For the first time in our 55 year history, Mt. Hood Meadows opened for the season on a Tuesday. That’s just the way the snow fell and when it comes to falling snow, Meadows definitely makes the most of it, as did a modest crowd that turned out for first-day turns.
The season was celebrated at the Daisy lift - the first 50 in line received Blackstrap Buffs - we hit 8:55 and we counted it down to the launch. Intermediate and beginner terrain groomed under the Daisy, Easy Rider and Buttercup lifts provided some excellent confidence building for the early season. The storm that dropped two feet since Saturday night also provided those venturing off piste powder a plenty. The silence of falling snow was broken by yips and yahoos from those plunging into the freshness of the new season. 
The day started with a 37 inch snow depth in the base area with 9 inches of it falling in the past 24 hours. Through the day another three inches fell adding to the run by run refreshment. 
It was a BLAST!
And with a forecast for several feet of snow in the next few days - it’s only going to get better. More lifts and terrain will be opened - with Mt. Hood Express on deck and Shooting Star in the hole. 
Yes you're reading this forecast correctly - we could receive between TWO and FOUR FEET before we get to the weekend. That is a great start to an early season!
There’s still a lot of work to do but we could hit the weekend with five express lifts operating. Don’t get ahead of yourself not Vista or Cascade yet - the upper mountain still needs a lot of fill in from the scouring it has taken, but come on - it’s still November! There should be a lot of terrain to enjoy at Meadows this weekend!
La Niña appears to be doing its thing - lining up several days if not weeks of storms to build up our base for the season. Good to see it arriving a full two weeks ahead of last season - when we had a solid 21 days of storms that took our mid-mountain base to 100 inches by December 31.
Any opening is a good opening. This year 55 will be special!
We’ll see you on the mountain soon!
Video by Ben Mitchell
Photos by Richard Hallman