November 2006/March 2007
The meteorologists call it the “Pineapple Express.” Every
now and then a great surge of warm, moist air comes barreling northeastward from
the South Pacific and empties itself somewhere on the West coast of the United
States. In early November 2006, it chose to hit us in the Pacific Northwest,
resulting in record rainfall, hundred-year flooding, landslides, and the whole
gamut of storm-related damage. Mount Rainier National Park, for example,
received 18 inches of rain in 36 hours, causing the park to close its gates for
the first time in 26 years. Elsewhere in Washington State, communities prepared
for cresting rivers and a state-of-emergency was declared in eighteen counties.
Northwestern Oregon, where I live, was also affected though
not nearly as heavily as Washington. The worst I saw around my home in Portland
were lots of puddles and temporary lakes in parking lots where storm drains had
backed up. Farther from home, however, the Pineapple Express caused significant
damage to Oregon Highway 35, a route that winds around the southeast side of
Mount Hood connecting the town of Hood River to the east with Sandy, Welches,
and Government Camp to the west.
In particular, the White River, which normally flows
underneath a bridge on the western side, hosted a massive million-cubic-yard
flow of rocky debris—the runoff from a “glacial outburst” higher on the
mountain. As a result, the bridge was completely covered and clogged with
boulders such that the river decided to cut a new 20-foot deep, 50-foot wide
channel to one side of it, directly across OR35. On the Eastern side, culverts
for Newton Creek and Clark Creek both clogged, resulting in some creative
re-routing of those flows as well. They cut incised ditches along the roadside
for a ways, then cut across or through the road to the other side, finding new
ways to meet their eventual destination in the east fork of the Hood River.
Normally such an incident on a small, two-lane, back-country
highway wouldn’t be a huge concern. Hood River is generally reached from
Portland via Interstate 84, while US26 to Government Camp (and on to Madras and
Bend), was still clear. However, it just so happens that Oregon’s largest ski
resort, Mount Hood Meadows, sits smack dab between the two damaged areas of
OR35.
Early November is not a good time for a major ski area to be
cut off from the world. Once the Pineapple Express moved on, snow started
dumping on the mountains by the yard allowing other Northwest resorts to open
the week before Thanksgiving. But not Meadows—though they still had power
(thanks to overhead cable spanning the flooded canyon), their telecommunications
lines were severed and the resort could only be reached via forest roads in
small numbers following Oregon DOT pilot cars.
The timing was also ironic. Mount Hood Meadows offers
discounted season passes when purchased before the season begins—discounted,
obviously, because no one yet has any real idea what the season will look like.
The cutoff date, November 5th, just so happened to fall on the day
before the flood.
Needless to say, many early season pass holders suddenly
became more anxious than usual during the advent of ski season. No one knew was
going to happen. Was the resort going to open at all this year? Could the road
be repaired before next summer? Were they just going to have to eat the $400
invested in their passes?
The question was certainly on my own mind. I had just
learned to ski the previous year and found that I enjoyed the sport immensely. I
had taken advantage of a very generous offer by Meadows for a $99 spring season
pass in March that turned out to be a fabulous bargain: the resort was open up
to the first weekend in June! I used my pass about a dozen times, a huge savings
over the normal $52/day lift ticket. This season, knowing that I only had to
make 7-8 trips to break even, I got my pass early.
With the highway torn apart, of course, I began to wonder
whether there was going to be a season at all. Others were reminded of the
winter of 2004-2005: it was so dry that the resort had closed in January after
being open only about eight weeks. Truly, you never quite know how things are
going to work out. One has to buy a season pass with such risks in mind.[*]
My wife gave me a good perspective on the whole matter,
though. “It’s a long-term relationship,” she said, “some years will be good,
other bad, but over time it will all balance out.” I had to agree. For the
amount I saved with the spring pass, I would probably still come out ahead in
the worst possible scenario. And as Mount Hood Meadows had been generous, I
could afford to return the favor and be generous myself.
Of course, not everyone shared such sentiments—the spectrum
of human consciousness is indeed vast. People are motivated and driven by
different desires or ideals. On the lowest end we find those who seek simply to
avoid pain and get by with as little effort as possible. At the opposite end are
those who are motivated by high ideals and the love of Truth, above all. A
little behind them are those who seek to serve, to make their lives something of
value to their fellow human beings. And opposite them—at least somewhat above
the bottom—are those who primarily seek self-gain, who expect their fellow
beings to serve them.
This became very visible with the situation at Mount Hood
Meadows. As part of the resort’s website, their Chief Operating Officer, Dave
Riley,
maintains a blog through which he shares the ongoing operational concerns
of the resort and solicits feedback from its patrons. Through this venue, he’s
shared oft-unseen details about what it takes to operate such a facility, asked
for opinions on pricing the hours of operation, and given status updates on
major concerns like highway closures. Within a day or two of the damage to
highway 35 he thus
posted an assessment of the situation, what it meant to the
resort, and when we might expect to get on the mountain to enjoy the rapidly
accumulating powder.
Brave man! Many people were openly pissed off to the exteme.
They had invested money in passes, cabin rentals, even airline tickets from
out-of-state—were they, to put it mildly, screwed? Many others were, of course,
very understanding that an act of Nature, well beyond the resort’s control, was
the cause of the problem. Still, complaints came in that Meadows was responsible
for not preventing the problem years earlier, that they should have invested
more in road safety, that they should be ponying up millions to repair the road
ASAP, and that they should also be refunding pass purchases (despite the season
pass purchase agreement that clearly states “no refunds” for any reason
whatsoever).
It went further. Some said they’d never come to Meadows
again (an odd reaction for a season pass holder!). Others began to threaten
legal action (over a mere $400, mind you, the sort of amounts that usually end
up on daytime TV courtroom shows). And still others took the opportunity to
whine about how they’d been treated by the Meadows staff—the lift operators
especially—in years past.
Those complaints I found the most intriguing. In all my
trips to Meadows in my first year of skiing, I generally encountered warm and
friendly lift operators. I heard words of encouragement, saw plenty of smiles,
and received numerous high-fives and knuckle-knocks while getting on the chairs.
And this from people who, instead of enjoying the slopes themselves, spent their
working days standing in sometimes bitterly cold blizzards watching other
people having fun.
I figured that such folks certainly deserve a little
sympathy and patience, especially on busy days. They also deserve a smile from
me whenever possible. I, at least, should be having a good time! And I should,
theoretically, have some extra joy to share with others. This is, in fact, what
I’ve experienced, and from what I’ve heard it’s what many others experience as
well.
But not universally. There are some, as comments on the blog
revealed, who essentially treat lift operators as if they were servants or
slaves. They make unreasonable demands and get upset if one or two chairs aren’t
completely loaded, thereby delaying their “fun” by something like 15-30 seconds.
(And this is for a resort where, on days when the lift lines are short or
non-existent, you can pretty much spend half your time on the snow thanks to all
the high-speed lifts.)
It’s an odd thing in human nature to be in a place that’s
all about having fun and still finding some reason to be miserable. The only
conclusion is that it’s all about what one personally brings to the scene. If
you bring happiness, you can expect happiness, as many of us find with the lift
operators. If you bring a hard edge, you can expect to receive the same in
return.
It reminded me of a time when I was returning to Seattle
from Providence, Rhode Island, with a connection in Chicago. Due to
thunderstorms in the Midwest, our plane sat on the tarmac for two hours, waiting
for clearance. The tower then told us to go back and park at the gate, though
passengers had to stay on board. Then we went out to the runway again, only to
wait another hour before being instructed to return again to the gate. At this
point the airline decided to unload the passengers and find other connections.
Myself and two companions who also try to adhere to the
principle of even-mindedness, knowing full well that we’d missed our original
flight out of Chicago, were waiting patiently in line. The woman in front of us
was not so patient. Fully testing the airline rep’s dedication to customer
service, she demanded her way through to an alternate ticket and unrelentingly
ordered that her luggage be removed from the plane immediately.
Ironically, no sooner was her luggage off than we were
cleared for immediate take-off. We all reboarded as quickly as possible and were
on our way. All except that one woman, of course, who got to enjoy the
Providence airport a few hours more!
It’s a timeless spiritual teaching: the energy you put out
is the energy that comes back to you. The yogis of the East call it karma; “For
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” is how St. Paul put it one of
this letters. Whatever the source, whatever the tradition, the truth is the
truth. What you experience in life—be it sorrow or happiness, rebuke or kindness
and understanding, is but a reflection of what you yourself bring to a
situation.
One’s experience of life need not be conditioned by any
circumstance. Not by poverty, not by comfort, not by how others treat us, not by
death or imprisonment, nor—believe it or not—by a delay in the opening of ski
season! Whether one’s experience is happy, sad, fair, unjust, kind, or unkind,
is simply a matter of choice. Challenging circumstances, in whatever form, are
but opportunities to practice making the choice away from selfish expectations
to that of expansive understanding. It is a sure path to a lasting peace within.
Thankfully, the positive support surrounding the repair of
Highway 35 ultimately outweighed the problem-mongers (who, it should be noted,
were demanding refunds due to highway closure before any other resort had
even opened). A number of pass holders, still grateful for the generosity that
Meadows has shown in the past (such as staying open into June of 2006),
expressed their willingness to let go their entire season if needs be. But that
wasn’t necessary. Other resorts from nearby Timberline to faraway Anthony Lakes
(near Pendleton), Schweitzer (Idaho), and Alyeska (Alaska) graciously offered
discounts or altogether free skiing to Meadows pass holders.
And in the end, Oregon DOT—toward whom some complaints were
also directed—had OR35 open in a month. Meadows was able to open only a couple
of weeks late. Those who chose to flow with the situation have since
enjoyed a long season that should stretch well into April. Pity those who chose
to storm away in misery and disgust.
$400 for a season pass is ridiculously cheap compared to passes elsewhere in
the Northwest and especially in the country—but that’s the deal. Pass prices
go up to $550 after the early cutoff date, allowing one to essentially
purchase $150 of insurance to make sure there will be a decent season.
Either way, Meadows pass holders enjoy some of the lowest prices in the
country.
