The forecast looked promising, and given the time of year, Dan and I both agreed it would be best to take advantage of the possibility of fresh snow, because if we found some it was quite possible it might be the last of the season. We made plans to leave after work from Dan’s house, and didn’t leave Springfield until 5:00 pm due to traffic. We ended up being stuck in construction traffic two different times near Oakridge due to the recent landslides, and I had to drive like a maniac up the remainder of highway 58 to ensure we may have a chance to even get to ski. When we finally arrived at the ski area we had to burn another 15 minutes digging out a spot for the car at the gate.
All told, we didn’t leave the car until 6:53 pm. We skinned across the parking lot, by the patrol room, and started up By George. There was about 5-6 inches of heavy pow at the base, but breaking trail wasn’t too bad. Nobody was around, and it looked like we’d have a pretty good run if we could get to the top before it got dark…
We ended up skinning directly up Timburr Glades and Timburr, at a pace that really wasn’t sustainable for more than an hour, which happened to be about how long it took us to make the top.
Relieved that we still had some daylight (at least for a few minutes), we quickly transitioned over to ride mode, chugged a beer, snapped a couple of quick photos, and dropped in…
Our plan was to ski RTS, however, given the direction of the wind and how the snow was piling up nicely on our skin up Timburr we figured the southside runs might be better. We traversed over to RTS and found it was very scoured as expected, so we dropped into Success and it was cold smoke blower – some of the best turns of the season. I tried to snap a few pictures of Dan as he skied, but it was so dark everything turned out really grainy….
We enjoyed face shots all the way down Success, then skied By George basically by braille as the light got darker and darker. The turns were superb all the way down, and by the time we reached the parking lot both of us were stoked! Back at the car, huddling in the cold, we both agreed that even though we only managed one run, it was well worth the effort for another great day at the Pass!
