BLOGS / HELLO WINTER / COMMUNITY VIGNETTE

Small Ski Areas. Big Benefits.

words by chris zimmerman | photos by Mark McInnis & eric pollard

It seems like every season we hear about a new high price for daily lift tickets. $150, $200 … even up to $350—for a single day. Not only are these prices insane and discouraging to the average skier or snowboarder looking to ride, they’re targeting people looking for luxury experiences. What if you don’t care about heated gondolas, moving sidewalks or ski-in/ski-out lodging? What if you just want to spend your time skiing and snowboarding, wait in shorter lines and eat some old fashioned, deep-fried lodge food at the end of the day?

You can.

It’s easy to get sucked into the narrative of big corporate ski resorts—and don’t get me wrong, it is a huge issue in the sport. But there is also a whole world of small, independently-own, community-oriented ski areas lurking just beyond the advertising budgets of the big dogs. Places where you can still get lift tickets for less than $50, see families potlucking in the lodge and not have to pay for parking. It just takes some searching, and the willingness to trade in a luxury experience for something a little more blue collar.

Independent ski areas can be one of the answers to an industry of increasingly high ski resort prices. They offer affordable accessibility for the entire family and feature a unique character—and unique characters—while fostering a sense of community that seems to be disappearing more and more. Not only do these areas have cheaper lift tickets, many of them allow and encourage overnight parking. These two factors, paired with a new-to-us 1995 Mitsubishi Delica camper made our inaugural trip into central Oregon the perfect proof of concept.

This is a trip I have been trying to get off the ground for nearly 10 years. But injuries, pregnancies and a global pandemic pushed it out until now. Maybe now was actually the perfect time because news of $300+ lift tickets was everywhere, and my daughter, now 6, had progressed to a level where exploring different mountains and riding chairlifts made a road trip worthwhile.

Our list was simple, and yet barely scratched the surface of Oregon’s small ski areas: Willamette Pass, Hoodoo and Skibowl. To me, these three resorts are the perfect cross-section of Oregon’s community ski areas. They are fairly small, have affordable lift tickets and are places where you feel like everyone knows each other—from the lot attendants and lifties to families staking out spots in the day lodge with Crock Pots. Each mountain is special in its own way, but here are a few of the highlights we discovered on our trip.

Hoodoo

- $35 half-price lift tickets on Thursdays
- Night riding!
- Lodge has a pool table, arcade and kids play area, plus daily happy hour specials in the bar
- Kids 10 and under are free Only 1 hour from Bend (shhh)
- Huge RV parking area with full electrical hookups

Willamette Pass

- $19 lift tickets
- $10 food voucher
- Kids under 12 are free
- Only 1 hour from Eugene
- $19 RV parking (some hookups available)

Skiing and snowboarding are inherently expensive sports. No one can argue that. Snow is a finite resource and the best snow is far away from the biggest population centers. But there are ways to make it more affordable. From small ski areas to night riding to backcountry touring, there are plenty of routes that lead to more turns and more time on hill. The cost of skiing and snowboarding at major resorts has grown exorbitantly in the past 20 years—and that’s an issue in and of itself—but at the end of the day, independently-owned areas like Willamette Pass, Hoodoo and tons of others provide more accessible opportunities to experience the joy of sliding on snow. And that’s what it’s really all about.