Long-awaited snow rings in New Year

A fresh blanket of new snow welcomed hundreds of holiday revelers at Hoodoo Mountain Resort on New Year's Eve against a backdrop of spectacular fireworks, and hopes for a better year to come.

Viewing areas outside the main lodge started to fill up just before the closing of Hoodoo's lifts at 9 p.m. After a quick sweep of the runs by the Santiam Pass Ski Patrol, the fireworks started amid cool, but very comfortable, weather.

Brett Marks had come over from Salem.

"We've just been waiting for some new snow, and it was great that we finally got a nice little storm to give us some fresh snow to ski on and enjoy the holiday," he said.

Before that "little storm" came through, Hoodoo was groomed with what the local skiers refer to as

"Cascade Concrete," due to warm temperatures and the lack of a snowpack this year. Before the nearly 10 inches of snow that fell Friday, warm rains turned the area near the bottom of Manzanita and the Easy Rider chair into a large pond, which then proceeded to freeze over once the temperatures dropped.

Despite the fresh snow, skiers were faced with limited runs with packed ice and snow.

Fourteen-year-old Jake Wilson of Bend, who was skiing with his father, noted, "I like skiing here, the lift lines aren't very long, and even though there isn't much snow yet, it's really fun to be out here."

Even with a slow start to the winter snow season, forecasters are still calling for slightly above-normal snow totals for the rest of the year. Last year's La Niña brought abundant snow early, and again later after a dry January. This year, the La Niña effect has been weaker, but with winter officially just having started, look for more snow later in the season.