Chuck's Page
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By Chuck Shepard April 4, 2008
If it seems like this season has gone past quickly, it is because it has. I was looking at the statistics today and noticed some very positive things happening, but one statistic really surprised me. This 2008-09 season is the third shortest season that we have had since 1999. I am sure that most of you still recall the 04/05 season that started on New Year’s Eve day and after shutting down several time during the season finally ended before spring vacation and after only 48 days of being open The new snow that we are experiencing in April this year shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, even in the 04/05 season the best snow of the year came in April after we had closed. We were getting requests from a few people asking us to reopen that year, but the good conditions only lasted about a week, and then it was back to bare ground. . As far as I was concerned that season couldn’t have ended soon enough. The 02/03 season also was shortened by poor conditions when we weren’t able to open until the weekend before Christmas and then had to close for a couple weeks at the end of January and the beginning of February. We went to weekends only after being open the first week in April, but had to close after one more weekend. That year we were open about 90 days. This year is easily the best season I have experienced at Hoodoo. The snow has been deep, plentiful and of great quality. Even today, April 4, as I write this, the snow is a light powder and is making for great conditions for Spring Fling. This year while we have been open, we have only had three rainy days. And of those days only one had rain all day long and all of them were during the midweek when we had fewer people. One day was on a Tuesday during Tightwad Tuesday where at least people only had to pay $19, and even on that day there were a few hours of good weather. So far every big celebration day that we have had has been rated over a 9 with several 10s, like New Year’s Eve Day when we had a 10. Winter Carnival was also a 10. The one drawback this year has been that it has just been too short. We will barely make it to 100 days by staying open on Saturday and Sundays for most of April. We would gladly stay open midweek or for more weekends, but in spite of the great snow, most people lose interest. I have had a few emails from people pleading with me to stay open longer and I suspect we will be open at least through the 20th of April, but the trouble is that even on the great days later in the season very few people find their way to the mountain. Just before Spring Break we had some sunny number 10 days where we were losing money even though we only had a skeleton crew working. We can handle that during the midseason, but not at the end when it just keeps getting worse. However, I am hopeful that enough of you will continue to come next weekend to make the following weekend worthwhile. In fact I am counting on being open April 19 and 20 and then I am optimistic about the next weekend. It is almost impossible for us to be open in May, because most of our seasonal employees move on to other jobs, or other parts of the country, but I am keeping an open mind. Good snow is just a tragedy to waste. In spite of the shortened season, it has been the best season in other ways than just climate. We have had the most skier visits this year since the early 1970s (before Willamette Pass and Bachelor became serious competition), and the most total guest visits, including sledding and the Autobahn, that we have ever had. Our long term goal has been to hit 100,000 total guest visits and it looks like we will be just a little short at about 99,000, unless a whole lot of you get off the couch or the golf links for one giant final hurrah. The bottom line though is that after George Taylor’s prediction last August for great snow this season, we have been expecting great things and thanks to you guys, we feel that our efforts to make Hoodoo into the best family ski resort possible have paid off. Speaking of George Taylor, I would like to mention that he predicted that each month would end with more snow than the one before until April. He was right in that regard. He unfortunately was also right is saying that the season would start slowly. We thought we were OK when we opened the first weekend in December, but then when we had to close again until December 20, George was again proved correct. For evermore, this shall be referred to as the Taylor Made season. Finally, what do we have to look forward to? Most likely next season won’t be as good as this one. I don’t see how it is possible to have two near perfect seasons in a row. It would be greedy of me to even hope for such a thing. However, a normal year at Hoodoo is a good year and most likely next year will be a longer one than this year. We have seen steady upward progress in our skier visits. Each one of the last three years has been much better than the years prior to the new management. In fact our average skier visits now are better than our best skier visit years in he 90s. Things have improved. We are now seriously talking about doing the Sheep Springs expansion. Once upon a time that seemed impossible, but now we are talking about it with some expectation. I suppose I shouldn’t get your hopes up too high, but I will share some of our talks. We are thinking that we might replace the current Manzanita chair with a quad that will go a couple towers higher on the mountain in order to avoid the “flatlands” off the top of Manzanita now. We would then move the current Manzanita towers to Sheep Springs which will for the most part will be a collection of beginner trails and a possible new terrain park. We are also hoping that it will be under lights. Much of this depends upon what happens this summer in the campground company expansion in the Deschutes, and it also depends upon whether there is enough electricity left for us at the end of the Central Electric Coop line. The parking lot would have to go through another expansion. That would happen in the Autobahn area where we would also install about 20 more RV hookups that would be useable by snowmobilers in the winter and OHV users in the summer. Is all of this just a dream? Maybe, but then so was the expansion getting to this level and so was the 100,000 guest visit statistic. You can expect one more Chuck’s Page devoted to skiing issues than it is on to one very interesting (all of our campgrounds are currently under snow) camping season and our first year in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie Forest. See you on the slopes,
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