UPDATE: As of Feb. 15 the free Fusion Shuttle bus from Skibowl West to Timberline will no longer operate.

Fresh snow and sunshine lured thousands of skiers and snowboarders up Mount Hood last Saturday morning, and by 10 am there was nowhere left to park at Timberline and Mt. Hood Meadows.

Unfortunately for latecomers to Timberline, the shuttle bus up from Skibowl West also filled early, leaving dozens stranded in Government Camp to wait for the next bus.

Latecomers to Meadows were shuttled up from Welches Middle School and Mt. Hood Store on Hwy. 35.

Meadows and Timberline have been trying for years to add parking spaces but the process with the Forest Service is a laborious one. There is also a long-awaited plan in the works to build a 1500-space parking lot in Govy at the base of a gondola running up to Timberline.

Unfortunately, the tram is probably 15 years and 15 million bucks away from happening. In the short term, here are links to some key resources that might come in handy when you know it’s going to be crowded up there:

The Mt. Hood Express bus to Skibowl and Timberline: The schedule is here.

Park & Ride Buses to Meadows: You can catch them in Tualatin, Beaverton and Gateway. Get details and make reservations here.

Sea to Summit: Sea to Summit offers private shuttle buses from Pioneer Square in downtown Portland to Meadows, Timberline and Skibowl. Call or e-mail for prices and details: 503-286-9333, [email protected]

Catch a Ride: If you’re in a hurry to get to the slopes, the fastest way is usually by 4X4. And you don’t need to stand out by the highway freezing your thumb off to catch a ride. ODOT operates a carpool resource called drivelessconnect.com. And finally, with your help, Shred Hood is building up its Classifieds section with a carpool category for Rides/Partners. Okay, so nobody is using this service yet, but hey, we just launched. It could catch on and it could work. But we’re up against this little thing called cragslist (that’s another story)…

Remote Parking: When the lots are full you can catch a shuttle from Welches Middle School and Mt. Hood Store to Meadows. Details about the Meadows remote parking spots are here.

Twitter! Twitter is the easiest way to get the latest info from the resorts, from ODOT, and from Shred Hood.

Last modified: February 1, 2014