Winter Van Life: Anthony Lakes Mountain Resort
Time of Our Visit: Late February 2023
Anthony Lakes Mountain Resort is located in the Elkhorn Range and Wallowa-Whitman National Forest near North Powder and Baker City in eastern Oregon. In addition to downhill skiing, they offer Nordic trails, cat trips, slope side RV camping, and yurt rentals.
What We Love About Anthony Lakes
While we have Indy Passes and Loveland Passes with Powder Alliance this season, neither give us benefits to Anthony Lakes. The mountain is not on any multi-resort passes. Our plan was just to take a peek at the ski area as we traveled from Hoodoo Ski Area near Sisters, Oregon to Bogus Basin in Boise, Idaho because of an RV neighbor’s recommendation. However, their window and online price for a full-day lift ticket is only $50 for adults (ages 19+). After 1 pm, it’s $40. It was a sunny day and the terrain looked fun, so we decided it would be worth $100 for both of us to experience Anthony Lakes.
We were there on a Saturday, so we had to stand in line at the one major chairlift with each run. The lifties doing line control keep chairs full and the line moving quickly and efficiently, which I find less common at ski areas these days. It was never a terrible wait.
We always had a stranger sharing the three-man chair with us who happened to be a local every time. Everyone was super kind.
Saturdays might be a busy day for Anthony Lakes, but once you start skiing, you don’t really see a lot of people. You can still find that feeling of solitude.
Anthony Lakes may not have crazy steeps, but their advanced runs were solid blacks that had our legs feeling happy tired.
Views could be admired from almost every corner of the mountain.
Plan Your RV/Van Life Road Trip to Anthony Lakes
anthonylakes.com
47500 Anthony Lakes Highway, North Powder, OR 97867
(541) 856-3277
info@anthonylakes.com
Lift operations: Typically Thursday through Sunday, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. See their Operating Schedule for holiday and schedule changes.
Mountain Stats
- Alpine terrain: 1,000 acres
- Vertical: 900 feet
- Average annual snowfall: 250 inches
Driving to Anthony Lakes
Anthony Lakes Highway is a two-lane road that will start climbing in elevation before it turns into NFD 73 (Forest Service Road 73 – part of the Elkhorn Drive Scenic Byway). The windy climb is about 10 miles.
Since parking is limited at Anthony Lakes, look for the digital sign with the parking lot status at the intersection of Anthony Lakes Highway and Ellis Road while you’re still in flat land. We turned right onto Anthony Lakes Highway from Ellis Road and due to the angle of the digital sign, it was not possible to read coming from that direction. Just a heads up!
Most people we talked to on the lift came from John Day, Oregon. I decided to map the directions from John Day using Google Maps and noticed Google was directing me to take NFD 73 from Granite, Oregon to Anthony Lakes. That section of the Forest Service Road west of Anthony Lakes is not maintained for winter travel. You should only travel NFD 73 east of Anthony Lakes. Go here for more information.
Parking at Anthony Lakes
An Oregon Sno-Park permit is required to park at Anthony Lakes. You can purchase a permit at the Anthony Lakes Ticket Booth or at other permit agent locations.
When you enter the ski area, continue straight to park in the lower parking lot, especially if you are oversized.
Otherwise, hang a left to park in the upper lot next to the lodge and Ticket Booth.
Read the Anthony Lakes Parking page for more information.
Tips on How to Ski/Ride Anthony Lakes
See the Anthony Lakes Trail Map.
Anthony Lakes has one major chairlift, a triple chair, so it’s pretty hard to get lost. All runs funnel back to the base area. However, when searching for the entry to a few black runs, we couldn’t find the signs. Either they don’t exist or we weren’t looking in the right place. It didn’t really matter as it was fun just to explore and try to cover every part of the mountain. If you’re an advanced skier or rider, you can probably do it all in a half day.
A note on the triple chair…there are signs at the end of the ropes telling you which line is appropriate for singles, doubles, or triples. We did not notice the signs because the line of people extended beyond the ropes. We unknowingly picked the wrong line – the triples line. The liftie doing line control was quick to let us know we needed to be in the doubles line next time.
We noticed that from the time we drove into the parking lot to our first chairlift ride, we didn’t see a single person ski or ride down the steepest parts of the mountain face, including Rock Garden, Tumble Off, and Paint Your Wagon.
We asked a guy that grew up skiing at Anthony Lakes why that might be because we were concerned the reason had to do with poor snow conditions. Maybe it was too icy? He said it was because they were advanced runs. It seems most people were sticking to the greens and blues. Perhaps it would’ve been different on a powder day.
The best ungroomed snow was found on the upper half of the mountain. With the sun and bluebird skies, the lower half started softening up later in the day.
To get to the Avalanche run, stick to the right of Variety across the top of the mountain until you start to lose speed.
You’ll hopefully make it far enough to see the Avalanche sign on the left and a groomed cat track that continues uphill to your right. In talking to ski patrol, everything up the cat track and on the frontside of the mountain is considered Avalanche. In talking to a local, it’s the best place to go for storm leftovers. Just don’t go past any ropes and make sure you don’t get stuck in deep snow at the bottom where it flattens out.
Where to Sleep in Your Van/RV
Anthony Lakes allows overnight RV camping in their lower parking lot and is first-come, first-served. 13 electrical sites are available for $25 per night and are highly coveted. Not only do they have power, but they are slope side and within feet of the one major lift.
Otherwise, you can park wherever space is available in the lower lot for $10 per night. Day users also park in the lower lot, so if you don’t get there early enough, you might have to park somewhere else and then move to your desired overnight spot once crowds vacate. You must pay for a permit at the Ticket Booth.
Port-a-potties are available, as well as a dumpster in the upper parking lot.
In talking to a local that enjoys bringing his trailer up on weekends, it’s really difficult to get an electrical site nowadays. Since Anthony Lakes is only open Thursday through Sunday, it’s not uncommon for RVers to arrive on Thursday and stay through the weekend. If you really want an electrical site, keep an eye out for RVers that leave closer to when the lift closes.
We had no AT&T cell service at Anthony Lakes, but our Starlink worked great.
If you happen to be traveling I-84 East toward Anthony Lakes and Idaho and need RV amenities or a rest, check out these options:
Emigrant Springs State Heritage Area – 71.5 miles / 1.25 hours between Pendleton and La Grande – If you need RV hookups, you’ll want to stay here instead of the nearby rest area mentioned below. The bathrooms and showers are also open year-round. Though, the shower space is on the cold side in winter. Non-campers can use the showers for $2. If there’s not too much snow, there are trails around the park if you want to go for a hike or run. While you can make reservations ahead of time, we’ve never had trouble walking in. The times we’ve stayed at Emigrant Springs, we’ve only seen one or two other campers and a couple of cabins might be occupied.
Deadman Pass Rest Area – 77.3 miles / 1.5 hours between Pendleton and La Grande – Since we were coming from Bend, Oregon, we slept at this rest area traveling across I-84 before arriving at Anthony Lakes. We’ve actually used it a few times when traversing Oregon. We recommend being on the Eastbound side as it’s more level than the Westbound side (though, still sloped) and we find it to be quieter.
If you exit on the Westbound side, you can drive through a small tunnel under the interstate to get to the Eastbound side. Pay attention to the height and width limit!
We’ve never seen the dump station open on the Eastbound side during winter. Bathrooms are open 24/7 and are very warm.
AT&T cell service works well enough at Emigrant Springs and Deadman Pass for texting, emailing, browsing online, and streaming entertainment.
Also of note, we like stopping at the Safeway (SW 20th Ave) in Pendleton to stock up on groceries and top off at their fuel station before going over Deadman Pass to La Grande on I-84 East. Pendleton generally has cheaper diesel fuel than other areas until you reach Idaho.
Closest Ski Areas to Anthony Lakes
- Bluewood (Indy Pass 2023/24) – 180 miles / 3.5 hours in Dayton, Washington
- Bogus Basin (Powder Alliance 2023/24, Freedom Pass 2023/24) – 184 miles / 3.5 hours in Boise, Idaho
- Little Ski Hill – 190 miles / 3.5 hours in McCall, Idaho
- Brundage Mountain Resort (Indy Pass 2023/24) – 192 miles / 3.75 hours in McCall, Idaho
