Category: Trip Reports

The month of May was starting to slip away, and I was hoping to get an evening dusk patrol day in at the Pass, so I phoned up Dan and Joe who both were game to get some turns. I left work around noon and we carpooled up 58 in Dan’s Tesla, stopping at Gold Lake to gear up. Halfway up the highway I realized I’d left my skins at home, so booting it would have to be for me.

We arrived at the Pass a few minutes later, and loaded packs and headed out. The coverage was about what we expected, and it looked like we’d be able to ski all the way to the base on the way out. The weather was warm, and some big thunderheads were looming to our north and east, but stayed far enough away that we felt comfortable on the approach.

We worked our way to the top of Twilight, and then up to Amber’s and RTS. The booting wasn’t bad, and soon Dan and Joe changed over to boots as well for the climb up RTS.

At the top of RTS, I found a full 16 oz Rainer can sitting next to a tree that had melted out, which improved my mood significantly and made up for leaving my skins at home. We worked our way to the top of EPA, and then over to Peak 2 to check out the conditions on the back.

At the top of Peak 2, we put a beer on ice and nervously watched a very large developing thunderhead to the northeast which seemed to be approaching our direction. My beer of choice for the day was an aptly named Maiden West IPA from Little Beast Brewing. I positioned it with Maiden in the background and snapped a few photos, including the one below.

At one point, we decided we weren’t going to drop into Northern because the clouds were looking pretty menacing, but after another 15 minutes or so they dissipated enough that we elected to give it a go. After taking a tripod shot of the three of us, I stepped into my bindings and headed down to shoot photos of the skiers making turns…

I positioned myself just down the slope far enough to catch the skier’s coming over the slope as a silhouette. The turns looked nice and the corn was flying. Dan dropped in first…

After Dan, Joe dropped in and I fired off several shots from my Canon R5 as he headed down. Some of them are below….

We skied the run about halfway down, maybe a bit more, then decided to exit stage right because the snow was still a bit on the bumpy side from closing weekend a week before.

We slid our way through the trees, and it was hard to imagine that only a month ago we were running sleds through here in the deep stuff while doing sled training for patrol. It was a short boot hike up to Boundary, and then we walked back up Kris Kross to the top of EPA.

Sitting at the top of EPA, it was a good time to take a break, enjoy the views, and drink that cold Rainier that I found earlier while coming up RTS. We watched a marmot (most likely the same one from a month earlier that we saw during the season) and enjoyed the calm that comes with a pleasant evening in the spring at the Pass.

A few moments later, it was time to click into the bindings and shove off. We had to walk down from the top to the Success patch, but it was worth skiing as Dan demonstrates in the below photo.

The get in to RTS was a bit spicy as usual, but once in the skiing was really good. One of my favorite parts of skiing the Pass during May and June is hitting RTS when it’s at it’s most sketch.

We all made it through the crux without issue, and Dan gave me the camera back. I headed down a bit further, and took some pictures of Dan and Joe as they headed down. Joe skied all the way to the bottom and by the time I could get my camera out of it’s pouch he looked tiny at the bottom….

At the bottom we were all pretty stoked with how good the run was skiing, and it wasn’t a hard decision to head back up to reuse the bootpack and put in another lap. The hike up went quick, and we dropped in again in perfect conditions and perfect weather.

I took some more pictures, including ones of both Dan and Joe skiing through the throat near the top of the run while dodging rocks, trees and stumps…

We skied the second lap top to bottom in perfect corn, and everyone was all smiles at the bottom. As usual, RTS delivered once again and we got to enjoy a perfect sunset as well as excellent snow.

At the bottom, we gathered our gear that we’d left below, shouldered our packs, and headed off down Lois Lane to ski Swoosh back to the car. To our amazement, Swoosh had firmed up just enough from earlier when it was roasting in the sun and it skied perfectly.

We worked our way down the run, enjoying the smooth snow right down to the bottom. It definitely was a pleasure being able to link turns all the way to the lodge…

At the bottom, it was a short push over to the parking lot, and then back to the car. Although it was hard to believe how much snow had melted in the week since closing, we definitely couldn’t complain at the quality of snow we had during this evening outing.

Once back to the car, we made the short drive down to Gold Lake to enjoy a beer and cook some brats. I was looking forward to a cold Farmstand Fresh Mango IPA from Deschutes Brewing, and it hit the spot with a tasty brat hot off the grill.

We hung out in the parking lot for a few, enjoying our beers and food, and even had to don jackets as the temperature dropped. A bit later, it was time to hit the road, and I think I can safely safe we all were pretty happy with how the day turned out. Here’s a parting shot from the day….

Hard as it was to believe, it was time once again for the annual Hoodoo Dusk Patrol with the crew. This event is one that I look forward to all year long, and this year it looked like the weather was shaping up for us to have a perfect afternoon. After running my Commission meeting in the morning and meeting with the lawyers after that, I managed to get a quick lunch in before Andy and I left work and headed for Dan’s to carpool up to Hoodoo. We made the drive up without issue and pulled into the parking lot and found Todd and Neil putting on their skis.

The weather was beautifully sunny and the corn looked ripe, so we wasted little time getting ready to go and hit the skin track. It was short skin to the top, and soon we were enjoying the views from the top of the ‘doo.

The volcano lineup was looking pretty nice, and I took out the telephoto lens to snap a few shots of Mt Washington and Mt Jefferson looking prime in their coats of white…

Since the weather was  pretty warm, my first order of business was to get a beer on ice, and I couldn’t think of a more appropriate brewery to represent than Kona Brewing. My beer of choice for the afternoon was a tasty Gold Cliff IPA.

We enjoyed the views up top for a bit, and then it was time to get some turns in. For our first lap, we decided to try the northwest face. It turned out to be a good choice, and we enjoyed nice turns off the top. I took the camera out and snapped several shots of the skiers as they came down.

We worked our way down the slope, eventually stopping at the bottom a bit below mid-mountain. The snow was baby butt smooth, and each turn brought a smile to my face. At the bottom, we donned skins and made the quick climb back to the top.

Back on top, it was a good time to crack open my beer which was chilling on ice and enjoy the views. Looking to the southeast, I snapped a few photos of Mt Washington and beyond. The scenery from top of Hoodoo in the spring is quite beautiful.

We hung out for a little while, debating on what to ski next, and settled on the main bowl under the chairlift. After snapping a few more picture, we dropped in.

The snow was quite good, and I caught several more photos of the guys skiing, including a couple of shots of Todd below. It was great to be out with Todd and watch him rip it on the tele skis, and reminded me of days gone by from numerous Hoodoo dawn/dusk patrols in the years past…

At the bottom, we skinned back up again and decided on skiing one more lap, this time on the east side. The brats down at the cars were calling our names, so we finished our beers on the summit and dropped in. This time, Dan grabbed the camera and shot a few pictures of me on the upper slope. The snow was absolutely choice.

Halfway down, I grabbed the camera back from Dan and we continued making turns. The sun was in a perfect position to get some silhouette shots of the skiers, and really highlighted the snow as they carved it up….

We worked our way to the bottom, harvesting quality corn all the way down, and then made the slow slide back out across the flats and to our waiting cars at the parking lot.

With the skiing over, it was time to fire up the grill. Grilling after skiing is nearly as much fun as the skiing itself, and something I’m always game for.

It was also time for a second tasty beverage. This offering was a True Gold refreshing golden ale from Breakside Berwing, and it was aptly named for such a great outing.

It didn’t take long and the brats were ready, and we gobbled them down quickly. Hanging out in the sun in flip flops and shorts, enjoying a cold beer and a tasty brat with a good group of guys — it just doesn’t get a whole lot better.

Soon, it was nearing the time to hit the road, so I walked across the parking lot to grab a couple of last shots from the area, including Hayrick and Hoodoo itself from the base area.

By the time I got back, it was time to pack up and hit the road, so we did just that, satisfied with another fun day of after work dusk patrol turns at the ‘Doo. I’m already looking forward to our 2024 dusk patrol, but until then, here’s a parting shot from the day.

After a pretty epic April Fool’s day at the Pass a few days earlier, I was stoked to get out for a mid-week dusk patrol with Dan, who spent most of the last three months nursing his shoulder back to health after surgery in early January. Starting in April, the Pass was on a Friday/Saturday/Sunday only schedule, so we were hoping to see if we could score some fresh snow after yet another storm had rolled in.

We headed up highway 58, making good time to the Gold Lake sno-park, where we found the Gold Lake Sno-park shelter absolutely buried. Wasting little time, we geared up at the sno-park, and donned the skins on the skis. I took a shot of a beer I was planning on drinking later in the evening (a tasty For the Win IPA from Old 99 Brewing Co.), and then we headed up the road to find a place to park.

To our amazement, the lot near the PCT had been plowed, and there were a couple of cars parked there. We parked next to Jensen’s truck, and headed up the road. Near the ODOT building, we ran into Jensen and Hilliary and they both said the snow was pretty good. Stoked, we headed up the skin track, working our way up Sleepy and then KP. By the time we reached Eagle’s Flight, it was deep!

The skin track continued up KP, and with 30+ inches of snow off-piste, we decided to continue to head up the track. By the time we got to the Big Corner however, the track continued up the road and out into the trees beyond. Not sure exactly what was going on there, we busted trail up KP and worked our way towards the top of EPA. The going was slow and the snow was deep, but eventually we topped out after stopping to fix a trails merge sign lower down…

The amount of snow on top was staggering. Looking at the Patrol bump shack, it was nearly buried! Heading on up to Peak 2, the size of the cornices looming above Southbound were also quite impressive.

When we reached to top of Peak 2, both of us were impressed with the total snow depth at the snow stake. It was about 3 inches from the bottom of the sign, and we later measured that to be an few inches shy of 144 inches! We cleared some of the snow off the ramp at the top to help the area out for later in the week, and then took a break to enjoy a beer.

Everything in the shack was looking good, and we enjoyed a few minutes in the warm shack while it continued to snow outside. My beer of choice for the afternoon was a tasty Hazy Crazy IPA from Newport Brewing Co., and I captured it with the Peak 2 chair in the background in the photo below.

A few minutes later, it was time to head back to the front and get ready to make turns. Dan was a bit worried about his shoulder, so we decided against dropping in on Peak 2 and skinned back to the top of EPA instead.

We took a couple of obligatory summit pics, and then decided on skiing Good Time Charlie based on Dan’s assessment that it would be steep enough to provide good turns but also mellow enough that Dan wasn’t worried about falling on his shoulder. Shoving off, we worked our way down to the run and had to ski in the skin track because it was so deep.

Once we got to the run, we did a quick assessment and then dropped in. The snow was absolutely deep as could be, and the turns were excellent. Dan had the camera for the first half of the run, and snapped several shots of me, including the two shot sequence below…

We worked our way down the run, and I snapped some shots of Dan who was ripping with his “improved” shoulder. The snow was so good I wished we had time for another lap, but the hour was getting late so we decided it would be best to ski through the trees and catch the haul road over to George. That proved to be an interesting choice, as the snow was 60+ inches deep on the haul road since no public had skied it the weekend prior. It took some time, but we skinned our way over to George after a bunch of effort.

The turns down George were nice, and reminded me of some of the fun dusk patrol outings from a few years prior during the pandemic. We milked it all the way to the bottom, and were able to ski out to the parking lot.

The hike down the road went quickly, and it continued to puke snow as we walked. Even though it was April, it really felt like a mid-winter day.

When we got to the parking lot, Dan’s truck was the only vehicle there. Although it was getting dark, we decided there was still time to cook up some brats, and that was definitely a great choice. The hot brats took the sting out of an otherwise cold evening, and we enjoyed them with a cold beverage.

Soon, with the beers and brats gone, it was time to hit the road. Both of us wished we could come back in the morning, but worked beckoned, and we’d have to settle for turns later on the weekend. Even so, this dusk patrol was easily one of the deepest ever, and one that won’t soon be forgotten!

The end of February was rolling around, and that meant it was time for the annual hut trip with the crew to Tam McArthur Rim. The conditions this year were looking to be all-time, and the stoke factor was high as we headed out from the valley. I headed over with Andy after meeting in Springfield, and the drive up highway 126 was quite slow with about an inch of slushy snow the whole way. We made a quick pit stop in Sisters to get some food, and saw Brian, Shannon, Hutch and Brad there as well. A few minutes later, we all ended up at the Upper Three Creeks Snopark. It didn’t take long to unload our gear, sign waivers, pack the sleds and get ready to head out.

Jonas and Gabe drove the sleds while the crew mushed, and I could tell it was going to be a good trip. Not only was the forecast calling for snow throughout our trip, but there was a couple of feet of fresh snow already on the ground from the past couple of days. After a quick avalanche debriefing, we unloaded our gear in the huts and headed out.

We worked our way up to the Playground and split into a couple of groups from there. Brian, Jon, Chase, John, Tyler and I headed over to the Jelly Roll to check out the snow, and were rewarded with endless face shots. Hutch led a group up towards East Peak, and it sounded like they had perfect conditions as well.

As usual, I had my camera along and took a ton of shots of the action. In fact, during this trip I ended up with a few thousand shots, of which a number ended up in this trip report!

On the way down from the Jelly Roll, Brian wanted to hit a cliff in the Dan Bowl, so we worked our way over to the spot and I captured the below shot of Brian going big. The picture doesn’t do the cliff justice, as it was at least 25 feet.

From there, our group made the decision to head back up for another lap. We reutilized the existing skin track up to the ridge, and then headed over for a lap down some good looking snow. I fired off several more shots, including the ones below…

After a few laps in the area, we decided to put a skin track in up to the top of the Proboscis and get a few turns in there. The snow on the face wasn’t bad, but there was a bit of a crust about a foot down, so we decided it would be one and done after we skied it.

With our itch scratched for the Proboscis, we headed over for one more lap in the Playground. Brian, Tyler and I headed out a bit further to ride a fun line on the west side, and Brian dropped in while I stayed up top and snapped some pictures. Tyler dropped next, and then I headed down last. We regrouped at the bottom in a safe zone, and it was a great place to drink a tasty IPA from Crux Fermentation Project.

Soon the beer was gone and it was time to head back to the huts. We traversed across the lower part of the Playground and worked our way back through the trees, coming out by the spring and the wood shed. The rest of the crew was already back and had the appetizers out. After taking care of my gear and getting skins set out by the fire to dry, it was time to kick back and relax. A little later, everyone gathered in the Owl hut, where Brian and Shannon made a dinner of salmon and pasta that hit the spot!

The rest of the evening was spent enjoying the company and playing “What do you Meme?”, which had everyone pretty much in stitches. Eventually, everyone retired to bed for the night, and we woke to a few inches of fresh snow on the ground the next morning. I was up early to keep the fire stoked, and Mark was already out shoveling snow, along with Jim and Brad

Before long, the others were up as well and breakfast making commenced. The offering for the morning consisted of hashbrowns, eggs, and bacon, and after enjoying the food and doing a round of dishes, we were ready to hit the skin track in search of more fresh snow.

We did a quick beacon check as we headed out from the huts, and then worked our way up through the forest on the previous day’s skin track. Like the day before, we split into a couple of groups, and I set a skin track out towards the Proboscis. Because we were on a different route, we elected to skin over and forgo the top, wanting to get out to the Orchard Bowl early since it looked like this might be the only day the weather would allow it.

We pulled skins near our turns from the day prior, and enjoyed our first turns of this day on our way over to the Orchard Bowl. The snow was perfect, and everyone was stoked on the ride down.

As usual, I snapped a bunch of photos of everyone as they ripped down. One by one they came through, everyone entering in and out of the white room with each turn….

Finally we made our way to the bottom, and enjoyed a quick snack while transitioning back to the skins. Then it was off to the west, and I put in a familiar skin track up through the smaller trees dividing the two main sections of the Orchard Bowl.

We set a nice skinner to the top, and it started getting deep. There weren’t any signs of instabilities, but all of us were a bit wary of the large cornices looming precariously above us. After finding a suitable place to stop, we stomped out a platform and pulled the skins and readied to drop in. Once everyone had “eyes on,” Fisher headed down first, and then I followed. I headed partway down and the snow was great. Jon and Chase came down after me, followed by the rest of the crew.

At the bottom, we we regrouped and headed back up for another lap. The skin up was quite a bit quicker on the second go-around, and before long we were back at our drop-in point and ready to send it down the hill again.

This time I was game to try skier’s left of our skin track, and I dropped in first. The turns were choice, and like the previous lap, I stopped halfway down in a safe spot and waited for the others to shoot some pics. Tyler came down first, followed by Adam and Chase.

I captured several shots of Chase, and he was really ripping as he came down. As it turns out, he went a little too fast, and I laughed as he biffed right in front of the camera…

After Chase recovered and headed down, Adam continued on down and I shot a few pics of him ripping the perfect snow. Then I put the camera away and headed down to join the crew.

At the bottom, it seemed like a perfect time to pull out a beer and enjoy a taste before heading up for a third lap. My beer of choice for the day was a Knockout Stout from Oblivion Brewing Company, and it was super refreshing.

After drinking about half of my beer and eating part of my sandwich, I was ready to head up again, and we donned skins and headed out. The weather was holding, and visibility remained good as we worked our way up the familiar track to the top.

We made good use of our third lap in the bowl, dropping in and taking skiers left for this run. As before, the snow didn’t disappoint, and we ripped it to the bottom.

At the bottom, we made the decision to head over to the Playground to catch a quick lap before heading back to the huts for the evening. That went as planned, and a while later we strolled in to the huts, where the outdoor fire was already going as were the appetizers.

Hutch was on for dinner, and served up some of the best tasting homemade ravioli anyone could remember (at least since last year when he made it for most of us for the first time), and we enjoyed some margarita’s along with another game — this time it was Poetry for Neanderthals — a pretty hilarious game! After everyone had had enough drinks and laughs, we headed off to hit the bunks.

The following morning, we woke to 18-20 inches of super light, perfect 16 degree powder. The snow was nothing short of phenomenal. We cooked up a tasty breakfast, restocked the wood, stoked the fire, and made a beeline for the skin track.

 

Given the amount and quality of the snow, and the fact that it was basically puking, we elected to head up to East Peak and assess the conditions from there. The skin track was pretty much gone, but with our crew it wasn’t too much work to the put the track in. Skinning up through the deep snow reminded me of some pretty epic years when I first came into the huts 12-13 years ago.

As we arrived at the top of East Peak, we switched over to ride mode and dropped in. I caught some of the best photos of the trip over the course of the next couple of runs, including several of the shots below….

I caught a good sequence of Shannon riding down towards me, and the snow was so deep that when she rode past and stopped, she fell over and sank in basically up to her neck!

The conditions were definitely pretty all-time, and we wasted little time heading back up to put in another lap. More deep turns followed, along with a bunch more pictures….

Down at the bottom, we ripped skins again and headed back up. For a few fleeting moments as we headed up, it stopped snowing, and allowed just enough visibility for us to try our hand on the east side of the Jelly Roll. Hasty tests showed it to be stable, and the lack of wind associated with this storm laid the snow on the slope perfectly, so we dropped in and let ‘er rip.

The turns were perfect, and we worked our way to the bottom one by one before donning skins and heading back up to do it again.

After a quick break, we dropped in again and I took dozens of photos of the skiers and riders coming down. Several of the shots are below….

Lap after lap ensued, and I honestly forgot how many laps we put in during the morning and into the afternoon. I continued to shoot photos and we continued to harvest the snow in what most of us would describe as probably one of our top 10 days of all time….

Eventually, we decided to move on from the Jelly Roll and a few of our crew headed back to the huts. Not wanting to be done quite yet, Brian, Tyler and I headed over to the Playground to get another line in. It was a bit of effort to get there, but definitely worth it in the end.

At the bottom, we topped off the day by enjoying a cold beer, and I was happy to pull out a cold Coconut Hiwa Porter from Maui Brewing Co. that I’d brought back from a trip to Hawaii in November. After enjoying our beer and our line, we skinned out from the Playground and found Hutch coming down as well.

From there, it was a quick ride back to the huts via the skin track and we settled in for the evening, having thoroughly enjoyed one of the best ski days of our lives. Hutch prepared dinner again, and it was awesome. Another round of games and margaritas hit the spot, and before long it was time to hit the bunk as we were all anticipating a big day in the morning with the weather forecast calling for clear skies, cold temps and sunshine.

The following morning did indeed dawn clear and cold, and after whipping up a breakfast of hash browns and eggs, we hit the skin track with thoughts of touring in mind. As we climbed higher towards the Rim, the views didn’t disappoint, and it was awesome to see the peaks and terrain we’d been skiing the last few days but couldn’t really see.

As usual, the view from the top of the Prow was spectacular, and it was nice to capture the views from the top of the Rim with the whole crew. In addition to taking a number of scenic shots, Andy captured a group shot (below) as well as a shot of me.

After milling about on the Prow for a half hour or so, some of our crew headed back to farm some turns closer to the huts around East Peak and the Playground, while Chase, John, Jon, Tyler, Brian, Shannon and I decided to continue touring with the goal of peering into Snow Creek and maybe skiing there and/or the Yahtzee bowl.

The skin out to Snow Creek went quickly, and soon we were enjoying the views of the familiar terrain we’ve skied several times. It wasn’t to be on this trip however, and we decided that our current location would be a good place to take a break to eat lunch, and then putting a couple of laps in around the Yahtzee bowl would be in order.

After enjoying lunch and the views, we headed back to the Rim and enjoyed the view looking back towards Three Creeks Lake, the huts and the Orchard bowl. Access to the Yahtzee bowl proved to be a bit difficult, and we ended up having to down climb through a spicy section of rock to get to the line with the best snow.

A few moments later, we were dropping into the bowl one by one, and the snow was perfect – fast and fun powder. I had a great run down, but tagged a rock super hard at the bottom that produced a core shot. Nevertheless, it was still a great run, as evidenced by looking back up at our tracks…

At the bottom, the temperature was staying cold, so we elected to put in a skin track up the Pyramid, with the goal of making turns on the backside, a spot I’d looked at a few times but oddly enough had never skied in all the trips into the Rim.

Once we worked our way to the top of the Pyramid, it was as short boot pack through snow/rocks to get to our intended drop-in point. It was also a great spot to take a break and bust out a well-earned beer. Today’s offering was an Off-Grid IPA from Backwoods Brewing Company, and it paired perfectly with my view of South Sister and the Three Sisters Wilderness.

A bit later, we stepped into our gear and dropped into a fun line on the northeast side of the Pyramid. The snow was smooth, light and fun, and we worked our way down. I managed to tag another rock halfway down, but other than that it was a great run.

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We worked our way to the bottom, and Brian, Jon and John headed back up for another lap. Shannon, Tyler and I decided to head in to the huts, since I needed to get started on dinner for the evening.

We worked our way back to the huts, and ended up down at the lake level, which required a creek crossing, but soon we were back at the huts drying gear, eating some tasty appetizers, and drying our gear from the warmth of a cozy fire.

For our last night, I whipped up some super tasty fish tacos, made with halibut I caught with my dad the summer before in the ocean out of Newport. The tacos had all the fixings, including avocado, onions, tomatoes, cilantro, shredded cheese, shredded red cabbage, limes, and you name it. Some rice and beans topped it off, and we ate like kings for a fourth night in a row. Our last evening was a fun one, and after the usual fun of some games, margaritas and lots of laughs, we hit the sack in anticipation of our final day of skiing for the trip

The next morning we awoke to more fresh snow, but unlike the previous four days, this storm came in with some wind. We set about doing the normal morning activities, including restocking the wood for the fire, making breakfast, and emptying the wash water. A bit later, we donned skins and headed out. The wind was definitely picking up during the morning, and it was pretty stiff by the time we left the huts. Halfway up to the Rim, it was pretty fierce. We broke into three groups, and John, Adam and I headed up towards the Jelly Roll to see how it looked.

As it turned out, it was so windy we elected to turn around part way up the Jelly Roll and just make a few laps lower down in the Playground. It was obvious the wind slabs were starting to form, and the snow was getting heavy and slabby. We headed down and skied a line in the Playground, then headed back up to get a line in the Dan bowl. 

We did a couple of laps in the Dan bowl, and then decided to call it a trip and head down to pack the sleds and get ready for the mush out. I was also stoked to grab a final beer of the trip, and enjoyed taking a picture of an Oregon classic brought back by Hop Valley Brewing —- Henry’s Private Reserve.

The next hour or so was spent enjoying our beer, loading the sleds, and generally being stoked on what a great trip we had the good fortune to have.

Before long, Jonas emerged from the trees, and we started the sleds and headed out. It was extremely windy on the haul out, and made for fitting ending to what was an awesome trip, and one that I don’t think anyone of us will forget anytime soon. Our reservations are already on the books for next year, and the whole crew is stoked to come back!