Snowboarders and skiers brave a rainy day at Mt. Hood Meadows on Sunday. The ski area got an early start this year, opening Nov. 11.

MOUNT HOOD — Thanks to some early snow showers in the High Cascades this November, skiers and snowboarders in Oregon have been able to hit the slopes before Thanksgiving this year.

Both Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Resort and Timberline Lodge and Ski Area opened early last week. As of Monday, Timberline reported a base snow depth of 46 inches while Meadows was posting a depth of 38 inches.

With its opening on Nov. 7, Timberline became the first resort in the Pacific Northwest to start running its chairs. Mt. Hood Meadows followed suit four days later. Locally, Mt. Bachelor ski area is scheduled to open Friday while Hoodoo is planning to start doing business Nov. 27, the Friday after Thanksgiving.

“In the last 15 seasons, we’ve opened earlier than this only twice,” Mt. Hood Meadows Marketing Director Dave Tragethon said Monday. “It’s been a great opening. And we’re looking at more sustained snow patterns for the next week or more.”

According to Tragethon, Mt. Hood Meadows had attracted more than 1,000 riders each day since it opened, numbers that are similar to what the resort would normally draw during a weekday in December.

“We’re comfortable that even with limited terrain, we’re not overcrowded,” Tragethon said about Mt. Hood Meadows, which had approximately half of its lifts operating early this week.

After covering the Class 5A state volleyball tournament in Hillsboro this weekend, I stopped at Mt. Hood Meadows on Sunday for a couple of hours of early-season runs. Mt. Hood Meadows’ main quad lift, the Mt. Hood Express, was up and running, as was the Shooting Star Express on the north side of the mountain. While the resort’s highest-elevation lift, the Cascade Express — which provides access to its double black diamond runs in Clark Canyon and Heather Canyon — is still at least a month away from being operational, the lifts that are running service more than 10 of the mountain’s single black diamond runs, making Mt. Hood Meadows’ scaled-back options more than just an extended bunny hill.

While conditions were reportedly ideal on Saturday — the resort received 15 inches of fresh powder on Friday night — I slogged through a day of rain and drizzle on Sunday. The bottom of the mountain was fairly slushy and Mt. Hood Meadows’ high-traffic areas were taking a beating by the end of the day.

But most skiers and boarders know what they’re getting into when they hit the mountain for early-season joy rides. Even though the snow wasn’t in midseason form, the short lift lines at Mt. Hood Meadows on Sunday made for an enjoyable day. The fact that there was only a limited number of runs was almost canceled out because of how fast I was able to get back on the slopes.

“Once we get another foot or two of snow we’ll be able to expand to the upper mountain,” Tragethon said about the area at Mt. Hood Meadows that offers the most challenging terrain. “Before the rain, we had a base of 42 or 43 inches. That rain consolidated the snow, so now it’s a real good 32-inch base. That’s exceptional news for the snow to come.”

If you go

Getting there: From Central Oregon, take U.S. Highway 97 north to Madras before heading northwest on U.S. Highway 26. After approximately 60 miles on U.S. Highway 26, take state Highway 35 north to Hood River. The turnoff for Mt. Hood Meadows is not quite six miles after you turn onto Highway 35.

Cost: An afternoon pass — skiing from noon to 4 p.m. — at Meadows on Sunday was $47, while Timberline was charging $46 for a 1 to 4 p.m. lift ticket. Full-day passes, even with a limited number of runs open, are $57 at Meadows and $54 at Timberline. Night skiing, which both resorts offer when running at full capacity, is not yet available.

Contact:

• Mt. Hood Meadows: www.skihood.com

• Timberline Lodge and Ski Area: www.timberlinelodge.com