The picture worth a thousand words.....

         A lonely Mt. Bachelor snowstake less than a week before Thanksgiving, when the ski area is usually open for eager snowriders from throughout the Northwest. 

        As of Sunday afternoon, November 18, Bend was under a stagnant air advisory from smoke creeping up from California made worse from regional prescribed burns, with a chance for the season's first rain and snow in town this year possible later in the week.. 
         Mt. Bachelor will need about 2 feet of a reliable snowpack before opening, a marker that seemed far off on the eve of this year's holiday season.