Section
SAN DY. O R E G O N THURSDAY. JA N 8, 1981
Sports
A typical Government Camp winter scene is full of snow.
and Recreation
» “ **>»* s« ® '11111 “ e8 barre“ lh i' January.
Lack of snow cripples Mt. Hood ski resorts
by M A R K FLO Y D
People dreaming of a white Christ
mas in the Mt. Hood area came away
disappointed this year.
Now they may have to set their sights
on Valentine’s Day.
A lack of snow can be a problem early
in the season on ML Hood, but things
are usually up to snuff by the first of the
year. Not this year, though.
The recent mid-winter drought has
all but shut down skiing activities on
Mt. Hood. Meadows, Multorpor-Ski
Bowl and Summit have all been forced
to close operations and Timberline is
the only resort to remain open in the
first week of January
The recent heat wave has caused
obvious financial suffering — not only
for resort owners, but for numerous
employees who have been laid off.
“ We haven’t made a financial
estimate in terms of loss yet, but it’s
been a
lot,”
sighed
Kathleen
Wiscavage, marketing assistant at Mt.
Hood Meadows. “ One of our biggest
seasons is over Christmas and we were
hurt financially. That’s where we get
most of our funds for summer im
provement.”
Meadows opened Dec. 3 and
remained open most of the month. But
rains and warm tempeartures forced
Meadows officials to close the resort at
the end of December.
“ Most of our base is gone now,”
Wiscavage said. “ But it was overcast
and frozen this morning and that’s a
good sign A ll that we need is a two-foot
base to open and one good snow storm
would do it. We’ve got a double
problem, though. If it does snow, we
may have a problem getting our em
ployees here because of the slides on
Highway 35.”
The rains which melted most of the
snow in December also caused large
mud slides which closed much of High
way 35 between Government Camp and
Hood River and prompted Gov. Vic
Atiyeh to declare the region a disaster
area.
Wiscavage said that some of
Meadows’ employees have been using
Long Prairie Road and that crews are
just beginning to punch through at
Cooper Spur. But, meanwhile the
drought continues, and just 40 em
ployees are still working at Meadows.
Wiscavage said that the resort hires as
many as 300 during its peak.
The snow is completely gone at
Multorpor-Ski Bowl. The resort opened
Dec. 5 and remained open for two
weeks. But things have been totally
shut down since, except for one rainy
weekend, according to Julianne Martin.
“ Our opening was about two weeks
earlier than usual,” Martin said. “ It
caught us by surprise — we were still
training people. Now everyone’s just
waiting.”
She said that all of the lift crews and
restaurant crews have been laid off.
Only 10 people are working now
whereas the resort w ill hire as many as
150 during peak days.
The only place that hasn’t been
totally decimated by the warm weather
is Timberline. The lodge recently
opened the Palmer lift for the first time
during winter months and the move has
been a great success, according to
Timberline director Dick Kohnstamm.
“ We’ve had Palmer open, summer
style,” he laughed. “ I t ’s been a great
help and the crowds have been good.
We’ve had to let very few employees go,
down just a few from our peak. Palmer
has spelled the difference. The skiing
up there Friday, Saturday and Sunday
was just fabulous — couldn’t have been
better.”
Kohnstamm estimated that business
is down about 25 percent, bpth on the
slopes and for visitors to the lodge.
“ How much of that is the lack of snow
and how much is the recession I
couldn’t tell you,” he noted. “ But I have
seen much fewer snowplay vehicles
than ever before, so it might just be the
recession.”
Timberline’s other lifts would need a
good snowfall, because “ we’d be
Gophs, Sandy
to tangle in
crucial dual
TV L girls basketball
Pioneers rally to nip Foxes
T IM B E R V A L L E Y
LEAGUE
W
Sandy
1
Oregon City .................................................. 1
West Linn ..................................................... 1
Estacada ........................................................’
Silverton ....................................................... 0
C anby.......................................................... - ®
Sweet Home ................................................. 0
M o la lla .......................................................... 0
L
0
0
0
0
1
1
,
1
RESULTS:
Sandy 36, Silverton 34
Oregon City 72, Sweet Home 38
West Linn 70. Molalla 44
Estacada 48. Canby 42
by M A R K F LO Y D
Char McKinney sank a 15-foot
jumper with 46 seconds left to give the
Sandy High girls basketball team a 36-
34 win over Silverton Monday.
I t was the Timber Valley League
opener for both teams
The Pioneers had a rough time of
fensively all game — a two week layoff
during Christmas vacation may have
had something to do with that. As a
result, Sandy fell behind by nine points,
2&-16, late in the third quarter But
Sandy Yantes keyed a comeback with
six late points and the Pioneers crept
back into the game
Dawn New sank a pair of free throws
for Sandy to push the Pioneers into
their first lead of the game, 32-31, with
3:32 showing on the clock The teams
traded baskets then Silverton’s Elise
Lowe sank a free throw to knot the
score at 34-34
The Foxes regained control and
called timeout for a strategy session
But before they could get a shot off,
McKinney tied up Lowe. Silverton got
the tip but Diane Beals had a rare miss
from the wing and Yantes came down
with the rebound
The Pioneers worked it around and
found McKinney, a 5-foot-9 senior
forward. She wasted no time going for
the jumper which found the mark from
near the free throw line. That put Sandy
up 36-34 and the Foxes took another
timeout. It didn't do much good.
Kim Smoot missed a shot from the
top of the key for the Foxes and her
teammate, Chris Fisher, traveled after
hauling down the offensive rebound
The Pioneers took over at the far end
of the court with just 20 seconds left and
brought it up court. For some reason
unknown to the Sandy coaches and
fans, Silverton did not press full court
and it didn’t foul the Pioneers, who
were just eight of 20 from the line on the
night.
Yantes dribbled around for a while,
fed Linda Mosbrucker and the game
was over.
No one could have been happier of
that fact than Sandy coach John Smith,
who saw his team fall behind 6-0 and go
the first six minutes of the game
without scoring.
“ The girls really wanted that win,”
he said. “ They were really up for the
game — maybe too up. We had to call
timeouts twice in the first few minutes
and talk about patience and settling
down. The girls were intense the whole
game, but things just didn’t go our way.
“ It wasn't artistic, but I was really
impressed with the way the girls
scrambled the whole game.”
The first six minutes were a disaster,
though. Silverton came out and passed
the ball like a college team. The
Pioneers were a step slow and forced to
foul. But they overcame that 6-0 deficit
within a couple of minutes as
Mosbrucker hit from the side and
McKinney pumped home a pair of
jumpers, the last coming on an of
fensive board with 15 seconds left in the
quarter.
Both teams missed a lot of shots in
the first half, but the tough defense may
have had something to do with that. The
Pioneers forced a lot of passes and
missed some open shots, but made up
for it with a sticky defense. The half
time score was a ridiculously low 13-11
in favor of the Foxes.
Beals turned things around for
Silverton in the third quarter. She hit
three long range bombs from the same
spot and the Foxes moved out to their
biggest lead of the game, 25-16. The
Sandy defense would stick with
Silverton’s passing game for three or
four passes, then slow down and let
Beals take the open shot. She canned
four of five in the second half and that’s
what gave Silverton the lead.
But the 6-foot New began to assert
herself inside and Yantes settled down
after a rocky first half. Smith had said
earlier in the season that it was im
portant to get the lead because the
Pioneers were not a come-from-be hind
team.
That may be true in most cases, but
they certainly proved him wrong
Monday night.
McKinney led the Sandy attack with
18 points and 12 big rebounds, her best
all-around game of the season New had
seven points and 10 rebounds.
Preparing for a dual swimming meet
is much like playing a game of chess.
Both coaches w ill spend hours trying
to figure out the proper event to place
certain swimmers in order to pick up
the maximum amount of points. A lot of
times it doesn’t matter — one team is
usually sufficiently stronger than the
other.
But the chess game may be an im
portant factor this Thursday. The
Sandy High swimming team travels to
Gresham for a 4 p.m. dual meet with
the Gophers and the teams are very
evenly matched, especially in the girls
competition. Gresham, on the basis of
depth, should rate a slight edge in the
boys race.
“ They have a pretty strong team,”
admitted Mark Smith, coach of Sandy
“ We know it’s going to be tough any
time
we’re
swimming
against
Gresham. In making out the lineup,
we’ll put our people in certain events
according to what we feel they’ll do
with their lineup.”
It could come down to the final event
in the girls competition Sandy is a
slight favorite to take district, but
Gresham tied the Pioneers at the
league relays. It's that close. The Sandy
boys edged Gresham at the relays, but
the Gophers were plagued by
disqualifications,
something
the
Pioneers can’t count on to happen
again.
Beals led all scorers with 11 points.
A much tougher task now faces the
Pioneers. Sandy travels to West Linn
Thursday for a date with the Lions who
are the surprise of the Timber Valley
league to date. Everyone expected
West Linn to be a playoff contender, but
not many people thought they would get
through preseason with just one loss.
And the Lions have looked as strong as
league favorite Oregon City.
The game is scheduled for 7:45 p.m.
in the West Linn gym.
Smith isn’t sure how the meet will
turn out and he isn’t about to divulge
where he w ill place his top swimmers.
But he knows that the Pioneers are
going to have a battle on their hands
“ It all depends an how everyone
competes,” Smith said “ I ’m sure
they'll be out to break times They have
the home-pool advantage and they get a
lot of support from their parents We’re
hoping to get some support, too The
kids are really looking forward to
meeting Gresham I t ’s been quite a
rivalry lately.
Sandy to host Oregon City cagers
The Sandy High boys basketball team will make its
home debut for league play this Friday, hosting the
Oregon Q ty Pioneers
Sandy Pioneers sitffered a loss to Silverton
Tuesday, 47-42 in their Timber Valley League opener.
Oregon City, one of the favorites for the TVL title,
opened with a 57-45 win over Molalla.
Both teams could be in contention for a league playoff
berth None of the eight TVL teams survived preseason
with a winning record. Oregon Q ty, West lin n and
Canby are early picks to finish atop the league
Game time this Friday is 7 45 p.m for the varsity The
junior varsity game is scheduled to begin at • p jn
See page 2 for the Sandy vs Silverton wrapup
starting from scratch. But in the
meantime, Palmer has kept the resort
from declaring financial disaster.
“ We don’t want to say we’re crying
the blues,” Kohnstamm said.
Many of the support services in the
Government Camp area have also
suffered financial hardships. Business
is down an estimated 40 to 50 percent
and many of the experienced em
ployees have left the mountain in
search of work elsewhere. That means
new employees w ill have to be trained
should the snow ever return to Hood’s
slopes.
There isn’t much anyone can do but
wait until a cold, and wet, front moves
in from the north. In the meantime, ski
resort operators and employees w ill
just have to grin and bear it.
And enjoy the warm weather.
C h « McKlnu»-> (22t moves in for rebound position against Sandy Kerning of
Stlvertoa. McKinney scored the wim ing hoop for Sandy with 46 seconds
remaiMag la give the Pioneers a M 4 4 victory In their T V L opener
“ If we don’t break times and get what
we want from our people, though, it’s
not going to be a very competitive
meet,” Smith added We really need
some broken time« ’
The meet to scheduled for 4 p.m at
the GUHS pool
I