The Pacific Northwest is enjoying a particularly cold and snowy start to the winter season, but storms come with unavoidable consequences.
Mt. Hood Meadows, Oregon shared a photo on Thursday, January 2, 2025 of a tree that recently fell on the Heather Canyon Chair.
“We recently experienced a windstorm that caused a tree to fall on the Heather Chair, resulting in damage that requires repairs before the lift can begin operations for that terrain,” writes Mt. Hood Meadows. “Our team is actively sourcing the necessary parts, both from our inventory and external suppliers, to expedite the repair process.”
The Heather Canyon Chair allows for skiers who enter the gated backcountry zones of Heather Canyon and Clark Canyon to return to the resort.
Photo: Mt. Hood Meadows
The resort has not said how long the Heather Canyon Chair repairs will take, but reassured skiers that their team is actively searching for replacement parts both from their own inventory, and external suppliers to expedite the process.
As of January 2, 2025, Mt. Hood Meadows has only opened the Jack’s Woods gate to the Heather Canyon zone. The resort clarified that additional snow safety work is being done in Heather Canyon to open more terrain in the near future, but that access out of the canyon will be limited to the long runout that leads back to the lower parking lots until the Heather Canyon Chair is fixed.
POWDER will update this story as more information about this breaking story is revealed.
According to the Skiresort.info, the Heather Canyon Chair is two-person fixed grip chairlift installed by Yan in 1996. It serves approximately 900 vertical feet, is 2,600 feet long, and takes 7 minutes and 20 seconds to ride from bottom to top.
Photo: Mt. Hood Meadows
Mt. Hood Meadows Stats/Info:
Vertical: 1,939 ft.
Skiable Terrain: 2,150 ac.
Average Snowfall: 430 in.
Lifts: 12
Trails: 142
Snowmaking: YES
Night Skiing: YES
Mega-Pass: Indy Pass
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