Hoodoo calls rain delay.

Byline: SCOTT MABEN The Register-Guard

The mushy slopes at Hoodoo Ski Area are silent. The spacious new lodge is dark. The only sounds are the fat plops of rain falling from the metal roof and a generator pumping water out of a large pond that formed at the base of the hill.

Chuck Shepard could lament how the ski season is melting away in the middle of winter. He could crack jokes about how good the waterskiing is, or lock himself in his office and cry.

Instead, he's thinking about his next investment in the business he bought four years ago: a 3,000-foot-long mountain slide to lure summer visitors. He hopes to have the alpine slide built by Aug. 1.

"If you can't think about snow, ya gotta think about dry-season stuff," Shepard said Thursday morning at the ski area near Santiam Pass.

Willamette Pass and Mount Bachelor ski areas remain open daily, but Hoodoo closed Monday from a lack of snow and is expected to stay closed at least through next Wednesday. The snow depth has dwindled to 16 inches outside the lodge, and bare patches have emerged on the slopes.

"We had more snow on the ground last June than we do now," Shepard said. "The warm weather hurts, but rain is a killer."

Hoodoo needs lower temperatures and at least 6 to 12 inches of new snow to reopen anytime soon, he said.

"We'll need 2 feet of snow to make it look good," he added.

New snow should fall this weekend in the Cascades, where the snowpack is a paltry 38 percent of normal. The snow level will drop to 3,000 feet Saturday morning, with several inches expected Friday night through Sunday, the National Weather Service said.

And there's plenty of winter left. Storms could boost snowpacks into April.

Still, the lull in the ski season will cut into revenues for ski operators. Hoodoo has not posted a profit since Shepard bought it for $1.5 million in 1999 - a trend that won't turn around soon.

"We will absolutely lose money this year. No doubt about it," he said.

Hoodoo and Willamette Pass got a late start, opening shortly before Christmas. But January was a busy month, with the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend bringing a flurry of activity.

"We were actually going into this last weekend with more skier visits for the year than we had last year," Shepard said. "Basically we've been doing better than last year, overall, but we opened late. So with that, we are down."

Then a warm, wet front moved into the region, making a mess of the skiing there. The pond outside Hoodoo's new lodge is a couple of feet deep.

Hoodoo's closure is having an unwelcome chilling effect on business at competing mountains.

"We're not seeing any decline because of snow conditions," said Chris Johnston, communications manager for Mount Bachelor near Bend. "We're seeing a decline because all they hear about is Hoodoo is closed. The conditions are great. I'm pulling my hair out trying to get the word out."

It's not uncommon for Bachelor to have 10 feet of snow or more this time of year, but now it has about 5 feet at its base. Skier visits are down 10 percent to 12 percent for the year, Johnston said.

It's not ideal, but it's good enough, he said. "The snow is great, and I wish more people realized that."

Willamette Pass is limping along with 20 inches at the base, rain-soaked snow and most runs on the upper mountain's south slope closed.

The north side, for more advanced skiers, offers the best skiing until fresh snow falls.

Jefferson Middle School in Eugene canceled its annual student trip to the ski area this Saturday. The trip, usually attended by 20 to 30 students, will not be rescheduled, Assistant Principal Mike Johnson said.

"We didn't want to take a chance of the kids getting up there and not enjoying themselves," Johnson said.

Only 70 skiers were riding the lifts Thursday, whereas 500 may show up on weekdays when the snow is good, said Dave McMurrick, ski lift supervisor at Willamette Pass.

"The crowds are light right now," McMurrick said. "We sure need our customers to come pay us a visit."

Crews have used artificial snow machines and trucked loads of snow from the parking lots to boost the base depth, he said.

"We're doing everything we can," he said. "Our groomers have just done some miraculous work."

Back at Hoodoo, Shepard plans to go ahead with a cross-country ski race on Saturday. The annual Winter Carnival, set for Feb. 8, may be postponed, however.

As for what's left of this ski season, he remains hopeful that winter will return and stick around a while. Hoodoo usually keeps the lifts running part way through April.

"We will try to stay open this year, if we can," he said.

CAPTION(S):

Hoodoo owner Chuck Shepard is using a pump to drain standing water at Hoodoo, which is closed until more snow falls. "The warm weather hurts, but rain is a killer," he says. Willamette Pass and Mount Bachelor remain open but have seen fewer skiers.