40 replies to this topic

[Kicking Horse]

I just found out that i'm going on a trip in March to washington and Oregon. we are gonna be out there for two weeks. one week in washington and the other in oregon. What are some good places to ski and stay? btw this is a ski trip

This post has been edited by WP: 14 January 2004 - 08:52 PM

[SkiBachelor]

Well Mt. Hood is probably the place to go if your in Oregon. You have 3 good-size resorts to ski at. They are Timberline, Ski Bowl, and Meadows. You will probably want to ski meadows for two days while the other are like a one day thing. Timberline doesn't offer a lot of good terrain, so you might get sick of the mountain. Plus only 3/4 of the mountain are open during the winter. The Palmer Express is closed now and is only used for the summer and early winter season.

You could come down to Mt. Bachelor, it's a about a 2 hour drive from Mt. Hood or so. Bachelor is a 2 to 3 day mountain, just depending on your skiing abilities. If you stay in Bend, Willamette Pass and Hoodoo are about an 1:30 drive. Hoodoo is pretty small so you will probably like Willamette Pass better.

[Bill]

If you are going to ski Washington, I suggest Crsyatl Mountain, and stay in the Kent Valley, then if you wanted to, you could ski the Summit, but my suggestion is if you want to ski multiple mountains, ski Crystal and Ski Steven's Pass.

[TomK]

WA & OR are both pretty big states. I assume you're talking Seattle and Portland though.
Seattle - Crystal Mt. You can ski there all week and not be bored.
(Base yourself out of Enumclaw or Puyalup.)
Stevens for a day or mayby 2.
Snoqualmie/Alpental for a day of steeps and interesting terrain.

Portland - Mt Hood Meadows - best terrain of the hood 3. Get out into Heather Canyon if you can. (It's not as tough as the double diamond rating makes it seem)
Ski Bowl if its cold as it's at the base of the mountain. Great night skiing though.
Timberline is OK, but the upper Palmer lift is closed in winter due to wind/temp. I've been lucky one Saturday and they started running cats up alongside the Palmer lift to access the upper mountian, so we took a couple of free rides.
(Bases out of Gresham, Sandy, or Government camp unless you want to go high end on-the-mountain and then stay at the Timberline Lodge where they filmed The Shining)

If you're going to spend a ski week in OR, I'd recommend Mt Batchelor instead of Portland/Mt Hood. (Batch is where we go for a week almost every spring. )
(Base yourself out of Bend, Sunriver, or Redmond.)

[liftmech]

OR- definitely Bachelor. It doesn't have anything that will scare you, but overall it's a very fun mountain.

WA- Crystal and Stevens- best terrain/convenience mix. Baker if you've got the time- It's quite the funky area and has some gnarly steeps.

[iceberg210]

1. Stay out in Auburn and go to the Black Diamond Bakery (oohhh so good)
Got to go to Alpental some of the best terrain I have ever skied ( and i live in Utah)

2. Come on down to SLC one day everyone it really is the best snow on Earth!

[floridaskier]

Erik, do you work for Northwest Airlines? Or are you just a 727 fan? Or did you just like the picture of the 727 in SLC?

[iceberg210]

I just love the 727 and what better thing to have a round it but the Greatest Snow on Earth!

[Whistler]

Go to Whistler! it's only a 2.5 very scenic, I mean very scenic, drive over the Canadian/American Border. If you come to Whistler I suggest staying at either one of the two Delta Hotels, or the Marriot.

[hyak.net]

Whistler, on Jan 16 2004, 03:45 PM, said:

Go to Whistler! it's only a 2.5 very scenic, I mean very scenic, drive over the Canadian/American Border. If you come to Whistler I suggest staying at either one of the two Delta Hotels, or the Marriot.

2.5hrs from where? Certainly not from Seattle..... I agree Whistler is a great place, like no other but it is not what I would consider local to WA or OR. If time allowed maybe they could make the drive.

My personal WA recommendations, but they really do depend on what type of terrain one is looking for...these are just MY personal choices:

Crystal Mtn - Cuz its big, has nice terrain. The drive is not great and on snow days can be horrible.

Alpental - For the steeps, but only on a good snow day...never a hardpack day.
You will find very little groomer runs at Alpental.

Stevens - ONLY MIDWEEK! Don't plan to find any untracked though unless you show up before opening after a dump.....

White Pass - If you happen to be in the south end (Olympia/Tacoma) make the drive to White Pass instead of the other areas I mentioned.

That's my opinion FWIW.

[SkiBachelor]

Wow Jack, you must not like Hyak, and you have a site about it and everything. :)

[Kicking Horse]

i wanna check out hyak.

[hyak.net]

SkiBachelor, on Jan 16 2004, 04:37 PM, said:

Wow Jack, you must not like Hyak, and you have a site about it and everything. :)

I board Hyak 90% of the season so you could say I like it quite a bit. I would never though claim it to be one of WA best, but it has some very fun runs and you can almost always find untracked powder at any time.

[Kicking Horse]

does hyak have any lifts running? or do u gotta hike up the mountain?

[hyak.net]

They have 2 riblet doubles, but only one that access the top of the mtn. They run Sat/Sun through march (it used to be fri-sun but they cut out fridays to save $$). When they shut the area down in April the lower mtn is an excellent sledding area!

This year, the Hyak Ski Down should be on either March 28th or April 4th. It usually is the last event at Hyak and is a fundraiser for the Snoqualmie Pass Womens Group. The tickets are $20 for adults and $1 for kids and it includes the BBQ at the top of the mtn at the ski patrol cabin. (FYI)

[Whistler]

Whistler is about 4.5 hrs from Seattle

[Kicking Horse]

i wanna ski @ whistler but i can't leave the u.s right now.

[SkiBachelor]

That doesn't make any sense on why you can't.

[Kicking Horse]

Probation

[floridaskier]

What do you have probation for, Jeff?