FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Hat, goggles, gloves, swimsuit, underwear, sunscreen (#15 or higher), towel, socks, water bottle, jacket, shirts, backpack, jeans, helmet, rain gear, shorts, personal toiletries (toothbrush, shampoo comb, etc.), sneakers, sweatpants, sweatshirt, pajamas, camera, sunglasses with UV protection, sweater, neck gaiter, skis or snowboard, boots, ski poles. Please put identification on all of your belongings. The best way to prepare for skiing on Mt Hood is to wear many layers. Air temperature is usually between 20 and 35 degrees in the morning when we start up the lifts and warms to around 65 degrees when we are done on the hill in early afternoon. Your backpack needs to be big enough to hold all those layers as well as a lunch and a water bottle. 

Each airline has their own set of procedures and age requirements when dealing with unaccompanied minors. The basic procedure is that when you buy you plane ticket, you let the airline know that your child will be flying as an unaccompanied minor. And in doing so, the airline will assign one or more of their flight attendants to "chaperone" your child during the flight and help them transfer to other planes if necessary. The airline will likely require the name of the ski camp employee that will be meeting your child at the gate when they unload the airplane in Portland. We assign our various counseling staff to do the airport pickups, so a day or two before your child's flight, you would call the camp (503-337-2230) and ask us for the name of the camp counselor who will be doing that particular airport pick-up. On arrival day, our camp counselor would go thru security and wait at the gate for your child to leave the plane. At that point, the airline employee signs over your child to our camp counselor (who will have proper ID with them). We'll take your child to get his/her luggage & equipment and then load on one of the camp vans or buses for the 75-minute road trip to the camp lodge. 

After you get off the plane, head to baggage claim to get your bags, skis, snowboard, etc. Then head down to baggage claim #2 and look for a table set up with our camp banner hanging from it. You'll likely find one of our camp counselors there and some other kids already waiting for others to arrive before heading to the mountain. Once we have a van load of kids ready, we'll take them to the lodge. Our counselors are pretty savvy when it comes to looking for lost campers. First of all, we look for kids with skis or snowboards. Having skis or snowboards with you in the middle of the summer makes you stand out! If it gets to the point where we can't find a particular individual, we'll first check for flight delays. Then we'll try paging them on the airport intercom system. If that fails, then we'll call the camp office and try to find out if there were any travel problems along the way, and figure out a plan based on what happened. 

Yes. Top notch demo equipment is available to rent from the Timberline rental shop for approximately $145-$205, depending on the performance of the package.

In addition to accepting VISA and Mastercard, we also accept Discover Card for camp payment. We will accept an American Express, but with a 3% surcharge.

Our camp counselors pick up kids at the Portland airport between 10:30am and 2:00pm on each arrival day. In order for us to transport your son or daughter to camp in our camp vehicles, they need to have a flight that arrives sometime before 2:00pm. There are additional fees if you arrive or depart from the Portland airport outside the camp pick-up or drop-off times of 10:30am - 2:00pm. 

Most of the afternoon activities are free including rockclimbing, water-sports at Timothy Lake, trampoline, field sports, skateboarding, cliff jumping, hiking, There is a $80 fee for whitewater rafting.

We have a ski/snowboard tuning room with waxing irons, but you'll need your own tuning tools, files,wax, etc. 

Variable! Come prepared to ski every type of snow. Typically the snow is very firm in the morning. The snowcats usually groom the race lanes in the early evening hours, then it freezes overnight for ideal ski & snowboard racing conditions. As the morning progresses and it warms up, the snow softens. On the race lanes, the coaches will spread salt on the courses to keep the snow firm. For the mogul/freestyle skiers & snowboard freeriders, they too take advantage of the firm early morning snow to work on skills required for that type of snow. Then as the snow softens the moguls skiers begin their training in the bumps and the snowboard freeriders and freeski campers move their training to our private terrain park. 

When the weather is bad (some combination of rain, snow, high wind, fog), we make EVERY effort to still get on the snow to train. On those occasions when the weather is extremely bad and deemed unsafe to be on the mountain, we will cut our losses and give the kids some options on how they would like to spend their day including: a trip to the mall (movies/ice skating), caving at Mt. Adams, indoor paintball, whitewater rafting (if the weather is ok at the river) Rockclimbing trip to Smith Rocks in Central Oregon (typically the weather there is nice even if it's not so nice at the mountain). When most camps go home at the first sign of bad weather, we get our kids dressed for the conditions, and at least get in a partial day of training if it's at all possible.

Cell phones: We've discovered that about 60% of cell phone providers do receive reception at our camp lodge, and probably even more get reception up at the ski area. And we have wifi in the camp lodge for internet communications.

Our mailing address (U.S. mail)
Mt Hood Summer Ski Camps
PO Box 317
Government Camp, OR 97028

If you are shipping a package via UPS or FedEx or DHL, use this physical address (*it's NOT the same physical address as the actual ski camp lodge)
Mt Hood Summer Ski Camps
87926 E. Alpenglow Ln
Government Camp, OR 97028
 

Our new camp lodge physical address (*do NOT send packages to this address, they WON'T make it)
Aubrey Watzek Lodge
14000 OR-Hwy 35
Mt. Hood, OR 97041

 

Adults can come to camp any of our available sessions, but they must provide their own lodging (*exception: you can lodge with us during the "Adults-Only" Session at the end of the Summer. We have adult campers in our camp just about every session during the summer. So if you are an adult that doesn't mind being in a "kid" atmosphere, then by all means, come joins us. 

No you don't. We supply the blankets, sheets and pillows.

Balance due is one month before YOUR arrival day. You can mail us a check for the balance due (made out to “MHSSC”) to:
MHSSC PO Box 317
Government Camp, OR 97028
Or you can call the camp office (503-337-2230) and pay with a credit card. We accept VISA/Mastercard/Discover card. We also accept American Express but with a 3% surcharge added on. If you paid your camp deposit with a credit card, you can request we charge the balance due on the same credit card.

The $50 deposit to reserve camp space is non-refundable. Camp cancellations made 30 days prior to the start of your session will receive a partial refund, your account balance less the $50 deposit. All cancellations must be submitted in writing and postmarked 30 days before the start of your session. There are NO REFUNDS after the deadline.

Yes, there really is plenty of snow! It's hard to explain this to some people on the phone because the concept of snow skiing in the summer defies logic. And no, global warming hasn't stopped us! Yes the snowpack is more plentiful in early June than in late August, but there is still plenty left for excellent training right up until the end of summer.