Winter Never Ends At Timberline Lodge On The Shoulder Of Mt. Hood
While all other U.S. ski and snowboard resorts turn the page to summer activities, Oregon's Timberline Lodge simply throws the switch again and the lifts spinning all summer long on the Mt. Hood glacier known as Palmer Snowfield.
Altitude, aspect and freezing temps keeps a solid pack of snow in place for the off-season, making Timberline the only year-round mountain in North America. As such, the slopes not only attract hardcore skiers and riders for warm, often slushy runs, but also a plethora of professional and amateur training sessions and camps to hone their skills.
From now into the autumn months, two high-speed quads at Timberline are spinning 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., weather depending. The Magic Mile chair delivers skiers and riders to the bottom of Palmer Snowfield and the Mile Terrain Park. The Palmer Express chair, which only operates during the summer, takes off from there and runs to the 8,540-foot top of the snowfield for wide-open skiing and riding.
Total vertical feet in the summer is 2,616 feet -- a little less than half of the drop during the winter months.
It's that upper snowfield where skiers, riders and tricksters can keep their winter jones going. The expansive terrain includes designated racing lanes and a vast terrain park. Palmer Snowfield hosts dozens of racing and freestyle camps in June and July, including a number of sessions for U.S. alpine team and other national alpine racing teams. Visitors should check to see if the racing lanes and the Freestyle Training Center on the snowfield are open to the public on any particular day.
For the alpine racers, both master and youth camps run three- and five-day sessions, with overnight accommodations available for an additional fee. The focus is on slalom and giant slalom technique with timed runs.
Two five-day sessions of freestyle camps run for teens -- overnight stays required -- and daily camps for all ages. They include coaching and video analysis and, for the teens, afternoon leisure activities such as laser tag and swimming.
In addition, Timberline lays out an extensive mountain biking trail network during the summer months. Accessed off the Jeff Flood Express chair, MTB routes include a variety of greens and blues, interspersed with short and steep black diamond and double diamonds.
Timberline is part of the Dirt Alliance, a partnership among Mt. Bachelor, Grand Targhee, Schweitzer, Whitefish and Timberline. A bike park season pass at one park means two free days at any of the other four mountains.
