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…..
Mt Hood Southside, October 2009
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.
Matt skinning up the Mile Canyon – October 3, 2009
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……
Todd making October turns….
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.
Matt riding the Palmer Snowfield
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.
Homemade splitter and Timberline snowcat….
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!
Heading north of the border with my wife and son for a relaxing vacation get-away in British Columbia, I found myself really looking forward to the turns we’d fin at Whistler Blackcomb. Andy tagged along with his wife, and Todd also joined in the fun. This trip was Andy and Todd’s first to Whistler, and it didn’t disappoint. We stayed at the Villas-Snowberry, and had ski-in access from Blackcomb Mountain. Whistler is an excellent place to get in some great turns, being the biggest mountain in North America, but there is also plenty to do for people who don’t like to ski or board all the time (aka my wife). The last time I was at Whistler was 5 or 6 years ago, so I was amazed again at the beauty of the BC mountains when we pulled in. The first evening everyone got settled in at the condo, and after dinner we hopped on the shuttle bus and headed in to the village. We walked around looking for a place to get a beer with a 6 month old and ended up in one of the many pubs of which I can’t remember the name of. After a good brew, we headed back to the condo to get ready for the next morning’s riding.
The first morning we decided to ride Blackcomb. The morning dawned with beautiful sunny skies and about 10 inches of fresh from the day/night before. We started off on the 7th Heaven Express, and Andy ended up getting a nice rock gouge in his base on the first run, but I was able to get this nice pano shot…..
Whistler Pano from the 7th Heaven area on Blackcomb
That morning we made a few runs off of Chainsaw ridge and dropped into Couloir Extreme, which was decent on the first run but a bit tracked for run two. After that, we were off to explore the Glacier Express and Jersey Cream chairs, and ended up making laps off of Spanky’s ladder. The snow was light and fresh as we descended into Ruby Bowl…..
Todd & Andy skiing Ruby Bowl
The Sapphire, Garnet, Diamond & Ruby bowls off of Spanky’s offer black and double black terrain, with some triple black thrown in if you want to get really sketch. The runout below the bowls is quite long, like several miles long to get back to the Glacier Express, but well worth it when the snow is good.
Todd & Andy in Ruby Bowl
By the time we decided to make the next run, the weather started to cloud up a bit. The snow remained stellar though, and we dropped into Garnet & Diamond Bowls. Below is Todd entering Diamond Bowl….
Todd skiing Diamond Bowl
After the long fun day of powder turns on Blackcomb’s backside, we made the several thousand foot descent down to the base and rode via a trail directly to our condo complex. Dinner and showers followed, and I headed back into town with my wife and son to do a little shopping. Well my wife was shopping, I was looking for a good pub to grab a beer! After roaming around the village for bit, we took the shuttle back to the condo and settled in for the night. Everyone decided to take the next day easy, so Todd went cross country skiing while Julie and I headed into the village with Andy and Sabrina The plan was to take the Whistler Gondola up to the mid-way on Whistler Mountain and enjoy the views and food. Here’s a shot of the Village with the Longhorn Saloon (one of my favorites) in the background.
Whistler Village – February 2008
We purchased some single ride passenger tickets, boarded the gondola and headed up the hill. Julie was inspired by the views, having never been to any big mountain range outside of Oregon, and the weather couldn’t have been nicer. We snapped several photos and explored the Roundhouse for awhile before getting some food.
Oh Canada!
Here’s a shot of Whistler’s Peak Chair from the exit ramp of the Gondola….
Whistler Peak & Whistler Bowl
After lunch, we headed back down to the valley to explore the village. The girls visited many of the shops, and I even found a t-shirt that I ended up buying. Shaun started getting fussy after a hour or so, so we ended up heading back to the condo for a cold beer and dinner. For the final day of our stay, we spent most of our time riding Whistler Mountain, but did manage a few runs on Blackcomb as well. In the morning, we spun laps on the Peak and Harmony chairs, though we did venture out to the new Symphony express to check out the Flute Bowl. Here’s a shot of some of the vast backcountry taken early in the morning….
Looking out into the Whistler Backcountry
There was a marked difference in people on the weekdays as opposed to the weekends. We found several good steep runs off Harmony Ridge in the Harmony Horseshoes that kept us busy all morning.
Todd riding Whistler Mountain – February 2008
Towards the afternoon, we found some good snow on the west side of Whistler off the Peak Chair and towards Creekside. We dropped into the upper part of Whistler Bowl, traversed the upper part of the West Cirque, and headed into the West Bowl. The initial entry into Whistler Bowl was pretty steep moguls, but the moguls yielded to wind packed powder the further west we ventured. The terrain in the lower part of the West Bowl was really nice, and not too many people were hitting it. Lower down, the we found lots of powder shots on the way to Highway 86 which took us back to the Big Red Express Chairlift.
Andy making turns…
I snapped this shot down near the bottom of one of our runs, looking back up towards Whistler Peak and the West Bowl. Whistler Peak and the Peak Chair are in the upper left of the photo……
The sun gets ready to set behind Whistler Mountain
Soon it was time to ride down off the hill, and we headed to the Whistler Village through the snow-making machines blowing snow all over the lower trails. That evening, everyone went out for dinner and brews in the Village. The next morning everyone packed up gear and headed back for the states. Of course as soon as we left, it started dumping again and the mountains got about 2 more feet of snow. I’m thinking we’ll all be heading back again very soon! Below is parting shot of the Whistler Blackcomb backcountry from near the Roundhouse on Whistler Mountain.
Andy and I headed to Mt Bachelor for a final day of lift served riding and to get some turns in for the month of May. With so much snow this year, the Cascades Lakes Highway was yet to open, so the Three Sisters would have to wait until June. Access to Diamond Peak was also suspect, so we made the most of riding in-bounds. There weren’t too many people around, and the only lift that was operating was the Sunrise Express because the weather wasn’t cooperative to open the Summit Chair. We made lots of runs down lower through the trees and traversed out towards the Pine Marten Express and past the closed trail signs. I was ripping it up on my Burton Dominant 156, and it was really fun riding the runs jumping over little trees and rocks. We made several laps and left the hill around 1:00. I’m really looking forward to some improved weather and access to the higher peaks later this Spring/Summer.
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…..
Matt making September turns on Mt Hood
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!
Todd – September 2008
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.
The view from 8500 feet – Mt Jefferson in the distance
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!
Hood in September
Here’s a parting shot from near the end of the snow……
Sunshine was in the forecast, so Andy, Todd and I headed over from the valley to make some spring turns on Mt. Bachelor. Most of our day was spent riding the terrain off the summit lift, with some good turns found on the mountain’s south side.
Andy enjoying turns on Bachelor’s southside
Fresh snow had fallen the night before, and the morning sunshine made the day very enjoyable. As usual, the backside of Bachelor didn’t disappoint, offering lots of turns in open bowls, glades, and trees. I found several nice cornices to play on as well…
Cornice drop on Bachelor
The base is holding up well on the mountain and should make for good turns this spring in the backcountry. Overall, it was another good day of riding on the mountain and well worth the long drive from the Willamette Valley!
