August 22, 2021 – Mt Bachelor

The end of August was approaching, and after a summer full of record heat and no precipitation, Dan, Joe and I were needing to get out and find some snow to make turns. We settled on trying Bachelor, with the idea of riding the bikes up for the approach. I knew the patch was still holding snow, having been to the mountain a week earlier with the family while vacationing in Sunriver.

I left the valley early on Sunday morning, and met Dan and Joe at Dan’s cabin a few minutes before 7:00 am since they were staying there after working the Waldo race the day before. We loaded all of our gear, including bikes and skis, into Dan’s truck, and headed out for the mountain. After a restroom break near Elk Lake, we pulled up to the mountain and unloaded our gear.

A little bit later, we shouldered our packs and stepped onto the bikes for the ride up. Dan was trying Cindy’s electric bike, and after a bit of troubleshooting, it definitely gave him an extra boost, especially on the moderate uphill pitches.

We worked our way up the access road, thankful to be on the early side before it got too warm. There were a few sections where we had to get off and push, but for the most part we were pedal our way up.

Eventually we made our way to mid-mountain, and then across towards Pine. After we found a suitable spot to ditch the bikes, we headed up on foot. A few minutes later, we got a good look at the north side patch, and then popped over the ridge and saw the cirque patch. The cirque patch was looking really small, but the snow was really smooth. We made our way out to the snow’s edge, ditched our packs, put the beers on ice, and headed up…

As we’ve done in year’s past, we cleared a few rocks off the snow on our way up. Once at the top, I dropped in first, and made several turns before setting up to shoot a few shots of the skiers. The snow was remarkably good, and if it wasn’t for the fact that this was the only patch around, I would have guessed it was June based on the quality of the corn.

We skied to the bottom, and headed back to our packs for a quick bite of lunch. I enjoyed a PB & honey sandwich, with the sweetener courtesy of my bee hives at home. I also cracked open one of my two beers for the day and had a swig. My first offering was a Solar Sailor IPA from the Crux Fermentation Project, and it hit the spot.

After enjoying the break and lounging in the sun for a few minutes, we headed back up for a several more laps. Dan grabbed the camera on the second lap and snapped some shots of me grooming the snow, including the two below…

We proceeded to make several more laps on the short pitch, grooming the snow as we went down. The surface of the snow noticeably improved as we laid down more tracks, and before long the snow color had changed from a dull whitish gray to a clean looking white.

We keep running laps as the day went on, and soon it was afternoon and we had six or seven runs under our belts. We continued snapping photos, and we were all really stoked on how good the snow was.

Eventually we’d laid enough tracks down on the patch that there really wasn’t anywhere else to ski without cutting a track, but it really didn’t matter. In the center of the patch, on skiers left, there was a large area that had melted down to firn, and didn’t have any of this year’s snow left to protect it. I found myself working over that way a time or two, and although it skied ok, the newer snow from this season was definitely better.

After about eight runs, we decided to call it and pack it up. We had to hike up a bit to get to our beers, which I had put into a different ice bath earlier in the afternoon, and by the time we got to them, we decided it wasn’t that far to the top, so one more run was in order. I picked up my nearly empty Summer Break Session Hazy IPA from Sierra Nevada Brewing, finished it off, and put it in my pocket and continued to the top. The last run down was just as good as the previous eight, and I snapped a picture of Dan and Joe at the bottom of the patch near our packs with our work in the background…

Once we gathered our gear and had everything back in the packs, we headed over to the rope tow and then down the old road to the north side patch. Even though it wasn’t forecast, there was a good amount of smoke starting to roll in as we headed down, and it was becoming difficult to see the Three Sisters to the northwest…

A few minutes later, we were standing at the top of the north side patch, and I was happy to see it was in better shape than the previous November, although it was still pretty small.

We stepped into our bindings and headed down. The snow was decent, but not as good as the cirque patch, and we weren’t that stoked about repeating it, so we worked down to the bottom and switched back over to approach shoes for the descent back down to the bikes.

By the time we reached the bikes, the smoke had started to roll in even thicker, and we were all happy to be heading down. Looking back up towards the summit of the mountain, it was almost obscured in smoke. The ride down went really smoothly, and was quite fast, taking about a half hour. We definitely could have been faster, but no need to risk a wipe-out on the gravel to save a few minutes.

Back at the truck, we were hungry and ready for some garden fresh salads, so we threw the gear in the back and loaded the bikes and headed down the road. We opted to take a pass at our usual picnic spot since it was so smoky, and made our way back to the cabin to enjoy a hard earned meal. Sitting at the cabin, taking in the view of the lake and surrounding woods, it brought me back to some of the good days from the previous couple of seasons, and I smiled to myself because I knew it wouldn’t be too long before those days were back again.

After downing the salad and enjoying some chips and salsa, I bid Dan and Joe farewell and hit the road, headed home fully satisfied with a fun day of August turns in the Oregon cascades.

*Note – As of 9/9/21 it appears, based on satellite photos, that the cirque patch is no longer. Although I’m hopeful it may rebuild after a big winter, it definitely marks the end of an era, and left me feeling a bit depressed after enjoying so many fun days of turns there over the past several years. With that, here’s a parting shot from the day…