Month 5 – April 2006, Mt Bachelor

It had been snowing hard all week and the Oregon Cascades were blanketed with another round of late season powder, so Andy and I made plans to head back over to Mt. Bachelor for a day of riding.  The forecast was calling for clear skies and cold temperatures, which meant the summit chair would likely be spinning.  We arrived at the hill early after making the long drive from the valley and found very few people in the parking lot – typical for later in the season.

Andy getting ready to drop into the south side

We made a few laps on the front side of the mountain and headed for the summit chair as soon as it opened.  Dropping into the summit bowl was tempting, but we opted for the long continuous untracked vertical of the southside.  As is typical, the upper 500 feet or so of the backside was wind blown and crusty, but below that the snow was fresh pow!

Andy enjoying some nice turns

The run back to the Northwest Chair along the cat track is always fun, with lots of natural features to ollie, jump and jib.  We repeated the southside route for most of the day, dropping in off the top at various places and taking slightly different lines each time.  I love the backside of Bachelor.  It has a bit of everything – open bowls, cornice drops, glades, and trees.  At the days end, we loaded our gear in the truck and headed out, stopping in Sunriver for a well earned hot coffee, satisfied with a great day of April snow riding!

Riding the backside of Bachelor