There’s something magical and dreamlike about kicking off the wingtips and strapping on snowboard boots immediately after a long workweek. Eschew the couch, pass on pizza and a movie, and plug your ears to the siren song of the bed for night skiing at Hoodoo Ski Area. It’s guaranteed to ward off regrets.

Further, tearing your kids away from toxic screens and stuffing them into a vehicle packed with jackets and goggles and beanies and helmets and snowboards is a good deed. It’s a welcome departure from tedium to shove them down a 700-foot drop in 25-degree temps, a thin pair of laminated wood planks the only thing between them and several painful cartwheels. Not to mention, character-building is easier when it’s cheap.

For that reason, my second-ever night skiing experience was Friday last. Joined by my 11- and 13-year-old sons (seeking a balm for their hard half-day of school and Fortnite), our trio attacked the steep slopes of Central Oregon’s only night-skiing destination. Mt. Bachelor may have the most terrain in several states, but only Hoodoo Ski Area provides easy access to shredding under the stars (and lights) for Central Oregon locals.

They call it “night skiing,” but by March, you are already spending much of the evening making turns in twilight. Sunset is around 6 p.m., and the afterglow from a sunny winter’s day remains for a good 30 minutes. The Manzanita, Ed and Easy Rider chairs provide access to the lit runs, and those runs constitute a sizeable chunk of Hoodoo’s 800-plus acres of terrain. To those who, like me, fear that darkness will hide the terrain, it turns out that snow is a nicely reflective surface.

Fresh powder at night

Straying from the lit areas of the mountain after dark is a good way to get your pass confiscated. So it is with caution that I confess my oldest and I inadvertently followed unlit Red Road from the top of Ed Chair (named for Hoodoo Ski Area’s founder, Ed Thurston) down to the Blue Valley run on the other end of Hoodoo Butte.

Recent snowfall had made the surface a pleasant 3 or 4 inches of powder on top of groomers, and sunset was just moments before. The result was a near-silent but virtually dark expedition from one end of the butte to another. Tall trees were the ominous observers of our transgression.

As I sheepishly glanced at my teenage riding partner after we made it back down to brighter safety, he said “That was cool.” Literally and figuratively, I had to agree.

Meanwhile, my more-novice 11-year-old had dutifully returned to the lodge (our pre-approved plan in the event we were separated). The bonfire at the entrance and the pizza slices inside usually cut down on arguments when dad needed a break in the lodge. But it can be hard to stifle the adrenaline for food, so we skated over to Manzanita for more. We tore up Powder Valley, we bombed down Midway and we avoided Red Road.

Affordable skiing near Bend

Hoodoo’s “night ski” schedule is every Wednesday through Saturday, from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. For evenings only, the adult rate is $38, though you can pack in 12 hours of turns for $69. That rate, plus the lines are a fraction of what I can recall at Hoodoo’s pricier competitor to the south.

For those uninitiated, Hoodoo is just 45 minutes to an hour from Bend off of Highway 20, located northwest of Sisters at the top of Santiam Pass. To those who, like me, are more used to daylight snow adventures, pack an extra layer or two.

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Our intrepid spirit was rewarded; several more inches of storm powder topped the runs as the night wore on. Our turns got tighter, our confidence soared, and my quaking knees by evening’s end were proof that we could not resist closing the place down.

“All right guys, last run,” I warned as it got near 8:20, but this was about the fourth time I’d uttered a similar phrase. Somewhere in the middle of it all, we devoured cheeseburgers, pizza and chicken tenders.

Sure beats movie night.

Of the buttes around Bend, Lava is a beauty