MEADOWS BLOG

Matt,

I'm planning on coming up this weekend and bringing some friends from California.  I still have a coupon from the Warren Miller movie for one free ticket, but it states that it's good for the month of April.  Are those tickets good during May too?  Thanks!

Matt's reply:

Larry: Thanks for the post. Glad to hear you're coming up and bringing friends! The Warren Miller coupon expired in April so you won't be able to use it this weekend.

See you on the slopes!

--Matt

Without Vista, Easy Rider, or Daisy running, what lift are you expecting those who ride through Rose City and/or the Superpipe to use?

Chris: Thanks for the question. You can access the park and pipe from Mt. Hood Express. Those that just want to hit the rails in Shipyard can take Buttercup.

--Matt

I don't know about you but i think it just about impossible to reach the top of the Rose city park from Mt Hood Express....?  Even cutting above on Cascade Skiway and stay high across toward the top of daisy heading to mitchell creek is almost impossible not even taking into account the slower snow conditions...?  

Also i didn't see my post in the other forum on the May challenge.  I think i brought some important points to the table and was wondering why you choose to sensor or pick and choose what is posted.  I know your taking alot of heat on how things are happening, but i thought the blog was supposed to be so eveyone could be heard....  Just curious.

thanks, Jason

Matt's reply:

TFCO: Thanks for the post - taking the cascade Skyway above the Mazot is the best way to get to the top of Rose City Park. You can also get there by carving right across the top of Daisy Bowl.

I'll check the comments we received - they were coming in pretty fast there for a while so I'll check to see if it was missed. Comments are posted that are on-topic and don't use cuss words - that's the only editing we've been doing.

--Matt

Matt, would it be possible to run vista or easy rider for the lower parks? It would really help a lot of people out because otherwise it's a lot of work to go from mt hood meadows over to rose city and the pipe and then back to mt hood express just for one park lap. I know a lot of people would apreciate it even if it was for only part of the day. Thanks.

Matt's reply:

John: Thank you for asking for this. To extend the season we have to make some choices. Since the parks can be accessed from Mt. Hood Express we feel it is more important to add Shooting Star and Heather, since that terrain could not be accessed without them. If Cascade is not able to operate due to weather, then we would run Vista as an alternate, which would provide more direct access. But we're hoping that Cascade will be running which would mean the Cascade Park would also be open. How about riding up Cascade, hitting the Cascade Park, then riding down to Rose City for a trip through the park.

--Matt

Sup Man

I wont be making it up this weekend since its moms weekend down here at OSU but i was wondering, provided that the may challange is met this week, what is the chance/status of the cat that takes people up to... i believe super bowl for ten bucks or something running in the spring. ?

Thanks

Matt's reply:

Carl: Sorry for the delayed response. Super Cat won't be running this season, and most likely won't be running in the future. We'll continue to construct the cat track to make hiking easier.  

--Matt 

So i have a couple things to say, first of all you are saying that to get to rose city park we have to ride up mount hood? its not imposible but its so out of the way. i mean thats just rediculous. and then only having one jump on cascade. come on. you can do better then this. last year we had the full line of the supper park and then the smaller but longer line of jumps to the right. which were supper fun. what is going on? this year was the sickest year for snow fall but the worst year for everything else. can you please tell me why are parks are so small and short this year? and there is no exuse of to much snow.

Matt's reply:

Elliott: Thanks for the post. Last year the months of March and April allowed us to construct and maintain the parks we had on Cascade. We eventually moved all of our efforts and focus on the upper park. This year the weather hasn't allowed us to build and maintain the Cascade Park. So we're focusing on Rose City, the SuperPipe and Shipyard. There are two features in Cascade and we're still working on adding more. When you combine all the features that we have available it will make for a great experience. We are committed to building and maintaining parks and features which provide fun and variety for the broad spectrum of park enthusiasts we serve.

--Matt

Thanks for having shooting star and heather open, I appreciate it.

Matt's reply:

Kolby: You're welcome! See you in the canyon this weekend.

--Matt

You've got to be joking, it creates an enormous disincentive on Meadow's part to not operate Vista during these summer days. Not only does it get a great amount of exposure to the sun, allowing for a softer snow pack, but provides easy access to the entire mountain polar to Heather, an area serviced by a limited and elite bracket of customers. You're taking too much of the minority into play here with the operation and value of Both of these shoddy lifts and ignoring the presence of a BRAND-NEW lift capable of operating at a greater capacity and speed than either of those lifts. From my knowledge the counter argument to operating shooting star, would be to run back to Mt. Hood Express, and then to Cascade. Therefore you can still open Heather in the spring while not having to operate a lift at a lower altitude with warmer temperatures and sticky slow snow.

Matt's reply:

Matt: Thanks for the comments. We'll take them into consideration. Vista is a great lift and it has been a great addition to Mt. Hood Meadows. But the terrain serviced by Vista is also serviced by Cascade Express - so our guests will be able access it. The last two years during the May Challenge we haven't generated the number of people to warrant running every lift. We've decided to operate Shooting Star and Heather - which does open up a significant amount of very popular terrain that would not be available without them. This plan allows us to provide access to the greatest amount of terrain for our guests the most efficiently. That is important - because if we can't extend the season efficiently, there won't be an extended season.

I hope to see you on the mountain this weekend.

--Matt

I highly doubt this May challenge will go on for more than a couple weekends.  Soon there won't be enough guests to sustain operations because you're steering it that way!  Almost 200 inches on the ground and this spring will in no way live up to what it was the last 2 seasons.  What a shame!  The parks never really amounted to anything overly impressive, certainly not improving on anything done in the past.  Are you feeling the discontent of your springtime crowd?  Hope you move on to bigger and better (other) things next season...

Matt's reply:

Johnny: I have more faith in the Meadows faithful than you do - I think this weekend is going to ROCK! Work with us here - or better yet - play with us here! It's all about the fun factor, and what is more fun than carving the spring corn at Meadows this weekend! Change over the attitude - talk it up instead of down. You do that and we'll breeze through the weekend and on to the next.

--Matt

Matt-

  Thanks for opening Heather and Star this weekend. I can only speak for myself, but I'm a season passholder who was DONE for the year when I heard that terrain wasn't going to be accessible. I doubt the challenge would have been met if you didn't make that change. Also, is it illegal to earn turns within the resort when it's closed? With the abundant snow, I'm considering getting in the canyon the old fashioned way midweek or post-season (yes, yes, with probe/shovel/beacon/avylung/friends/knowledge/skills).

Matt's reply:

Jordan: I got behind on these posts so I'm posting the same response to everyone inquiring about accessing the permit area when our lifts aren't operating.

The issue here is that we continue to do maintenance work with snowcats and snowmobiles throughout the permit area. We also may have areas in construction, or be working in parks disrupting the snow in areas. We want to make everyone aware that we continue to do this work, and really don't want traffic in these areas while this work is ongoing. We are closed and there is equipment on the mountain either for operations or maintenance. You should not be on the mountain and you are responsible for your safety.

There is also the issue of snow safety - we may not be performing A/C work in between weekends - or maybe we will be performing A/C work. Either way someone skiinning up Heather could be going into a dangerous area. We're not trying to deny access to those hiking, snow shoeing, or skiing through the area. We're just trying to make people aware of our issues and concerns. If we encounter people who are in areas that we have these concerns, we will alert them about the dangers and ask that they leave the area - for their own safety.

Thanks for understanding and your cooperation in this matter.

--Matt

Hi Matt-

I'm glad Meadows will continue to be open and appreciate that you need need to manage to a bottom line.  However, I'm pretty disappointed that Vista is not scheduled to be available, except as an alternate.

In addition to the comments you've received from park riders, Vista is an important & ideal lift for beg. and intermediate level skiers/riders, and families.  

In addition, this lift spreads the crowd out even more, insuring short lift lines, and hence happier skiers/riders.

I'm sure finding a balance that serves the needs of your varied customer-base and "share-holders" is difficult.  Hopefully families seeking a wholesome, outdoor experience will be able to continue to consider Meadows as an option both this Spring and in coming seasons.

Matt's reply:

Cynthia: Thank you for your post - I really appreciate it. We're basing our lift operations on historical visitation recorded the last two Mays that we operated. It is still a learning experience but we are trying to come up with the best configuration that allows us to continue operations. Thank you for understanding and your support - I too am optimistic that families will come up and enjoy the mountain this weekend!

--Matt

I'm just hoping the Challenge lasts long enough for me to get one more weekend in...as soon as this stupid sprained MCL (hockey, not snowboarding) is healed up enough!

Matt's reply:

Mara: Heal quickly my friend! Meanwhile we'll take a few runs for you.

--Matt

As far as the May challenge is concerned what is the target number for the weekend?  Last year you posted what the goal was (I don't remember if it was 3 or 4 thousand)  I haven't been able to find what the target numbers are for the challenge?

Hope it lasts into June, now that you have added Heather to the mix I will be coming!

Matt's reply:

Mark P: In the past the number was 4,000 for the entire weekend, and we're shooting for a similar number this year. Thanks for coming up - Heather should be spectacular (weather permitting).

--Matt

Hey not to beat a dead horse but can you clarify access to the Rose City park...so I traverse over Mazot from Express to get there, I do Rose City Park, then what?  So I have to go down Buttercup, walk over to express and do that all over again?  Yikes!  That is rough.

Please please please please consider opening Vista!!!  Just one more weekend!!!

Matt's reply:

Benny: You've got the route down - although you can reduce any walking by taking T-Bar hill down to Mt. Hood Express. I appreciate the passionate appeal but for now our lift operational schedule is set. See you this weekend!

--Matt

I echo a lot of the comments lamenting the fact that Vista won't be running. I know technically you can get to the terrain Vista services by way of Cascade, but realistically without it -- or even Daisy going -- you've at least made it real difficult to make park runs. But I understand somewhat -- if turn out doesn't justify it this time of year you need to make choices, and personally I'll take Heather over parks (will A-zone be open and accessible via Cascade?).

But what if turnout does justify it? If there's enough people up will you be able to open Vista in addition to Cascade to spread people out? Or is it strictly and either/or thing?

See ya Saturday!

Matt's reply:

RW: Thanks for the post. We will be monitoring traffic flow to see if adjustments are needed. I appreciate your positve outlook and approach to the operation. Regarding Heather we will open as much of it as conditions allow.

See you on the mountain!

--Matt

There's no way, particularly on a warm day, nor probably any other day without having ski patrol asking you to slow down, that you could carry enough speed out of Rose City or superpipe to clear the the t-bar hill and make it all way down the MHX without walking somewhere along the way.  And that'll probably a fair bit of walking on an above freezing day.  On warm days after about noon it's hard to even get to Vista without having to walk the last 40 yards or so.

And as far as taking the Skiway to get over there, there's no 'carving' to be had on the way over to the Rose City.  You have to stay as high as possible, so it's basically a long ride on a cat track riding on one edge.  Again, especially on an above freezing day in less than fast conditions.

And all for a park that is setup in a way that you're only going to hit one or two jumps.

So with regard to runs through Rose City... 'Negative Ghost Rider, the pattern is full'.

Maybe your logic makes at least minimal sense for skiers, but for boarders who'll have to unstrap and skate, it really isn't a tenable situation.  Oh well, Heather it is.  Hopefully we just don't end up with peak day type lines at the MHX.  Nothing will bring an end to the season for me faster than that.

Matt's reply:

Maverick: Thank you for your post - you make some very good points. We'll be monitoring traffic flow - hopefully no one will buzz the tower making me spill my coffee in my lap. Say hello to Goose for me..

--Mattverick

Thanks for being a little bit more firm footed in your answers on this Blog. The part about the last one was that you were so fickle in your decision making, but let the past be the past.

Cascade park should be looking amazingly sick by the weekend, I have high hopes! not operating vista is a good decision because the snowpack in high enough that you can shoot through dental floss and up above daisy lift to get there comfortably, if not you're probably not good enough to be in there anyways north canyon has sweet wind lips you can bounce off of. Having Heather and shooting star will spread things out perfectly as well.

there are still a few things that could make or break the weekend, but for right now, I"m set and have my one ball jay summer slush all dialed in for the weekend, we'll see you on the hill

Kris

Matt's reply:

Kris: Thanks for the post and the advice. As the weekend got closer (and we saw the weather following this week's storm) we were able to be much more decisive. Didn't mean to sound wishy washy or lead people on, but we didn't want to create false expectations either.

One thing is for sure - we're going to have fun at Meadows this weekend!

--Matt

I’ve got a May Challenge for Meadows Management.  Support the masses, rather than focus on the few.  On a warm and sunny spring weekend:  4000 Park Riders, no problem; 4000 Steeps Riders, won’t happen.  This is my plea as the (self-professed) ambassador for Meadows Park Riders.

I hope you can reconsider the operation of Vista.  I guarantee that most everyone that goes up there this weekend will go for the parks.  It’s only the elite few who want to ride the steeps at this time of year, and those people are loonies.  The off-piste IS poo.  I KNOW this from many years of spring skiing experience.  Heather and the Star ARE awesome, WHEN the snow is even and soft.  Anyone who takes those runs this time of year lasts no more than 2-3 hours, then goes home because their legs are tired and beat up from fighting through icy lumps and sloppy bumps.  Unless the runs have been groomed, which defeats the purpose of those steeps.  On the other hand, the park people are out there all day long, in droves.

Haven’t those powdery steeps lovers had enough this year, especially since the powder is long gone?  The park people surely haven’t had enough.  The weather has made Meadows parks very limited this year, and now you are making access difficult when park riding is at it’s best.  I’ve got plenty of steeps/pow runs in for the year.  I need some bluebird park shtuff now.

Us park folks are starting to feel kinda snubbed.  First by the weather (understandable), and now by the Management (disappointing).  I understand it was hard to keep the features nice during all the piles of snow in January, but this is the time of year when there should be a park for every level of rider.  Use whatever excuse you would like to discount my perceptions, but it will not change the feeling that our genre has been downplayed by Meadows this year.  The only thing that could change that feeling is Meadows’ actions.

Maybe it is your plan to inconvienence the largest portion of your spring visitors so that they may become ready for the season to end (it’s working).  Or maybe you prefer people to ride the steeps in hopes that they will wear out quickly and spend some cash chilling at the lodge rather than just go home (don’t think it’ll work).  These are the only answers I can come up with myself for choices of lifts you have chosen.

Spring is for the groomed stuff.  Spring is for the park people.  Plus, forcing those park people to cut over to MHX is gonna bring a lot of people speeding through the base area.  South Park is still in great condition, and now you seem to be cutting it off.  Each year, you seem to demonstrate even more the uselessness of the Vista lift.  As you mentioned it does not open any more terrain.  So why’d you build it?  I seem to remember something about it being your parks lift.  Hmn.

My solution would be to open access to Heather from Cascade (including the HRM parking) and then those few people can car-hop, hike, or telemark out if they really want to ride the canyon.  Which I can’t really understand why anyone would want to this time of year.  One lift running that services what most people want to do seems much more reasonable than running two lifts that service what only a few people want to take.  Plus, MHX itself offers very similar terrain to what can be found on the Star, and the bottom of Vista is much higher than Heather lift and a little higher than the Star.  If it was gonna be snowing again this weekend the steeps make sense.  But on the sunny, warm days, the off-piste is all work and no fun.  Or maybe open up Green Chair (Daisy) instead of Buttercup.  It creates easy access to South Park, Cascade, and several Green Circle runs for the very few beginners that visit this time of year.

I figured Meadows would know by now who rides during the spring, and appropriately operate according to the demands of the largest sector of riders.  I love spring skiing.  Been loving it for many years now.  I’ve seen and know who goes up to the Hood on bluebird slush days.  As a percentage of what spring riders run from my years of perception:  35% stick solely to the standard groomed runs, 15% ride the off-piste steeps, and the remaining 50% spend all day lapping the parks.  An honest perception from years of experience.  Meadows should be able to see this trend as well as I can.

I know you get a lot of blog comments asking to have the Star and Heather open, and maybe not so many about the parks.  Well you have to understand that those steeps riders are mostly older people who pay more attention to your blogs (and actually less time riding).  The younger park types are usually too busy AT the mountain to read or respond to the blog, so you won’t get the same amount of electronic feed back from them.  Not because they don’t care, but because they do not use the blog.  You can’t go just by your blog responses, it’s an average that does not include all factors.  The park riders make their say by actually being at the mountain on spring days, all you have to do is open your eyes and you would see.  Maybe you should physically count the riders exiting South Park as compared to those exiting Heather.  I don’t believe the Heather number could even get close to comparing to the Parks number.  

All in all, I don’t have too much to complain about.  Winter ‘08 has been absolutely epic, and it is practically summer now.  There have been so many pow days, so few rain days, and even a some good park days.  Sadly all good things do come to an end.  I was kinda looking forward to awesome spring park days in May though.  I figured with so much snow pack, the spring parks would be the best ever.  Nope.

Now I think this Sunday will be my last ride of the year.  The cut-over to and from MHX is always a pain and Shooting Star and Heather are well beyond the conditions that attract my interest.  So to me (and many, many other people), if the park is a pain to access, then what’s the point of going to Meadows?  One last time, only because I didn’t realize last trip what Meadows lift plans would be.  I gotta go home knowing the season is over, or it bugs me throughout the summer.  Sunday should be the bluebird park day I’ve been waiting for.  I will just have to work for my last flights of the year I suppose.

See you Sunday.  And unless the lift schedule changes, that will be it for this year.  Last run, make it good one!

Peace

PS:  I do understand it is difficult to run a mountain.  There will always be room for improvement and you will never please everyone, but Meadows is still the best around.

Matt's reply:

Lark: As always - well stated. We will be monitoring chair lift and trail use this weekend to make sure we have the appropriate access for the terrain on the mountain. Regarding that mix I think the number of park riders at 50% is a bit high, even for this time of year. But I do understand that parks riding in the spring is important.

As far as intent goes, we are trying to offer the most amount of terrain to the greatest number of skiers and snowboarders as efficiently as possible to extend our season. We're selecting Shooting Star and Heather over Vista only because operating those lifts adds terrain that otherwise would not be available. Even without Vista we're still able to provide access to the Rose City Park and SuperPipe. It is interesting to note that last season we didn't have the lower parks open so it wasn't an option (or an issue).

I do appreciate the post and truly hope that Sunday will not be your last day at Meadows this season.

--Matt

Matt these people are truely addicted to the snow parks, which has always been a blessing for us skiers!  Meadows Lark is some what correct about the conditions but lost thinking that we still don't like skiing SS & HC and there was 8" of fresh on Wednesday, this week, so the powder isn't that long gone........only a few days gone.  I do feel for his addiction for the parks since I have that same addiction during powder days for HEATHER CANYON opening early; didn't happen this year though but a few times.  I can't wait to finish up the year the first week of June; positive thinking or dreaming.

See you all this weekend.

Matt's reply:

Hound: Is in the house! Thanks Powder Hound - appreciate your insight and joining the debate. I think we can all agree that this weekend will be a lot of FUN!

--Matt

I don't think any one could have stated my feelings any better than "Meadow Lark".  Cheers to Meadow lark and if i see you in the bar i will buy you a beer!  I just hope for at least one more feature in the Super Park and that should keep me occupied.

Thanks for a great year Matt!

I like Meadow Lark agree I think Sunday is our last, but I hope we are proven wrong.

Matt's reply:

TFCO: Thanks for the post - Lark had an epic post and I am happy to see blogging that comments on and interacts with other posts - makes it more of a community. We are working on another feature in Cascade Park for the weekend - I still think a ride up Cascade, hitting the Cascade Park then on down to Rose City and the SuperPipe (and finish up jibbing in ShipYard) is a great freestyle run.

--Matt

First off thank you for opening Heather, that makes it for me.  Notwithstanding that, I concur with the folks who are complaining about the access to the parks.  Why on earth does Shooting Star need to be open?  ALL of Heather can be accessed off of Cascade. Close Shooting Star and open Easy Rider for the lower park and pipe.  

Matt's reply:

Charlie: Thanks for the post. Shooting Star opens up additional terrain and provides access into Lower Heather. There is also an issue with controlling (closing) the trails off Shooting Star when Heather is open, particularly if we wanted to allows access dropping into Lower Heather. It is something we can take a look at however.

See you in Heather!

--Matt

Matt,

I've got to give you credit. You really are listening and trying. As an "old school" steep rider I have to say that the only use I have for the parks is that they keep the kids out of my line. But you gotta like the passion. That's what I was referring to in my response to the 1st May challenge blog.

It's all about the core now and you have two core groups to deal with. Your task, if you chose to accept it, is to please both groups. Tough, but not impossible. The call to run Heather is great news. I will actually ski Meadows in May. Unheard of. But you need to appeal to the other 1/2, or more, if you if you believe the polls.

Obviously I am not a park rider, but you need easy access to the parks and they need to be BIG, because the core wants BIG. If you can't build them on Cascade and end the discussion then build them lower and run Vista or Daisy. No one needs Shooting Star. Rope it off. Access to all of Heather is easy off of Cascade. Ski down the ridge to the top of Star, left into Lower Heather or right back to Mt Hood. It will take a little time to put up the rope lines, but still a lot cheaper then running Star. Then you can run Vista or Daisy.  

Good weather: Mt. Hood, Vista, Cascade, Heather.

Bad weather: Mt. Hood, Daisy, Star, Heather.

Everybody's happy and we ride on. Keep up the good work and I'll see you in White River.

Matt's reply:

Steve Again: Thanks for the post. Today was a good example of why Shooting Star was needed - Cascade ran for 45 minutes before getting socked in. Heather was open from Moon Bowl down and Shooting Star provided access to Heather which otherwise would not have been possible. Meanwhile we opened Easy Rider as an alternate to Cascade. But even without Easy Rider, the parks both high and low are accessible through Cascade and Mt. Hood Express.

There is also a third user group - and that is beginners and families. Buttercup was very busy in the early part of the day with ski school classes. Amazing as it sounds but there are still people coming up to learn to ski and snowboard. So we always need to have Buttercup in the mix.

See you on the mountain!

--Matt

Howdy Matthew!

Reading the comments to your last two blogs has been quite entertaining to say the least.(How much asprin have you taken lately?).Maybe an online poll could help for next year.Do we continue with the headache???...or go with a set date PERIOD???...(Tell folks maint.work needs to happen...

Peace-out   S G

Matt's reply:

S G: You must have spidey senses! It is timely for us to take a look at what is happening this year and discuss what we want to do next year. We'll certainly take some notes and we'll have this blog to refer to when it comes time to decide about next season. But for now let's just all plan on hitting the mountain Sunday - weather is looking great!

--Matt

I think they are posting only what they want, I am an employee and my blog comments have not been posted. thanks matt.

Matt's reply:

parky: We have received some comments about our parks - some positive some negative. I'm not posting them at this time as the topic is the May Challenge - and that's what this posting is addressing.

I will dedicate a blog topic exclusively to parks at Mt. Hood Meadows at the end of the season. I am also keeping comments we receive now regarding parks for reference and review at that time.

--Matt

meadow lark...wtf??? I for one love the spring corn in heather. your mama's too tired and weak for the spring steeps. after deep pow, spring corn is the next best thing. try waxing your board. corn rips!

Matt's reply:

luz: Heather was open today from Moon Bowl down - hopefully it will corn up with the sunshine forecast for Sunday. See you on the mountain!

--Matt

I completely agree with Meadow Lark. I don't even ride parks and think this is ridiculous.

Buttercup is one of the slowest and worst lifts you have. Why run that when you have Daisy that accesses the top of Rose park perfectly?

Making your park riders have to traverse that far will only drive them away.

Vista is always a better option than Shooting Star, what happens in a couple of weeks when there is snow melt and that lovely strip of rocks between Cascade and Vista becomes uncovered?

Matt's reply:

Tim: We still have beginners and families with young children coming up so we need Buttercup. Not operating at all would drive park riders away - again we are in a spring operation which means we won't have all the lifts operating that we had during regular season. The current lift arrangement offers the greatest amount of terrain for the greatest variety of guests to enjoy.

--Matt

did we pass the may challenge this week?! i'm hoping to see you next week!

Matt's reply:

ben: We have a long ways to go on Sunday - but I'm optimistic. The weather looks great and we have a lot of people who want to keep the season going!

--Matt

It's really unfortunate you didn't apply Saturday's lessons to Sunday, or I'd be on my way up right now.  As it is, I suspect I've taken my last turns for the season.

I spent the first part of Saturday morning riding Shooting Star.  Almost nobody was riding the Heather lift, and there was never a line at Shooting Star (nice but probably because few people spent the effort to head over there.)  There were certainly lines at the MHX at one point a good 5 minute line.

And, at Easy Rider, a lift you were even going to open... a steady stream of riders with a not to bad 1-2 minute wait at each time down.

Ya, clearly nobody wanted a lift on that side of the mountain open, and everybody wanted to ride into Heather.  (Can you hear the sarcasm in my voice?)

Oh, and from noon on, while the right side of the mountain was still covered in clouds and fog, the park, and the Vista expanse were in near sunshine.  Was a real shame you didn't start up Vista with the fog issues on Cascade.  Vista was made for days like Saturday.

Opening up terrain is one thing... opening up the terrain people want to us is quite another.

Matt's reply:

Chris: Thanks for the post. Saturday was an unusual day with the fog and clouds. We had to stop operating Cascade because of visibility on the upper mountain and we had the same concerns about Vista. So we ran Easy Rider as the alternate until we could open Cascade again.

We are learning from our operations here in this late season and we will use that information to determine our future operating plans.

--Matt

The May Challenge without Cascade and Heather would be unfortunate.  Both Upper and Lower Heather are family areas.  My daughter (9) and I were up and had 6 great runs in A-Zone, Pluto and Upper Elevator.  At the same time there were MRT kids and other families in the same areas.  Keep Cascade, Shooting Star and Heather open for as long as the crowds justify it as those areas are the heart and soul of MHM.

Great job this year. After 40+ days we are still having fun.

Thank the crew for all their great work during an epic season.

Matt's reply:

Dad: Thank you for bringing Natalie up and enjoying Heather together! Question for you - if Cascade is open and Upper Heather is open, would you really need Shooting Star? There weren't many people on the trails to Star on Sunday.

--Matt

I was up on Saturday and just want to thank Meadows for the number of lifts that were open.  I enjoyed several runs down Shooting Star and Heather Canyon.  While their were very few people on that side of the mountain, that can be chalked up to the conditions, with drizzle on that side of the mountain, and the saturated off-piste snow.  Hopefully, the low ridership on that side of the mountain won't be a factor in upcoming weekends - I agree with the earlier post that spring corn is the next best thing to powder for steep skiing, and it should be getting there pretty quick.  I'm still hoping for a chance to hike up to superbowl this season...

Also, thanks for opening Cascade late in the day - I know Meadows didn't have to do that for the few amount of people that were left, but it was great to get in a few runs there under the sunshine.

Matt's reply:

Dave: I appreciate the comments. Sunday we had a good turn out with the sunshine - enough to meet the challenge so we'll be open May 10 and 11! See you this weekend.

--Matt

why are you censoring comments?!  There is no reason for that, I thought this was a public blog, where people could boast there opinions, suggestions and complaints.  I WANT DAVE BACK!

Matt's reply:

why?: There were some posts regarding our parks over this past season - which are off-topic. This blog is about the May challenge. I will be doing a topic committed to parks later and I hope you'll participate in that discussion. I am also keeping the comments that have been posted for review at that time.

FYI: Dave also opted not to post comments he felt were off topic.

--Matt

Judging by the lines and the full lot on Sunday, we've got at least one more weekend to enjoy meadows.  After riding the mountain today, I have to concur with many of the posts above.  In the Spring, Vista > Shooting Star.  The lines at MHE and Cascade were long at times this morning, and Shooting Star and Heather were getting only a much smaller level of traffic.

Don't get me wrong - the conditions were excellent, and I did a few laps in Heather - but I can see that Vista could absorb some of those riding MHE and Cascade, making for a better experience for everyone.

Please throw us a bone next weekend, and plan to open Vista (conditions permitting).  It will be a good experiment to see whether it really does reduce lines at MHE and Cascade, and I think it would make riding the lower parks much more convenient.  

I would have enjoyed a small/medium park on Cascade (like last year) - I didn't see many people hitting the massive jumps on top.  The Cascade Superpipe was also a fantastic feature last season, and I would love to see it return - doing laps on Cascade is what the Spring is all about, right?

Barring some major improvement in the Cascade parks, running Vista is a very sensible way to give your guests access to the best parks on the hill, as well as improve access to some trails for the beginners.  All I ask is that you give Vista a chance - if the conditions next weekend are anything like today was, I think you'll be pleased with the positive response.

I'll be riding next Saturday - maybe at Meadows?  I guess it's up to you Matt - I've done what I can.  Thanks for taking on the difficult task of following in the footsteps of Dave - those are some big shoes to fill.  

Just remember - we all want to have fun in the sun.

Matt's reply:

David: Thanks for the post. We monitored the traffic Sunday so we could come up with the best lift scenario this weekend. As others have noted the weather can affect which lifts we'll operate as well.

Meanwhile we're taking a little poll regarding which lifts you would prefer besides Mt. Hood Express and Cascade on a sunny spring day. If you'd like to take the poll follow this link: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB227RX8V26JL

--Matt

everyone wants a good park and vista open. dont you understand???

it seems like you want the may challenge to fail

Matt's reply:

get it: Thanks for the post. We don't want it to fail. We monitored the lifts and trail usage today and will come up with a great plan for this weekend. Meanshile you can take a poll on what lift you would prefer at this link: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB227RX8V26JL

--Matt

are we shredding next week Matt?!

Matt's reply:

BEN: We sure are - we'll be open both Saturday and Sunday May 10 and 11. Keep checking the web site for updates as things could change depending on the weather. But right now we're full speed ahead and sailing into the weekend!

--Matt

So the beginning of today, sunday, was a huge downer. Despite the perfect weather and snow conditions, it was extremely absurd to have to traverse so far to hit the easy rider park and then again to get back on the lift (mhx, which happened to have a ridiculously long line due to it being the only decent lift open). Maybe if an alternate park was provided, it would have been suitable, but we soon found out that you had the cascade park closed for maitanence. So it turned out to be a downer morning.

However, once your staff decided to actually open up easy rider, the day immediately brightened for everyone. Easy access to the park, a variety of terrain for all, and an almost non-existant line at mhx. This line shows that so many of the riders this weekend came to shred the parks. As soon as easy rider opened, the lines everywhere else shortened because everyone wanted to ski the park.

Thank you for that. Easy rider was a joy

The parking lot looked very full today, i'm hoping that means the May Challenge is still on for next weekend...

Matt's reply:

charles: Thanks for the post and the comments. Yes - we're extending the season to this next weekend - May 10 and 11. Good turn out today. We've started a poll to get some feedback on the favorite spring chairlift - you can take it at: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB227RX8V26JL

--Matt

To whom it may concern,

Where is my post?  

-just a rider

Matt's reply:

just a rider: We have received some comments about our parks - some positive some negative. I'm not posting them at this time as the topic is the May Challenge - and that's what this posting is addressing.

I will dedicate a blog topic exclusively to parks at Mt. Hood Meadows at the end of the season. I am also keeping comments we receive now regarding parks for reference and review at that time.

--Matt

So I also would like to know where we fell after today.  I am a little concerned for next weekend if we did make the cut.  Today I showed up to what turned out to be one of the best days of the season.  Sunny and fast snow until about 12 noon when it just started to slow.  

A big concern that I do have is that I came up stoked on making some runs through your super park today and alas your park crew was too busy taking care of the lower parks until 11am.  The super park was not able to open until 12 noon.  It seems that one of your biggest draws to keep the season going would be the riders that come for the great park riding.  I came up specifically to ride a park that has some expert features and it seems to me that a little more effort could be put into opening “The Super Park”  in a timely fashion.  I have leaved in the Sandy all my life and one of the best things to look forward to, is late seasons at MHM, and an awesome Super Park in the spring.

I am pretty sure that if the park doesn’t open early next week people will begin to write meadows off for the season.  I know I was a little put out when I had to leave at 12 noon and the park barely opened so I could make one pass through before I had to leave at 12:30.  It seems like we could have a crew setting up the lower and upper park simultaneously, just a thought.

Anyways I hope we have another weekend and thanks for the spring sunshine and great snow.  

Matt's reply:

TFCO: Thanks for the post. The challenge was met this weekend and we will be operating May 10 and 11.

--Matt

a real park line on cascade! I want to see it happen matt just like how there was one last year and the year before that! a butter box hip and table just arent enough.  I consider this your may challenge. you got all week to throw something together make us proud!  thanks for staying open also

Matt's reply:

hood rat: Thanks for the post - and for coming up this past weekend. We'll primarily be maintaining the current features, and hoping we don't get the same weather problems that we had Saturday and Saturday night that led to the delays in getting the parks open Sunday.

--Matt

Best thing you did all weekend. Open easy rider. Holy crap dude. Every chair was filled on the lift that accesses the parks. hmmmmm..... seems like people are into these park things huh?

Matt's reply:

easy: Thanks for the post. This weekend Daisy is scheduled both days - it provides access to the parks, including Shipyard, but also serves the base area and provides direct access to Cascade. And yep - people like the parks!

--Matt

I was up on Sunday and had a great day.  I did my laps in Heather and that was why I came to the mountain.  I do know a number of people that did not come up to the mountain because they have small kids who are not comfortable riding the lifts that were scheduled.  They are Buttercup/EasyRider/Vista families.

Meadows is a very difficult mountain to ride with small kids / beginners-int's.  Not having Easy Rider and / or Vista Open makes it even more difficult.

By not having Vista/Easy Rider open, you are excluding a number of people from coming up in the spring because there is not a safe/comfortable area for the above families to ski/ride.

Further - I think Meadows can be a real turn off to families with small kids and needs to address this.  

I would suggest that the management team role play "family" for a couple weekend days during the peak season next year.  Drive up with a child for daycare and one who has advanced beyond buttercup and not yet to MHExpress... and get stuck in the HRM lot.

Until you walk a day in the shoes of the parent trying to get through a day at Meadows with a small child, you can't understand the reason for the headaches and frustration.

Meadows does a lot of things well, but when it comes to addressing the needs of the beginning skier/rider and families with small children there is a lot of work to be done.

Matt's reply:

foster: Thanks for the post. Great suggestion to role play a family - I actually did that many times this past season with two children who are just learning to ski. I commend you for introducing your kids at such a young age to this great sport, the outdoors and the mountain environment. I hope you used our talented Children's Learning Center staff - our talented and committed instructors do a great job teaching technique to kids while they're having fun.

I thank you for your comments about Meadows doing a lot of things well, and whole heartedly agree with you that we can make improvements. We are committed to do so.

--Matt

Just thinking about (back in the day) when on Mothers Day every mother (and other females) received a Rose as a gift.  My wife still remembers that.  Sounds like good PR to me..........   just a thought.

Matt's reply:

A Skier: Thanks for the suggestion and the recollection. Perhaps we'll have something special for Moms on Sunday - you'll need to bring her up to find out!

--Matt

Matt, visited Meadows on Saturday with a car full of friends and we had a great time.  The weather wasn't so great but, snow conditions were still pretty good.  We did laps off of MHX and kept ourselves entertained.  

I did however find it very hard to know what lifts were open.  The past couple of years I have visited Whistler and not sure how expensive it is but, they have a giant electronic reader board.  The reader board tells you which lifts are open and how long the lift line is.  This is something that could benefit your visitors every day during the year.  Not sure how many times during the year my group debates leaving one lift for another to avoid lines just to find out the other line is just as long or worse.

Anyhow Saturday kind of solidified my desire for a reader board or something to make it easier to know what is open on the mountain.  I had no idea easy rider was open and I even asked the lift guys several times what was open.

Matt's reply:

Orange Mocha Frap: Thanks for the suggestion - we do have a couple of electronic signs on the mountain to announce lift status, and we are considering purchasing more. And as you point out we also need to improve internal communications so we can pass on the correct information, regardless what medium we use.

-- Matt (Double Expresso)

Yo Matt!

No body wants to come to a place with no real parks!!!!  i.e. (Big Jumps/Big Rails/Halfpipe)  Last year you guys killed it, what happened?

you guys need to man up and bring some poeple in who know how o run a real park!

Thanks Jay.  

Matt's reply:

Jay: Thanks for the post. For the rest of this season we're focusing on the features that we currently have in Rose City, Shipyard, the SuperPipe and Cascade. Come on up and give it a ride.

--Matt

Matt,

I skied on Sunday May 4th and my friends and I were suprised that they didn't groom the face nor lower Heather ( Moon bowl area ) the rest was groomed prety good if you want to keep people interested these are main areas to be groomed.

Thanks.

Matt's reply:

Capt: Thanks for the post. Most of our focus for grooming is on the upper mountain - the cruisers off of Cascade and down through Mt. Hood Express. Hopefully we'll get into a real sun / melt / corn snow cycle before the weekend - that really improves the spring corn in the steeps. We didn't have that kind of weather going into last weekend.

--Matt

Comment goes to Meadow Lark....great passion putting in all the work writing an essay...but you are more or less clueless and narrow minded lost in your park world. Expand your horizons is all I can say.

Now that we finally might get some corn snow action after an epic powder year..hope for the same year after year after year..the hiking and upper reaches of Superbowl is where it's at...you should try it some time. Parks you can ride all year long and head over to Timberline during the summer and continue the park riding there. I like dropping into the halfpipe over there coming down from the summit with a backpack on. Always interesting responses from the park rats.

Superbowl doesn't open very often...sadly...and we that have the gumption to earn our turns relish the days we can hike up. When Meadows close for the season, it doesn't mean the end of skiing for us that love the backcountry. Epic terrain on the north side of Hood which is more or less a natural park area with huge bowls and steep terrain. There's even some left behind rails up on the Cooper Spur face from the days the Army Legion did stuff up there. You could make a rail out of it and ski rails at 9500 feet or so...how cool would that be. I honestly don't consider Superbowl or any part of Heather backcountry, but it's a very valuable addition to Meadows that receives far less attention from an opening perspective than I think it deserves.

Matt,

Thanks for opening Superbowl and responding to the needs for Heather to open. Missed opportunity yesterday was responding to the number of guest showing up and not open Hood River Express. That would have opened more terrain and allowed people to ride the lift instead of the bus. Something to think about for this weekend if the weather cooperates. What puzzled us is the fact that there's no service beyond the concrete deck in the base area. The explanation why is that it's in the snow. Hmmm..it's a ski resort and the premise for a ski resort to operate is snow. But you can't get service because it's in the snow? Very odd.  

We'll be up there again this weekend and Meadow Lark..you'll find me and my 9 year old son up at the top of Superbowl. He likes to play in the park too, but I'm making sure that he understand that there's a world beyond the park and lift operated terrain.

Matt's reply:

Backcountry: I think you've convinced all the readers, including Lark, that Superbowl is the place to be. I need to qualify this by saying Superbowl is double black expert terrain and should only be skied by those accustomed to very steep pitches in what can be variable surface conditions.

Regarding the deck - our OLCC permit extends as far as the deck. As wierd as it may sound we need to apply for special use permits when we serve off of the deck. We'll look into this and determine whether we can get an extension to our current permit area.

--Matt

As this is the 3rd post in trying to gather more specific info on hiking it is my guess that you will not post.  I am fine with it not being on the blog, but if you could please email me the details on the process to close the area to the public I would greatly appreciate it.  

Don

Matt's reply:

Don: I got behind on these posts so I'm posting the same response to everyone inquiring about accessing the permit area when our lifts aren't operating.

The issue here is that we continue to do maintenance work with snowcats and snowmobiles throughout the permit area. We also may have areas in construction, or be working in parks disrupting the snow in areas. We want to make everyone aware that we continue to do this work, and really don't want traffic in these areas while this work is ongoing. We are closed and there is equipment on the mountain either for operations or maintenance. You should not be on the mountain and you are responsible for your safety.

There is also the issue of snow safety - we may not be performing A/C work in between weekends - or maybe we will be performing A/C work. Either way someone skiinning up Heather could be going into a dangerous area. We're not trying to deny access to those hiking, snow shoeing, or skiing through the area. We're just trying to make people aware of our issues and concerns. If we encounter people who are in areas that we have these concerns, we will alert them about the dangers and ask that they leave the area - for their own safety.

Thanks for understanding and your cooperation in this matter.

--Matt

Hey Matt,

What a great year.  I only wish we were able to get more time on the mountain.  I've skied at Meadows since 1972 and seen my share of the good and the bad.  Bottom line is that Meadows is one of the best operations I've been to.  A couple comments about price and then I'll get to the reason.  I understand that the season ran "long" this year with late season dumps.  Unless I'm mistaken, won't be the last time, the spring season prices usually dropped pretty substantially in April.  This year they didn't.  My wife and I headed up a couple of times and took a run and turned the ticket back in for an "I'll be back" feeling.  Paying full price for marginal snow was not something we were willing to do.  Our daugther had a season pass so it was no big deal for her.  What we would have been willing to do is pay $40-$44 for a few hours of turns and then a trip to the base for burgers and drinks.  At full price, we couldn't justify the cost.  Instead of making $104 for one trip, you could have made well over $327 had the ticket prices been lower.  That's not a bad profit margin for just one family.  And we do know of at least three other families who were in the same boat.  Does that make any sense?

Lastly, I'm a little disappointed in the lack of response from the Meadows crew regarding several questions I've sent and left voice mails for regarding what Meadows is thinking of in terms of global warming.  I am a returning student to Oregon State and need to write a term paper on the subject, and since Meadows is my favorite ski area, I thought I'd post a quick question about what the plans are for you during this period.  I've never received a response from anyone at Meadows.  I've sent some emails to Whistler, Timberline, Bachelor and gotten responses back.  What's up with my favorite ski area?

Matt's reply:

Scott: Thanks for the post. Interesting assessment on the pricing - while our spring price remained at $54 through April, we did offer the spring season pass for $119 beginning March 1, so if anyone were to go more than twice the pass would more than pay for itself.

My apologies for not touching base with you regarding your term project. That's been taken care of. Congratulations and good luck in the pursuit of your MBA!

--Matt

Matt,

Thanks for the feedback. The reason why you can't serve out beyond the deck just goes to show that we live in a society filled with rules and regulations driven by nonsense lawyers and silly law suits. Whoever gave us the "snow reason" need to check the facts I suppose and not mis inform people.

I hear rumors that you are working hard on opening more terrain and backcountry access. I understand the challenge being a resort close to an urban area with a customer base that more or less fit the Meadow Lark profile. With the requirement that you carry a shovel, beacon, probe and have a partner in addition to a check in with a patroller before you go, I don't think you'll see a a huge amount of people heading out. Even on a beautiful day like yesterday, only about 20 people were at the high point for hiking when I was up there. Awesome skiing down. Especially the last chute over from 225. Keep up the work getting permission to open the backcountry more. Maybe next year will be a new dawn for Meadows with access to more terrain beyond current boundaries. It's not backcountry, but the terrain between the Heather Chair and Private Reserve deserve consideration for additional lift served terrain like Private Reserve and God's Wall.  

Matt's reply:

Backcountry: Thanks for the post. I wanted to give a shout out to our food services crew under the direction of Mark Fellows, and expecially Sara Crook. She has really made the deck scene and the Village area look spectacular all season. She has a great crew and a lot of other departments have been helping out. Kudos!

As promised - we will be addressing backcountry issues in an upcoming blog. It's a great topic and one which I'm sure we'll have some great discussion and dialogue about.

--Matt