Category: Mt Hood

Todd and I headed back to Timberline for September turns and to make runs on the dwindling Palmer snowfield. The weather was sunny and nice, and I rode in a t-shirt after mid-morning. As usual, very few people were on the mountain. It’s always nice to get out in September for some riding, and it won’t be long until the snow starts flying again for the winter season. What a difference a year makes though. Last September we hiked and rode the White River Snowfield, but this year that wasn’t possible. The snow above the Palmer was minimal, and the White River Glacier was very exposed. Not to worry though, we made plenty of runs on the Palmer…..

We headed down to the truck for a quick lunch after several runs, then headed out for more turns. I love getting lots of vertical in the late summer – it just seems so wrong!

The views from the top of the Palmer Glacier are always beautiful, but the views in late summer/early fall have special meaning to me.

After another dozen or so runs, we decided to ride down to the truck. We were able to ride within a few hundred yards of the lodge, though the snow in the Mile Canyon is melting fast. We loaded up and headed down to Govy for some grub, beer and to catch a college football game on the big screen. When it was all said and done, we had another month in the books and it was definitely worth it!

Here’s a parting shot from near the end of the snow……

Snow had been falling throughout the week and more was on the way for Saturday night. Conditions looked prime to head to Mt. Hood Meadows for a day of powder riding with my buddy Andy. We spent most of the day lapping powder runs in lower Heather Canyon since the upper mountain was closed due to low visibility. The glades and trees of the lower canyon made for excellent turns and the pitch on some of the runs (Absolute Magnitude for instance) is nice and steep! After a long day of fun, we headed back down Highway 26 en route to the southern Willamette Valley, but not before a stop for a warm cup of coffee in Rhododendron. Today was a great day, and marked my 15th month of consecutive snowboarding…..

I headed to Meadows on Sunday with Andy, and the plan was to use our free lift tickets courtesy of the Warren Miller flick from earlier in the year.  We arrived to about 6 inches of fresh powder with all the lifts running.  After some initial avy work by the ski patrol, Heather Canyon opened up.  Patrol was successful in getting some slopes to slide earlier in the day higher up.  There was some early sun, but it yielded to fog and snow for the remainder of the day.  Upon entering the canyon, one could hear much hooping and hollering in the distance. Here’s a shot in the upper canyon of Andy skiing with my tracks from a cornice drop in the background…..

The lines throughout the day were endless, deep and fast.  We traversed over to Clark Canyon for some more fresh lines….

Towards the afternoon it warmed up some, and we decided to head into the in the lower canyon, on runs like Jacks Woods and Absolute Magnitude.  The day ended with clouds moving in and more snow falling.  We snapped this shot at the top of the Shooting Star Express right before closing…..

Back at the car, we gulped some food and hot coffee and headed for home after another fun day of Spring pow in the Oregon Cascades!

Mt Hood was calling our names for August turns, so Todd and I headed up and the conditions didn’t disappoint. 2008 has been an epic year- we even got some lift served riding at Willamette Pass in June! The weather was iffy early in the morning, but by the time we loaded the first chairlift, I knew we would have a good day. The clouds burned off and the sun came out to play. We spun several laps on the Palmer chair before taking a break out on the White River snowfield for lunch. By 11:00, most of the people had left the hill with the exception of the campers far below.

We kept making turns until shortly after the noon hour before heading down to the truck.

The ride down the Mile canyon was superb and fun as always. We were able to ride to within a few hundred yards of the lodge, leaving only a short boot out to the parking lot. Here’s a shot of the mountain in the afternoon sun from the parking lot.

After loading our gear in the truck, we headed down to Govy to enjoy an Ice Axe IPA from Mt Hood Brewing Co. at the Ratskellar along with a tasty burger. August in Oregon really is pretty sweet! Here’s a parting shot of Todd enjoying a break up top from earlier in the day…

Dropping in above Memorial Bowl, April 2009……..

Andy and I made several weekend trips to Mt Hood Meadows during April 2009, and had a variety of conditions and weather. Most of our time was spent in Heather & Clark Canyons, accessed from the Cascade Lift. In April, there are generally less people at Meadows, but the riding is still excellent. Here’s a shot of me ripping through some wind packed powder in the Silver Bowl in upper Heather Canyon….

Later in the month, conditions were sunny, and a few inches of snow had fallen the night before. Upper Heather Canyon was in good shape, and there were some large cornices which were begging to be dropped. This one in the Diamond Bowl was especially fun…

Following each ski day, we either had a beer in Govy, or better yet, listened to the live band on the deck at the Meadows base while enjoying a frosty cold one in the sunshine. For lift served in April, it’s hard to beat Mt Hood Meadows!