Hoodoo still suffering the no-snow blues

“It’s been a horrible snow year. We’re really sad. We’ve only operated for 10 days this season,” Daidre Streeter, office manager at Hoodoo Ski Area, said Monday.

Ten days open out of almost five months for the resort near Santiam pass makes this winter even worse than last, when they opened for just 39 days.

“The old-timers say they’ve seen this once a decade, but to have this happen twice in a row is very rare,” Streeter said.

Hoodoo officials are reevaluating conditions. They said they are going to make the decision about whether to close for the season within a week.

Unless Hoodoo gets three feet of snow within a few days, they will call it quits for this winter.

“It’s not looking good. The forecast is not looking good,” Streeter said.

With two bad years in a row, Hoodoo officials are already starting to pray for snow for next season.

“It could be really detrimental to Hoodoo,” otherwise, Streeter said.

But no snow up on the mountain has not put a dent into tourism numbers at nearby Black Butte Ranch.

“This year, while the weather has been terrible for them, it has been so nice for us that we haven’t seen a business impact for us,” said Scott Huntsman, president and CEO of Black Butte Ranch.

Instead of skis, tourists are grabbing bikes and golf clubs. Black Butte Ranch opened its golf courses on Presidents Day weekend.

“That’s the earliest opening ever for us, which has been a real blessing for business for us, and people are certainly taking advantage of it,” Huntsman said.

In Sisters, the FivePine Lodge and Conference Center is also benefiting from the lack of snow.

“We actually had a better than average winter occupancy rate, based on the pass being open for a longer period of time for two-wheel-drive vehicles,” said Greg Willitts, general manager at FivePine Lodge.

The lodge has already taken down all its skis and snowboards and is tuning up its bikes as one of the most unusual Central Oregon winters draws to a close.

“I have lived in Oregon for 23 years and I’ve never seen a winter like this,” Willitts said.