Mt. Hood Meadows is inching nearer to a huge land deal with the Forest Service that will make the biggest ski resort on Mount Hood a major property owner in Government Camp. If the slow-moving deal goes through, Meadows will own about 120 acres of land in and around Govy. So where exactly is this property?

As you can see from the map below, the property consists of two large forested parcels north of Government Camp Loop Road. The western parcel is across the loop road from the Ice Axe Inn and Collins Lake Resort, with a weird chunk carved out to make way for the Hoodland Fire District and the Mt. Hood Ski Patrol. The eastern parcel extends north from the same latitude into the forest just west of Summit Ski Area. It’s a Google map so you should be able to zoom and navigate to find whatever details interest you. But I can’t vouch for its cartographic accuracy, since I built it, using limited Google tools and a crappy pdf I got from the Forest Service.

In exchange for these two sizable blocks of prime property in Govy, Meadows plans to turn over 770 acres to the Forest Service in the vicinity of Cooper Spur. Environmental groups and orchardists blocked a proposal by Meadows to expand around Cooper Spur, and part of the compromise deal was a land exchange between Meadows and the Forest Service. The process has moved at a government’s snail pace, and negotiations between Meadows and the Ski Patrol and the Hoodland Fire District are still ongoing.

There is also a major negotiation behind-the scenes between Meadows and proponents of an aerial tram connecting Govy with Timberline Lodge. The right-of-way for the would-be tram runs through the western parcel of land going to Meadows. It is unclear what will become of the right-of-way for the tram line with the ownership change of this swath of land.

It is also unclear how much space will be reserved for existing trails including the Skiway Trail, a popular return run down from Timberline for folks with condos in Collins Lake.

But there is no denying that if and when this land deal comes to pass, it will have major impacts on property values, traffic, economic development opportunities and all sorts of other things on the mountain.

What do you think? Will this land exchange help take Govy to the next level, or will it screw up a good thing?

Oh, and sorry about the weirdness of the map. Unfortunately Google has limited what you can do with its “create a map” function. For some reason the info box sits right in the way. But if you click on the full screen box in the upper right hand corner and then click and drag to move the map, you should be able to navigate the map well enough to get a sense of the size and general location of the land Meadows would receive.

Got a better map? We’d love to see it, and publish it. Send it on over!

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Last modified: September 18, 2013