5 Ways to Entertain Yourself in the Mt Hood Lift Line

It’s a well known fact, if you go snowboarding on a busy day, you’re going to have to wait in line. And at Mt. Hood, once summer gets into full swing, there’s pretty much a line every day. First, you wait in line for the Magic Mile, standing around awkwardly holding your board and being way too hot. After an enjoyable and scenic lift ride, it’s another line to get up the Palmer Glacier. Now, good timing (i.e. right after the campers get there and on the lift) can help a bit, but eventually you’re going to have to wait. So, for those occasions, we’ve compiled some ideas for making the most of your time.

1. Trick people into going into the ski patrol line. Tell them it’s for singles, or that something about them makes them eligible to cut. Like, it’s red jacket day or something! Then you can laugh at them when they hike all the way up there and get turned around.

Get to know Tim Eddy, filmer guy John Ray and super counselor Toby Witte while you wait!

2. Network/fan out. The Mile and Palmer lift lines are a who’s who of snowboarding pros, industry people and wanna be industry people. A not-so-graceful stumble could be your excuse to “bump into” someone and strike up a conversation that may just make your dreams of an industry job come true. Or your chance to get a selfie with your favorite pro.

3.  Try to snake the line. Now we would never do this, but if you’re just one person, you can likely be trying to “meet up with your friends” or otherwise come up with an excuse to circumvent a bunch of suckers just standing there going with the flow.

4. Check out ski racer’s butts. Doesn’t matter if you’re a boy or a girl, they all wear those tight spandex pants, so if butts are your thing, then the Hood lift line is your wet dream.

5. Check your Instagram/Snapchat/Twitter. Let’s face it, the rest of these suggestions are worthless when you have a smart phone to stare at, and service is pretty decent on the glacier.