2023/24 Winter Season Recap
As the final bell sounds on the 2023/24 winter season, it's time to look at some of the highlights that made the past 6 months so special. From wild weather and epic riding to our favorite events and a new 6-pack chairlift, the 2023/24 season had it all. Take a look back at some memorable moments and season stats.
Opening Day, Twice:
December 2nd, 2023, saw a successful opening day on a 28” base snowpack. Approximately two thousand eager Mt. Bachelor fans made their way up for laps on Rainbow, Sunrise, and Little Pine, with the Park Crew putting in some solid work to offer an assortment of features on Home Run. The weather took a quick turn and forced us to close again for 5 days while we waited for the rain to turn to snow. Round two came on December 8th, and with a refreshed 32” base, we officially re-opened for the season.
A New Chairlift:
December 19th, 2023, was a historic day for Mt. Bachelor. After a monumental effort during the summer by our own Lift Maintenance team, in conjunction with lift manufacturer Doppelmayr and third-party contractors, the new Skyliner Express 6-pack chairlift opened for skiing and riding. Skyliner is a staple of Mt. Bachelor, serving as a hub for locals, Woodward Mountain Park skiers and riders, youth programs, racing, and fun, fast intermediate terrain. The new Skyliner Express’ first season was a massive success, paving the way for future lift infrastructure upgrades at Mt. Bachelor.
Check out our previous blog on the Skyliner Express Construction.
Wild Weather:
As most Mt. Bachelor locals know, we have some of the wildest weather in the state. This winter season was no exception. After a slow December, January came in fierce and dumped 124” of snow, with 65” of that falling from January 8th – 14th. That storm came with exceptionally high winds forcing several lift closures and a complete resort shutdown on the 12th with recorded wind speeds over 120 mph on Summit. On the flip side, after January, we had a completely solid base which set us up for some epic conditions in February and beyond.
February and March came in with 73” and 80” of snowfall recorded respectively. Mother Nature dropped 35” over February 14th – 20th with daily refreshes and epic powder skiing and riding, followed immediately by another dump of 67” from the 26th- March 5th! When the skies finally cleared, we had incredible coverage and dreamy powder days. The whole mountain was open with 360° pow turns on a 125” base.
In April and May, we saw more of the sun and spring conditions while still tracking 18” and 20” of monthly snowfall respectively. In true RendezVan fashion, the biggest storm of May rolled in as the Thursday night headliner “Company Grand” hit the stage. All told our “spring” music festival refreshed us with 13”. The Mt. Bachelor faithful still came out in full force for an epic weekend that was a major highlight of the season.
Even though we had some powerful storms roll through this winter, we still had many bluebird pow days and beautiful, warm spring corn laps. With our base standing tall at over 100" heading into the spring months, there were plenty of picture-perfect days with excellent coverage from top to bottom. Spring skiing and riding is always a highlight of a Mt. Bachelor season, and this year was no exception.
Season Highlights by the Numbers:
■ Total Operating Days: 170
■ Total Recorded Snowfall: 384”
■ Biggest 24-hour Snow Total: 26” (6:30 a.m. January 9th – 6:30 a.m. January 10th)
■ 100” Base: February 26th, 2024
■ Total Max Base Depth: 129” on March 5th, 2024
Mt. Bachelor Guests & Employees:
A huge thank you is in order for you, the Mt. Bachelor skiers and riders. From hardy locals to weekend and holiday visitors, you make Mt. Bachelor special. We appreciate all who came up this winter and hope to see everyone again this summer.
- This season, we had 58 members of the 100-Day Club.
- Ken E. was the leader on the Mt. Bachelor app's Public Leaderboard with an impressive 4,293,333 vertical feet over 136 days with 2,688 lift rides.
And of course, thank you to our amazing employees for making this season happen! From working all summer to prepare the lifts to tirelessly digging out the mountains as we received heavy snowfall during the height of winter, you all worked through the rain, snow, wind, and everything else so that we could enjoy another awesome season at Mt. Bachelor.
Big Events:
The big event of the year was the above-mentioned RendezVan festival. Although the weather wasn’t what we expected for the first weekend of May, the party went on. Music acts such as The Dip, Company Grand, Robert Delong, The Floozies, and Saint Motel rocked out on the main stage, while festivalgoers enjoyed food trucks, silent discos, axe throwing, skiing and riding until 7:00 p.m., morning yoga, dog keg races, and much more.
Other notable events included:
- Monthly Passholder Parties at Deschutes Brewery
- Boneyard Backcountry Bars at the base of Outback Express
- Boneyard Backcountry Bar at the base of Skyliner Express
- Skyliner Express Opening Day
- The Dirksen Derby
- The Gerry Lopez Big Wave Challenge
- Subaru WinterFest
- Party in the Peace Park
- Passholder Appreciation Weekend
- Burton Mystery Series
- Red Bull Landing Gear
- RendezVan
- Closing Weekend – The North American Pond Skim Championships
- Play Forever Thursdays
Big shoutout to the Events Crew for their hard work this season, putting on top-notch events nearly every weekend for 6 months.
And there you have it. Another successful season in the books. Thanks again for joining us this winter and spring! As a reminder, Summer Operations are scheduled to begin on June 27th, conditions permitting. See you all soon!