A famous Oregon mountain resort known for getting snow even in the middle of the summer has been forced to shutter for the season due to a raging wildfire.
Mt. Hood Meadows, a ski and summer resort on Mount Hood, announced Tuesday that it would be closed for the rest of the summer after being put under a Level 3 ‘go now’ evacuation order because of the Grasshopper Fire.
As of Friday afternoon, the blaze had raged across nearly 87,000 acres, per InciWeb. It was roughly 20 percent contained.
‘We understand that this decision has a real impact on our guests, and especially our Team, and we want everyone to know we did not take this decision lightly,’ the resort said.
The statement continued: ‘This is not how we wanted our summer to go, but if there is one thing we are really good at, it is making the best out of a tough situation.’
Greg Pack, the president and general manager of Mt. Hood Meadows, said it had not been a favorable year for the resort.
That was because the resort had already been forced to close early during the ski season because of low snowpack.
‘It’s definitely a double–whammy,’ Pack told OregonLive. ‘There’s been a decent financial impact.’
The Grasshopper Fire, which had raged across approximately 87,000 acres in Oregon as of Friday afternoon, has caused the iconic Mt. Hood Meadows resort to shut down for the summer
The resort announced on Tuesday that it would shutter for the rest of the summer after being placed under a ‘go now’ evacuation order due to the raging wildfire
A picture posted on the resort’s Facebook page showed a message thanking the firefighters combating the Grasshopper Fire, as smoky conditions could be seen in the background
However, Pack added that the resort, about 70 miles east of Portland, was not in any financial peril thanks to its low debt and smart management.
Pack also said that he would provide space and support to the firefighters combating the massive blaze, according to the Statesman Journal.
That would include opening the resort’s parking lot to more than 300 personnel in what is called a ‘spike camp.’
Pack urged people in the area to respect the evacuation orders and not enter the areas closed off by firefighters and the US Forest Service.
The resort said on Facebook that it was ‘stoked to welcome everyone back up here once the snow falls’ in the winter.
On Wednesday, the Wasco County Sheriff’s Office said that six homes and 15 buildings had been lost to the wildfire.
The sheriff’s office insisted that ‘damage assessments must take a secondary priority’ while firefighters actively worked to suppress the blaze.
Evacuation notices are still in effect for parts of Hood River, Wasco and Clackamas counties.
The Mt. Hood Meadows ski and summer resort is known for having snow even during the peak of summer, though it will no longer be operational for the rest of this season
The US Forest Service said that the Grasshopper Fire was first reported at 7:41pm on July 23. Authorities have since described it as lightning–caused
During a community meeting in Dufur on Thursday night, Wasco County Sheriff Lane Magill said this was ‘one of the most challenging fires that I’ve had from an evacuation standpoint in probably the last ten or 15 years,’ KPTV reported.
Rachel Brozobich from Oregon State Fire Marshal Blue Incident Management Team explained that the last few days of high winds had helped the wildfire gain more energy.
County resident Marilyn Ronfeld agreed that the blaze was ‘devastating’ and noted it was scorching places she had been ‘playing in for 40 years.’
As of Friday, more than 1,800 people were involved in the response, according to a National Interagency Fire Center report.
The response included 45 firefighting crews, 135 fire engines and 11 helicopters, per the report.
Crews from as far as Australia and New Zealand are combating the blaze, according to The Outlook.
The Australia/New Zealand Incident Management Team 1 arrived on Tuesday and will act as firefighters, helibase managers or chainsaw specialists, per the outlet.
High winds had helped the Grasshopper Fire obtain more energy in recent days, according to an officer from the Oregon State Fire Marshal Blue Incident Management Team
The Mt. Hood Meadows resort is about 70 miles east of Portland (pictured with Mount Hood in the distance)
The Grasshopper Fire was first reported at 7.41pm on July 23, according to the US Forest Service.
The Oregon State Fire Marshal has since said that the massive wildfire was caused by lightning.
Gov. Tina Kotek signed an executive order on July 29 to grant the state fire marshal greater resources to battle the blaze.
Oregon has experienced its worst year on record for land burned by large wildfires, KATU reported.
More than 2.3 million acres have burned so far, topping the previous record set in 2024.
‘We know that 96 percent of Oregon or the northwest is in drought; some areas in a really severe drought, so we were anticipating that this was going to be a very tough year,’ Jean Nelson-Dean, the Northwest Coordination Center’s public information officer, told the outlet.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Mt. Hood Meadows for further comment.
