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About What's happening. (Eugene, OR) 1982-1993 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 1985)
Downhill Skiing by Jackie Berry It's time for Alpine skiing enthu siasts to head for the hills and strap them boards on their feet. The winter ski season officially opened at many resorts during the last two weeks. Willamette Pass, Mt. Bachelor, Hoodoo Ski Bowl and Timberline soon hope to ac quire the final few inches of snow needed to open. Eugene area skiers don't have to go very far to find superior slopes. Mt. Bachelor, Willamette Pass and Hoodoo Ski Bowl are all within close proximity. It's pos sible to make a one-day trip to all three areas, although I personally find it almost impossible to make the three-hour drive back from Bachelor after skiing all day. Mt. Bachelor Steve Turner at Mt. Bachelor reports the area changed its name this year to the Mt. Bachelor Ski and Summer Resort. The area's fairly new Summit chairlift runs into July and August for skiing or for taking in the spectacular view from the 9,000* mountain. Mt. Bachelor has a couple of special deals —a first-time skier package and a "kids stay and ski free" package —as well as num erous lodging and skiing packages covering every price range. The first-time skier special costs $29 for one day and $56 for two days. It includes morning and af ternoon lessons, equipment rental and a lift ticket for the beginner chair lifts. Turner says this special is "extremely popular," and that 80 percent of the people who try it continue to MPHIIC ski. The "kids stay and ski free' package will begin sometime in January. Details haven't been fin alized, Turner says. Bachelor is located 22 miles southwest of Bend. It sports 10 high-speed chair lifts and 500 acres of machine-groomed trails and it is open seven days a week. Lift tickets cost $20 for a full day for adults and $12 for children aged 12 and under. Adults also can purchase full-day lift tickets for the orange and yellow chairs for $12. The trails accessible from the orange and yellow chairs pro vide plenty of stimulation for be ginning skiers. Half-day lift tickets can be used from 12:30 pm until They cost the lifts close at 4 pm. $16 for adults and $9 for children. The lifts start moving at 9 am on weekdays and 8 am on weekends. Besides the first-time skier les son package, Bachelor also offers group and private lessons for any one from age four on up. Day care is available for chil dren aged six weeks to six years. The Bachelor staff recommends reserving spots in the day care program early because it often fills up. Day care people also will schlepp children aged four to six out to the Tiny Tracks Ski School and back. Parents of the young children can see the little nippers flopping around in the snow from many of the slopes and from the main lodge. Bachelor's amenities include four lodges, equipment sales and rentals, food and drink ranging from snack-bar style to leisure dining, as well as lock-ups for skis and for personal belongings. The Bachelor staff maintains its own roads and parking lots so a Sno-Park permit isn't necessary to park there. Dozens of rooms await over night visitors to Mt. Bachelor, many with packages available through the Mt. Bachelor central reservation line —382-8334. Write to Mt. Bachelor at PO Box 1031, Bend, OR 97709. Willamette Pass Willamette Pass, located 70 miles east of Eugene via Highway 58, is the newest and closest ski area to Eugene. It's the only resort in the state, besides Bachelor, at which you don't need a Sno-Park permit to park in the parking lot. Skiers familiar with the Willa mette Pass area also will be glad to know the chair lifts have been speeded up, according to Karla Wilson of Willamette Pass. The area has two chair lifts and a rope tow. A full-day lift ticket costs $13 for adults and $9 for children 12 and under. A half-day lift ticket costs $9 for adults and $6 for children. Lifts operate from 9 am-4 pm Wednesday through Sunday. Night skiing starts on selected trails after Jan. 1. Lift ticket rates for twilight (12:30-10 pm) cost $13 for adults and $9 for children. Night rates (4-10 pm) are $9 for adults and $6 for children. Willamette Pass boasts one lodge offering all of the basic amenities including equipment rental, lockers, lessons, and food and drink. Day care is available and the staff at Willamette Pass recommends reservations because the day care fills up and is some times cancelled if no one signs up by the day before. A major expansion is in the works for Willamette Pass, but it is on hold for this year, according to Wilson (See article on WPSC expansion plans.) The closest lodging is at Odell Lake Lodge, Odell Lake, or at the Eagle's Nest Resort at Crescent Lake Junction, both seven miles away. For more information about Willamette Pass, call 484 5030. Hoodoo Ski Bowl Hoodoo Ski Bowl is almost as close as Willamette Pass —86 miles east of Eugene on Highway 20 — and it offers $5 lift tickets during finals week, Dec. 17-20. You need a Sno-Park permit to park in the Hoodoo parking lot. The permits cost $2 for a day or $9 GrD Eugene’s Cross-country Ski Professionals 13th & Oak • 343-6088 for a season and you can purchase them from any motor vehicles of fice and at some resorts and ski shops. One permit can be used for any road or parking lot in the state. Hoodoo has no day care but will offer a Ski-Wee program starting this year. Ski-Wee pro vides a full day of activities for children starting at age five, in cluding lunch and a ski lesson. Hoodoo has three chair lifts and a rope tow. A lift ticket for an adult costs $10.50 for a whole day; senior citizens and children under six ride free. A rope-tow ticket costs $5.50. Hoodoo operates Tuesday through Sunday except during school vacations and holidays when it's open on Monday also. They plan to open the weekend before Thanksgiving (Nov. 23 and 24) and to operate only on weekends until Dec. 17. Hoodoo has a new advanced run; they replaced all of their ren tal equipment and cleared and widened existing runs. Food, drink and lessons are also avail able. The closest lodging is the Blue Lake Resort in Sisters, the Meto lius River Lodges and Resort and the Black Butte Motel and RV Park, all in Camp Sherman. Call the Hoodoo Ski Bowl at 342-5540. Four ski areas grace Mt. Hood National Forest near Portland: Timberline, Mt. Hood Meadows, Mirror Mountain (formerly Mul torpor Ski Bowl) and Cooper Spur. You need a Sno Park permit to park at all of these facilities. Timberline The Timberline ski area features the historic, national landmark Timberline Lodge, pictured in some of the outdoor segments of 'The Shining." It's located 60 miles east of Portland. One special the area offers is a "stay the night, ski free" package for Sunday through Wednesday nights. A lift ticket is given to up to two occupants of a room. Rooms range in price from $50 to $97. Seniors also ski for free on weekdays and for half-price on weekends and holidays. The ski area is open seven days a week. It has five chair lifts and two rope tows. A full day-night lift ticket (9 am-10 pm) costs $16 for adults and $11.25 for children; a full day lift ticket (9 am-4 pm) costs $15 for adults and $10.50 for children; a half day ticket (morn ing or afternoon) is $11 for adults and $9 for children; swing shift (1-10 pm) costs $14 for adults and $10.50 for children; night (4-10 pm) costs $12.50 for adults and $8.50 for children; and short night (7-10 pm) costs $8 for adults and $7 for children. The area also has a day lodge with food, drink, rental equip ment, lessons, and offers the Ski Wee program for young ones. Timberline now operates in full swing and can be reached on the telephone by dialing 1-800-452 1335. Mount Hood Meadows Mount Hood Meadows built a new “north” lodge and renovated the "south" lodge for this year's alpine season. Steve Bratt, direc tor of skiing at Mt. Hood Mea dows, calls it “a dream come true" for people who work there. Mt. Hood Meadows, located 68 miles from downtown Portland, provides an electronic ski message center in Sandy which flashes up to-date information about events and conditions at Mount Hood Meadows. Meadows has eight chairlifts and a free rope tow. On weekends, adult tickets cost $19 for a day; juniors 12 and under buy tickets for $12. Mid-day (11 am-7 pm) and swing (1 pm to clos ing) tickets cost the same. Evening tickets (from 4:30 pm to closing) cost $11 and $8; and all-day, all night lift tickets (from 9 am to closing) cost $21 or $12. Weekday rates are the same except for day, mid-day and swing tickets which cost $17.50 and all-day, all-night tickets which cost $19.50. Hours are 9 am-4:30 pm, Mondays and Tuesdays. Wednesdays through Fridays lifts stay open until 10:30 pm, Saturdays until 10 pm, and Sundays until 7 pm. The area has the usual amenities of food, drink, lessons, and rental equipment. It also offers a chil dren's activity program called Kidski for children from age 4. Closest lodging is at Govern ment Camp, 11 miles away, and at Welches, 18 miles away. The area can be reached by calling 337-2222. Mirror Mountain Mirror Mountain is 53 miles east of Portland on Highway 53. The biggest news at this area is that it plans to build a hotel/con vention center at the mountain which will include four new chair lifts and a gondola, a new day lodge, and the hotel and con vention center. Right now, Mirror Mountain has four chair lifts and six surface tows. All are fully lighted for night skiing, unlike most areas that light only some of their runs at night. Lift tickets for adults cost $16.50 on weekends and $14.50 during mid-week. Children's lift tickets cost $10 for a full day. Hours are 9 am-4:30 pm. Night skiing costs $10 for adults and $8 for children, and the lifts stay open until 10 pm. There's a night ly special for $8 from 7-10 pm, and a Sunday and Monday night special from 5-10 pm which costs $7. Mirror Mountain has food and drink facilities, lessons, rental equipment, and equipment sales. Closest accommodations are at Government Camp and at Rippl ing River. For more information, call 289 2500. Cooper Spur Cooper Spur, located 24 miles south of Mt. Hood on Highway 35, has only one T-bar and a rope tow. But a full day of skiing on the bar only costs $6 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under, and $3 and $2.50 on the rope tow. Night skiing costs $3 for adults and $2.50 for children on the bar and $2 and $1.50 on the rope tow. All lifts cost $1 on Wednesday nights. There is a special weekday intro duction package. Cooper Spur offers a snack bar and rental equipment. Closest ac commodations are in Hood River. Call the area at 352-7803. Mt. Bailey For skiers bored with the same old trails (or not) and for those looking to blaze new personal ad ventures in skiing, Mt. Bailey of fers the most unique opportunity. Located 80 miles east of Rose burg off Highway 230, the moun tain has no lifts, although the ul timate goal is to get one. So, ac cess to the top of the mountain is once daily by two snowcats. Each day, the snowcats transport 20 or fewer intermediate-to-advanced skiers to the top of the ungroomed hill to spend the day, with guides, making their way to the bottom. The full day of skiing includes six to eight two-mile runs and lunch. One day of this blissful activity costs $85, including the meal but not including equipment. Mt. Bailey's Marketing Director Shelly Hummel says skiing Mt. Bailey is "really becoming quite the thing to do in Oregon." She says experienced skiers from the west coast say it's the best snow available on the west coast. Five other snowcat accessible, alpine mountain areas exist in the United States, three in Canada. Hummel coordinates the ski trips to Mt. Bailey through the Diamond Lake Resort. Packages including dinner, breakfast and lodging are available. Two days cost $222, three cost $324 and five cost $528. No alpine equipment rentals are available and facilities only exist at the Diamond Lake Resort. The resort offers snowmobiling and a ski-sliding hill with a rope tow. Hummel says there's no organized day care; but babysitting ar rangements are possible. Nordic rental equipment is available. For more information call 793-3333. Five other ski areas beckon to skiers in Oregon: Mt. Ashland, Warner Mountain, Dixie Moun tain, Anthony Lakes and Spout Springs. Parking at all the areas requires a Sno-Park permit. Mt. Ashland Mt. Ashland lies 18 miles south of Ashland off 1-5. It will observe Ladies' Day on Wednesday start ing in January. Ladeez will receive a free glass of champagne and a free lesson at noon. Seven lifts, a T-bar and a rope tow allow skier access to runs. A poma lift operates on weekends. A full day's (9 am-4 pm) lift ticket for an adult costs $14, for children aged 7 to 11 the cost is $11, children six and under ride free. Half-day lift tickets (from 12:30 pm) cost $11. A full day on the lower lifts costs $11. Just the rope tow costs $4. Lift tickets for night skiing cost $9. The rope tow at night costs $4 and a marathon ticket from 9 am-10 pm costs $18. Lifts operate on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Mt. Ashland rents and sells equipment, offers lessons, has food and drink, and Ski-Wee and racing for the kids. The closest lodging is in Ashland. Warner Mountain Warner Mountain is 10 miles northeast of Lakeview. The area has one T-bar leading to eight runs for beginning to expert skiers. Daily lift ticket cost is $7.50, a half day costs $5. The area has a day lodge and a shelter, rents equipment and gives lessons around Christmas. Closest accommodations are in Lakeview. A shuttle is available from Hunters Resort in Lake view. Call Warner Mountain at 947-2379. Dixie Mountain Dixie Mountain lies east of Eu gene, between Bend and Burns, near Prairie City. This is a kind of bare-bones spot with a single rope tow that costs $1.50 per day to use. There's a warming hut with coffee and candy bars for sale. Closest ac commodations are at Prairie City. Call Dixie Mountain at 820-3642. Anthony Lakes-Spout Springs Anthony Lakes and Spout Springs both hover in the north eastern part of Oregon and both are managed by the same com pany. Both areas have discount pack ages for first-time skiers. Anthony Lakes has one chairlift and a poma lift. Spout Springs has two chairlifts, a rope tow and a poma lift. Lift tickets at Anthony Lakes cost $14 for a full day for adults and $10 for children. A full day on the poma lift costs $7. At Spout Springs, lift rates for a full day (9 am-4 pm) or swing (1-10 pm) cost $12 for adults and $7 for children. Night skiing (from 4-10 pm and not available at Anthony Lakes) costs $9 for adults and $7 for children. Both areas rent equipment, of fer lessons, have food and drink and have standard daycare as well as daycare/lesson packages. Closest lodging to Anthony Lakes is at North Powder —22 miles —or at La Grande—42 miles. A hostel in Elgin is Spout Springs' nearest lodging —18 miles. Mil ton-Freewater lies 35 miles away and Pendleton is 44 miles away. Call both areas at 963-8282. Happy skiing! Catch you on the slopes!
