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Oregon the New Boring Colorado?

10K views 80 replies 20 participants last post by  stickz 
#1 ·
After about 8 years I'm wondering if it's time to call Oregon riding played out and done. Sure there's LOTS of snow, Cascade concrete but snow is snow I guess? But with crowds, prices, and for the most part terrible terrain I think it's no longer worth its value... Maybe I'm coming down with a hard case of the grass is always greener?

Thoughts:

Timberline: Awesome to see and visit, the terrain though, well what terrain? There's a reason Timberline is known Flatline and its ridable terrain is actually minimal. Timberline is so flat I've started dreading powder days there. The only redeeming aspect of the resort outside the picturesque lodge is if you wait to talk the snow cat up to the top of Palmer and do a full top to bottom run, thats cool but not crazy and only available on weekends when snow and visibility are perfect and its unlikely you can even get two of those runs in in a day. Crowds can get painful at Flood and expect the road to even get to the hill closed before the lifts even start turning due to full lots.

Mt Hood Meadows: For me this resort has DIED in recent years sadly. Forget all the new passes with new rules about not showing up until 3 and no holiday riding for normal season pass holders. For some extra money you can get around that. But The crowds have gotten HORRENDOUS. Normal weekday and your not there before 8:45 turn the car around, the resort is full and you're not getting in. Powder day, better be there by 8:15. Then even if you manage to get in to the lot and up the hill, any real snow is gone within an hour outside some small staches in Private Reserve or with come intense hiking all the way out to Clark Canyon if they're even open. And have fun with the lift lines in the mean time. Terrain is OK, There's some fun areas and some steeps a couple of cliffs but they're not like cliff bands or cliff areas outside one specific spot. It's more a couple places to drop of a rock. If it weren't for the crowds, difficulty getting even in to a lot I'd enjoy it, I did use to like it for my local mountain

Ski Bowl: Ok the most redeeming place in the state probably. I have zero problem with the fact that the only have old 2 person slow lifts, I kind of like it. Dirt cheap, crowds are very manageable and there's some AWESOME terrain. Problem: the terrain worth riding is limited to one lift, upper bowl, and the runs are RIDICULOUSLY short. As in the chair has a whopping elevation gain of 777 feet but a ride time of 7 minutes. Don't get me wrong I've never had more fun dropping cliffs here than any resort because it can nuke and theres so few crowds you can get fresh drops all the time. And all this keep in mind is if it's even cold enough to not be raining. At only 5,000 feet top elevation of the upper chair it rains as often as it snows here.

Mt Bachelor: Probably the best area to ride in the state. There's some fun stuff to skin or hike to unlike on Hood where there's really a very minimal backcountry scene. The inbounds terrain is large and variable Crowds can get bad although I'll be honest haven't been with the new cloud chaser chair, not sure if it helps. But man powder days on the weekend, good luck getting in many runs. There are two major issues with Bachelor though.

One: Season Pass cost. At a whopping $1,000 your one of the most expensive season passes in the country. But hey every pass has perks so what are theres? As of this season, NONE! No bonus resort lift tickets or anything like that, for a grand you get to ride one mountain all winter and nothing else. Possibly the biggest rip off currently in the industry.

Two: Location. Bachelor is largely a destination mountain unless you live in Bend. And Bend isn't exactly easy to live in. Industry is minimal, it's more a resort town for the wealthy and people who work remotely. Cost of living has SKYROCKETED, it's population is sharply increasing but there's really not the room for it. Just look at trying to hike around that area in summers even. Sisters backpacking is practically Disneyland these days.

Every time I visit the Montanas, Idahos, Bakers, etc of NA I keep finding myself going, is Oregon worth it?
 
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#2 ·
Isn’t it like that at all resorts near a city, and at pretty much all popular resorts ?


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#3 ·
Yes and no. It's bang for your buck/time/etc. Is more the point. As in "I''l take x crowds for y level of terrain" or I'll pay "A dollars for B size of resort" And Hood specifically seems to have fallen well below that line for me.

I guess one thing I didnt point out is how bad getting to the mountain and parking is in comparison. On Hood you're either at the resort with your car well before lifts turn or you wait until noon when it's tracked out. You don't get a shuttle from the city, you don't take public transit, you don't circle the lot trying to find a spot. Here they close the road and tell ya to run back home. It's why hitchiking is still so big. The mountains have not been able to adapt to the surge in population yetg. It's just growing and there's been zero adapting. And the terrain well you can only do so much, and Hood really isn't impressive. And Bachelor is no longer even close to worth the value of their pass.
 
#5 ·
Bachelor passes will go up again next season and will continue to until the pass sales dont reach a certain goal. They passed it already, 2 weeks ago.

Weekend riding got more crowded last season than prior years bot 30-35% of it was max pass. Thats gone this season. Im happy to pay the price and hope the crowd is less this year. Ive heard of meetings to be on ikon and(ugh)epic.... if thats the case weekend and holidays are going to he destroyed.

As for weekend powder, i get up there for first chair and get some laps. If nwx/obx doesn't open i bail after 10. Sucks for people driving in, im 22 minutes away though...
 
#6 ·
Oh ya I know. That's kind of my point. But as for your hope for crowds going down with the pass price, I highly doubt it still. Bachelor is a wealthy resort. Bend draws in people with money so I don't expect it to kill crowds any time soon, especially on weekends when it's non pass riders anyway and more family and vacation folks.
 
#8 ·
It sounds like you have already made up your mind. I keep hearing others say that snowboarding is dying, yet whenever I head up on a weekend, I just don't see that happening. I do my best to avoid weekends, they are packed. Non-holiday weekdays, it's like I can go up and just do laps without too much trouble.
 
#10 ·
I guess maybe your version of rich and my version of rich are different. Living in vail for 5 years showed me what my version of rich is..... Bend is very far from that.

As for crowds going down from pass price, i just like that it stays about the same, they sold 1000 less passes this year than last. There is no more max pass or any conglomeratefor bachelor, that was 30%+ of the crowds over the last 2 seasons.

Im happy that people are not liking the price or the lack of amenities as you stated. Thats good for me and other people that live here and only ride bachelor, bad for people that dont live in town.
 
#40 ·
Grew up Riding in Michigan and then worked at a resort in NY for years. I know the NE well. And at times I miss it. We all pretend we want west coast powder, but in reality resort riding no matter where you are outside of the PNW means tracked out runs in an hour or two. In Oregon my pow board gets ridden a handful of days all year. You know who knows how to work with snow conditions and how to groom great carving runs? The NE! You sacrifice Steepness and pw but there's a lot of great parts about the NE

Not to mention villages and ski towns, the NE KILLS it. Colorado compares but the price is ridiculous. If you want a true ski vacation, slopeside condos, cute towns, little ski shops and the fun quaint feeling, give me Vermont, NY, etc all day long.
 
#13 ·
Just about every person I know that's gotten burned out on Colorado has moved to either Gresham or Bend. Although your definition of crowds is probably a lot less than what we experience every weekend here.

Boise will be the next big hot spot, calling it now. Which is fine, maybe all these people will move the fuck away from Breckenridge.
 
#14 ·
Just about every person I know that's gotten burned out on Colorado has moved to either Gresham or Bend. Although your definition of crowds is probably a lot less than what we experience every weekend here.



Boise will be the next big hot spot, calling it now. Which is fine, maybe all these people will move the fuck away from Breckenridge.


Why Boise? I would think Sandpoint or Victor.


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#29 ·
You just have to find a spot with no major population center within 4 hours of you home hill. Found one, and I got to say what a change. Of course there are no jobs here for most people. You got to be able to work at home. The resort in a lot of ways is less busy than the backcountry. Though that may be a bit different this year thanks to the Epic Pass. Time will tell, but I really don't think it is going to make a huge difference. For most Front Rangers, you want at least four days to even bother to make the trip out here. Weekend warrior trips don't really happen when you are over six hours away.
 
#31 ·
Bend is pretty great. I was pretty damn close to making an offer on a house there. Really, really close. Would not have sucked.


Boise seems to have a lot going on for it. Visually, I can't say it blows me away, but you almost always have to peel away the layers to find the groove of a place. Far worst places to end up than Boise, that is for sure.
 
#42 ·
As bad as you say Oregon is I think Washington may be worse. Living in Seattle there are several areas within reach but all are extremely crowded on the weekends. I used to get a seasons pass for Stevens Pass because the weekday/weekends-evening pass was pretty reasonable and the crowds weren't horrific. Now I hit Stevens maybe once a year, the terrain is MEH and the crowds bad even mid-week if there is fresh snow. Crystal is a no go on weekends if you don't like crowds and the terrain is not to my liking, great if you like steep but the moderate stuff has a lot of flats. Can't even imagine going to Snoqualmie, short runs, crowds and mediocre snow. Baker is too far for day trips, at least more than the occasionally. Really the only places I want to go on the weekends are Mission and White Pass which pretty much require a weekend commitment.

As far as dream locations or retirement options for me I still think about Bend despite the crazy growth just because I really like
Bachelor and there are tons of other year round outdoor activities and it's a scenic location. Boise and SLC aren't that scenic IMO. McCall is scenic but Brundage and Tamarack are small hills with limited terrain. Sandpoint with Schweitzer would be nice, seems like prices are high there too and not a lot of job opportunities. There are certainly some nice locations with smaller local hills but certainly not what the original poster is looking for.
 
#43 ·
I don't see Whitefish blowing up. Mostly because of the jobs thing. maybe Kalispell will kick it into high gear. Bozeman on the other hand is definitely blowing up, jobs are still an obstacle everywhere in Montana, but there is more opportunity in Bozeman for sure.
 
#45 ·
True, although I was putting Kalispell and Whitefish together as they're practically one town. Was talking to a real estate agent there recently and the amount of properties switching to full time vacation properties is insane. With the boom in tourism in the area in both summer and winter it's a year round destination which is gonna create jobs. But Whitefish is easily on my list of best places to live for riding and enjoying the outdoors. Bozeman is gonna be overrun long before Whitefish. That area's growth is explosive, but the thing Montana has going for it is how big everything is and that means room to accommodate growth.

PS if any of you haven't ridden Whitefish, don't it sucks stay away. Go to Colorado where there's snow and real terrain.
 
#52 ·
Wifey made a mistake :) Been vacationing a bunch in the area the last few years, although Glacier NP will be interesting to see since the wildfires. I was there about 2 weeks before they started. Beautiful area with all the outdoor activities year round. Fishing, hiking, mountain biking, everything, boating/wakeboarding, everything.

Kalispell having an international airport is pretty neat as well, although at only a day drive from PDX I'm usually roadtripping it. Not to mention it's actually cheaper there in winter than in summer....
 
#49 ·
HAHA tis true. Although for Oregon I'm not talking about lift lines, or even crowds in general it's more even being able to get to the mountain to sit in a lift line. And then about terrain/facilities/views vs crowd.

Pick, someone offers you a season pass to Timberline or a pass to Breck which you picking (based solely on the riding and crowds, not living area)
 
#50 ·
Be happy you're not dealing with I-70. 4 hours to get to the mountains, 8 hours to return from them. People wonder why I don't leave my house on a Saturday anymore.

If we're talking walking distance, Breck would win as I can literally see the gondola from my chair right now. And I also know the mountain like the back of my hand.
 
#56 ·
I think all these small gems of a town are going to see massive growth for the fact that there are so many jobs that don't tie you down to a location. Living at a no longer means you need to make your money from the local economy, or lack there of.

More bad news is that a good number of these people who can now move are likely from CA and will not settle for just moving. They will bring CA life with them.

If you want to keep your quaint little mountain towns you should outlaw high speed internet.

Then again there is all that porn, so it's a toss up.
 
#70 ·
But with crowds, prices, and for the most part terrible terrain I think it's no longer worth its value... Maybe I'm coming down with a hard case of the grass is always greener?
Day at Vail mid season 200$
you wanna talk about lines/crowds....I've had to resort to riding weekdays only...even the backcountry stuff you are rarely alone....

Everyone and their F***ing mother has decided to move here in the last couple years and they just keep on comin'....

Traffic? holy shittttt....so much construction roads were not designed to handle the recent influx in population...go to Canada bro....id be there if i didnt have a DUI lol
 
#74 ·
And now the PNW is offically going to be the last area of the country to open this year. Not a big deal as it will come, but it still feels like being robbed having MI and mid Atlantic resorts open before us.

NE: Open
Midwest: Open
Mid Atlantic: Opening
Rockies: Open
Sierras: Open
PNW: 45 degrees and no snow anywhere in the forecast
 
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