Bend Journals

Ski Mt. Bachelor

A March 1993 trip to Bend by Wasatch

Quote: When we lived on the East Coast, Mt. Bachelor, some 80 miles from the Pacific Ocean, was one of our favorite ski areas. Thanks to the mess the hub and spoke system made of air travel, it takes a day to get anywhere, so why not go across the country?

Ski Mt. Bachelor

Overview

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Mt. Bachelor is the only place we ever skied where they handed out rain coats with the lift tickets, and they were needed. With a base of only 6,300 ft. attitude, Mt. Bachelor has frequent spells of mild, rainy weather. Tucked into one of the resorts disposable rain coats, a couple days, we never too bothered by the rain. Mt. Bachelor is a lone volcano cone, still active, on the east side of the Cascade Range, part of the same system of volcanos as nearby Mt St Helen’s. We found some spots along the runs where volcanic action inside the mountain had opened fissuresin the snow from which clouds of steam flowed. Mt. Bachelor has two base areas, West Village and Sunrise Lodge. ...Read More

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Riverhouse Resort

Hotel | "The Riverhouse"

Quote:

Surfing ratings of The Riverhouse on the web shows a great range of reaction to the motel, running from strong dislike to positive raves. We stayed at the Riverhouse on several ski trips over about a decade, and from those visits, I think that what lies behind the disparate view points is the type and location of the room. Most of the time, we liked the room we had very much, in large part because we hit the jackpot on our first visit and kept returning to that type of room. When contemplating a stay at The Riverhouse, don’t think of it as planning a stay at a motel, you must focus on the particular room and its location. I will start with a description on the location we like, and as the real estate ladies say, it is about location, location, location. So pay attention to location.

The rooms at The Riverhouse are three different sets of buildings along the Deschutes River in the outskirts of Bend. The first building overlooks the highway on one side and the parking lot–euphemistically called “courtyard view” on The Riverhouse’s web site. The highway side rooms are probably the ones that get complaints about traffic noise. Where we were, we never had a noise problem. These rooms are also small, and the lowest priced.

The second set of buildings is on the river bank, and they are roughly twice as large as the road side/courtyard rooms. The door to rooms is on one side of the building. The rooms themselves run the entire width of the building to large glass doors overlooking the river. The river bank on the other side of the river is higher than the first floor river view rooms, so the view from these rooms is 100% nature– river and brush and tree covered bank across the river. We preferred this location, and always stayed here except one trip when no river view room was available. On that
trip, we tried a courtyard view room. The next time there was no river view available, we stayed at a different motel.

These two buildings on the highway side of the river were the original motel, dating back at least to the 1970s. Around 1990, they build a third set of rooms across the river, at the edge of their golf course. These looked like nice rooms, but we never stayed there, always opting for the river view rooms.

Except for one summer trip, we went to Bend for ski weeks, probably spending a total of 7-8 weeks there so far. Our first choice of rooms is a first floor river view room at The Riverhouse. Our second choice is someplace else.

The river views rooms are grandly spacious, and well furnished– chairs, a couch, micro wave, refrigerator, Refrigerators & Microwaves, Wireless Internet connections, 56K Modem Access, Direct Dial Phones & Free Local Calling, Voice Mail & Wake-up Service, Double Vanities & Full Length Mirrors, Granite counter tops, Hair dryer, Cable Color TV with H2O, DVD players, Iron & Ironing Board, Coffee & Coffee Maker, Work Desk, and Room Service in all rooms. There was plenty of storage space for all the stuff required for a ski week in our river view rooms. Construction is solid and noise free. We have stayed in lot of lodgings on ski trips, but nowhere was our room so inviting at the end of the day than at The Riverhouse.

A note to skiers living on the East Coast or in the Midwest– consider a ski trip to Bend/Mt Bachelor. It is as easy to get to a Colorado resorts because you can fly to Portland, OR, nonstop. Then it is a very scenic drive to Bend, a pleasant little community on the east side of the Cascade Range, with the forested hills of the mountain on one side of town and the Oregon desert on the other.

In plotting your route to Mt Bachelor from The Riverhouse, get directions to go by way of the town park, a pleasant drive along the river where somebody seems to away be feeding the ducks and geese. Oddly for a western town, the houses across the street from the town park reminded us a New England village.

Prices: $89 to $245 for the river view Gilchrist Suite with two separate bedrooms, living room, kitchen, two full baths, and again, pick your room with care. Read Less

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on November 16, 2004

Riverhouse Resort
3075 Highway 97
Bend, Oregon 97701
541-389-3111