Hoodoo opens for the season

With ample snowfall in November, the Hoodoo Ski Area had one of its earliest openings in recent years, officially opening for the winter 2003/2004 ski season on Friday, November 28.

This is the earliest opening since 1998.

With more than 30 inches of snow and temperatures in the mid-30s, Hoodoo was able to open three chair lifts and approximately 20 ski runs. According to Brynne Beverly, Office Manager at Hoodoo Ski Area, there were over 1,200 skier visits from Friday through Sunday, with at least 700 on Friday.

"Friday was a very good day," said Beverly. "We had great snow."

Still waiting to open are a brand new sledding hill, the tubing hill, and the Hodag and Green Lifts which will open as the hill receives more of the winter white stuff. The Nordic trails remain ungroomed -- again, awaiting more snow.

A weekend warming trend brought mixed rain and snow through Saturday and Sunday, consolidating the snow pack to 24 inches as of Monday morning.

The soggy weather does- n't help, but more winter weather is in the forecast for midweek.

Hoodoo will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, closed on Wednesdays, until the holiday season.

This week Hoodoo is hosting a canned food drive where four cans of food will cut the lift ticket price in half on Thursday and Friday.

Daily ski conditions, lift ticket prices, rental rates and additional information can be found at www.hoodoo.com or by calling 541-822-3799.

Mt. Bachelor has also opened for the season; daily conditions, prices, rates and information can be found at www.mtbachelor.com or by calling 382-2607.