Mt Hood Meadows Ski Resort

I love Meadows. Make sure to visit Masot on the mountain for awesome seating in the snow, cold beers or warm coffee, and great music piped in. There are a lot of high speed lifts, weather is usually a touch better than the west side, and it’s just better than other ski resorts on Mt Hood. Lots of parking, shuttles everywhere, and pretty nice people work here.

This resort offers a great Park & Ride option for $ 79. Single adult lift tix is $ 74.
On a day with bad weather the only had 3 lifts open. How can you charge full price with only ¼ of the resort is open? I understand you can’t control the weather but you can have more staff operating lifts. If you charge full price I expect a fully open resort. It’s a beginner/​novice resort as it isn’t very big. Also, very little grooming on the mountain… lockers are a steep $ 8. Traveled from CA to Mt Hood and won’t return.

I’ve put off writing this because I really enjoy snowboarding and have had fun days here, however, with my experiences this season and last, it’s getting written. Like many things in Portland, Meadows is one of those places that thinks it’s the shit, while anyone who has been out of the Oregon bubble knows that it’s a big MEH. By far, the worst organized lodge and rental experience of anywhere I’ve been. Reading these reviews quite a ways back, after years of running this business, they still have no clue how to manage rentals. How is that possible? I have my own gear, but my poor friend wanted to learn and needed to rent. I definitely should have told her to take care of that in Portland or Government Camp, but I had no idea it would be such a problem, because back when I was renting, it seemed like a fairly straightforward experience (and it was included as part of her package). She ended up getting her gear after the other 3 in our group already been on the mountain just under 2 hours, and barely made it to her included lesson. Was staff apologetic? No! Of course not. These are Portland kids we’re talking about.
Also, this season the snow has been great, but did season pass holders get a discount for overpaying for the last two horrible seasons? No! Of course not. And I’m still grumpy that many days over last two seasons they would completely BS the conditions report, making it sound much better than it was, in a desperate attempt to get anyone up there. Oh and let’s not forgot the complete lack of flagging of giant ice patches the last two seasons, like other resorts manage to do, saw a couple rescue sled pickups thanks to that. –But– at least staff were friendly the last two seasons; this season with the increased actual ‘customer’ service necessary, any cordiality has gone out the window. I say customer loosely because once you’ve already paid, there isn’t much incentive to play those roles apparently.
I’m grudgingly leaving 3 stars for the actual snowboarding experience across the mountain, but in helping my friend out, I am really, really glad I didn’t have to learn here. I imagine it’s not as bad if skiing, but if boarding you can’t really just cruise up to a blue run and work it out slowly. So you have Buttercup which is super short and crowded with children, and… that’s it. There are no other options for getting going practicing the basics, then there’s the fairly significant step up to Easy Rider, which includes a not-​so-​easy lift-​to-​lift transition area if you’re still not too solid but bored with Buttercup. Waaay easier to learn at Crystal or Mammoth, in fact, I’d make a trip elsewhere over trying to learn here, no wonder most people quit after a couple tries. Maybe that’s a good thing though, considering as noted above with the rental issues, they would rather degrade the experience for everyone, over saying they’re sold out on busy days.

If you don’t need to rent gear and plan on leaving by 4 pm, I suggest parking at HRM. You can buy lift passes at the small café near the parking lot and it is right next to the lift so you can start skiing immediately and ski out for lunch/​departure.
Main lot is usually full unless you get there super early and Sunrise requires you to take a shuttle up to the main lodge (however, you can ski down to the lot).
Lots of great blue runs :)

Their shuttle service from Portland is a really nice option, and we felt it got us there early. However, after waiting 2 hours in line for our rentals, we missed the 10 am beginner lesson we had prepaid for. We were appalled that we had to stand in line for this long! Worse, when I explained the situation to an employee, he said sorry you missed the lesson, but your ski lift passes still work so you can still get out there and «shred». Well, we couldn’t exactly do that since we were COMPLETE beginners! The rest of the day was spent fumbling around and standing in very long lines. Lunch was miserable, the place was overpacked with hardly room to walk. At the end of the day I was exhausted, sadly not from skiing but from standing in line. They need to figure out crowd control, but 5 stars to the shuttle drivers and service!

This is my 2^nd trip up to the mountain for a college class, first trip went just fine, little busy but got everything ok. I wish i could say the same for the 2^nd trip. I got my boots just fine but when i went to get my board from rental desk i was told to go back to boot area, went to boots and was told to go outside where they left my board hours before i ever checked in and search for it. After almost 30 of looking i asked 3 different employees only to keep getting told either «i don’t know go look around» or «go ask this person it’s not my job». Now an hour after getting my boots i still have no board in sight, and have now been passed off to 7 different people. By the time anyone could find my board my lesson i paid for was passed, my all day lift was down to half a day and i paid for a large locker and parking that was in no way covered. I now have to pay to come back up another day to make up class i missed, repay for parking and a locker. My lift and rental were taken care of but I’m out money for your locker and parking for checking my stuff out before i got there. This has been a horrid experience and after this i will not be back.

Luckily this year Meadows has had a ton of snow. In fact, I’m someone who skis every year in Utah and I had my best day of skiing/​snow ever right here at Meadows on this past Christmas Day. There aren’t long lift lines at Meadows. The terrain is varied and there is steep for experts in Heather Canyon and mellow but fun blue and green stuff for everyone else all over the mountain. Some lifts, like Shooting Star and the HRM lift never have lines and they have great, fun terrain and you can do laps all day long. My only complaint here is that the base lodge and rental set up sucks. They don’t have their system dialed in at all. Once before I got my new ski setup I rented here and I waited 1.5 hrs in line to get my rental. Now that I have my own gear it doesn’t matter, but folks renting should know that it is a real abomination in the rental area. The lodge isn’t big enough to have seating for all the folks on the weekends. The floors are a slippery tile and I have seen more people bite it and get hurt on the floors in the lodge than on the mountain itself. They should invest a few million in making the lodge bigger and providing more hangout space for apre-​ski. The Cascade and Vista lifts are often closed due heavy wind on that side of the ski area. Those are two of my favorite lifts so that sorta sucks sometimes too.

Excellent terrain and great people running the place.

Great terrain for Mt Hood with enough lifts to be able to find a great spot in almost any conditions. The parking lot can be packed on weekends or holidays so plan to get out there before the lifts open if possible. Food is crazy overpriced and just ok. Season passes are a decent value, but day passes are the most expensive in the area. For kids it’s great to start with but when they get confident on blue runs, I think Timberline is a better terrain option and overall more family friendly. Staff seems friendly and competent for the most part.

This was a very meh experience. Met some friends from Boise, and this was sort of the halfway point, otherwise I would’ve stuck with Steven’s Pass or Crystal to begin with.
Arrived around 10:30, stood in line until noon to rent equipment. They ran out of helmets. Multiple lines randomly converging. A ton of their employees walking around asking if we need help, when they should really dedicate more folks to taking payment and distributing equipment. I believe I was charged for a full package, which should have included the helmet. But it of course did not include the helmet, because I’m 28 and don’t wear a size ‘extra small’ (all they had left).
When we arrived, we were able to get a lift on one of many buses taking folks to the main lodge from the parking lot. However, when we were leaving, we discovered that they go down to only ONE bus to service all the folks trying to get back to their cars after a long day of skiing. Several other buses were certainly sitting around, but as we were quite rudely told by two staff (more stand-​arounds), those buses were for employees only. Cool.
I don’t think I’ll be making a special trip to this resort any time soon.

Had fun 3 time snowboarding ever but almost cracked my head open on ski bowl. Mild concussion didn’t remember getting back on the lift. Tip is be very careful when it’s really Icy and wear a helmet. Please have fun and be safe. I was wearing a helmet which I cracked. Again be safe!

Bait and switch! I signed up for a killer $ 20 lesson/​rental deal on Jan. 8, it said I would get a confirmation email with all the details. I got my email and it clear says «if you purchased lesson products: Daily lessons start at 10 am & 1 pm and our evening lessons (available weds-​Sund when we are open for nights) start at 5pm. No reservations required! All of our group lessons are on a first come, first served basis.» Do to the length of travel I chose the 1 pm time and showed up an hour prior to the lesson. Was told that it was only valid for the 10 am time, spoke to managers and was told we were the only ones who got confused. I went by what my confirmation said, I admit I didn’t read the register page as I had to sign up that day (48 hours in advance) and had to be to work in less than 20 minutes. I did print my confirmation and read every word, no where does it say valid only at 10 am. I had to pay an additional $ 140 just so my children wouldn’t be disappointed. This was truly a once in a life time thing for my family, and now I can’t even join them as I can’t afford three people, I can’t afford two but the management does not care at all.

how can a place with such potential consistently disappoint…
rude lift attendants, ski patrol never to be found when you need them and overpriced poor quality food. I say make the drive to Batchelor.

First of all don’t ever try to rent from here EVER. My friend was trying to rent gear for night boarding and we had trouble with her card so I asked the guy to try my card JUST for the lift ticket which was 25 $ tonight (that’s a steal) but the guy ran my card for $ 62 for rental gear and ticket. I showed him my card statement on my phone and told him he over charged me and whatever just give my friend her gear and charge me another lift ticket. He states he cancelled the payment and I didn’t go through but I was showing him my balance from my phone. I asked for the manager and he said «oh that’s a lot of information at once let’s sit down) wtf? I told him just give my friend her gear and ticket and were good but no… They didn’t help us out at all with anything. I wouldn’t even give them the one star. Complete BS! Neither my friends or I will ever rent here!

Rob… This guy is an angel, he found my family just when I was at my breaking point, I had a broken binding, (so very little control) and my 8yr old was really struggling and we were just trying to get back to the car, however the path to get to the hood river meadows parking lot was very challenging for us, he swooped in, was so patient and protected my little girl so no one ran into her. He spoke so calmly and was the encouragement we needed. Thank you to him a million times over. Give this man a raise! He’s worth his weight in gold!

The staff is very friendly and the slops are awesome. With the snow conditions as they have been I feel the cat operators are the best around! Way to go Meadows

Just got my season pass. Super friendly and great customer service. Always ready to make your ski day a little bit better.
Took two private lessons with Bob Stawicki … Awesome! His attention to detail and years of experience makes him a request only for your next private lesson. The man works miracles.
A very happy place, easy to get to and super easy to park.

One of the biggest perks of living in Portland is the closeness of so many things. You’ve got the ocean and beaches on one side, a vibrant city choke full of awesome restaurants and culture in the middle, and the mountains for skiing and hiking on the other side. Add in wineries in the valley and the Gorge and you have one of the reasons why Oregon is one of the best outdoor states in the country and why Portland is one of the most underrated cities in the country (though it’s starting to get focus, though mostly for hipsters, which is way overplayed and a small subset of the population, instead of the great outdoors, awesome restaurants, etc.)
I’ve skied numerous resorts in Colorado and Utah, so I can rate Mt. Hood Meadows with relative fairness, I think. No, this isn’t the Rocky Mountains and no, you won’t have the same experience skiing here that you will in the Rocky Mountains. Having said that, the Cascade Mountains aren’t exactly chopped liver, and Mount Hood Meadows gives you a great amount of variety to keep the day fun and even expert skiers far from bored.
I did the $ 99 package. I mean, in all honesty, that’s pretty reasonable for skiing. If you want to see sky high prices, check out Vail, Colorado or Park City, Utah. Skiing isn’t a cheap activity. If you ski a lot, get the season pass. It basically pays for itself in 3 – 4 visits.
I had no problems with any of the staff. The parking lot attendant did a good job directing me (and the other cars) to our spots. The rental equipment guys were helpful, asked if everything fit, and gave me some good information about the slopes. The people running the lifts were smiling and happy. The waiter at the lodge was good at asking if I was good. I mean, I thought everyone was great. The ski school instructors looked positive and helpful. Not sure about these complaints about the staff from past Unilocalers. Maybe it was an off day? I thought the customer service was excellent.
The resort itself is super convenient and easy. Rentals were a cinch. Fill out a form via computer, go to the front, get your stuff. Lockers were abundant and utilized keyless codes which you could pay via credit card. The lift ticket is a card you can put in your coat pocket and never take it, as the sensor will beep when you get to the gates. There are lots of places to grab a bite to eat, both at the base of the mountain and up in the slopes. I thought everything looked nice and not too aged or anything.
The skiing itself I’d say leans more towards intermediate-​advanced level. There are some green slopes, but not a ton (I think Ski Bowl or Timberline are probably better for that level, at least from what I read). Mostly blue, some blacks/​double blacks. I thought the runs were well groomed and a lot of fun. I do agree that the lanes are pretty small, so on busy days you might feel a bit claustrophobic, but not horrible.
One of the best parts of this resort is how easy it is to access from the PDX area. It’s 90 minutes or less. The only major city that has better access to major skiing is Salt Lake City (30 minutes). Denver, SF, LA, and Seattle are all longer drives to their ski resorts.
This is a solid B+ resort for skiing. Again, it’s not Colorado or Utah, but it holds it’s own. It’s up there with the better resorts in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Vermont, etc. You want to see piss poor skiing, see some places in Iowa or Ohio that use a hill and artificial snow. Not kidding, there are places like that and by some of the reviews for this place, you’d think this is like that. This is really skiing, with real snow, on real mountains. Another reason Oregon is an awesome place to live.

$ 99 is reasonable which includes rental gear, lessons and lift tickets. Trainers are very friendly and the resort is well maintained for the crowd that gets there in winter.

I drove up to Mt Hood Meadows because I had a miserable time trying to go to Mt Bachelor. And boy was it worth it. Like night and day. I was late to my beginning lesson but they took me under their wing and ushered me right out through the rental lines. They even had fresh baked chocolate chip cookies in the line! Everyone was incredibly nice — above and beyond the call of duty. I have to admit I don’t know what the mountain is like yet because I was just there for beginning lessons. (I’m an expert skiier but had never been on a board). I can definitely say, though, that if you’re new, Mt. Hood Meadows is great and the price is right and the people are fantastic. It’s worth the drive from Bend.

We loved Meadows. It has been a warm winter this season so the drive up was very easy (road conditions were good). Also, maybe due to the warm weather, it wasn’t super crazy busy. Rental lines are organized and well run. You fill out your form on the computer including your name, birth date and other info then print your form and sign. Take your form to the next area to pay (for the rental and lift tickets), next stop is for shoes and next for skis or snowboards. All of the info is recorded on your sheet so if you come back to the next day, they know what gear to give you. Likewise, return is easy and since everything is recorded, there isn’t really the need to «check back in», you just return the equipment and they take care of the rest.
Food in the lodge is decently good — a nice assortment too. Their homemade soup was better than expected as was their homemade cookies.
What really stood out at Mt. Hood Meadows was the ski lessons for my kids. The instructors (Jay and Rocky) were fabulous! Both were very patient and great with the kids. They made a first time experience very memorable and enjoyable for my kids.
The full day lift ticket was pricey for an adult, but I’m not sure that is any different than any other ski resort.

I always choose Meadows. Great runs and amazing staff and customer service. Very impressed every time even on crazy busy days.

Every other Christmas, a visit to Portland would not be the same without a side trip to the beautiful Mount Hood area. Mount Hood ski resort is my favorite place to ski for the less experienced to more experienced skier. The slopes are well-​marked and maintained and prices are very reasonable. It’s not really a destination, but if you are in the area, it is as good as it gets. Many lucky Portlanders come here to ski for the day.
What I love about this resort is how happy and welcoming the staff are. I always feel happy when I’m here. You are greeted by every staff member you see, wishing you a fun time. If you are waiting in line for too long, there is always compensation in the form of freshly baked cookies or vouchers for free drinks. There are a few good dining options, from cafeteria to sit-​down, full service options.
The ski school is my favorite part of this ski resort. All day school drop-​off for very reasonable prices and the kids love all the instructors. My only wish would be that the kids can have the same instructor if they choose multiple days. I guess that would be a logistical nightmare. The instructors appear to enjoy the kids and their job.
Tips:
— buy everything online for a 10% discount
–drop the kids off before 9AM or it gets really crowded and wait times are long
–the rental process is tedious, but the return is very easy
Now the bad:
–AT&T subscribers get no phone data
–The wifi is very weak and during my trip, I was only able to access it in a couple of areas.
— The drop off location is horrible. You can’t drop off at the entrance, but rather meters away where there is a elongated mound of snow (or ice if it’s warm). This is extremely dangerous when you are carrying a bunch of ski equipment.
All in all, the positives definitely outweigh the negatives. I look forward to coming back.