Category: Mt Hood

About the only viable option for turns this October was Mt Hood. I left the Southern Willamette Valley around 5 am with plans to meet up with Todd and hike/ski the Palmer Glacier. We arrived at Timberline around 7:30 am to partly sunny skies and a bit of fresh snow. Today marked my 47th consecutive month of snowboarding at least once a month. Here’s the view that greeted us upon pulling into the parking lot…..

Even with the fresh snow, it’s disturbing how little residual snow remains on the Palmer “snowfield” seen in the middle of the above photo. Still though, it was refreshing to see the fresh stuff and go from dreaming about new snow to actually riding on it.  Today I was testing my homemade Burton Custom split, and it didn’t disappoint. We started skinning above the base of the Mile Canyon and the board performed flawlessly. I didn’t miss the metal edge which was an initial concern, though we didn’t encounter anything too steep.

Skinning up, the snow got a bit crusty upon reaching the base of the Palmer lift. I was amazed by the lack of snow on the Palmer snowfield, and the Mile Canyon extended quite a ways up the actual snowfield. We were able to skin to about 150 vf below the top of the Palmer chair, essentially to where it had melted out. Staying all the way to skiers right yielded the best snow. At the top, we lingered for a bit taking in the view, then strapped in for the ride down. Here’s a shot of Todd……

The sunny skies that we had on the way up gave way to clouds for the ride down, so getting any good action shots was difficult at best. We did manage a few though. My board rode really well in ride mode, and performed as well as any other split I’ve ridden in the past. In fact, I’m really happy with the overall performance given the challenging snow conditions.

The ride down the rest of the Palmer and Mile Canyon was fun. There were pockets of fresh snow a few inches deep deposited by the wind, but also spots of fairly firm residual snow. Riding the Mile Canyon when it’s mostly devoid of snow if actually pretty fun. Down at the bottom of the canyon, the T-Line cats were parked and ready, waiting for more snow to start the grooming, probably in a few more weeks if it keeps snowing.

At the bottom of the snow, we packed our gear and hiked down to the cars in the parking lot. We were able to make it to Government Camp in time for lunch, and the cold beer tasted really good. College football was on the big screen and the burgers hit the spot. I love this time of year – it won’t be long now until winter is here in full force! Let it snow!

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…