If you need to winterize a cabin on Mt Hood that will keep hosting guests through ski season, the job is different from shutting down a summer place. You are not draining the pipes and walking away. You are making the house survive freezes, snow loads, and power outages while strangers sleep in it. Here is the list we run on Wildwood Basecamp every fall, roughly in the order we do it.
Do it in October, not after the first storm
Mt. Hood Village sits around 1,300 feet, so it gets less snow than Government Camp, but freezes start in late October and the first real snow can land in November. Once the ground is white, narrow stair/ladder combo work and gutter cleaning get miserable and unsafe. We aim to finish by mid-October. The pattern in the Mt. Hood rental calendar helps here: October is a soft month for bookings, so you can block a few days without losing much.
Water: the thing that actually ruins cabins
Almost every catastrophic winter claim we have heard about is a frozen pipe. Focus here first.
- Insulate exposed pipes in crawl spaces and along exterior walls. Foam sleeves are cheap. Heat tape is worth it on the supply line where it enters the house.
- Disconnect and drain hoses. Shut off and drain exterior spigots or install frost-free ones.
- Close crawl-space vents or install foam blocks for winter.
- Locate and label the main shutoff. Put a photo of it in the welcome book so a guest can find it at 2am.
- Set a minimum thermostat of 55°F, and make sure guests cannot set it lower. Smart thermostats with a locked floor are ideal.
- If you have a hot tub, keep it running. A hot tub that freezes is a hot tub you replace.
Consider a water leak sensor near the water heater and under sinks. The good ones text you. A shutoff valve that closes automatically on a leak alert is the next step up, and after one bad winter, it starts to feel cheap.
Heat and power
Have the furnace or heat pump serviced in early fall, before the HVAC companies get slammed. Replace filters. If you heat with propane, top the tank in October and set up automatic delivery. Snow-covered roads can delay a fill for a week.
Outages are common in the villages along Highway 26. Plan for them. A battery backup on the WiFi router and thermostat keeps you connected long enough to know there is a problem. If you have a wood stove, stock a real supply of dry wood and leave clear instructions. Guests will use it wrong if you let them guess.
Roof, gutters, and trees
Clear gutters after the big-leaf maples drop, which is usually late October. Check for loose shingles and flashing. Look up: any dead limbs over the roof or the driveway should come down now. Doug fir limbs loaded with wet snow are heavy, and a November windstorm will find the weak ones for you.
If your roof holds snow, know its load rating and have a roof rake or a snow-removal contact. Most cabins at village elevation shed fine, but a metal roof that dumps onto a deck or hot tub cover needs a plan.
Access: the part guests notice
Line up plowing before the season, not during the first storm. Ask the plow contact about their trigger depth and whether they text when done. Stake the driveway edges so the plow does not tear up your landscaping or your septic lid. Stock a shovel, a bucket of ice melt, and a broom by the door.
Update your listing and welcome book with honest winter access notes: traction tire and chain requirements on Highway 26, where to park, and what to do if the driveway is not plowed yet. We cover the guest side in check-in made easy. A guest who arrives prepared is a guest who leaves five stars.
Safety and small stuff
- Test smoke and CO detectors and replace batteries. Wood stoves plus closed windows make CO matter.
- Chimney sweep if the stove or fireplace is used regularly.
- Check exterior lighting and add motion lights at the entry and parking area. Dark comes at 4:30.
- Swap the outdoor furniture cushions into storage and secure anything that can blow.
- Confirm your insurance covers short-term rental use and freeze damage. Read the freeze clause. Many require heat maintained at a set minimum.
If you would rather not run this list yourself
This is a normal part of what we do for the homes we manage on the mountain. We schedule the work, coordinate the vendors, and check the house after storms. If you are weighing whether to manage your own cabin or hand it off, our Mt. Hood owner page lays out how we work, and a earnings review will show you what a winter season could look like in your cabin, so you can decide whether the hassle is worth it.
Either way, do the water first. Everything else on this list is annoying to skip. A frozen pipe is expensive to skip.