Month: August 2010

Sometimes things go exactly to plan on a ski tour, but often times, when looking to make turns in the Oregon cascades, having a backup plan in case things go awry is a good idea. Such was the case for this trip to the South Sister.

I left work around 3:00pm with the temperature near 90 degrees. The weather forecast called for continued sunny skies, with possible thunderstorms Saturday night. The drive over from the valley was pleasant, and I met Todd at the Devils Lake trailhead around 6:30pm. After quickly going through our packs, we were on the trail by 7:00pm. It was a bit humid for the skin up Hell Creek. We reached the big plateau shortly after 8:00, where the setting sun made for some nice pictures….

We skinned across the flat section above Moraine Lake, and headed west to find a suitable campsite. Looking up at the mountain, there was still plenty of coverage to link turns from the top all the way back to the car…

There were some sun cups on the long flat section, but the snow up higher looked prime. By 9:00pm, we had found a nice campsite about a quarter mile off of the main trail near 6700 feet. Camp consisted of an open patch of bare ground, where we pitched the bivies. We were treated to great views to the south, as well as the South Sister itself right from our campsite. The next morning we awoke at 4:15am, melted water and had breakfast. The skies were partly cloudy but the summit looked nice. We were skinning by 5:10am and made good time up the hill.

Off in the distance, thunder clouds had been building for some time and now looked menacing. Here’s a shot looking to the south/southwest…..

Mt Bachelor to the southeast looked surprisingly calm however….

By 6:30 am, we had reached 8500 feet and were nearing the summit ridge and Lewis Glacier. Continuing up, a dark black cloud that had earlier kept its distance approached. Up until this point, we hadn’t seen anyone else on the mountain, and still couldn’t see anyone below. I started wondering if they knew something about the weather that we didn’t. Then, a huge flash of lightening followed immediately by a loud rumble shook the entire mountain. I don’t know how far the bolt was from us, but it too close for comfort, and we motored to the nearest small tree cover. So much for “afternoon” thunderstorms. Todd headed down, and I ripped my skins off my split board and quickly put it together and rode down. We rode down to about 7500 feet and assessed the situation. The weather continued to play games, so we decided to ski back to camp. The turns were nice and steep, but a bit slushy.

On the way down, I broke one of my Leki poles in half trying to push on a traverse. Back at camp, we toyed with the idea of going back up, but the snow was getting pretty sticky and the weather remained unstable. Damn – we would have been on the summit by 8:30am or sooner! Maybe we should have summited the night before and bivied in the summit crater? The weather stayed so-so, and with a broken pole, I didn’t know how easy it would be to skin all the way back up. We made some coffee at camp, and decided to run a few laps on Little Broken Top to the east. It was literally 5 minutes from our camp, and though short, provided nice playful turns and several laps.

After lunch, we packed up camp and were able to link turns all the way back down to the car, 3000 vertical feet below.  The snow in Hell Creek can be challenging at times, but always makes for an interesting ride….

The ski out to the road will probably be good for another week or so, but it’s going fast down low. The Deschutes Brewery beers were still nice and cold at the car when we returned.

Todd and I headed out to Hoodoo for the 2nd consecutive weekend and it did not disappoint. We arrived in the parking lot just after 7am with nobody around, slapped the skins on the boards, and headed up. The weather was cloudy and about 17 degrees, with sun breaks. Breaking trail wasn’t too bad, but it was several feet deep in places which made it kind of grueling at times. I was on my Never Summer Titan 164 and Todd was on teles. Towards the top, the snow got pretty deep and the skinning became more of a hassle. Upon reaching the summit, we were rewarded with this view of Three Fingered Jack and Mt. Jefferson…

We ripped off our skins and headed down to one of the best runs I’ve had in a few years. Todd and I shot mostly video, so I had to pull a few stills out since I didn’t have pictures. Here’s a shot of the blower…..

We were able to make two laps before a few other people arrived. The snowpack elsewhere is still thin in the Oregon cascades, so Hoodoo is the place to be right now. We met a few other splitters and skiers before heading down for lap 2. One was Sam from the UO outdoor program. Nice to meet you Sam.

After riding the main bowl, we elected to head down to the truck for a beer and some grub. The whole ride down was pow turn after pow turn. Lunch went down fast, and it was a no-brainer to go back for another round. Skinning this time was quite a bit easier now that the track was packed down like a highway. We gained the summit in less than an hour. More pow turns followed….including this white room shot

After a run in with an arrogant cat driver named Ray, we headed to the top for yet another lap, and I snapped a few photos (videos) of Todd…

Finally, we rode the powder down to the truck and cracked open a beer to finish off an epic day. It doesn’t get much better than this. Early season deep powder, bluebird and beer!

Even though the brunt of the storm was tracking north into the Washington Cascades, Andy, Todd and I decided to head to Hoodoo to check out the conditions instead of driving further to Bachelor and the Cinder Cone. This would be our first outing of the year in search of the fresh stuff. Our local backcountry spots didn’t have enough snow have enough snow to ride safely yet, but the telemetry at Hoodoo showed 18 inches of new snow. Would there be enough to ride? We arrived at the gate to find it closed, but conditions looked good, so we loaded up the gear skinned towards the parking lot.

We started skinning and it didn’t take long to realize that we were going to have a good time. The snowpack was about 20 inches deep, and it felt good to skin over the soft fresh early season powder. This was the second trip with my homemade Burton Custom split, and it performed great. Early season conditions are what I really made this board for!

We skinned to the top of the Ed chair and decided to not proceed all the way up to the top of the mountain because the coverage in the bowl was a little sketch. After changing over to ride mode, we strapped in and made the first powder turns of the season!

We made several laps under the Ed chair and each run was really nice. The forecast for the coming week is for more snow, so it might continue to be good!

Since I had limited time available due to a vacation with family in central Oregon, a quick trip up to Mt Bachelor would be the ticket to some quick easy turns. I met Todd at the Sunrise gate at the ski area about 8:30 am, and it had snowed several inches overnight (it had even snowed in Sunriver where I was staying the day before!). The weather was beautifully sunny and about 29 degrees. We skinned up under the chair for a piece, then broke off onto one of the runs. I was amazed at the coverage of the mountain for this late date. When we hit the summit road, we had to take off the skis and downclimb onto the road since a plow had made a pretty big hole. It did make for a pretty picture though…

We continued skinning up below the summit lift, when Broken Top decided to make an appearance. The Crater Bowl was looking mighty tasty….

It took about an hour and a half to make the 2600 vertical feet from the base to the summit, which was a pretty fast skin.

There was quite a bit of rime ice on the lifts and around the summit, so I dug out my split crampons to aid in the final push.

We lounged around the summit lift shack for a bit enjoying the view, and decided to traverse over to the westerly point of the summit crater. The views from the top of the mountain today were incredible. The snow coverage on the Sisters and Broken Top was amazing!

After some discussion on conditions, we strapped into our gear for some freshies. The snow was deeper than expected, about a foot or so. Face shots in June – it kind of surprised me. As the cold smoke hit my face I got that sweet sensation of sheer surprise from how cold the snow was , followed by the large grin that replaces the shock! We shot video on the ride down, but I was able to pull a few stills out of video clips that turned out somewhat decent….

The ride down the summit bowl was awesome, and we made long smooth turns all the way down through the Cirque bowl back to the summit lift at mid-mountain. After a careful crossing at the plowed summit road, we continued making turns all the way to the parking lot. Here’s a shot of the mountain from the end of our run…

It was so good, I was tempted to go back for another lap, but common sense got the best of me again, so we loaded up the gear and I headed back to Sunriver for a fun filled day with the family. June is definitely off to a good start!