POWDER APLENTY.

Byline: Mike Stahlberg The Register-Guard

Mother Nature powdered the noses of the Cascade Mountains over the past week, putting a happy face on skiers heading into the final weeks of the winter of 2006-'07.

Fresh powder aplenty is the rule in the Cascades, as ski areas from Ashland to Mount Hood all got hit with two to four feet snow over the past week. And more snow is in the forecast.

"It looks like it will make spring vacation real solid for all of us," said Chuck Shepard, owner of Hoodoo Ski Area at Santiam Pass on Highway 126 east of Eugene. Prior to the recent series of storms, spring skiing was "starting to look a little iffy" for some lower-elevation ski areas, he said.

"Hopefully, people are excited about skiing, because winter's far from being over," said Ray Gardner, mountain manager at Willamette Pass Ski area on Highway 58 southeast of Eugene.

Hoodoo's automated weather station reported an 87-inch snowpack Monday, compared to about 52 inches a week earlier. Willamette Pass was reporting 41 inches of snow at the lodge and 88 inches at the summit of Peak Two. Mount Bachelor, west of Bend, had 128 to 140 inches of snow Monday.

The new snow fell just in time to put Oregon's ski areas back on track for a second straight good year.

The season got off to a "very strong start with a fantastic November and December," said Scott Kaden, president of the Pacific Northwest Ski Areas Association, an industry group that represents 32 ski areas in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska.

In fact, Kaden said, the PNSAA's 11 Oregon alpine ski areas started the season on pace to better the all-time Oregon single-season record of 1.94 million skier visits, set last winter.

However, a string of dry weather in late January and early February caused skier visits to fall about 8 percent behind the record pace, he said.

There was plenty of snow at all the resorts - plus sunshine and blue skies - during the "dry spell," but some skiers simply lose interest when there's no fresh snow, Kaden said.

"I think there's a segment of the guest population that will only come out and ski in new snow," he said. "It's the purists that like the powder snow and like to go off-trail."

So the fresh snow "is definitely appreciated - it's re-energized the marketplace," he said.

But probably not enough to catch back up with the winter of 2005-'06, which had a lot going for it, including the Winter Olympics.

"We had great snow, a relatively strong regional economy ... we had relatively affordable gas, and it was an Olympic year, with lots of broadcast exposure for winter sports," Kaden said.

All those factors combined to help draw almost 300,000 more skiers visits last winter than during Oregon's previous best season, 2002-'03.

This year, Oregon ski areas appear to have benefited from the fact that the Pacific Northwest "has some of the best snowpack in the Northern Hemisphere," Kaden said.

"We've seen a pretty heavy contingent of skiers from California this year," because ski areas in that state have "struggled this year in the snow department."

So Oregon ski areas this winter are still on pace to draw well above their 10-year average of 1.54 million skier visits.

One of the happiest operators in the state is Hoodoo's Shepard, who says "we are on track for having the best year we've ever had." Shepard purchased the ski area in 1998.

Hoodoo expects "about 85,000 skier visits" this year, Shepard said, and "over 100,000" paying guests in total, when ticket purchases at the popular "Autobahn" tubing area are added in.

Shepard said Hoodoo "is just coming into its own" and is reaping the benefits of major investments in capital improvements and promotion.

Hoodoo's share of the Oregon ski market has gone from 3 percent when Shepard bought the property to 7 percent so far this year, he said.

"December was our best month ever, with around 25,000 skier visits," he said. "Our record month before that was about 18,000. ... We had three days during the Christmas holidays when our parking lot was absolutely full."

January's business was also "really good," he said, and even though "it started tapering off in early February, we are still slightly ahead of last year's February."

Willamette Pass is "probably a little bit ahead of last year," Gardner said, and looking for a season attendance that's "about average," which has been about 60,000 skier visits.

"I think we're going to be right in there," Gardner said, "It kind of depends on how the weather goes through the spring."

Mount Bachelor, meanwhile, is running "about 7 percent" behind last year's banner-season numbers, according to Janette Sherman, communications manager.

But daily skier counts were up 10 to 15 percent last week, when many California schools were on spring break, Sherman said.

"Obviously, this last storm has been phenomenal," she said. "This year we've already received 330 inches of snow, and our yearly average is 370."

That adds up to a strong possibility that ski lifts at Mount Bachelor will continue to operate through the Memorial Day weekend. Hoodoo and Willamette Pass, as usual, plan to switch to weekends-only operation in early April.

For skiers looking for bargains, Mount Bachelor will sell lift tickets for $25 (normally $52) on "Pepsi Day," March 16.

Also, the first Fridays in March and April are "Deschutes Brewery Poker Run" days, on which skiers get a lift ticket, lunch and a chance to win prizes for $50.

Hoodoo offers discounts of about half off its $39 daily rate just about every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. See www.Hoodoo.com for details.

Willamette Pass, which is open Thursdays through Sundays, charges $38 for an adult lift ticket.