Stoked & Broke - Willamette Week
In winter months, Colorado might be the best place to ski. But in July, when the last lift closes at Canada’s Whistler Blackcomb, the center of the snow-sports world shifts to the southwestern face of Mount Hood, where T-shirt-clad riders come to bomb the slalom gates or shoot Vimeo clips on the... Among the curious tourists like Michell, I found grizzled ski bums, wannabe pros and careerists—all with stories about what drew them to the chilled-out chaos of Hood. Timberline is relatively high in latitude and elevation—8,540 feet at the top of the Palmer lift, 1,000 feet higher than nearby Mt. Hood Meadows —but the unending season actually exists because of the wet, slushy winters that render Hood a little... “The Palmer Snowfield has a glacierlike permafrost base,” explains Brian Reed, Timberline’s marketing director. As long as winter storms continue to replenish the upper snowpack that sits atop the permafrost, the cycle will continue to allow for snow every month of the year. Mount Hood’s stark peak is often still surrounded by a fluffy halo, but no one minds: The Palmer lift carries riders to a sun-soaked glacier above the clouds. Source: www.wweek.com
