Remember the foreboding hotel from the Stanley Kubrick movie The Shining, and how it seemed almost impossible that such a hotel could exist perched in the mountains that way? Well, it’s real. The Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood in Oregon is a magnificent old hotel built by the WPA in 1937—and if you jump on a Cyber Monday deal right now, this very minute (like, click over and purchase it, then come back to read the rest of this entertaining article), you can obtain three weekday lift tickets for just $129, a savings of $200. The tickets can be used until May 29, 2023, other than some holiday blackout dates.
The hairpin-turn drive up Mt. Hood is a little scary even when there’s no snow on the ground, so now that there’s already 40” on the ground (at 6,000 feet where the lodge is), you’ll get that adrenaline surge even before you hit the slopes for skiing and snowboarding. Snow is so prevalent here each winter that there is even a special temporary igloo-like structure that is attached to the front door to permit guests to continue to enter and exit. Since Sept. 1, the Timberline has received 75” inches of snow although it didn’t all stick. Check out the webcams here.
This rustic hotel with incredible woodwork and stonework throughout (including furnishings) boasts an enormous circular fireplace that rises three stories. A restaurant on the second story balcony gives stunning vistas of Mt. Hood and Mt. Jefferson out the windows, while you can peer down to the sofas below. Beer is brewed just six miles away at the Mt. Hood Brewing Co, which you can enjoy after a brisk day on the slopes. Some of the rooms are very grand, while others are more like European hostels (you can stay where the servants used to reside): grab a group of 14 friends to share the Mary Gautreaux Room with multiple bunkbeds. The great outdoor pool with Timberline written in tiles on the bottom is temporarily closed for a rehab, but that’s okay; you can return next summer.
And we can’t talk about the Timberline without mentioning the dogs. A pair of St. Bernards has always been on hand at the hotel since 1937 (not the same dogs, but they’re always replaced when they… need replacing.) And yes: you can pay to hike or snowshoe with Heidi or Bruno!
Besides this great Cyber Monday deal, check out the Timberline’s moonlight snowshoe package, which includes a hotel room, two pairs of snowshoes and a guided three-quarter mile snowshoe under the full moon, available Dec. 7.