Skiing and Snowboarding in Central Oregon
Although Bend was created by the timber industry, when the mills started to shut down, Bend turned to tourism to survive. With the ski area at Mount Bachelor, Bend quickly turned into a ski town. With a skiable area of 3,683 acres, Mount Bachelor is one of the largest ski resorts in the Pacific Northwest, and is only a 25 minute easy drive from Bend. Most years Mount Bachelor gets close to 400 inches of snow and is typically skiable from November until June. On clear days you can take the Summit lift above the tree line to the top of Mount Bachelor and have 360 degree views of Central Oregon.
Mount Bachelor isn’t the only game in town though. About 20 miles north of the City of Sisters near Santiam Pass is Hoodoo Mountain Resort. Hoodoo is quite a bit smaller then Mount Bachelor with only 806 skiable acres, but they have cheaper lift tickets, are typically less crowed, and focus more on family fun including a sledding hill called the Autobahn. Also, unlike Mount Bachelor, Hoodoo has night skiing and allows the use of Ski-bikes.
If you are one of those crazy Telemark skiers who like to earn their downhills, there are a lot of backcountry skiing options in the Cascades. One of the most popular is on Tumalo Mountain across from Mount Bachelor. There is a ski and snowshoe trail that takes you up the front side to the top of Tumalo, where you can access the bowl on the backside.
Mount Bachelor website
Hoodoo Mountain Resort website
For our business listings of the ski and snowboard shops in Bend click here.
