Thoughts on Snowmaking

The mountains of the Pacific Northwest get more snow, on average, than nearly any other regional mountain cluster in the United States. It's why Northwest ski areas have never felt the need to have extensive snowmaking systems. In fact, only in the past couple years have Oregon ski areas "dabbled" into snowmaking operations -- and those operations are limited to small sections of Mt. Bachelor, Mt. Hood Meadows and Willamette Pass.

Nowhere is snowmaking more necessary than at ski areas east of the Mississippi River. That's because the weather along the East Coast and in the Great Lake States is far more variable than it is in the Northwest. In the East, weather patterns often behave such that a storm will initially bring snow, then sleet or freezing rain, then heavy rain, then dramatic cooling and drying with very windy conditions. In some cases, there can be a 40-degree temperature change in this cycle. You can imagine what that does to the snowpack and the snow surface. Enter snowmaking -- Eastern resorts heavily rely on it to replenish the base following spells of changeable weather.

While Northwest resorts have a lesser need for snowmaking overall, they definitely could use it right now. We've just gone through a classic East Coast weather pattern -- heavy snow followed by very heavy rain and now colder and drier conditions. If the snow isn't bullet-proof yet, it will be soon. And the bare spots are numerous after the weekend washout. But we don't have the extensive snowmaking operations here that allow Eastern resorts to recover much more rapidly from snowpack-damaging weather events.

The trade-off is that we are rewarded by lower lift ticket prices than our East Coast counterparts. Snowmaking is very expensive (and increasingly so with energy prices on the uptick). But... snowmaking undoubtedly would improve the skiing and boarding experience on the mountain during times like these. Maybe someday...

As far as the forecast is concerned... look for some light snow (a couple inches) through Thursday midday, then it looks completely dry through the weekend. It is doubtful that the lower-elevations ski areas (such as Skibowl and Hoodoo) will be able to open this weekend because the rain caused so much damage to the snow base. But neither area has ruled out reopening just yet, so keep watch. Timberline, Meadows and Bachelor will be open for sure.