B10 The BulleTin • Friday, January 8, 2021
Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin
Skiers and snowboarders enjoy fresh snow at
Hoodoo Ski Area.
Ski areas
“We have been having a few
problems with people basically
refusing to wear their masks,”
McFarland said. “We’ll remind
them once. I don’t have any
reason to have my lift opera-
tors getting in fights with the
same people repeatedly. We’ll
just cut their passes, and they
can go home and think about
it, and maybe they’ll remember
better next time.”
Hoodoo requires guests to
wear masks in lift lines, on the
lifts, and anywhere around the
lodge.
“But really there’s nowhere
Continued from B1
McFarland said the holidays
were busier than usual at Hoo-
doo, which has a base elevation
of 4,668 feet.
“That could be attributed to
better snow,” he said. “We were
getting a few inches almost ev-
ery day, and people were ready
to get out and do something.
We had really good, steady
business all through Christ-
mas, and lots of happy, excited
faces.”
McFarland added that this
season, and for about the last
decade, Hoodoo has hosted an
increasing number of skiers
and snowboarders from Bend
and Redmond. The ski area
has typically drawn most of
its guests from the Willamette
Valley, but now it gets about as
many snowriders from Central
Oregon as it does from the val-
ley population centers of Eu-
gene and Salem.
“Our Central Oregon num-
bers have been going up quite
a bit,” McFarland said. “We’re
getting a lot more visitation
from the Central Oregon ad-
dresses. The number has defi-
nitely skewed more toward the
closer crowd as the Bend and
Redmond populations have in-
creased. It’s really gone up quite
a bit in the last decade.”
Willamette Pass (base eleva-
tion 5,120 feet) still draws most
of its skiers from the Eugene/
Springfield area, but sees busi-
ness from Central Oregon as
well, according to owner Tim
Wiper. Low snow years have
hit the ski area hard. In the en-
tire winter of 2017-18, it was
open for only a few days in
February. In the 2014-15 sea-
son, it was open only two days.
Unlike Mt. Bachelor ski
area, Hoodoo and Willamette
Pass do not have a parking
reservation system to limit
the number of guests due to
COVID-19. McFarland said
that Hoodoo was forced to
turn about 100 cars away on
Dec. 27 after the parking lot
was full by 10 a.m.
“That’s typically the busiest
day of the year nationwide in
ski resorts,” McFarland said.
“We’re guessing that won’t be
a problem again. That was just
one time in one month of be-
ing open.”
Mark Morical/Bulletin file photo
The back side of Willamette Pass features tree skiing and varied terrain.
Both Hoodoo and Willa-
mette Pass have severely lim-
ited lodge access and strin-
gent mask-wearing policies
to help prevent the spread of
COVID-19. Willamettepass.
com notes that “everyone
must have a face covering and
be prepared to wear it every-
where.” Lift tickets must also
be purchased online ahead of
time at willamettepass.com.
you need to be with your mask
off, unless it’s in your car, eat-
ing,” McFarland said.
With so much snow fallen
this winter, it seems a face
mask would be an easy thing
for skiers and boarders to wear.
And more snow is in the fore-
cast over the next few days
at both Willamette Pass and
Hoodoo.
“This season, the snow has
been phenomenal, and it keeps
coming,” McFarland said. “It’s
been great.”
e e
Reporter: 541-383-0318,
mmorical@bendbulletin.com
Central Oregon’s Best
Kept Secret
McFarland said that ski-
ers and snowboarders have
been understanding about the
lack of lodge access, but a few
guests have made issues of hav-
ing to wear mask.
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