Mount Hood Summer Camps

I just thought I would post an alert about snow depths for anyone thinking
of attending summer camps at Mount Hood this summer.

Mount Hood is in the midst of it's worst snow season since 76/77 and 80/81.
Mount Hood Meadows and Ski Bowl are currently closed and Timberline's lower
lifts are closed, Magic Mile is open but barely rideable, and Palmer (summer
terrain, where the camps are held) is open. I was at Timberline last
Wednesday and it looked like mid to late June in most years.

I believe that, unless significant snowfall occurs between now and summer,
there will not be enough snow to operate camps this summer. I applaud
Timberline and the camps for their efforts in farming snow and making the
best of a bad situation - but IMHO it just may not be possible to pull it
off this summer.

We are at about mid-March right now. In recent "low snow" years the
published base depth at Timberline Lodge has been between 120 and 160 inches
at this time of year; recent "good snow" years has seen published depths
between 170 and 300 inches at this time of year. The current published
depth is 42 inches. I don't know where they are measuring it, because I
see more rocks and dirt than snow at lodge elevation.

I wish the camps well in weathering this awful season, and do not intend
this post to be derogatory towards the camps in any way. If it is possible
to operate this summer I am sure they will find a way. I only intend this
as a "head's up" to potential attendees; I would hate to see anyone get
their hopes up and then find out they can't go due to low snow.

Mike T