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Author
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Topic: Dec 30, Bennet Pass, Mt Hood (Read 1559 times)
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pabloson
5Member
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Posts: 76
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Wow, the wind must have HOWLED up there bc most of the snow was blown off the top half of clear cut #1, but the bottom half was quite nice. Beautiful sunny and only 9 degrees at 8 AM. The weird part was coming back to the snow park parking lot jammed with cars because Mt Hood Meadows was closed! What a chaotic scene. Hundreds of cars all over the highway, teacup snow park etc etc.. Quite dangerous. Didn't seemed handled well by the mountain. They should have put up a sign further down the highway indicating that they were closed because parking lots full. There were snowboarders parking down the highway and then trying to hike in - with cars going by 50+ mph on icy road. When I got down to Hood River there were still dozens of skiers driving up to the mountain.
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Koda
Member
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Posts: 221
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How is the coverage (snowpack) at clearcut 1?
overpriced and overcrowded, I don't miss skiing at Meadows. 
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lightweight, cheap, strong... pick 2
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pabloson
5Member
Offline
Posts: 76
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On a scale of 1-10, coverage is a 7. Still a little "humpy" with buried baby trees, but totally negotiable. The humps make nice little jumps actually.
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OldHouseMan
Member
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Posts: 227
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Any signs of snowmobilers? Last year the Bennett Pass area was absolutely horrible with snowmobile traffic, they were tracking up all the clearcuts on a pretty regular basis. I'm hoping it was due to a low snow year and their regular places lacked in coverage.
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Snowolf
5Member
Offline
Posts: 86
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Wow, the wind must have HOWLED up there bc most of the snow was blown off the top half of clear cut #1, but the bottom half was quite nice. Beautiful sunny and only 9 degrees at 8 AM. The weird part was coming back to the snow park parking lot jammed with cars because Mt Hood Meadows was closed! What a chaotic scene. Hundreds of cars all over the highway, teacup snow park etc etc.. Quite dangerous. Didn't seemed handled well by the mountain. They should have put up a sign further down the highway indicating that they were closed because parking lots full. There were snowboarders parking down the highway and then trying to hike in - with cars going by 50+ mph on icy road. When I got down to Hood River there were still dozens of skiers driving up to the mountain.
I actually work there and they need the damn reader board at Rhododendron to report that! Highway 26 eastbound came to a dead stop at the tuck scales in Brightwood due to the mass of humanity. I turned around and went back to 84 and ran 35 up to get to work. That shit show today makes me so glad i bought a split board and am getting more and more into total back country....this may be my last year working up there, just not worth it with the idiots from Portland.
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Koda
Member
Offline
Posts: 221
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All public buildings/arenas have a max occupancy, but I doubt Meadows is ever looked at. They base their capacity on the chairlift capacity... not area size. Adding all those high speed quads over the years has decreased the quality of skiing, yet the pricing keeps going up. They wont post a "full" sign because I don't think they care how you get there, as long as you buy a lift ticket. for the money I spend on a ski tour... perhaps I actually get more skiing in the backcountry.
Pabloson, thanks for responding to the snowpack conditions. The deeper the snowpack opens up more tree skiing stashes especially in the lower elevations. I'm glad to see Bennett is skiable now...
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lightweight, cheap, strong... pick 2
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Patarero
5Member
Offline
Posts: 42
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Curious about the snowmobile traffic up there to, whats the word?
Think the price on the mhm season pass this year dropped to the quad pricing. Think this has probably contributed to the numbers.
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Snowolf
5Member
Offline
Posts: 86
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Definitely...largest sale of season passes so far as a result.
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mondeck
5Member
Offline
Posts: 14
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Meadows just sucks ! In terrain, snow quality, drive , management, and crowds.
I heard about that nightmare from my friends.
Skiied crystal up in WA that day - 12" of utah powder, waist deep in the trees . Crowded but there is soo much terrain and hiking that it never gets tracked out completely.
If you are sick of Meadows and tired of the wind pack on hood. Travel north to white pass 2.5hrs or crystal 3.5 hrs. Sleep in the lot - there is a rv park with hook up at crystal and a bar this open until 100.
Open BC gates and the patrol is accomadating. Tour options are plenty in all directions.
I was a meadows pass holder and I am done.
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TeleMurray
5Member
Offline
Posts: 7
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we were up there on Saturday as well, got there late but were still able to get a parking spot with all the Meadows folks there. I haven't seen many snowmobiles up there this year, I think their regular spots are available again - last year there wasn't any other places for them to go. I think later in the year they'll be back as the lower elevations start to melt out.
We went to SkiBowl for night skiing last weekend, the traffic was a mess due to all the Meadows folks going back, but once on the mountain the Upper Bowl kicks butt as far as terrain goes, and Cascade chair is always ski on, no matter how crowded it gets.
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Snowolf
5Member
Offline
Posts: 86
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Meadows just sucks ! In terrain, snow quality, drive , management, and crowds.
I heard about that nightmare from my friends.
Skiied crystal up in WA that day - 12" of utah powder, waist deep in the trees . Crowded but there is soo much terrain and hiking that it never gets tracked out completely.
If you are sick of Meadows and tired of the wind pack on hood. Travel north to white pass 2.5hrs or crystal 3.5 hrs. Sleep in the lot - there is a rv park with hook up at crystal and a bar this open until 100.
Open BC gates and the patrol is accomadating. Tour options are plenty in all directions.
I was a meadows pass holder and I am done.
The lack of a decent BC policy at Meadows has always pissed me off. Now, I do like the terrain that Meadows has with Heather and Clark canyons, Super Bowl, Private Reserve and the newly opened S&R Cliffs. While I would agree with you in regards to the crowds, I won`t go as far and say the snow and the terrain sucks. Except for this "hell week", mid week riding is generally pretty good.
I really was impressed with White Pass and enjoyed my riding there as well as my recon into the back country.
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