Coming from Portland, Cooper Spur Mountain Resort is a 30-minute drive past the hustle and bustle of Government Camp, and 15 minutes from Mount Hood Meadows. By any measure, the resort is close, convenient lodging to one of the biggest ski resorts on Mount Hood. But as we wind slowly up the snowy, lonely, winding drive on Cooper Spur Road, it feels like we’re in the middle of nowhere.
The resort is a throwback to the 1880s on Mount Hood, when those early enthusiastic outdoorsmen came to bag the mountain’s summit or ski in deep, fresh snow and stayed in cozy, communal hotels or camps. A log house and several cabins are set in the woods surrounding a hotel and a warm, well-lit restaurant and tavern. Well-shoveled walkways lead from building to building, which are all buried in snow. When we arrive, we realize that almost all of the rooms have been booked for a wedding.
Children are throwing snowballs on the lawn as their bundled-up parents sip beer on porches, and a lively rehearsal dinner is taking place in the restaurant. In the Crooked Tree Tavern, a fire is roaring in the fireplace, flames flickering off the cedar-lined walls. My toddler pulls her boots off and runs around with several other children wandering in and out of the festivities. The waitresses watch her nonchalantly. “She’s way better than the drunk people we get in here sometimes,” one observes.
Crooked Tree sources most of its meat, produce and beverages from within 30 miles of the restaurant, drawing on the excellent local farms, ranches, wineries and breweries in the Hood River Valley. My Columbia River steelhead is perfectly cooked, moist and tender and accompanied by jicama slaw and chipotle aioli. The wine list features selections from Oregon and Washington, with the Cooper Spur Private Label Pinot Gris and Summit Red produced and bottled at Mt. Hood Winery.
It’s a few minutes’ walk through the crunching snow back to the hotel. We don’t take advantage of the large outdoor spa deck or outdoor fire pits, but our large, wood-paneled, ski-lodge style room is more than comfortable. My daughter falls asleep while I pack my bag for skiing the next morning. It’s very tempting to set my alarm for a little later and go to Cooper Spur’s ski area — just a few minutes away, with a double chairlift, a rope tow, rental shop and ski lessons, lodge, snow tubing run and children’s snow carousel, and groomed Nordic trails for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing.
But we’re meeting friends at Mount Hood Meadows, and since the much larger resort is only 15 minutes away, we don’t have much of an excuse for bailing. Instead, we suit up and take advantage of Cooper Spur’s included continental breakfast — seeing a few of the other toddlers that we met last night — and head out down the road, well-rested, well-fed and ready for a full day of playing in the snow.
