Cranking Away at the Tune Shop
- Written by Ben Jacklet
- Category: Culture/Style
- Published: January 26, 2016
- Last Updated: January 26, 2016
Greg Coulter rips through another mount job at the Next Adventure Tune Shop.
It’s Friday morning at the Next Adventure tune shop, and Greg Coulter and his team are cranking through one pair of skis after another, drilling holes, tweaking bindings, grinding bases, working their way through a big backlog now that the snow has returned to Mount Hood and the floodgates have opened.
High School Racers Shred the Gates Come Rain, Sleet or Snow
- Written by Ben Jacklet
- Category: High School Alpine Racing
- Published: January 20, 2016
- Last Updated: January 21, 2016

Izzy Hoffman of Lakeridge High has won her first two league races in slalom and GS. Photo by Mike Juliana.
The high school season racing is out of the starting gates and ripping into 2016 with hundreds of high-energy competitors and all sorts of crazy Mount Hood weather.
Here’s Why ODOT Has Absolutely No Plans to Add Another Westbound Lane on Hwy. 26
- Written by Ben Jacklet
- Category: Transportation
- Published: January 15, 2016
- Last Updated: January 21, 2016

Useful advice from an ODOT sign on Mount Hood..
If you are waiting for design improvements to solve the traffic problems on Mount Hood, don't hold your breath.
How Can We Fix the Traffic Mess on Mount Hood?
- Written by Ben Jacklet
- Category: Transportation
- Published: January 02, 2016
- Last Updated: January 12, 2016
One mile in two hours.
If you are a Mount Hood regular, you are probably painfully familiar with the nine-mile drive from Mt. Hood Meadows to Government Camp, and the fact that this short trip can take three hours or more when holiday traffic is at its worst.
Sad News from Jackson as Kelsey Hewitt Dies at 25
- Written by Ben Jacklet
- Category: News
- Published: December 23, 2015
- Last Updated: December 29, 2015
Kelsey and Randy Hewitt. Photo courtesy of Garrett Shields
Update: there will be a memorial for Kelsey Hewitt Saturday, and her ashes will be spread on the mountain Sunday. See below for details from the family. Sad news from Jackson Hole this week, as the young woman who died in a tree-well skiing accident on Tuesday has been identified as Mount Hood-raised skier Kelsey Hewitt, the 25-year-old daughter of long-time Grant/Cleveland racing coach Randy Hewitt and his wife Elise.
#GirlPower: Mt. Hood-Raised Jackie Wiles Gets a Timely Boost from Lindsey Vonn
- Written by Ben Jacklet
- Category: Alpine Olympics/World Cup
- Published: December 17, 2015
- Last Updated: December 18, 2015

Lindsey Vonn with Jackie Wiles
Jacqueline Wiles soared through the ranks of ski racing from the Mount Hood Mitey Mites to the Sochi Olympics, but when the U.S. Ski Teams were announced last month in Colorado, she didn't make the cut for the fully funded A team.
Snow-hungry weekenders storm Mount Hood, breathing life into the mountain economy
- Written by Ben Jacklet
- Category: Business
- Published: December 15, 2015
- Last Updated: December 17, 2015
Pent-up demand for fresh snow on Mount Hood.
Two tough snow years in a row on Mount Hood gave way to an epic pre-Christmas snowstorm last week, sending skiers and snowboarders racing up to enjoy the powder, with their wallets at the ready.
A Foot and Ankle Doc with a Passion for the Mountains
- Written by Ben Jacklet
- Category: Mountain Characters
- Published: December 04, 2015
- Last Updated: January 21, 2016

The doctor is in.
Long before Timothy Mineo became a foot and ankle doctor, he was a skier. He started skiing at the age of three, competed at the University of Colorado, got into summer freeskiing on the glaciers of British Columbia in the early days of terrain parks, and ski-bummed his way from Copper Mountain to Lake Tahoe in between college and medical school. In fact, it was a pair of ski injuries, along with his experience working as a ski-boot-fitter in Tahoe, that convinced him to pursue medicine and to specialize in feet and ankles.
Four Avalanches in One Day on the North Side of Mount Hood
- Written by Michael Getlin
- Category: Backcountry
- Published: November 19, 2015
- Last Updated: November 19, 2015
A huge avalanche rips down the north side of Mount Hood. Photo by Walter Burkhardt
If you’ve never seen a large avalanche rip off the top of a highly prominent peak and sweep three thousand vertical feet onto a glacier below, I highly recommend you check one out. Preferably from a safe distance.
Mike Heff’s Long, Hard Ride
- Written by Ben Jacklet
- Category: Mountain Characters
- Published: November 08, 2015
- Last Updated: November 11, 2015

Mike Heffernan shredding Mount Hood. Photo by Randy Boverman.
This is a story about a ski buddy of mine who has Parkinson’s, and about a motorcycle trip he recently took that meant a lot to him. It’s a story about what it’s like to get Parkinson’s when you are young, what that disease takes away, and how people adapt and keep moving, sometimes in surprising ways. It is also a story about the importance of community.