Page 2
December 1,1999
Focus
Jhivtlauh ©beeruer
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Ski lodges gear up for winter with new lifts, higher prices
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I W TW Partial Okaamr
WA
« S
i l *, ?
Hodag is coming and La Niña
returns. Also making their debuts
are th e “ M agic C a rp e t” and
Scapolo’s, not to mention the $43
lift ticket.
Those are the names getting most o f
the buzz as local skiers wait for the
curtain to rise on the final winter
recreation season o f the 20th
century.
Hodag, a new quad chairlift nearing
completion on the west slope o f
Hoodoo Butte on Santiam Pass _
around 40 miles northwest o f Bend
_ should be the b ig g est new
attraction.
Named after a fictional critter that
loves deep snow , H odag w ill
provide access to more than 200
additional acres o f skiable terrain at
Hoodoo Ski Bowl.
Five new black- and blue-diamond
runs have been carved through the
area to provide more challenges for
in te rm e d ia te and advanced
snowriders.
Hodag and its associated runs are
the first installment in a major
upgrading o f the state’s second
oldest ski area planned by its new
owner, Chuck Shepard.
The second installment, scheduled
for construction next summer,
should even be more impressive.
S h ep ard , a E ugene b u ild e r/
d e v e lo p e r, plans to begin
construction o f a new $3 million
day lodge in April.
La Niña, as every dedicated skier
and snowboarder knows, is the name
given to the weather pattern that
produced more than 500 inches o f
snowfall at Cascade ski areas last
winter.
IfLa Niña does her thing as expected
this year, ski runs at Hoodoo and
every other resort in the Pacific
Northwest will again be inundated
with snow.
“We are certainly very optimistic
that w e’re going to have a year of
ab u n d an t sn o w ,” said K athy
DeGree, vice president of marketing
, for Mount Bachelor Ski Area west
o f Bend. They will open as soon as
they have enough snow.
Hoodoo was slated to wait until the
day after Thanksgiving. Due to a
m anufacturer’s delay, however,
Hodag may not be operational until
sometime in December.
Meanwhile, skiers will have to dig
a little deeper into their pocketbooks
this winter if they want to ski at
Mount Bachelor, home o f the $43
lift ticket.
The daily adult pass cost only $39
when the resort opened for business
last N ovem ber. A m id-season
increase, however, boosted the rate
to $41.
“We feel the price that w e’re
charging for an eight-hour day of
skiing or snow riding is really fair,”
said DeGree. “We have the lowest
cost per skiable acre of anybody in
the entire W est... and our lifts were
just voted No. 1 in Ski Industry
News’ reader survey.”
In addition, with discounts available
through the new Express Pass
program and the various “point
system” options, DeGree said, very
few people will actually pay the
listed daily rate. “With the Express
Pass, we really think that daily lift
ticket is not $43, but $38,” DeGree
said.
B oth H oodoo (at $26) and
Willamette Pass Ski Area ($29) will
charge the same for a daily pass as
they did last yeai.
Then there’s the “Magic Carpet,”
which will make its Oregon debut
this season at Willamette Pass Ski
Area.
“It’s like a conveyor belt for first-
time skiers,” said Randy Rogers,
W illamette’s director o f skiing. It
w orks ju st like those m oving
walkways in maj or airports, he said.
The Magic Carpet will carry ski
school students about 120 feet up
the gentle hill where beginners go
through their first “progressions.”
The device should make learning to
ski just that much easier, Rogers
said. “No longer will they have to
side-step up the hill every time,” he
said.
Finally, a new restaurant, together
with two new coffee and juice bars
on the mountain, are indicative of
Mount Bachelor’s new emphasis
on en h a n c in g the “ c re a tu re
comforts” that people like to enjoy
while relaxing in the lodges between
runs, DeGree said.
“With all the express lift technology
we now have, it takes half as much
time to ski the same amount as 10
years ago,” she said.
“You can only ski so much in a day,
so our guests are wanting to spend
more time around a comfortable
fire or lingering over coffee or a
good meal.”
Providing more comfortable and
a ttra c tiv e su rro u n d in g s was
Shepard’s top priority when he
purchased Hoodoo last spring.
“The first time I came here was in
the early 70s and I was really turned
off by the lodges,” Shepard said.
“ T hey w ere crum m y. T hey
reminded me ofice skating warming
huts.
“You know, this is a great place for
Al. ■PT*
kids, for teen-agers, but it’s not
really nice and I would like to make
it so that it is nice, so that people
c o u ld com e here and be
comfortable.”
In his first summer at Hoodoo’s
helm, Shepard spent thousands of
dollars sprucing up the south day
lodge, in addition to the $700,000
the new chairlift and ski runs cost.
Nothing has been done, however,
to the North Lodge building_ other
than to hang a sign reading “Going,
going, g o n e ...”
The building will be razed in April
and the new 40,000 square-foot
lodge will rise in its place.
Shepard, who will be his own
contractor, already has the floor
plans and has staked out the location
ofthe new lodge, which is scheduled
to be completed early in 2001.
Shepard won’t stop there. He plans
to make improvements every year
for five years, with the goal o f
doubling the number o f skier visits
over that period. Hoodoo drew only
about 40,000 skiers last season.
Among the planned improvements
in future years are the addition o f a
snow play area for inner tubes and
sleds, and replacement o f the Red
and Green chairlifts.
Shepard was able to move so quickly
in making changes because Hoodoo
already had a U.S. Forest Service-
approved master plan specifying
the changes.
“I don’t have to go through all the
environmental impact stuff_that’s
been done already,” he said. “It
could be for the $1.5 million, I
bought a masterplan and everything
else kind o f came along with it.”
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