The forecast is calling for clear skies and sunshine on Mount Hood from Christmas to New Years.
There isn’t much snow to shred, but the visibility should be sweet. A classic inversion pattern has cloaked Metro Portland in wet, dark fog, but above 3,000 feet it is looking mellow and warm, with very little wind.
That is very good news in this low snow year. The snow on Palmer and Magic Mile should be good at Timberline, although you will definitely want to watch out for crowds and rocks. The same holds true for Cascade Express and Vista Ridge at Mt. Hood Meadows, which is recovering from a hellacious ice storm and should soften up dramatically with the higher temperatures.
Meadows opened Vista Express for the first time this week and will have four high-speed quads running for the holidays. The Meadows Park Crew also opened Vista Park with two jumps and two rails, giving holiday riders four parks to explore at Meadows.
Timberline has jumps and jibs at Palmer Park and Thunder Park, and may be able to open Conway in some form soon.
But the list of Mount Hood lifts closed and awaiting more snow as of Christmas day is long:
- Jeff Flood Express
- Hood River Express
- Heather Canyon
- Stadium
- Lower Bowl
- Upper Bowl
- Multorpor.
Skibowl has been unable to open its chairlifts for the holidays for the first time since 2004. The resort is surviving on tubing at Skibowl East and Yeti Park laps at the Rope Tow Terrain Park at Skibowl West.
With nothing but sunshine in the forecast for the next weekend, Skibowl will be largely out of commission for a while, and the various freestyle competitions and races scheduled for Skibowl in January are all in jeopardy. It’s looking like a very slow start to 2013-14 for PACRAT and Mitey Mite racers, not to mention the high school alpine racing teams that are supposed to be cranking up training right about now.
But at least there should be sunshine.
Last modified: December 25, 2013
