With a 56-inch snow base at 4,000 feet as of early January, Mt. Hood’s premiere ski racing runs are back in action after two years of frustration and improvisation for the racing community.

The all-important racing runs of Stadium at Meadows and Dogleg and Reynolds at Skibowl have been largely off-limits to racers for the past two seasons due to limited snow at lower elevations. That has led to the cancellation of all sorts of competitions for youth, junior, high school and adult athletes. But this season’s dramatic El Nino weather shift has created healthy snow bases on even the steepest of low-elevation runs. That is good news for the Mt. Hood Mitey Mites, the PACRAT adult recreational racers, the Mt. Hood, Three Rivers and Metro High School Ski Leagues, the Oregon Interscholastic Snowboarding Association, and the Schnee Vogeli and Skiyente Ski Clubs.

The lack of snow over the past two seasons shifted numerous competitions up the mountain to Shooting Star and Gemini at Meadows and added pressure and crowds to Pucci and Stormin Norman at Timberline. The return of racing to Stadium, Dogleg and Reynolds this season should spread the crowds and allow racers to do their high-speed thing without interfering with recreational riders — and vice versa.

Young racers have been training hard on Stadium, and Schnee Vogeli was able to stage its first club race on that trail in two years, a lively dual giant slalom in a near white-out. PACRAT adult recreational racers held their first competition of the season last Sunday at Dogleg at Skibowl. And Metro League racers will be ripping it this weekend down Reynolds Run, a FIS-certified giant slalom course at Skibowl missed dearly by racers last season.

The return of Reynolds in particular bodes well for the Mt. Hood Masters Mania Race Weekend, scheduled for March 5-6 at Skibowl. 

The prospect of having options has lifted spirits in the racing community, as racers get to stick with their schedules rather than constantly begging for slope time at improvised locations.

Amanda Moran, president of Skiyente Ski Club, reports that last Sunday’s PACRAT/NASTAR  race on Dogleg at Skibowl was a big success:

PACRAT racing hosted their first NASTAR race in two years last weekend at Mt. Hood Skibowl. NASTAR is the largest grassroots ski racing program in the world and is open to all ages. In attendance we had 61 PACRAT racers and 23 non racers, the youngest being 5 years old. Former World Cup alpine ski racer, AJ Kitt, also joined us on the slopes as the official NASTAR pacesetter. It was a cold and snowy day at the mountain, but everyone was in good spirits and we were able to keep the course open for an extra hour giving all racers a little extra time to have fun.

PACRAT is hosting another NASTAR race on Sunday, March 13th at Skibowl and welcomes all skiers and snowboarders of all levels. Come out and try racing for the first time or run gates for practice, the more the merrier.

This coming weekend there will be the Winterstart Race for high-level juniors on Stadium at Meadows, plus high school races on Reynolds and another PACRAT race on Dogleg at Skibowl. The Mitey Mite season for racers under 16 years old opens on Sunday, January 17 with the Kids Kandahar at Skibowl, hosted by the Mt. Hood Ski Education Foundation. The young racer receiving instructions for her big run in the photo below is Ruby Maki, photographed at last year’s Kandahar. Between youth, school and adult racing, hundreds of racers of all ages compete regularly on Mount Hood.

Last modified: January 7, 2016