Author: Matt

April 10, 2021 – Closing Weekend at the Pass

After a pretty fun dusk patrol the night before, Dan and I woke early at the cabin, anticipating the final weekend of lift accessed turns at the Pass. Both of us were on the schedule with P3, and it looked to be a decent day, with a break in the warm weather we’d been having. We had a hearty breakfast of sausage and eggs, and headed out the door around 7:30 am to make the short drive to the Pass.

Morning at the cabin

There was a  half inch of new snow at the Pass when we pulled in, and I donned the patrol coat and radio for the last time of the season. Heading over to the patrol room, it was bittersweet for the season to be coming to an end, but I knew we’d have many days of turns in the backcountry ahead of us before the snow was gone.

Dan and Brian before the morning meeting

After a morning meeting, we headed out and helped get the ramp and fencing setup prior to the lift opening. The area was running a little slow, so after our work was done I snapped a few pictures…

Waiting on EPA
EPA base from the patrol room

Around 8:45 am, we finally loaded the lift and headed to the top. I was tasked with opening Timburr and Timburr Glades — not the most pleasant task. The snow was super frozen skier cut, and nearly chattered the teeth out of my head. Nevertheless, I made it down, and helped set up the closure at Sleepy…

Quin, Ian and Dan ready to load
Kris running the Sleepy Closure

It was basically one and done to get the mountain open since Peak 2 wasn’t running, so I headed back up with Dan to check out the grooming on Charlie. The corduroy was quite good, and Dan and I ripped it up for a couple of runs. I snapped a few shots of him slashing turns on the first run down…

Cranking turns on Charlie
Dan headed down Charlie

After three or four runs, I headed to the parking lot for a quick break, and found Quin, Matt and Dan hanging out. A few minutes later, Dan and I headed up to Peak 2 with Ian to get all of the patrol gear packed onto the sleds and bring it down for the season.

Quin, Matt & Dan in the parking lot
Ian and Dan headed up Peak 2

Once at the top, we pulled out the two Cascade 100’s and the 350, and set about loading them up with the medical gear, evacuation gear, boo, signs, and packs. It didn’t take too long, and we had Peak 2 ready to be closed down for the year. It was nice hanging out on top of Peak 2 with nobody around, and I was looking forward to being back with my splitboard in a few weeks. Before we left, I snapped a picture of us loaded up and ready to go…

Loading gear atop Peak 2
Closing Peak 2 for the season

Dan and Ian kicked off, and started out down Southbound, with sights set on the Kris Kross closure to grab the gear there as well. I followed behind, towing one of the Cascade 100’s, and snapped a few pictures, before we all headed down Rosary and KP to the base.

Ian and Dan headed out
Picking up the Kris Kross closure

The ski down with loaded sleds was pretty fun, and it didn’t take long to reach the base. I ditched my sled at the bottom, and headed back up EPA in order to get to my bump slot.

Ian arriving at base
Hanging at bump

Hanging out at bump was pretty nice, and was something I didn’t get a chance to do much during the season with P2, either because I was hill chiefing or because we were so incredibly busy most of the year. I was a bit bummed however when a few folks headed back to Peak 2 to pull the tower pads — I wanted to get one more lift ride back there, but it wasn’t to be. Oh well, next year! After bump, I skied a few runs down RTS, which remained super icy. In fact, I think it was as icy as I’ve ever seen it. Success was really nice however in the afternoon sun, and I made several laps on it, adjusting tower pads on EPA as I went. The afternoon passed quickly, and soon we were ready for upper mountain sweep.

P3 ready for sweep

I ended up sweeping Rosary, and although we had to wait for a couple of slow skiers, we worked our way down to the parking lot with plenty of time for the evening meeting and social hour afterwards. The meeting went quickly, and just like that my patrol season was over. There would be one more day of skiing in the morning, but I had several things to take care of on the home front. But that would be tomorrow — for now, it was time to enjoy a cold beer in the parking lot. My beer of choice for the day was a super tasty Cocoa Cow from Sunriver Brewing Co. The pic below was from the day before at Gold Lake snowpark.

A tasty Cocoa Cow from Sunriver Brewing

For the first time all season, the parking lot scene felt like “normal.” With all of patrol fully vaccinated (but still taking some precautions), it was super nice to enjoy the apres’ skiing activities. Dave even busted out the shot ski, complete with pixie cups that were changed out each time it was used.

Shot ski in the parking lot

An hour or so later, it was finally time to hit the road, and call it a season. All things considered, it was a pretty damn good year at the Pass, despite the issues presented by COVID-19, and despite the near record number of people. I’m already looking forward to next year, and hope the snow flies early and often!

April 9, 2021 – Willamette Pass Dusk Patrol Redux

For the second time in as many weeks, Dan and I left work early and headed up to the Pass for an evening of corn snow turns. Our objective on this trip was to ski a few laps in the evening, and then stay the night at the cabin and patrol the following day, for what would be my final patrol day of the season. Dan had to stay up for closing day on Sunday as well, so we took separate rigs up on Friday afternoon. I pulled in to the Gold Lake lot around 3:45 pm, geared up, and Dan arrived shortly thereafter…

Gearing up at Gold Lake

While waiting for Dan to arrive, I snapped a few pics, including the one below of an Imperial O’Dark  black IPA from Oakshire Brewing, which I hoped to enjoy a little later once on top of the Pass. At 16 oz and 8.6%, it definitely packs a punch!

Imperial O’Dark by Oakshire Brewing

With boots on and gear ready to go, we made the short drive to the Pass and shouldered packs to head out. The snowpack was still holding up ok, but it was quite a bit lower than the previous week, and it definitely looked like the end of the season was approaching.

Parked at the Pass
Heading up George

We skinned up George, and then KP, on our way to Eagles. It looked like Rick had been up earlier with the cat, and there were quite a few snow and ice chunks in the run. Both of us hoped those things would be groomed out by morning, since it was supposed to be in the low 20s overnight, and we had to patrol the next day.

Cat debris on KP

We made good time up Eagles and then to the top of EPA, and the weather was warm and nice. The lighting was nice as well, and it felt good to be at the Pass with nobody around, enjoying the views out to Diamond Peak and beyond…

Dan atop EPA
Looking out over Odell Lake and beyond

We put our beers on ice, ripped skins, and I got my board ready for the ride down. A few minutes later, the beers were cold and it was time to enjoy a tasty cold one with a view. As has become customary for dusk patrol days at the Pass, I pulled out my tripod and took a few photos of us and our gear, before it was time to shove off and lay some tracks down RTS.

Obligatory shot up top before dropping in
Dan ripping corn off the top

We dropped in right off the top, and the turns were pretty nice right from the start. The afternoon sun had corned the snow up nicely, and I setup to snap some shots of Dan as he crested the rollover onto RTS and headed down…

Turns through the steeps

sfcs

Dan headed down

Dan skied about halfway down the run, and waited for me to come down. I made my way down, and the turns were fun as the snow was setup better than the week earlier. When I met Dan, I handed him the camera, then he skied down a bit and snapped a few shots of me as I milked turns to the bottom

April turns on RTS
Matt riding RTS

At the bottom, it was a no-brainer to head back up for another lap, and we put an easy bootpack in up the steep slope. I caught a picture of Dan just above the fallen tree that went down earlier in December and came to be a defining feature on RTS this season.

Hiking up for lap 2

Lap 2 was equal to or better than lap one, and I captured a few shot of Dan heading down. After he was at the bottom, it was my turn to head down as the sun started to set over the horizon.

Dan dropping in for lap 2
Heading down RTS

We worked our way out Amber’s Way, and stopped for a few minutes at the top of Twilight. The snow was in good shape, I captured the below shot of Dan taking a quick rest prior to heading down ByGeorge…

A quick break at the top of Twilight

The ski down George was pretty nice, and we laid big, sweeping tracks down the hill. It wasn’t quite as perfectly smooth as the week before, but still skied really nicely, and our tracks would be clearly visible the next morning from first chair on patrol.

Evening turns on ByGeorge
Stoked at the bottom of George

Once at the bottom, it was a quick hike across the parking lot, and then to our cars. I headed out a few minutes before Dan, and drove down to Crescent to grab a six pack for the evening. When I got back to the cabin, Dan was there, and it didn’t take long to get our gear inside and get the fire going to warm the place up…

Heading to the car
At the cabin

With everything inside and drying out, it was time to crack open one of those beers and get the brats on the grill. I was in the mood for something a little on the lighter side, so we both enjoyed a Blonde Bombshell from Cascade Lakes Brewing Co. while cooking up dinner.

A tasty Blonde Bombshell 6-pack
Brats on the grill

The rest of the evening was filled with good food, drink and bs before it was time to hit the sack in anticipation of closing weekend at the Pass. All in all, it was a pretty awesome way to spend end the workweek and spend a Friday afternoon!

April 2, 2021 – Willamette Pass Dusk Patrol

With the arrival of April, the Pass was moving to a weekends only schedule, and Dan and I were eager to get some turns in early in the month. Friday looked to be pretty warm, and we were hopeful that an after work dusk patrol would yield some smooth turns later in the evening. I made plans to meet at Dan’s around 2:45 pm, after a presentation to Congressman DeFazio on wastewater infrastructure, where he was promoting his national infrastructure package to people from around the state. Our timing worked out perfectly, and we hit the road right at 2:45 pm, and pulled into the Gold Lake snow park a few minutes before 4:00 pm.

At the Gold Lake snowpark

We set about organizing our gear, getting boots on, skins on, etc. I pulled out the camera and took a few shots of a 6-pack of Bavarian Lager from Goodlife Brewing that I’d picked up earlier in the day. I handed one to Dan, and set the others aside to enjoy after our evening ski session.

Bavarian Lager from Goodlife

From the snow park, we made the short drive to the Pass, parked the car, and headed out. With the week of warm temperatures, the snow was looking pretty smooth as we started skinning up George…

Matt ready to head out
Dan starting up George

We worked our way up KP, then Eagles, and then to the top of EPA. Although there were still a couple of weekends left for lift serviced operations, the afternoon definitely had the feel of skinning up a closed ski area. Once up top, the first order of business was to get the beers on ice. I pulled out my offering for the afternoon, a classic that I used to enjoy back in college — a super tasty Hammerhead Ale from McMenamin’s.

Topping out on Eagle’s
Hammerhead Ale from McMenamin’s

After a few minutes, the beers were cold, and we were enjoying them along with the views from the top. I pulled out the tripod and snapped a few pictures of Dan and I. As I was taking the pics, I reflected on the fact that it was just over a year ago that we began the COVID-19 pandemic. Like last year, the Pass provided a space to leave the pandemic behind, if only for a little while.

Matt & Dan up top

We dropped in around 6:00 pm, and headed over to RTS. The snow was soft, but somewhat inconsistent. Still, RTS rarely disappoints, and we enjoyed the ski down in the evening light.

Dan cranking turns on RTS
Evening turns on RTS

Halfway down the run, we stopped to exchange the camera, and Dan skied down to setup to snap a few pictures of me cranking turns.

Matt on RTS
After work turns at the Pass

At the bottom, we discussed options, and decided that we’d head out to George via Amber’s and maybe do a repeat lap on the lower mountain, which was looking pretty smooth earlier.

Looking back at RTS

We stopped at the top of Twilight and split a beer, before shoving off and riding some of the smoothest corn snow of the whole season. The turns down skied like butter, and we laid down some big sweeping carves under the chair and then off to skiers right.

Dan heading off towards George
All smiles at the bottom

At the bottom, we were beyond stoked with the quality of the run, and it was a no brainier to head back up. We quickly donned skins, and headed up George in the soft evening light…

Headed up for another lap

A short time later, we arrived back at the top of Twilight, and ripped skins in anticipation of our second run. This time, we decided to head down Rough Cut, and it was equally as smooth as George. The light was starting to get a bit flatter as we got towards the bottom, and it felt rather satisfying to make turns in the fading light.

Cruising down Rough Cut
Skiing it down to the base

We milked the turns right down to the base, and headed across the parking lot to the car. Both of us were looking forward to grilling up some brats, so we made the short drive back down to Gold Lake snow park.

Headed to the car

At Gold Lake, we found the parking lot crowd sitting around the campfire, in anticipation of hitting the chairs for the weekend. With the area closed, RV camping wouldn’t take place until Saturday night, so Gold Lake would have to do. It was fun hanging out with Toby, Mike, Dave and Matt, and the grilled brats definitely hit the spot. I finally enjoyed one of those Bavarian Lagers from Goodlife as well, which made for a fitting end to an excellent day. A few minutes before 9:00 pm, we bid the parking lot crowd farewell, and headed down the highway, capping off what I hope to be the first of several late season dusk patrols at the Pass. Here’s a parting shot from the day of Dan skiing RTS…

Sliding down RTS on a nice April evening

 

March 27, 2021 – Shaun’s first taste of patrol

After getting several days on the hill earlier in the season, Shaun felt like he was ready to tag along with me for a full day of ski patrol. I was pretty excited that he wanted to ski with me for a full day, and it looked like it would be a warm day with decent snow conditions. We hit the road early, and arrived in the parking lot around 7:40 am.

Early morning at the Pass

I let him stay in the truck while we conducted our morning meeting on patrol, and then I headed out to help open the mountain. The temperature was around 25 degrees, and conditions were firm as I opened RTS, but it was easy to keep an edge in.

Patrol 2 morning meeting

After opening RTS, I headed back to the car, helped Shaun gear up, and we headed out a couple of minutes past 9:00 am. It sounded like Eagle’s and Charlie’s were groomed on the front, so we headed up EPA for his first ride of the morning.

Shaun and I ready to head out
Shaun at the top of EPA

We made a run down Eagle’s, and it was in pretty good shape, and we headed back up for another lap. At the top, several patrollers were hanging out, since conditions were still a bit firm. Matthew suggested we get a quick P2 photo, so I pulled the camera out and snapped a pic of the crew and Shaun.

Shaun and Patrol up top

After taking a pic of patrol, I made a quick switch of my lenses and put the telephoto on the camera. Diamond Peak was glistening in the sun, and I wanted to get a few close up shots of the mountain. The below pic turned out nice, and I’m looking forward to getting back in there later this spring…

Diamond Peak in the late March sun

Shuan and I made three or four more runs on the front, alternating between Charlie, Eagle’s, KP, and the Rosary’s, and then headed down for a quick break. While Shaun had a snack and some water, I snapped a few pictures of the base area with my fisheye lens…

Fisheye view of the Pass

Our break was relatively short — I had to explain to Shaun that when you’re patrolling you don’t get long breaks:) — so we headed back out on the hill. By this time, the snow was starting to soften quite nicely, and Shaun was skiing with quite a bit more confidence.

Shaun skiing Good Time
Up top on a beautiful day

Soon, the snow became pretty sticky, so we decided to head over to Peak 2 to check out the conditions on the back. I’m glad we did, because it turned out to be the last day Peak 2 would turn for the season. We spun a few laps on Peak 2, checking out the various runs, and then headed back via the James Bond trail to hit Charlie on our way back to the base.

A quick break on Escalator
Cruising down Good Time

Shaun wanted to do a lap on Twilight, so we headed over there and skied a couple of runs, and then it was time to head back to Peak 2 for sweep. Ironically, after a super busy season, with several double digit incident days, we didn’t have one incident on this day. Nevertheless, Shaun was excited to help sweep, and be the last skiers on the hill.

Getting ready for Peak 2 sweep

We closed Waldo, and it was pretty cool to see Shaun skiing down the run, stopping every couple hundred feet and yell ‘Closing!” We met up with the other sweepers at the bottom, and rode the last chair of the Peak 2 season back to the top.

Shaun Sweeping Waldo

We helped put the sled away at the top, then made the ski/hike back to the top of EPA for upper mountain sweep. I happened to catch John and Joe standing up top with Diamond in the background, so I asked them to hold that pose for a moment to frame a shot of them with the Peak, which turned out below…

John and Joe ready for sweep

For upper mountain sweep, Shaun and I drew Eagle’s, and the snow was pretty soft as we headed down. We met the other patrollers at the intersection of KP, then finished sweeping the fun back down to the base. Shaun and I were in the back, and I think we was really enjoying getting to be the last skiers on the hill…

Sweeping down KP

At the base, we conducted a quick evening meeting, and then everyone headed to the parking lot to change out of gear and enjoy a cold beverage. My beer of choice for the day was a refreshing Steady Orbit from Ninkasi Brewing, and Shaun photo bombed my picture…

Shaun photo bombing my Ninkasi Beer shot

Once out of my patrol gear, Shaun hung out in the truck with his phone, and I joined my fellow (fully vaccinated) patrollers for some post apres` ski fun in the warm parking lot. Watching folks sit around in t-shirts and shorts, I knew the season was almost over, which is always bittersweet. That said, I was super happy that Shuan was able to enjoy a great day on patrol with me, and am looking forward to more father/son patrol days next year!

Post patrol fun in the parking lot

 

March 6, 2021 – A March Patrol day at the Pass

After a pretty sweet February at the Pass, March was rolling in more like a lamb than a lion. Even so, we had a few inches of snow overnight, and Saturday was looking to be a pretty good day for Patrol 2. The official report was a couple of inches of new at the base, but it looked like there was a bit of wind, and I was pretty sure there was more than that up top. I arrived early, and geared up before taking a few pictures prior to our morning meeting.

An early March morning at the Pass
Anna & Dan outside the patrol room

Before we headed out, I was taking a few photos of P2 getting ready to open the hill. Dave Schweitzer grabbed my camera and told me to get in the picture, and took the below photo of most of P2 ready for the day…

P2 before opening

After taking a few pics, I headed out with avy gear in tow. The plan was for Hutch and I to a quick look at the avy route, given the potential for wind loading the night before. Upon arriving at the top of EPA, we headed out, and made the short hike to the top of Peak 2 after skiing down to the saddle. The snow stake at the top was at 108 inches, with about 6 inches of new.

Topping out on Peak 2

After a quick beacon check, we headed out. Kicking cornices along the ridge didn’t produce any results, so we worked our way out towards the nose. Upon reaching the nose, we decided to rope up, with Hutch on the sharp end and me belaying. Not surprisingly, we got a couple of slabs to cut loose by ski cutting, and although they weren’t huge, they definitely would have ruined your day.

Kicking cornices
Hutch on the sharp end of the rope

We finished the avy route about the same time as the area had Peak 2 ready to go, and then it was time to ski down, hit the lift back to the top, and head down to the base to put the gear away. After hanging up the rope, I headed back out to spin a few laps on EPA, then helped Dan with some sled work at the base, changing out the sled pack and hauling it over to Twilight for loading…

At the base
Ready to head to Twilight

The remainder of the day was spent doing a bit of sled work, and getting some good turns off the top of the mountain. RTS was skiing really nicely, and I made a few runs there, enjoying the steep slope and some of the trees on skier’s right:) I also spent a bit of time up top, hanging out with Dan while he was on bump…

Dan in the bump shack

While killing a bit of time up top on EPA, I snapped a few pics of some of the patrollers as we gathered in anticipation of Peak 2 sweep. Dan, Anna and Matthew proved to be willing subjects.

Anna & Dan atop EPA
Dan & Matthew outside the shack

Once the photo-op was over, we headed over to close Peak 2 without incident. Upper mountain sweep went off without a hitch, as did lower mountain sweep and before we knew it, the day was over and it was time for the evening meeting outside the patrol room.

Evening meeting to end the day

Once the meeting was over, it felt good to head to the car and change out of snowboard boots and into some comfortable clothes. Several of us hung out with the parking lot crowd, enjoying a beer and good company after patrol around the campfire. My beer of choice for the evening was a really tasty Midnight Malt Cocoa Porter from Pelican Brewing.

Midnight Porter by Pelican Brewing

Sitting around the campfire, drinking a cold beer with a bunch of other fully vaccinated patrollers, it almost felt like things were close to normal roughly a year after the COVID-19 pandemic began. One thing was for sure — with all the uncertainty over the past year, and this winter in particular, it’s been nice to have the resort open and to be able to leave the worries of work and the pandemic in the valley while enjoying good snow and the camaraderie that patrol affords. Here’s to hoping this excellent season continues!