PORTLAND, Ore — Snow has been piling up in the Oregon Cascades the last 24 hours, and there is plenty more in the forecast over the next several days.
Mt. Hood ski resort managers told KGW they’re hoping to open this season around Thanksgiving. When they do open, it’s going to have a different feel for skiers and snowboarders.
Crews at both Timberline Lodge and Mount Hood Meadows have been working around the clock to get ready for the season.
John Burton, director of marketing for Timberline Lodge, said it has been a beehive of activity up on the mountain between grooming the slopes and getting ready for the season.
It’s not just the slopes that crews are paying attention to. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, they're putting a lot of focus on the inside of their lodges.
“Some of the restaurants are going to require reservations ahead of time. The other restaurants that don’t have menus have been redone, so there’s going to be more grab and go food,” said Burton.
When you go inside the day lodge at Timberline, there will be one way in and one way out. Another change at both Timberline and Meadows is that lift tickets must be ordered, and there will be a limit to how many people can ski or snowboard at one time.
Burton said at Timberline, they’re still in the process of determining that number.
Dave Tragethon with Mount Hood Meadows said they’ll be running at 60% of normal, which means the maximum number of people on the mountain at a given time will be about 3,000.
“We’ve created a system through our dynamic ticketing process to purchase your tickets online for different day parts starting at 9 a.m., starting at noon, starting at 2 p.m., starting at 5 p.m.," said Tragethon.
He added that he wants everyone who comes up to the mountain to have fun and be safe, but to do their part by knowing what the resort's new plan is.
Tragethon said if you don’t have a ticket or a pass that’s good for a certain day or time, don’t come up to the mountain.