A series of major late-winter storms dropped several feet of fresh snow onto Mount Hood to bring the snowpack to its deepest level of the season heading into April.
Snow depth at 6,000 feet on the mountain near Timberline Lodge has improved from 41 percent of average in January to 63 percent in February, 85 percent in March, and 99 percent going into April.
The most recent storms brought five straight days of powder conditions over spring break, with light, fresh snow at all three major Mount Hood resorts March 26-30. Conditions were excellent from Meadows’ Private Reserve to Skibowl’s Upper Bowl, and once the wind eased down mountain crews began working to open new upper mountain terrain for April.
As of of March 31, the Mount Hood snowpack is:
- 164 inches at 5880 feet near Timberline Lodge
- 136 inches at 5380 feet at Mt. Hood Meadows
- 57 inches at 5010 feet at Skibowl’s Upper Bowl
For the sake of comparison, the mid-mountain snowpack is 75 inches at Aspen/Snowmass, 86 inches at Park City and 18 inches at Killington.
All three Mount Hood resorts are promoting spring attractions to make up for lost business in December and January.
Meadows and its terrain park partner SPT are building a 4600-foot Spring Park with jumps and rails extending from Vista Ridge to the Superpipe. The resort will host the Full Sail Banked Slalom on April 5, Ski to Defeat ALS on April 12, the Mazot Fest/Avy Dog Race on April 19, the Sno-Kona Pond Skim on April 26 and the Rams Head Randonee on May 3.
Timberline has rebuilt its popular terrain park on Conway and built some huge jumps on Paintbrush to prepare for the deluge of freestyle shredders who flock to town for the $99 spring pass good through May 26. Timberline’s spring events include Troops Triumph on April 14 and Easter at Timberline April 20.
Skibowl will hold its annual King and Queen of the Mountain contest on April 5 and its last-weekend-of-the-season festivities April 12-13.
Here’s a gorgeous #ShredHood Instagram shot of Alexandra Pallas Loren ripping it down PR Sunday:
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Last modified: March 31, 2014
