Ski Bowl

I had never been to Ski Bowl at Mt. Hood in the summer before. I’m pretty sure I’ve never been there in the winter either (I decided at age 11 that downhill skiing was not for me.) But Pedro and the twins had mentioned it several times. Finally, early in August, Liam asked his dad directly if we could go, and he agreed. These photos are all from one month ago.

Like other kinds of family adventure parks, we had to buy bracelets, but those were a handy way to move around to different areas without having to show tickets. It’s a very large activity area, divided into Ski Bowl West and Ski Bowl East. We began on the West side because the kids said the alpine slide is very popular and we should do that first.

We were distracted by the ski lift. The boys remembered being scared of it in the past, but then they looked at it and were not scared. They realized they were younger last time they were here and this time, they actually wanted to try it. So we did! It ended up being Liam’s favourite and also my favourite part of the day.

Andre and Liam are twins and they reassure each other. It makes them want to do scary things together (instead of with their dad, for example). I think it’s the sweetest thing, but they are adults, so I don’t tell them it’s “sweet.” ha ha

There was almost no wind at all. And while the summer has been hot in Portland, we were on the slopes of the mountain and it was cooler. At the base of the lift, the elevation is 3,600 feet (1097 m) and at the top it is 5,100 feet (1554 m). We were warm, not hot, at the base, and with a slight breeze at the top, felt cool. If we had planned to spend any more time at the top without hiking around and getting exercise, we may have wanted a light jacket. It was perfect, perfect mountain weather.

When we boarded, they said we could get off at the top and explore the Historic Warming Hut. Anything called “historic” had my attention, so I said we were doing it. Also the word “hut” reminds me of our time visiting Manja, where all the mountain places are called huts. The boys didn’t know what it was, but groaned anyway, to have their activities dictated by a parent-type person.

We saw the tracks for the Alpine Slide below us. The kids had tried multiple times to explain it to me, and I got the sense that it was something like the luge, but really couldn’t picture it. Now, seeing the tracks below me, it made more sense.

At the top of the slide tracks, there is a place to get off the lift. We were told to stay on if we were in the wedding party, or if we just wanted to ride. Sure enough, we began seeing signs with arrows, saying “Wedding, this way.”

We got off the lift chairs at the top, and it was an easy, 5-minute walk through the forest to this gorgeous setting that you see in the image above. An old timbered building with a massive stone foundation and stone fireplace, with a white tent and a hundred white seats for the wedding. What a fabulous place to have a wedding!

The Warming Hut was built in 1937 between Upper Bowl and Lower Bowl. Skibowl’s name was derived from the natural shape of it’s Upper Bowl. The hut is 400 square feet and serves german sausages and beer to skiers who want to sit in front of a roaring fire for a bit before hitting the slopes again. I’m not sure what it is used for in the summertime, other than a place for the bride and groom to get themselves ready for the ceremony.

Though the kids fussed prior to coming here, they stopped fussing once they realized it was pretty neat, and explored the area a little bit with Pedro and me. Kids are always the same aren’t they?

The Alpine Slide was SO much fun. I would probably have been happy to do that for another hour, but we wrapped it up and all climbed into the car to drive to Ski Bowl East, about a mile away, across the highway.

Andre’s focus was the Go Kart track. This was the first time in his life he was allowed to do this event, because the drivers must possess a valid driver’s license. Andre has been driving regularly for about six months now. This activity took a long time because Andre had to watch a long safety video, then get a safety briefing and equipment check, and instructions for how to participate. Then he stood in line behind others, since only 6 karts are allowed on the track at a time. Then finally it was his turn!

Pedro was up next. He had been telling me about the dozens of times he has jumped at Ski Bowl. I guess there used to be a discount if you bought six jumps at once, or something like that. This time, he only paid for one jump.

After bungy (or bungee – both are right), we had a blast with riding inner tubes down the bunnie slope. I have done this on snow, but never in the summer. I had so much fun I neglected to take a photo. But yes, real inner tubes but wrapped in a smooth tarpaulin wrapper that attendants cover in ski wax. The tubes slide down smooth plastic tracks, and the wax coating makes them go pretty fast. I was whooping and shrieking by the time I reached the bottom. We did this four times.

The Tree Top Tour says it’s a “trail,” but we saw right away that it is not really a trail. It’s a series of scary, wobbly, bridges between trees that are varying levels of terrifying for someone scared of heights. Everyone must wear a harness and remain harnessed the entire time, so no one will die, but MY point is that calling it a trail through the forest with great views leaves out the key part of what it is, which is a skilled balancing act that is scary as heck.

We were right behind a mom with two small children. See the photo above? The kids asked mom to go, and mom, having no idea what it was, said ok, and off they went. The boy went ahead, the girl in the photo was right behind. That little girl must have been about 5 or 6 years old and she was terrified. Shaking and screaming, while her mom tried to get her son along first, then turn around and help her daughter. The problem of these kinds of structures is that once a person gets out onto a bridge, there is no way to rescue them. The person must go forward or backward, but they have to do it themselves. No other option. It was hard to watch. The mom felt so bad for her kids, and so bad for the other people, but there wasn’t much that could be done. A park employee met them at the next platform the family reached, and explained that there was no harness for them to climb the ladder on the tree, as she had done. The other option was to bring in public emergency services with a crane. The family opted to keep going through all the bridges till they completed the course. It was a very slow process.

When everyone was back on the solid ground again, we next went to mini golf. The day was getting hotter and mini golf was all in the shade of the forest. It was a poor course, in much disrepair, but we were all having fun and didn’t really care. We saw the state of it and decided not to keep track of scores, only to make fun of each other when we took 9 or 13 tries to get the ball into the hole because of the warped tracks and pine cones in the way. At the end of the mini golf game, we were all pretty much starving.

We had not done the batting cages, the maze, or the zip line, but we were adventured out and HUNGRY! We hopped into the car and crossed the bridge over the highway to the small town of Government Camp, and had lunch. In an hour, we were home.