The April snow just keeps dropping on Mount Hood, making for outstanding winter-like conditions and guaranteeing a solid base to last into May and beyond.

There was a foot of fresh snow on the mountain Wednesday, April 23rd, and it was nice and light all morning. Powder hounds from Hood River to Hillsboro blew off work to shred some of the best powder of the season.

Here’s Hudson Knoll hucking with a nice, soft landing below:

Here’s the view from the Heather chair at around noon, with fresh snow piling up everywhere:

Here’s a rare image of the great freeskier Sammy Carlson shredding powder on a snowboard:

And here’s Josh Larkin stomping the landing after another one of his signature launch-into-the-statosphere jumps:

By mid-afternoon the snow had warmed up slightly and become a bit heavy, the visibility was pretty much gone and the falling snow had turned into a mixture of rain and sleet. But it switched back into snow overnight to add another five inches to an already healthy late-April base.

Temira is calling Thursday the last powder day of the season, and it will definitely be good today. But there also will be plenty of other good days ahead as the Mount Hood season extends well into May and beyond.

The National Weather Service forecast is calling for snow showers through the weekend, with sunshine expected to return by next Tuesday. By then highs will be well into the 40s, so if you want your last shot at winter powder before its gets sticky and slushy, you might want to act quickly.

You also might want to keep in mind that avalanche danger is extremely high right now. The Weather Service issued an avalanche warning Wednesday, recommending that backcountry travelers avoid the Mount Hood backcountry Thursday morning due to wet, loose snow and storm/wind slab avalanche conditions.

The upper mountain will probably stay closed due to high winds and avalanche danger Thursday, but the wind is expected to die down by Friday. Once the upper mountain opens (probably Friday) there will be plenty of snow to find and enjoy in wind-protected sanctuaries. And by the time Clark Canyon opens it should be sweet indeed.

Last modified: April 24, 2014