As hard as it was to believe, May was already here and I was itching to get out and make some turns. After some initial planning, I settled on doing a Friday-Saturday combo to tick of a couple of objectives, including our annual dusk patrol to Hoodoo on Friday afternoon and then heading to Mt Jefferson for some turns on Saturday. Andy was game to head to Hoodoo on Friday, and Joe and his friend Jeremy from Corvallis planned to meet us up there. We left work around noon, and headed up 126, making good time up to the mountain.
We pulled in and waited a bit for Joe, but decided to head out after about 15-20 minutes. Turns out Joe was parked over where we cook burgers and for some reason we didn’t realize it (we were parked in the main lot). Nevertheless, we donned skins and headed up under mostly sunny skies and soft snow.
The snowpack was holding up well for early May, and we made good time up the hill. Once we reached mid-mountain, we could see Joe and Jeremy working up from down lower. We followed our usual route up towards the bowl, then traversed a bit west and followed the ridgeline up to the summit.
At the top, the views were excellent as usual and the pasque flowers were abundant and in full bloom. Andy and I dried skins in the sun and took several pictures while waiting a few minutes for Joe and Jeremy to arrive. In addition to shooting a few pics of the flowers, I grabbed my mid-range telephoto and took a few shots of the nearby volcanoes, including Mt Washington to the south and Three Fingered Jack and Mt Jefferson to the north.
Joe and Jeremy arrived about the time I was putting my camera back in camera bag, and we discussed options for a first run, settling on trying the west face of the mountain thinking it may be decent since it hadn’t had as much sun during the day. I dropped in first, and made a few fun albeit sticky turns, and then setup to shoot the skiers as they came down.
The turns were nice, but a little on the soft side, and we headed down to the catch track below before switching to skins and heading back up for another lap.
The skin back up went quickly, and I couldn’t help but gaze out at the surrounding peaks to the west, south and north and think of past trips in the winter, spring and summer over the years.
A few minutes later when everyone was on top, we chatted about options, and agreed that one more lap would probably do it unless the snow was in prime condition on the east side. I dropped in first as before, and setup to shoot a few pics as the skiers came down. I fired off several shots and a few turned out well. As it turns out, the snow good but not great, so we decided to call it and head to the car to get our grill on.
We enjoyed the soft turns all the way to the parking lot, and did the de-boot and de-beer routine. My beer of choice for the evening was a smooth drinking amber ale from LaQuinta Brewing Co. that I’d picked up a couple of months earlier in Palm Desert while on a work trip/mini-vacation with my wife. I pulled it out of the snow bank I’d stashed it in to snap a quick pic, and then cracked it open while it was ice cold.
Andy and I drove over to the pull-out and parked next to Joe and Brian, and then we all unloaded the food and fixings and fired up the grills. I’d brought some grass-fed beef from home that my parents get from a neighbor, and Joe had some brats, so we prepared to feast.
It didn’t take long and the meats were cooked, and soon after we dove in to enjoy the offerings. The food hit the spot, and though I usually try not to over do it, I had a burger and a brat in anticipation of a big day burning calories on Saturday going up Mt Jefferson.
A bit later, with the food gone and beers drank, it was time to hit the road. I transferred gear from Andy’s Jeep to Joe’s Tacoma, and we headed for Pamelia Lake to spend the night with Mt Jefferson on the agenda for Saturday. All in all, it was another fun afternoon of dusk patrol turns at Hoodoo with a good crew! Here’s a parting shot of the hill…
