The Commuter

Nightboarding

colin_walsh
The Commuter

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Colin Walsh
For The Commuter

Willamette Pass Snow Resort NIGHT BOARDING!

Last Friday my friend Chris and I decided to head down to Willamette Pass for some night boarding. Luckily for us we had a “buy one, get one free” ski pass from the Shell gas station. When you buy more than 10 gallons of gas (about 20 bucks) they give you a voucher that is good for many surrounding resorts, but the catch is that most of the resorts only accept this pass during weekdays only.

We left Corvallis around 10 a.m. and arrived at the mountain a quarter after noon. The skies were clear and the snow was slushy, but very fun. Willamette Pass’s voucher is good from 12:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and costs $45.00. Split that price with your friend and its only $22.50. Their entire mountain is open until 4:00 p.m. After 4:00 p.m., only a couple lifts run and the night ski cost is $20.00.

Willamette Pass offers everything from black diamonds with steep cliff drops and fast tree lines to an easy gradual bunny hill that goes straight to the base of the lodge. They also offer tubing, Nordic skiing, two terrain parks and an R.V. hook up area.

After snowboarding for a few hours, my friend and I headed to the bar to grab a few cold ones and some food. To our surprise, pitchers of Widmer Brothers Brrr Seasonal Ale were only $9.00 and a whopping plate of nachos only set us back $6.50. I was stuffed and ready to get in a few more runs before the mountain closed.

This was my first time to Willamette Pass and it will definitely not be my last. I have driven to many mountains around the Willamette Valley area, from Hoodoo, to Mt. Bachelor or Mt. Hood and this is the easiest drive by far. Not only is it a pretty straight shot from the Corvallis area to the mountain, but also you are driving by beautiful lakes and rivers almost the whole drive up. If you have some extra time on the way up to the mountain, be sure to check out the hot springs on the way or Salt Creek Falls, which drops over 280 feet.