No Winter Doldrums on Oregon’s Highest Mountain

skiing

Fun at Mt. Hood Meadows with 3-out-of-5 Day Lift Tickets for $99

From gentle beginner slopes, stellar intermediate cruising and steep pitches of powder, Mt. Hood Meadows is undeniably one of the Northwest’s premier spots to head to now, especially considering all the ways to round out a visit — world renowned craft brews and wines, local cuisine with some of America’s finest ingredients, cool music venues and great inns, B&Bs and romantic and boutique hotels. 

And now is a prime time to do it, because an adult lift pass for any three out of five days is $99 when you stay at one of more than a dozen of properties such as the Columbia Cliff Villas, Oak Street Hotel, Hood River BnB, Hood River Inn Best Western and more http://hoodriver.org/stay-play-ski-in-hood-river. This gets you playing on Oregon’s highest mountain for less than half the regular $74 per day lift ticket. 

Making it truly sweet: no restrictions or black-out dates, so start fantasizing about Valentine’s Day and Presidents’ Day getaways. Check out the wine dinners, wine and chocolate weekend, Full Sail BrewPub’s bourbon-aged imperial stout release, singer-songwriter performances and more events around the holidays, at hoodriver.org

The lofty Mt. Hood is draped in snow, and this discount runs through the end of April, along with many of Meadows’ 11 lifts, including five high-speed quads, as the snowfall allows. No winter doldrums here, where lifts can take you to a soul-expanding 7,300 feet. That old adage about travel broadening your horizons rings unmistakably true here with the on-top-of-the-world panorama.

Head for the front side bowls and to the legendary Heather Canyon — it’s like it’s own separate ski area with endless steeps. Try another kind of Super Bowl, the one that doesn’t involve a couch, TV or chili: hike to bag an additional 1,700 vertical and drop into the double blacks of Super Bowl above Heather. Just how many people can say they’ve covered nearly 4,500 vertical feet in just one run?

Experts can access gates into Private Reserve and S&R Cliffs for pulse-pounding, gladed trails with cliff outcroppings. Open your mind at the open bowls of Elk and Yoda and be rewarded with epic runs and bragging rights for the brewpub. 

But it doesn’t have to be gnarly to be fun. Listen to the locals. Oregonians rave that Meadows offers some of the finest intermediate terrain on the planet. Total beginners, listen up: learn to ski or snowboard with Meadows’ $99 three-day package that includes a lift pass, two-hour lesson and equipment rental each day. Use the pass to kick off the first two days on Meadows’ beginner lifts, and voila, on day three it’s an all-mountain lift pass.

Also, as with any trip, it’s not just what you do, but who you meet that makes it memorable. That’s where Hood River locals enter the picture. Artists, athletes, craftspeople, entrepreneurs, top chefs, outdoor experts—they’re all there, waiting for you.

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