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TUESDAY EDITION
December 21, 2021
SPORTS, A7
Are we in
for a white
Christmas?
By DICK MASON
Anthony Lakes Ski Resort
opens for season after recent
storms blanket the mountains
The Observer
LA GRANDE — A white
Christmas may be on the horizon
for the Grande Ronde and Wallowa
valleys.
La Grande and Enterprise may
receive up to 2 inches of snow on
Christmas Day, according to the
National Weather Service, Pend-
leton. If there is snow it will likely
come in both areas at about 4 p.m.
Wind velocity may be what
determines whether there will be
snow on Christmas Day, according
to Roger Cloutier, a National
Weather Service meteorologist.
“It will depend on the wind
coming out of the southeast,” he
said.
He said if there is strong wind
from the southeast there likely will
not be snow on Christmas Day, but
if there is no or little wind, snow will
be much more likely. Cloutier said
that wind blowing hard has a drying
impact that reduces the likelihood
of snow.
Cloutier noted one reason the
Grande Ronde Valley often has lim-
ited snow is the strong southeast
wind blowing in from Ladd and
Pyles canyons.
“It warms up and dries out the
air,” he said.
Conditions in the Grande Ronde
and Wallowa valleys are expected to
be cold and dry in the days leading
up to Christmas.
On the snow front in La Grande
heading into Christmas there will
be a 50% chance of snow in the
late afternoon on Tuesday, Dec. 21;
a 60% chance of snow throughout
Dec. 22, a 50% chance of snow late
in the morning into the evening eve-
ning of Dec. 23, and a chance of
snow on Dec. 24.
The Grande Ronde Valley has
received limited measurable snow-
fall over the past week, but that is not
true in Wallowa Valley, which was
hit with a deluge of snow over the
past weekend. The reported snow-
fall was heaviest in Joseph, which
as of 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 19, had
received 6 inches of snow during
the past 24 hours, according to Matt
Callihan, a meteorologist with the
National Weather Service.
The snow projections leading
up to Christmas in Enterprise will
be much lighter, according to the
National Weather Service. Its fore-
cast calls for a 30% chance of snow
on Dec. 21, a 20% chance of snow
on Dec. 22 during the day, a 40%
chance of snow throughout Dec. 23,
and a chance of snow on Dec. 24.
In La Grande the high tempera-
tures are expected to be 38 degrees
on Dec. 21 and Dec. 22, 36 degrees
See, Christmas/Page A5
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
N
ORTH POWDER — Ski season is back in
Northeastern Oregon.
Recent snowstorms have opened
Anthony Lakes Mountain Resort just in
time for winter break and skiers fl ocked to
the slopes on opening day, Saturday, Dec. 18. Conditions
were ideal as ski resorts across the Pacifi c Northwest
continue to see a rise in traffi c during the COVID-19
pandemic.
“There’s a lot of folks excited to get out and ski this
weekend and through the holiday break.” said Chelsea
Judy, the marketing director at Anthony Lakes. “We
defi nitely expect to see it busy, but maybe not quite like
last season.”
See, White gold/Page A5
Photos by Davis Carbaugh/The Observer
Above, snowboarders walk the incline near the Alice’s Wonderland learning area and,
below, a group of skiers descend Road Run slope at Anthony Lakes Mountain Resort
during opening day, Saturday, Dec. 18, 2021. The resort received enough snow from
recent storms to open the slopes just in time for winter break.
Painter loves tricking the eye
Pendleton artist
wins commission
for art installation
in La Grande
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Most all
of us have experienced looking
at something and seeing only a
jumble, then marveling when
everything suddenly resolves into
crystal clarity.
Pendleton artist Jason Hogge
cultivates those moments in the
art he creates. He loves optical
illusions, three-dimensional
pieces and anything that tricks
the viewer’s eye.
Last month, the La Grande
City Council approved Hog-
ge’s idea for a large public art
installation to sit in front of
Cook Memorial Library. The La
Grande Arts Commission earlier
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Pendleton artist Jason Hogge’s idea for
a large art installation was chosen by
the La Grande Arts Commission to sit
in front of the Cook Memorial Library.
The piece will include four diff erent
murals in one.
selected the artist and his concept
and needed a go-ahead from the
city council.
Hogge envisions about 25 con-
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crete panels that will become
pieces of several murals, view-
able from four spots.
“It’ll be partly sculpture and
partly mural using concrete
panels that look randomly spaced
and turned at diff erent angles,”
Hogge said. “When you stand
directly in front of it, it looks
jumbled.”
The murals will reveal them-
selves when viewers look from
separate designated spots at eye
level — though the last is meant
to be viewed from a child’s
height.
“Adults will have to get down
on their hands and knees to be
low enough to see it,” Hogge
said.
The fi rst mural will depict two
Native American women gath-
ering camas backdropped by
a wide expanse of the Grande
Ronde Valley. Hogge modeled
the scene after a photo of one of
his wife’s ancestors and another
woman digging for camas root.
His wife, Ethel Hogge, her sister,
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Wednesday
31 LOW
39/35
A bit of snow
Rain/snow
shower
WHO’S BUYING OREGON’S FARMLAND, AND WHY?
Irene Jackson, and her niece, Rey
Jackson, modeled for a newer
photo, which Hogge will paint.
He bases the second mural on
an old photo of a Black logger
named Lafayette “Lucky” Trice
who logged in Wallowa County
and later was a well-known busi-
nessman in La Grande. Hog-
ge’s mockup of the mural also
includes an old bridge, a water
wheel, the historic staircase
leading to Eastern Oregon Uni-
versity and four railroad workers
— two of them Chinese — oper-
ating a handcar.
The third mural will high-
light La Grande as a place of rec-
reation, education and the arts.
In the mockup, a salmon swims
toward a fi shing lure. Bear prints
and the footprint of a hiking boot
mark the soil. A paintbrush and
a graduation tassel fl oat midair.
Like the others, this mural is still
developing in Hogge’s fertile
imagination.
See, Artist/Page A5
CONTACT US
541-963-3161
Issue 149
2 sections, 16 pages
La Grande, Oregon
Email story ideas
to news@lagrande
observer.com.
More contact info
on Page A4.
Online at lagrandeobserver.com