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. Ski racers should bring both slalom and GS gear-skis, poles, and protective gear. 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. 

Please see the “traveling to camp” page for specific details on unaccompanied minors flying to our camp. 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. Our counselors will typically try to find you at your baggage claim, however if nobody has found you head over to baggage claim #2. You'll likely find one of our camp counselors there and some other kids already waiting for others to arrive before heading to our lodge. 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. We will call the camper if we cannot find them so make sure your camper cell number is correct on your forms and their phone is charged before they get on their flight!

Yes. Top notch demo equipment is available to rent from the Timberline rental shop for approximately $50-$70 a day, depending on what equipment you need. Rentals will be purchased through us so that you don’t need to call ahead and set up the rentals. We will then apply the cost to your account by the end of the following week. More information on rental prices can be found at https://www.timberlinelodge.com/mountain/rentals

In addition to accepting VISA, Mastercard, Discover Card, and Diners Club, we also accept an American Express.

Yes, typically pick-up and drop-off is included in the camp price. Our camp counselors pick up kids at the Portland airport between 10:00am and 2:00pm on each arrival day. Typical dropoff at the Portland airport is between 8am and 2pm. There are additional fees if you arrive or depart from the Portland airport outside the camp pick-up or drop-off times. Please see the “traveling to camp” page for details.

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 and freeski campers move their training to the 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 the lifts shut down, we will cut our losses and give the kids some options on how they would like to spend their day. It might include a trip to the mall in Portland (movies/ice skating), indoor paintball, a stop at the North American Bigfoot Center, 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. Any activity done in place of skiing will be free of charge.

Cell phone reception is spotty at camp, but we have wifi in the Boy Scout Lodge. Our wifi works great for texting and wifi calling. There is an emergency wired phone in the case that our wifi goes out (this is extremely rare). There is also exceptional service on the mountain so campers can call after training. Wifi password: gritstartshere

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: Adults 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 mostly "kids" atmosphere, then by all means, come joins us. 

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

Your full balance will be due by the first of the month that precedes your arrival to camp. For example, if your session starts June 16, your balance will be due in full on May 1st. Whether you paid in full upon signup or selected a payment plan, your Active Network account should automatically take care of payments for you. If you selected pay by check, you can mail us a check for the balance due (made out to “MHSSC”) to:

MHSSC
PO Box 317
Government Camp, OR 97028

The $50 deposit to reserve camp space is non-refundable. There's a place on your online profile to cancel to get a refund, minus your $50 deposit, or you can choose to apply that amount to a future camp session later in that same Summer or a future Summer. We keep 75% of your balance if you cancel within 30 days of your session and 100% of your balance if you cancel within 7 days of the start of your session.

Yes, there really is enough snow! It's hard to explain this to some people on the phone because the concept of snow skiing in the Summer defies logic. Yes the snowpack is more plentiful in early June than in late August, but there is still snow left on Upper Palmer Snowfield for excellent training right up until the end of the last session.