Richard Hallman Photo
Our daily operations come to an end on Sunday, April 16, but we’ll have two extended weekends to wind up the season. Lifts will run from 9 AM - 4 PM, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, April 21 - 23 and Friday and Saturday, April 28 - 29.
Earth Day Weekend Festival April 21 - 23
Meadows will present a lifestyle event to celebrate the changing of the seasons, a transformation of the mountain, healing of the earth and personal wellness and renewal. A vendor village will showcase summer recreation activities and sustainable businesses and organizations (Findlay Hats, Toyota, Columbia River Outdoors, Friends of the Columbia Gorge, CCL, Ninkasi Beer Tent, Next Adventure, Day Trip Beverage, Wheyward Spirits, Opake Screen Printing). Kids games and family fun activities will be presented from 1 - 3 PM, along with other fun snow play games.
Jake Ryan Photo: jakeryancreations.com
End Of Season Parks Session Friday April 28
Our final two days of the season are Friday and Saturday, April 28 and 29. An end of the season park session will be presented by the Meadows Park Crew at the Halfpipe, Zoo and Fireweed parks. Pop up spotlight jams and swag will fuel the stoke. The Buttercup and Easy Rider lifts will run until 6 PM for event participants and pass holders.
Ninkasi Pond Skim and SOOR Polar Pond Plunge April 29
The season comes to an end on April 29 with the Ninkasi Pond Skim. A full field of skiing and snowboarding “skimmers” attempt to cross the icy waters of the 100 foot pond right in the base area. There is no charge to watch and cheer on the competitors as they impress the judges and the crowd with their costumes and style.
SOOR Polar Pond Plunge Fundraiser
An added activity this year is the Special Olympics of Oregon (SOOR) Polar Pond Plunge, which will immediately follow the second run of the Pond Skim. SOOR representatives will be on hand to register participants who want to take a plunge through the pond for $20 - all proceeds benefit Special Olympics. SOOR is bringing great prizes for a raffle - including round trip air for two on Alaska Airlines (Unrestricted!) and prize packages from Pit Viper: sunglasses, t-shirt, swag and Craft Outdoor: headlamp, lantern, utility knife. A Mt. Hood Meadows 2023-24 Value Season Pass will also be added to the raffle. All Pond Skimmers are entered into the raffle - and those who take the plunge receive four raffle tickets.
Uphill Travel Schedule
- Monday through Wednesday April 17 - 19 we will allow uphill travel throughout the permit area. Travelers should still be aware of any on-hill activity and know that they are on their own - we do not have patrollers on hill these days
- Thursday, April 20 we will be closed to uphill travel while we are grooming and resetting the hill for the weekend
- Friday - Saturday, April 21 - 23 uphill travel will be allowed using the designated hiking routes described below (same rule as winter operations)
- Monday - Thursday, April 24 - 27 closed for uphill travel. This is due to the Pond Skim build, grooming workshop and our Thursday hill-prep day
- Friday - Sunday, April 28 - 30 uphill travel allowed using the designated hiking routes described below (same rule as winter operations)
Designated hiking routes are:
Heather Canyon Runout - Proceed uphill from the Hood River Meadows parking lot to the first sign just below Gods Wall. If the sign is CLOSED, exit the Mt. Hood Meadows Permit Area toward the Newton Drainage. Please do not travel further uphill on the Heather Canyon Runout. If the sign is OPEN, continue traveling uphill on the Heather Canyon Runout to the CLOSED sign directly adjacent to the bottom of the Heather Canyon Chairlift. Turn right, exiting the Mt. Hood Meadows Permit Area toward the Newton drainage.
South Boundary - From the Main parking lot, proceed uphill toward the bottom of the Vista Chairlift. Turn left at the bottom of Vista exiting the Mt. Hood Meadows Permit Area.
Those who do hike for turns and want to re-enter the ski area boundary shall do so only into open terrain.
The message for those here hiking for turns before 5/1:
- There is currently no patrol or other assistance available
- There may be no hazard markings
- Please stay clear of all terrain parks and grooming projects
- Visitors are on their own and we strongly encourage that they go elsewhere
- As always, sledding is not allowed
Mt. Hood Express Six Passenger Lift Construction Starts Monday, May 1
The Mt. Hood Express six passenger lift project begins May 1, with the removal of the current lift. We will immediately be plowing and removing snow from the South Side road to provide access to the project. That road switchbacks across our Buttercup and South Canyon trails making them impassable to skier traffic. It will be an active construction zone while the road is exposed.
On Monday, May 1 access to the permit area will be restricted. We ask that those hiking for turns stay out of the Mt. Hood Express and South Side service road construction areas. 
We will start clearing snow from the South Side summer maintenance roads starting May 1 to prepare for the removal of the old lift. This will create impassible hazards on large portions of the south side and prevent any skiing / riding traffic in that area.
This is a major project that will be squeezed into a relatively short construction time frame that requires our full attention in order for it to be ready on opening day in November 2023. This past season there were multiple new lift projects at other ski resorts that fell behind schedule and missed their opening dates. That is a position that we cannot put ourselves in next season and why we are focusing our efforts and resources on keeping this lift project on schedule.
Thanks for your understanding. We'll have more about the new lift in an upcoming blog and will track the construction progress over the summer.