Cooper Spur Ski & Recreation Area

This is a wonderful place. The view of corse is gorgeous. You have your choice of downhill skiing, snow shoeing or cross country skiing. The crew on the slopes are great. Very helpful and friendly as are the parking attendants (when needed). The restaurant has great food and the bloody mary’s are to die for. The only complaint I have is not even with the resort but rather the families of the kids ski race team. The kids are unruly and self entitled brats. The parents bring the family dogs to have them sit in the snow shivering. This resort shouldn’t allow dogs. Its not the dogs that are the problem, it’s the idiots who bring them to an environment most uncomfortable. Cold loud and busy and just left alone tied to poles looking miserable… poor doggies. I just wanted to take the owners jackets and boots from them and tie them to a pole all day… Cooper Spur, pls consider not allowing pets at the ski area. It’s cruel. Otherwise you are excellent.

This was my first time ever snowboarding so I was super excited and nervous for the experience! As I was heading down from the mountain one last time I lost control of my board because I still didn’t really know how to slow down, an employee who was teaching the kids how to skii/​snowboard, told me to slow down, and I replied that I didn’t know. He then remarked with a snarky comment «well then figure it out». It was rude imo, on the other hand, the service inside of the kitchen was amazing. The girls were so warm and welcoming!

Cooper Spur is a great place for families to learn to ski.
First, lets start with the price. For $ 400, you can get your *entire family* a season pass that is good for lift tickets *and* rentals. If you can commit to going 4, 5, or 6 times, that is a killer deal. Pencil out your alternatives, and you will definitely not find any less expensive options. You can use some of the money you save to get some ski school or individual instruction, which is well worth it. Consider it an investment in your families’ future entertainment for years to come.
The lodge is cozy but unpretentious and comfortable enough. Free wifi is handy, so you can send messages to family members (even if you don’t get cell service on the mountain, at least they’ll get the message when they get back into wifi). Food is just fine for what it is.
The ski lift and runs are nice for beginners. They have a good rope tow to get started with, and then the ski lift isn’t too difficult. They have a handful of runs ranging from beginner to intermediate. Even though the runs aren’t long, the ski lift doesn’t get too busy.
Parking can be a problem, and sometimes you need to ride a shuttle up from the lot down by the resort (about 1 mile away). Also the rental center can be very busy, and a line can form that can take 30−45+ minutes to get through. Neither are a huge deal, but all things considered it is a good idea to arrive as early as possible to get good parking and avoid the rush. If you do have to wait, just practice some patience — you’ll get on the mountain eventually.
They also have a very small tube hill (I haven’t done this, but it looks pretty measly, so I wouldn’t make a special trip up just for this) and options for nordic (cross-​country skiing /​snow-​shoeing). If you get the family season pass deal, for another $ 40 you can add-​on nordic rentals and access, which seems like a good deal if you’d like to have some variety.
One other nice option is that, coming from Portland, you can take HW 26 (through Government Camp) or US 35 (though Hood River). It is good to have options, as traffic on 26 can back up on popular ski days. Also, there are lots of great restaurants in Hood River that can be enjoyed after a full day of skiing.

I’m a beginner snowboarder, and my boyfriend and I decided to take a day trip up to this ski area because it sounded like it was a good match for my abilities. For a $ 28 lift ticket, we thought it was worth checking out.
There is only one lift, and it feeds into one green run, a few blue runs, and a really short black diamond (which I didn’t try out). The «green run» was steep enough that I would personally actually consider to be a blue, but all of the runs are pretty wide and open, so the only real difficulty differentiator was the steepness level.
Because this ski area is clearly geared more towards beginners, the single green run started to get pretty crowded by the end of the day while the other runs were almost empty.
The main demographic of the ski area was definitely families. Additionally, keep in mind that the parking lot is EXTREMELY small. I think they do have a satellite lot that they shuttle you up from if you can’t park in the main lot, but I’m sure that is less convenient than parking in the main area. We got there almost right at 9 AM (when the lift opened), and there were still a number of parking spaces left. The place started getting crowded more towards noon.
There was a sign saying that dogs were allowed on leashes, and I saw a couple of families who had their dogs hanging out with them next to the outdoor picnic tables.
A small selection of «sandwiches and pizza”-type food was available for purchase for lunch, but it was nothing to write home about.
Overall, I really liked the place. If you’re not a beginner, you probably will be bored here (as my boyfriend definitely was by the end of the day). I, on he other hand, had an awesome time carving up their small, open runs. This seemed like a great place to bring your family, especially if they are learning. We went on New Year’s Eve, and while it seemed almost at capacity, there wasn’t ever more than a minute long wait for the lift. So, even though the runs are short, you don’t feel like you’re wasting that much time waiting around.