brochure. A lawsuit has stalled that
plan, but Mount Hood Meadows says
biking is on the upswing regardless.
Fun in the snow remains huge on Mount Hood. But there’s growing consensus that the mountain’s future is likely to be elsewhere.
With average snowpack levels ebbing and mountain biking booming in popularity, Mount Hood Meadows is reorganizing its team to emphasize this new market, among others.
The company recently dropped “ski resort” from its official logo. On Monday, it followed that up with an announcement of that three new company vice presidents have been tasked with focusing on new facilities, programs and staff for year-round — that is, non-snow — recreation.
“Meadows is established as a successful and popular winter recreation center, primarily offering snow sports activities,” the company said in a news release. “The company is actively developing products, services and experiences to complement this traditional business.”
The release also mentions children’s rafting as a new program on the mountain.
Advertisement
The new vice presidents are Steve Warila (“mountain operations and planning”), Jeremy Riss (“resort and commercial operations”) and Matt Troskey (administration). All three were promoted from within.
“We feel biking (mountain, road, cross country and events like cyclocross) will be very important to expanding our year ‘round appeal and activities,” Mount Hood Meadows spokesman Dave Tragethon wrote in an email Monday after we asked about biking’s role in the resort’s future plans. “We are waiting to see what happens with the current litigation going on regarding the Timberline Bike Park, but we don’t see the our opportunity for biking will be constrained by or dependent on a bike park at Meadows. That includes trail riding – we currently have some great trails at Cooper Spur and will be hosting a CycloCross event October 4.”
Though it’s hard to clap for the endangerment of snow, it’s good news that Mount Hood’s institutions are moving to make biking a bigger part of their offering.