POWDER AT MEADOWS: What a difference a season makes
What a difference a season makes. In fact, what a difference one week makes. Last Monday Mt. Hood Meadows had good early season conditions, a midway snowpack of around four feet and great coverage with most of the mountain up and operating. Then, beginning Tuesday, a Northwest storm system dumped five feet of snow on the resort in just over four days.
Storms that pack a punch are not unusual in the Northwest, but with the temperatures dropping to the low teens, the quality of the powder was exceptional. Phrases we hadn’t heard in a year, like “light and whispy”, “face shots” and “waist deep” were circulating Mt. Hood. It was enough to draw Phil Larose, Phil Belanger and JF Houle to Meadows, who met up with Meadows skier Eric Pollard to shoot for their upcoming Pléhouse release.
According to forecasters, the storm was just a taste of a winter that will have its share of extreme weather.
Meadows opened its in-ground SuperPipe Wednesday, December 6. The 500-foot long pipe features 15-foot walls and is the only Olympic-sized SuperPipe open in North America. Freestylers have been riding the resort's Vista SuperPipe for the past two weeks until five feet of snow filled it up.
Steeper terrain is on the verge of opening. With all last week’s snow and a good amount of AC work, Heather Canyon
could be open later this week. Check skihood.com