, experienced major traffic and parking jams. Skiers and snowboarders heading to the resort spent hours in traffic, both coming and going. Even after the holiday traffic is beginning to peter out, many ski areas are still experiencing crowds.
Like many other areas, Mt. Hood Meadows has experienced an influx of traffic. This past weekend was especially bad. After a massive storm cycle had just moved through, everyone headed up to the mountains to enjoy the pow. However, parking lots were filled to the max, and local highways were at a standstill. Some waited in traffic for five hours to get to the nearest town Government Camp, just 11 miles away from the area.
In a preemptive effort to prepare for MLK weekend, the resort plans to cut off the sale of multiple passes. Mt. Hood Meadows offers multiple different passes, an all-access pass, a value pack, as well as a night pass. In December, the resort stopped selling all-access passes to diminish both roadway traffic, as well as traffic at the area itself. Now the mountain plans to pause the sale of the night passes as well as the value pass.
Ending the sale of night passes will hopefully allow daytime parking traffic to leave, which will enable current night pass holders to find a parking space with ease. This season all-access pass sales were decreased by 40% compared to pre-pandemic seasons. Not only will passes of these kinds be unavailable from now on, but the ski area plans to limit the amount of same-day tickets sold to fine-tune the expected number of visitors each day.
The resort says that part of the jam is related to the ongoing covid pandemic. Not only are fewer people carpooling, but there has been a decrease in the use of mass transit to and from the area. As a result, more cars are commuting on the highways as well as contributing to fuller parking lots. They plan on plowing more parking lots in preparation for the upcoming weekend.
Photo is fake.
There’s always been heavy traffic on the weekends on hwy 26, heaven forbid it snows because Oregon drivers can’t drive in the snow. I remember passing over a hundred cars straight heading to govy, like twenty five years ago.
Socialism sucks. So does Oregon. Wait another 10 years. It will get worse.
I’m not “uber right”, but this commenter isn’t wrong. The roadways leading to and around Mt. Hood are insufficient to say the least. Even a modest investment in the interchange between Timberline Road and Hwy 26 and similarly with Ski Bowl, lower Government Camp and Hwy 26 would help tremendously. There needs to be more lanes to ease congestion on these peak days.
Oregon government should be ashamed, but they have no shame. Traffic is horrendous EVERY Saturday and Sunday afternoon/evening. Your photo above shows 2 lanes, but there are key sections of the highway that is only 1 lane, including a key section going through and below Government Camp. Gas taxes go for bike paths and guard rails, but they resist adding the needed lane. 20 years from now there will be no improvement. I think they hope we all will ride bicycles, or better yet stay at home and plug into the Metaverse. Ugh.