A night on Mound Hood with the Cascade Ski Club
Their lodge right in the heart of Government Camp is undeniably centered around one primary focus: skiing. Historic pictures of ski jumping competitions on the Multorpor hill. Old-school wooden skis from Mount Hood giants like Hjalmar Hvam. Ruddy-cheeked skiers lounging around the fireplace after a day on the mountain. Spartan wooden bunks mostly filled by 9 p.m., emptied almost entirely by 6 or 7 a.m. because of, well, skiing.
We spent a night with the Cascade Ski Club earlier this month, not only to check out the lodge and the club, but to share a bit of On Mount Hood around the evening fire. Some folks had already read the book, and some members are actually in it. One, Joe Schuberg, had been manager of the Ram’s Head bar at Timberline Lodge when I was interviewing Steve Buchan for the chapter on Silcox Hut. “This guy’s a character,” Schuberg had said. “Bigger than Ben-Hur.” That’s the kind of descriptor you take note of. Schuberg now manages the CSC lodge.
The next morning, we were up early with the rest of the lodge, albeit a touch more slowly than the real early birds. We started the day with our first visit to the Huckleberry Inn for breakfast and one of their storied maple bars.
After that, it was on to another Mount Hood staple, Valian’s Ski Shop, for a quick adjustment from Bud Valian himself, and then it was off for a refresher day on the slopes and some skiing of our own at Summit Ski Area.
Sure, it was Super Bowl Sunday, and I had kind of wanted to see the game. But we were having fun, we were on the mountain, and we were skiing.
(For the record, we ended up catching some of the second half of that terrible football game at a Mount Hood favorite in Welches: El Burro Loco, home to the best IPA list and Mexican food anywhere close to the mountain.)
On MOUNT HOOD 