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• B SECTION • FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 2021
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Terrain is varied at Edison Butte Sno-park.
Edison
Butte
Sno-park:
a ‘favorite’ among locals
BY BRIAN RATHBONE • The Bulletin
Sledders, snowshoers, snowmobilers each have
a place to play at Edison Butte Sno-park.
With 12 marked snowshoeing and cross-
Photos by Dean Guernsey/
For The Bulletin
Edison Butte Sno-park
is dog friendly.
“You can take your
dog, there are shelters
everywhere so you can
have a fire, hang out —
sometimes, I’ll pack a
lunch and drinks and
hang out.”
— Liz Bluhm, an avid
cross-country skier
from Bend
At this time last year, Hoo-
doo Ski Area had just 18 inches
of snow and was forced to close
for a week.
But Mother Nature deliv-
ered the goods this winter, as
the small ski hill near Sisters
boasted a snowpack of 57.7
inches as of Thursday and
hosted a significant number of
skiers and snowboarders over
the holidays.
“It’s been a fantastic snow
year,” said Matthew McFarland,
general manager at Hoodoo.
“We’ve been getting a snow-
storm, on average, every other
day. We’ve had a couple of rain-
storms, but other than that, it’s
been snow, upon snow, upon
snow.”
Last season, Hoodoo did
not open until Dec. 26, but
this season, it was able to open
during Thanksgiving weekend
for just the fourth time in the
past 20 years.
Willamette Pass ski area,
which has also struggled in re-
cent winters to remain open,
opened in time for the winter
holidays this season and had
to hear the roaring engines.
“It is a fabulous resource,” said Alan Rutherford
country skiing trails — all conveniently
of Sunriver. “Snowmobilers go one way ; we
with names like “High Voltage,” “Tesla” and
(snowshoers and skiers) go another way. I heard
“Alternating Current” after lightbulb inventor
one just as we were coming back. For the most
Thomas Edison — ranging in difficulty and
part, we are separated, which is nice because you
distances, with loops running from less than a
can enjoy the ambiance of the forest.”
mile to more than 5 miles.
With minimal snowfall in the Bend and
There are also areas for sledding and trails for
Sunriver area, Rutherford, along with his friend
snowmobiling at the park, which is located east of
Bud Morris, have been regulars at the sno -park,
Mount Bachelor on Forest Road 45. Most of the
where several feet of snow have fallen in the
snowmobile trails and the snowshoeing/cross-
higher elevation areas.
country skiing trails do not intersect, allowing for
Small ski areas: Let it
snow, and keep snowing
BY MARK MORICAL
The Bulletin
peaceful exploration of the forest without having
a reported snowpack of 36
inches as of Wednesday.
Located about 70 miles
southwest of Bend off state
Highway 58 between Central
Oregon and Eugene, Willa-
mette Pass is open Wednesdays
through Sundays from 9 a.m.
to 4 p.m.
Hoodoo, located 45 miles
northwest of Bend on San-
tiam Pass, is open Wednesdays
through Saturdays from 9 a.m.
to 9 p.m. (with night skiing)
and Sundays from 9 a.m. to
4 p.m.
See Ski areas / B10
See Edison Butte / B9
Skiers get off
the chairlift
at Hoodoo Ski
Area.
Dean Guernsey/
For The Bulletin