Low-Altitude Oregon Ski Resorts Hanging On, Hoping For Snow

With Thanksgiving fast approaching - the target season opener for local ski areas - ski operators are praying for snow. But they know that it will take much more than a heavy snowfall this season to secure their long-term futures.

Like other small, independently owned, lower-elevation resorts across the country, Willamette Pass and Hoodoo, are struggling for long-term survival. And it's unclear how they'll fare in that struggle. Hoodoo owner Chuck Shepard and Willamette Pass owner Tim Wiper both recently spent millions of dollars to improve their resorts, only to collide last year with the worst ski season in the past decade. Hoodoo had 19,887 skier visits last year, down 67 percent from a year earlier. Willamette Pass had 26,946 skier visits last year, down 59 percent from the previous year.

Shepard has spent $12 million to fix up his resort since he bought it in 1999. It hasn't had a profitable year yet. Shepard, a major residential landlord, said his nonski businesses are doing well, so he's not in financial danger. "The situation is more like, how long do you want to keep losing money" (on the ski area), he said.

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Last year, Oregon State University issued a scientific statement on climate change in the Pacific Northwest, which found that average temperatures in the region increased in the 20th Century by 1.3 degrees. They expect the warming to continue with an increase of 2.7 degrees by the 2020s. Snowpack in the region's peaks also is shrinking, with average water content declining 30 percent between 1950 and the 1990s, the scientists found. Lower-elevation resorts are especially vulnerable to these trends. "That's their Achilles heel," said Ralf Garrison, a Colorado-based expert in destination mountain travel. "It's not just a matter of precipitation, but a matter of that precipitation coming in the form of rain instead of snow," he said. "There are a few resorts that live and die based on a few degrees difference in temperature." Some Pacific Northwest resorts have snow-making capability, but they usually make snow to allow the resort to open a minimal amount of terrain when natural snow is sparse, or to patch skiers to more reliable higher-elevation snow, said Scott Kaden, president of the Pacific Northwest Ski Areas Association.

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http://www.registerguard.com/news/2005/11/20/f1.bz.skiareas.1120.p2.php?section=business

The difference between now and then is amazing. The Cascades snowpack has receded a great deal. I'm surprised at the thirty percent water content figure given here, I'd have guessed more like 50%. :(