We've spent a lot of winter weekends skiing Mt Hood from our cabin, and the version we tell friends is a little different from the brochure version. Three ski areas, one highway, a lot of snow, and a few things worth knowing before you load the car. Here's how it actually goes from Wildwood Basecamp in Mt. Hood Village.
Where the cabin sits
Mt. Hood Village is on Highway 26 below the mountain, in the trees, at an elevation where it rains more than it snows. That's a feature. It means the driveway is usually clear, the wood stove is the point of the evening, and the mountain is a short drive up. Government Camp and Skibowl are about twenty-five minutes. Timberline is closer to forty. Meadows, on the far side of the pass on Highway 35, is closer to an hour. All of that stretches on a powder Saturday when everyone from Portland has the same idea, so we leave early or we leave late, and we try never to leave at nine.
Timberline
Timberline is the one we'd pick if we could only pick one. It sits highest on the mountain, so it opens earliest, closes latest, and holds its snow when the lower areas are struggling. The terrain is wide, open and forgiving up top and treed lower down, and on a clear day the view south over the Cascades is the kind of thing you stop for. The lodge itself is worth a walk-through even if you don't ski — it was built by hand in the 1930s and it still feels that way. Get there early on weekends; the road up from Government Camp is where the traffic stacks. In spring, Timberline keeps going long after the others have closed, and a sunny April day up there in a light jacket is one of our favorite Oregon things.
Skibowl
Skibowl is the closest to the cabin and it's the night-skiing mountain. The lower bowl is lit until late, and a plan we like is a slow morning, a hike or a nap, then up to Skibowl for an afternoon that runs into the evening. The upper bowl has steeper, more interesting terrain than people expect. It's lower on the mountain, so when it's raining at the cabin it can be raining there too; check the snow report rather than guessing. Cosmic Tubing on winter weekend nights is loud and silly and the kids in any group will remember it.
Meadows
Meadows is the biggest of the three and the one with the most variety — long groomers, Heather Canyon on a big day, enough acreage that it takes a weekend to learn. It's also the longest drive from our side, over the pass and down Highway 35, and on peak days parking is by reservation, so book that before you leave. We save Meadows for a day when we're committed to a full day out, pack a lunch, and don't try to come back to the cabin in between.
The practical part
A sno-park permit is required at ski-area lots and trailheads from November through April; you can buy one at gas stations and shops along 26 in Welches and Rhododendron, and you'll want it in the windshield. Carry chains even if you have traction tires. The road up to Timberline in particular can require them with little warning. Check TripCheck for the pass before you head out, and check it again before you head back, because the Sunday afternoon drive down 26 toward Portland is the slowest part of any ski weekend. If you can stay through Sunday dinner and leave after, do.
Rentals are available in Government Camp and along the highway if you don't want to haul gear. Mt. Hood Roasters in Rhododendron and the Huckleberry Inn in Govy cover the early breakfast, and we keep a list of the rest on our Mt. Hood page.
The evenings, which are the point
Here's the honest part. The skiing is very good, but the reason we keep coming back is what happens after. Boots and wet gloves by the stove. The hot tub under the trees while it snows lightly. The Bunkhouse Lounge, where whoever has the energy plays ping pong or shuffleboard and whoever doesn't lies on the bunk with a book. Something simple cooking, the big table on the screened porch with the fire table going, a record on inside. A group of eight can spread out across the cabin and the bunkhouse and never feel on top of each other, which is why we built it that way.
Not a ski day? Trillium Lake on snowshoes is a flat couple of miles with the mountain at the end of it, and the Old Salmon River Trail below the snow line is beautiful in the rain. There's more on the Mt. Hood homes page, and if you want a straight answer about conditions for your dates, call us. We probably just came down.