For a ski resort desperate for snow, a winter-storm dumping of six feet of snow would seem like a blessing.



But at this point, the people at Mt. Bachelor in Bend might be justified in feeling a little cursed.



High winds and extreme weather that brought the massive snowfall -- 74 inches in 72 hours -- left the ski resort with no power and forced it to stay closed on Thursday.





More

Then, with backup power from generators running at least some of the lifts, the resort faced another problem. Some of its snowblowing equipment, working in high gear to move snow out of the parking lots, broke down. With only a quarter of parking available, the resort warned skiers they might not find space and should carpool or take a shuttle.

"For the most part people have been understanding," Jackson said, but added "there's always a small handful" who express less than compassionate reactions.

Coming off of a December in which the resort saw only 20 inches of snow for the entire month, the resort employees and skiers alike celebrated the first flakes of powdery snow that fell.

"But it just came so hard and so fast, it overwhelmed us," Jackson said, and they had to let people know the party was not going to last. "We had to send a message that we were going to be very operationally challenged during the storm itself."

It may take a few days to fully restore power and clear parking lots, he said. But snow will soon be a welcome four-letter word again.

"Once that gets resolved and once we catch up with cleaning," said Jackson, "it'll be back to normal wintertime fun."