Karl Furlong
Jan 1, 2022
Originally published in Mazamas Bulletin
Steve Stenkamp got a tip. There used to be a ski hill on the north side of Mt. Hood by the current Tilly Jane Campground. Stenkamp was skeptical. He’d been told about dozens of ski hills over the years and after many hours spent in the library and countless phone calls, he’d often come up dry. When talking with people with firsthand knowledge of ski hills that operated 70 years ago, Stenkamp encounters frayed and unforgiving memories.
According to Travel Oregon, there are currently 12 ski hills in Oregon. Stenkamp has tracked over 35 hills that have operated in the state. Oregon’s ski hills have thinned over the past 100 years, and with the earth’s temperature steadily warming the number will continue to drop over the next two decades.
Stenkamp says the hills have been lost for many reasons, some couldn’t attract crowds and “some of them were low, with a lower snowpack.”
Stenkamp volunteers with the Deschutes Historical Museum and has been tracking the old ski hills of Oregon. Stenkamp is a passionate skier and has spent years traveling around the west documenting the history of skiing in the region.
Last winter Stenkamp spent time in eastern Oregon visiting the small hills, skiing the runs, and talking with the locals. During that trip Stenkamp stopped in at the recently closed Spout Springs Ski Area in the Blue Mountains to survey the abandoned buildings and broken-down equipment.
“For someone to buy that [hill] and put in the investment, just to make a living might be tough,” said Stenkamp.
Two of the lowest elevation ski hills in the state are an hour’s drive from Eugene. Willamette Pass and Hoodoo are the resorts Eugene residents head to most often for a day of skiing. The base of both hills sit at 5000 feet and as each year warms slightly, the snow line rises.
Svein Jennings Berg owns Berg’s Ski shop in Eugene; he’s been skiing these hills for decades and he’s worried.
When asked about resorts like Willamette and Hoodoo, Jennings Berg said, “anything that is below 5000 feet, their lifespan is not much longer.”
This will have an impact on more than just the ski hills. The most recent Oregon Skier Economic Impact Analysis estimates roughly two million skier visits per year in the state with a total economic impact at just below $500 million.
Jennings Berg is the grandson of Al Berg, who opened Berg’s Nordic Ski Shop in 1955. The concern he has for the ski hills is directly tied to the concern he has for his own business.
“It does not bode very well for us. We are very conscious of this,” said Jennings Berg. The ski shop is now on its third generation, and Jennings Berg isn’t confident it will pass to a fourth.
The Tomahawk Ski Bowl in Klamath Falls was at 4,200 feet and it closed due to inconsistent snow. Skyliners Ski Hill in Bend was at 4,700 feet and they ran into the same issue.
The state’s lowest elevation ski hill still in operation is Mt. Hood Ski Bowl at 3,500 feet. Over time the hill has opened later and closed earlier in the season. In 2014, Ski Bowl was open for 27 days. Ski Bowl has diversified and now generates a great deal of revenue from summer activities like mountain biking, zip-lining, and bungee jumping.
Just up the highway from Ski Bowl is the Mazama Lodge. Mathew Brock is the organization’s librarian and archivist, and he says skiing was an integral part of the Mazamas organization when it was founded in 1894.
The authoritative history of skiing at the club, “Seventy Years of Mazama Skiing,” provides details on a ski lift the club ran on Mt. Hood for close to 40 years starting in 1939.
Brock said the Mazamas “ran a ski school from 1959 to 1978” but interest in skiing waned and shortly after the school shut down “the lift was abandoned and reclaimed by the forest.”
Now the Mazamas focus mainly on climbing and the organization’s long association with skiing in Oregon is fading. Making sure these stories are captured before they are lost to time is what motivates Stenkamp.
Stenkamp said he’s sure there are a few more ski hills hiding out there. While he might be sent on the occasional wild goose chase, there are always a few solid tips. Several years ago, he was told about a ski lift that operated on Mt. Tabor in Portland. He was suspect: the area rarely gets snow nowadays. However, after a lot of digging he was able to find evidence that a poma lift operated there, if only for a few years.
As for Tilly Jane, Stenkamp said, “I know there’s something out there. I just can’t put it into a context that makes me comfortable. I want to verify, to make sure that I’m actually right. I want to make sure this is as accurate as possible.”