It was an epic powder day at Mt. Hood Meadows Wednesday. The temperature at the top of Mt. Hood Express is 11 degrees - which means the snow was light and feathery powder. And that's exactly what the throng of powder plungers received today - a powder feast!
Meadows picked up 14 inches of snow just in the last 12 hours - 19 inches in the last 24 hours and 26 inches the last two days. The base area snowdepth is 117 inches with 193 inches at midmountain. It was spectacular powder today and with a forecast for continued snow through the night and plunging temperatures, the powder should be even finer Thursday.
A word of warning - temps are forecast down to the single digits with windchill well below zero, so it's important to leave no skin uncovered and to take frequent warm up breaks. But the conditions are awesome!
Another word of caution - practice deep snow safety. Ride with a buddy and keep them in sight. Avoid tree wells - it's getting deep out there!
Video shot and edited by Ben Mitchell @ Mt. Hood Meadows
Skier / Snowboarder images by Grant Myrdal
So you're saying there's a chance ....
Lift maintenance crews got a head start on Vista in today’s storm. They knocked ice off of upper towers in an attempt to free it up for a possible run Thursday. Winds may be problematic, but at least the frigid temps won’t have it icing up again.
After climbing the iced up ladder (rather treacherous in itself considering the tons of overburden) a brass hammer is used to pound or shed ice from the tower assemblies, haul rope, sheaves and the electrical safety switch components. All the ice needs to be shed in order to then inspect for any damage. 
It is rather tedious and strenuous all at the same time. A good work out for sure - and yes we are accepting applicants on our jobs page!
This storm will continue to drop snow through the night and into the morning hours. There may be some broken clouds, maybe even some blue sky but moderate to strong winds could hamper our upper mountain efforts. We’ll give it our best shot!
Lift deice shots by Marshall Wood