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'It's like this happiness loop': Mt. Hood Meadows' dancing lifty gets back what she puts out

Karen Lasher, also known as Mt. Hood Meadows' dancing lift operator, said she navigates life's curveballs through human connection.

MOUNT HOOD, Ore. — Karen Lasher is bopping out to a tune called "Talkie Walkie" by Portland-based indie-folk group Shook Twins. Her arms ebb and flow with the melody, like swells on the open ocean. She weaves her way in circles, the tread of her boots lightly crunching through the falling snow. And while she’s undeniably swept up in the sounds twinkling out of the speaker at her hip, she's also laser focused: after all, she's directing traffic.

"I'll dance all day long, and if you pay me to dance all day long, that's even better," Lasher said.

Officially, Lasher is lead lift maze operator for Mt. Hood Meadows. She's in her third season. Unofficially, she's the dancing lift operator, or in ski-speak, the dancing lifty.

"It's just about love and people, the way I know how," Lasher said.

Sometimes, it's subtle, as she unites skiers and riders with a smile, teaming up complete strangers for the slingshot ride up the Mt. Hood Express. Or, with a daily playlist that might include Michael Franti, Grateful Dead, a little country, and a Disney tune or two, Lasher is much more direct. 

She politely poses this question for thought, coffee not included, from her slope-side podium: "Would that change your day, if you had a day you started, and you said 'Hey, something fun, something exciting is going to happen me today?'"

She pauses to let her captive audience soak it in.

"Just saying!" she smiles, finishing with a knowing glint in her eye as she waves the next group past.

While Lasher's always been passionate about hospitality, it's fair to say she wasn't always this effusive with her enthusiasm, nor her trademark laugh so contagious. In fact, you might say the story of Lasher's life journey to lift op began over a decade earlier.

In 2010, she closed her Camas restaurant, Around the Table, after a couple years of struggling through the recession.

"It came crashing down in a not very pretty way," Lasher recalls.

For three years, she ran a corporate café to pay off business debt, then, wanting to spend more time with her husband and teenage daughter, swapped that for a gig as a Starbucks barista.

It was there, in the drive-thru, that Lasher said her personal healing journey really began.

"I started to really pay attention to every person that I saw," Lasher said. "[Connection] comes from your heart. People feel that."

Her start as not just a dancing lady, but the dancing lady came at a concert.

Someone had been watching Lasher from the balcony and stopped to tell her it was the "greatest thing."

Her Instagram page, aptly named @karenthedancinglady shows her dancing in the streets, in her window, on the slopes, really, anywhere. For Lasher, it’s a metaphor for being 100% mindful, meaning being present in each and every moment of her life.

"Even when it's really struggling, and it’s not fun, I can still … find the silver lining in that moment," she said.

Dave Tragethon, vice president of sales and marketing for Mt. Hood Meadows, calls Lasher an "absolute treasure."

"I can't claim her as Mt. Hood Meadows. I think she's made a claim on us!" he quips. 

"She brings this order to chaos," he said. And skiers and riders couldn’t agree more.

"She brings like a good spirit," said one kid with yellow goggles.

A woman with a white pair adds: "If you're having a bad day … you come over to main lift and it instantly changes. She's incredible."

Lasher said she often gets questions about how she keeps her energy levels and smile up during what some might see as thankless, grueling days, especially when the crowds build.

Or when sometimes the snow, like life, runs a bit deep.

She lets us in on the secret: "It's like this happiness loop. I do it. And people respond in a way that makes them happy. And then they’re happy. And that makes me happier!"

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