Break out the downhill and snowboards. It’s almost time to go skiing and riding. Abundant snowfall means the Mt. Ashland Ski Area will open early for the 2024/25 winter season on Friday, Dec. 6, with Season Passholder Appreciation Day. The area will open to all on Saturday, Dec. 7. Both days the Sonnet, Comer, and Windsor chairlifts will operate from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Oak Knoll Men’s Golf Club of Ashland held its annual Thanksgiving “Turkey Shoot” on Saturday, Nov. 23. The group donated more than $440 and 500 pounds of food to the Ashland Food Bank.
If the first-ever three-way tie for the regular-season volleyball title left things feeling unsettled, Southern Oregon provided some resounding closure for everyone in the Cascade Conference Championships. After sweeping one co-champion in the tournament semifinals, the No. 7-ranked Raiders swept another in Saturday’s title match.
The Rogue Composite Vultures, composed of riders ranging from Ashland to Grants Pass, participated in the Oregon Interscholastic Cycling League State Championship XC Mountain Bike Race held Oct. 20 in Prineville. Fifteen Rogue Valley racers participated in the field of 404 from 19 teams across the state.
Ashland was recently ranked a top U.S. bike town by Outside, a major national outdoors magazine, based on high ratings from nonprofits that rate bike-friendliness of U.S. cities combined with the plethora of trails available to ride.
How’s your Monday going? Southern Oregon University football team players’ week got off to a good start. When they came in early Monday morning, each player found in their cubby a new pair of black Nike cleats, donated by Heisman Trophy-winner and quarterback for the Washington Commanders Marcus Mariota.
Mt. Ashland Ski Area hopes the community will come through with half a million dollars in donations as it prepares for a series of expansion projects that target growth areas at the nonprofit ski area and improved weather resiliency.
Just over two years after a three-alarm fire destroyed their original building in Ashland Plaza, Mountain Provisions has finally reopened their doors, this time in a new spot downtown. After a long struggle with insurance (that’s still going on) and switch of plans, their new location at 357 E. Main St. opened its doors to customers on July 5.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed whitebark pine as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act in 2023. It lives at the ecological edge, only at the very top of the mountains it inhabits, at timberline and above 7,500 feet elevation. It is a slow-growing, charismatic species that is often sculpted by the harsh conditions in which it lives.
The Siskiyou Crest Coalition, based in southwest Oregon, sponsored a unique fundraiser on July 13: a day of guided hikes at a private property on Mount Ashland. The emphasis of the day’s activities was on the ecological value of the Siskiyou Crest: the unparalleled biodiversity resulting from ecosystem niches influenced by six biotic regions; its importance as a wildlife connectivity corridor; and its astonishing number of endemic botanical species.
It’s not a question of if water rates will go up, it’s a question of how much. Ashland City Council reviewed a study of the finances of its water system with an eye for how much rates will need to rise in the face of various coming changes during its Monday evening study session.
When you are not ready to adopt a dog but you miss dogginess, fostering is the perfect solution. And for folks who might want to take a smaller step than fostering, there is the Field Trip program: Take a foster dog for the day, or maybe just a hike.
A budget crisis didn’t stop Ashland schools Superintendent Joseph Hattrick Monday night from vowing to turn a fiscal corner within a few years with the community’s help. He spoke Monday night before an audience of about 50 parents and school staff at Ashland High School’s Mountain Avenue Theatre during the first of four public outreach sessions this week.
The sun shone on a frosty Lincoln Field early Tuesday morning as members of Ashland School Board met virtually by Zoom in a special board session to set the price value range of the 4.12 acres at a range of $1.745 million and $2.25 million, based on an appraisal of the property and compared with Medford prices.
City Corner: The Homeless Services Assessment Report … evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the current homeless response system. It identifies the most pressing needs and suggests potential opportunities for improvement.
The city of Ashland has opened a comment window seeking public input on the potential to allocate portions of federally awarded funds to renovations at 2200 Ashland St., according to a release from the city. The city of Ashland could reallocate $112,112 to support renovations at the 2200 Ashland St., such as the installation of a sprinkler system, fire egress modifications, laundry shower and additional restrooms, the release said.
(It’s free)
