Category: Ski Patrol

Like it does every year, the end of the season snuck up on me way faster than I anticipated. Patrol 2 was closing this year, and as I ‘d done several times earlier in the season, I woke Carson and Shaun early in the morning and we loaded gear and headed to the Pass for one last day of riding the lifts and helping the skiing public. We arrived to the patrol room early, and other patrollers started trickling in. As usual, we had our morning meeting at 8:00 am and then headed out to open the mountain.

The coverage on the hill was beginning to look a bit like the season was ending, but as we worked our way up EPA and then over to Peak 2 there was still a great base for skiing and riding. I snapped a few shotos of some of our crew as we headed up the chair and got to the top, and then we set about opening runs and readying for day’s tasks.

After opening the hill, I headed down to base and worked with Hutch to go over our plan for ensuring closing went smoothly. We walked over to the lodge and had a quick chat with management, and after getting buy-in from them on our plan for Peak 2, we headed up to the top of Twilight and loaded up gear that could come down on the sleds, including the evac gear and extra tarps, etc. By the time we got to base, a few of the crew were cooking up lunch on the grill, so our timing was perfect.

After eating a quick bite, I headed out with Carson to make a few laps on EPA before we got into the more extensive work of bringing in tower pads and equipment later in the afternoon. We took a couple of runs on Eagle’s Flight and then headed over to Twilight to get ready to pull tower pads from EPA…

After loading the chair and riding the lift up, we found Steve and Chris at the top hanging out on bump. I joked that Chris looked like a marmot from the lift, sitting on top of his perch on the rock in the snow. A few minutes later, several other patrollers and SPY arrived and we headed out to pull the pads on EPA and Midway.

With the healthy crew, we made short work of the tower pads, after closing By George (with the exception of the park that had an exit to Twilight). The SPY were all over it, and contributed in a big way!

With the tower pads on Midway and EPA down and handed off to Laurie and crew at the base, I headed up to EPA to get ready for pulling pads on Peak 2. I had enough time to make a couple of runs on the back with Brian before we started our work…..as usual on closing day, it’s hurry up and wait!

Carson was tagging along with us, and skiing pretty well. He followed us down Escalator and then caught the chair with Brian.

Once back at the top of Peak 2, the SPY and a few patrollers headed down to pull the pads. Again, they made quick work of all the pads on Peak 2, and fortunately we were able to stack them all neatly at the base for the area to take care of later in the week as opposed to having to haul them all the way back to the base.

It only took one run to pull all the pads with the help of the eager SPY, which gave Brian a few minutes to enjoy some down time at the base of the lift :).

Then it was time to head up top and get ready for the final Peak 2 sweep of the season. I pulled my beer from my pack that I’d been packing around for a photo op (don’t worry I didn’t drink it until after we were done with our evening meeting well later in the day) and snapped a few pics. The 1983 Lager can from McMenamin’s looked good with Fuji Mountain providing a blurry backdrop.

After snapping some pics of my brew, I turned the camera and captured a few shots of some of the crew below me at the top of Peak 2, including Dan, Brian, Hutch and Joe.

A few moments later, we swept off Peak 2 for the final time of the season and then regrouped at the bottom. After riding the chair back to the top, I was able to orchestrate a pic of our crew before most of us headed off to EPA for sweep and a few others headed down with sleds loaded with gear.

Another picture of our crew went down at the top of EPA before upper mountain sweep, and it was awesome to have both Shaun and Carson in the picture with our crew. Amber, who is always up to some sort of shenanigans, unzipped her patrol coat for the photo, which created one of the better photo bombs in recent memory :).

For sweep, Brian and I headed down RTS to be extra resources at Twilight, and I caught a few pictures of Brian ripping the run riding switch. Brian rides switch better than most people ride normally…

The remaining work on Twilight included bringing down loaded sleds and pulling tower pads. I skied down with a Brian, Edward and a few other SPY, and we pulled several tower pads on our way. Brian, Edward and I all were able to catch one more lift ride (after closing and after sweep started) to head up and get a final lap of the season in and bring down the remaining gear and sleds. I brought down the Sabrina and Brian took a Cascade 1o0, and with that the hill was officially closed.

At base, we spent 45 minutes or so putting all the gear away, including evac ropes, sleds, tower pads, etc. and then it was time for the final evening meeting of the season. I was stoked to pull out the frozen Snickers and Klondike bars from the freezer that I’d brought up, and the patrol (especially the SPY :)) made short work of them. I enjoyed my McMenamin’s Lager which I had icing down on the snow, and just like that another season at the Pass was in the books. All in all, even though it started out slowly, it was one of my favorite of the last several. It was awesome to be able to have several good days on the mountain with both Shaun and Carson, as well as such a good group of people that make up the Willamette Pass Ski Patrol. I’m already dreaming of those first lift served turns at the pass next year, and can’t wait for winter to make a return!

Late March days at the mountain usually bring fun conditions, and this year was no exception. On Saturday the 23rd, the forecast was calling for a bit of fresh snow and cooler temperatures, and the mountain was looking good when Shaun and I arrived early to unlock the patrol room. After our morning meeting, we headed out to open the hill and I snapped a few pictures of Shaun, Silas and Edward lined up at the base of EPA waiting to load the chair. A few minutes later we hopped on the lift and made our way to the top to open runs.

Once up top, patrollers headed down to open runs after getting the saddle closure up. The word on the radio was that the resident Sierra Nevada fox was out at the top of Twilight, so a few of us headed that way once we had Peak 2 open for the morning.

By the time I rode the Twilight chair and made my way to the top of Twilight, the fox was gone but I found Hannah, Matthew, Gretchen and Jenn hanging out, and it was fun to just hang out and enjoy the quiet morning. A bit later, I worked my way to the top of EPA where Anna was going over knots and fencing work with the SPY

From the top of EPA, I checked my watch and decided it was a good time to head down and check out the rail jam at the lodge. After a brief pit-stop in the patrol room for a bite to eat, I headed out and saw skiers and riders sessioning the rails near the Midway lift, while DJ Toby kept the beats pumping.

There were a few riders that were definitely killing it on the rails, and several patrollers and other folks enjoyed watching the jam session unfold. After enjoying the scene for awhile and downing the rest of my coffee, I got called away to deal with dispatching a couple of patrol to an incident, and then headed up to enjoy a couple of runs before getting ready to close.

Closing the mountain went off without a hitch, and we closed down Peak 2, then upper and then lower mountain before heading into the patrol room to enjoy some bean dip along with cold beers for patrol and cold sodas for the SPY. My beer of choice for the evening was a tasty Cold Smoke Porter from Planktown Brewing Company, and it was the perfect pairing for the cold, snowy weather.

After changing out of ski boots and enjoying the camaraderie of fellow patrollers, as well as some good food and beer, Shaun and I locked up and headed down the hill for home. We were on the schedule with Patrol 2 for the next Sunday for Easter, and after a quick week, we found ourselves back at the Pass ready for another fun day of riding and keeping the mountain safe. I was especially stoked for the Easter brunch we had coordinated for the day thanks to Amber’s great idea the weekend before.

The morning started off per usual and we got the mountain open after our morning meeting and medical minute. It was nice to see Mindy out getting some skiing in, and she was making a few laps with Brad’s son Carter, who was dressed up in a Shark outfit for Easter. They both were all smiles at the top of EPA.

After that I headed in with a few others and enjoyed a great Easter brunch. The food dishes were numerous, and the quality of the entrees was excellent. The deviled eggs were probably my favorite, but the ham in the crockpot was a close second! After eating my fill, I headed out with a full stomach and sat bump for an hour or so at the top of EPA to cover for one of our patrollers who was out. It was a good time to snap a few pictures of the SPY and enjoy the views from the top while the snow softened.

While hanging out, Emily made her way to the top and it was good chance for me to shoot a few pics with my telephoto lens. It has a great bokeh and I grabbed a couple of shots below, including the one of Emily pointing to her season pass from when she was like 5 :).

While hanging on bump, it was also a good opportunity to snap a photo of my beer of the day (which I drank after we were done), which I had in my pack and wanted to shoot from high up on the mountain. The below shot of my Tropical Fresh IPA from Deschutes Brewery was taken just off the top of EPA, with Diamond Peak in the background looking all fuzzy.

Once I was done with bump, I made a lap down Timburr and the snow was starting to corn perfectly. It was night and day difference from my opening lap on the run in the morning. At the bottom, I caught up with Dan and Amber who were game to try Timburr, so I turned around and did it again.

After that, Amber wanted to ski RTS, so we spun a couple laps on it, and it was in pretty decent shape. I was surprised to see some snow was still hanging on the trees as we headed over the side of the run.

After four or five runs, my legs needed a break and I stopped up top at EPA where several other patrollers were hanging out, enjoying the perfect weather. I caught a few pictures of Anna and Emily, including Anna lounging in the sled and then the two of them reflecting in the EPA camera.

I snapped a few more shots, including the one below of Emily and Anna that might be my favorite patrol picture of the season framed in front of Diamond Peak. A 183 mm focal length did the trick.

Someone (James?) even offered to grab a photo of all of us with me in the picture, so I got out from behind the lens for a change.

Soon after the photos sesh at the top of EPA, it was time to head to Peak 2 for closing. I found the SPY crew waiting at the top, ready to close runs, and was stoked to get a picture of them all together. This year’s Patrol 2 SPY crew was all-time, and probably the most competent group of ski patrol youth we’ve had on patrol since I’ve been on. Pictured in the first photo below are Silas, Shaun, Edward, Ryan and Scarlett.

Since I was a bit late to the party I ended up closing Boundary, and it was nice to close the run after everyone was gone. It reminded me of trips out to Pulpit in year’s past, coming back to the area after it had closed and having to skin back up the run to get back down the front.

Peak 2 sweep and then upper mountain sweep went smoothly, and I headed down RTS with Edward as an “extra” to help with lower mountain sweep. Lower mountain sweep started a few minutes later, and with that the month of March came to a close.

At the base, everyone enjoyed a beer and/or some sodas, as well as some leftover ham and other tasty food from our morning brunch. It felt great to get out of ski and snowboard boots, and after socializing for a half our or so I reviewed incident reports and closed up the patrol room for the night. Shaun and I hit the road a few minutes later, after locking things up and cleaning the tables, and it capped of a fitting end to a great March at the Pass. Below is a parting shot of Emily from the top of EPA….

The days were rolling by, and it was hard to believe March was already upon us. After an epic 5-day powder filled hut trip, I was scheduled to patrol on Saturday and it looked to be a great day with lots of fresh snow on the hill. I headed out early with Carson, and we made it to the Pass early to get ready for the day (Shaun was off duty for the day hanging with friends in Sunriver).

Our morning meeting went smoothly, and soon the crew rolled out to open EPA and Twilight. I opened Timburr, and it was probably the best run I’d had at the Pass all year, with 15-18 inches of light, deep, cold smoke. At the bottom, I checked  my watch and it was a few minutes past 9:00, so I grabbed Carson from the family room and we headed out to take a few runs.

Skiing blue runs with Carson all morning while the conditions were so good definitely took a bit of restraint, but I’m hopeful it will pay dividends in the future when he’s ripping double blacks in the same conditions. We spun a couple of laps on EPA, and then headed over to Peak 2 and checked out Waldo, which was skiing quite good….

At the bottom of Peak 2, the line was huge, and even though I was hill chiefing, I stood in it with Carson since he’s not on patrol yet. While waiting, I loaded a sled for Gretchen, then hopped back in line. About 20 minutes later we made our way to the front of the line, and then enjoyed a run back to the patrol room where the crew was getting food out for our Saturday potluck. There was a smorgasbord going on by the time we got there, and I could tell it was going to be nice!

We grabbed several types of goodies from the offerings on the table, enjoyed lunch with the company of a few patrollers, and then headed back out for some more turns. Carson wanted to ride EPA so we headed up and spun a few more laps…

At the top, Hannah, Ian and Matthew were putting in some hours finishing up training with Michael, and I snapped a few photos of them enjoying a fun moment in the snow, before having to deal with a radio call from dispatch.

For the rest of the afternoon, I put the camera away and made turns with Carson. There were several incidents that needed management, but we made it to sweep without too many issues. After clearing the mountain, it was nice to enjoy a cold beer as well as some tasty bean dip and good company in the patrol room. All in all, it was another great day on patrol, and after reviewing incident reports, signing duty cards and locking up, Carson and I headed out.

The following weekend, I was back on duty for Sunday, and this time I had Shaun in tow while Carson had other engagements. There was a little fresh snow, but it was nothing like the week before. We arrived early as usual, held the morning meeting, and then opened the mountain.

After opening, but prior to lunch, I spun a couple of laps with James and Emily, and decided I had time to shoot a few shots of them skiing on Charlie.

Emily was trying to say she wasn’t skiing too well, but the photos proved otherwise and she was definitely ripping. After a couple of runs, I headed in to patrol to check on a few things going on in the aid room, and when I was done it was time for lunch.

After lunch, I headed out to make a few runs, and found Amber and Joe hanging out at the top of EPA. The wind was whipping pretty good, and even though the temperature was hovering right around freezing, it definitely felt cold.

The rest of the afternoon went smoothly, with a few more incidents to respond to, but nothing out of the ordinary. I headed over to Peak 2 and did a couple of laps prior to sweep, and a few minutes before 3:30 I headed over to Kris Kross to help Shaun with the closure.

Once we had Kris Kross closed, Peak 2 sweep started a few minutes later, and then it was time for Upper Mountain to begin. I hiked to the top of EPA while Shaun stayed put at Kris Kross, and a few minutes later we headed down. I snapped a few photos of the closing crew before we headed out…

Once the upper mountain was clear, we closed lower mountain, and then headed in for our evening meeting. As had become the norm for Patrol 2 this season, we followed our meeting with chips and some kind of dip (this time I brought some queso). We also had a nice offering of beers, sodas and bubbly’s, and it was nice to hang out with the patrol after a good day. My beer of choice for the evening was an Cryo Stash Imperial IPA from Hop Valley Brewing, and it tasted fine!

A bit later, the crew started to filter out, and after taking care of the evening hill chief chores, I rounded up Shaun and Atticus (who rode up with us), and we hit the road, happy with another good day on mountain.

The work week flew by, and before I knew it, Sunday rolled around, which meant another day of patrolling at the Pass. I headed out early with both Shaun and Carson in tow, stoked for my last day of patrol before my upcoming hut trip to Tam Rim. It was going to be Carson’s second day of shadowing patrol with Brian for his school project, and we pulled in early to the patrol room as usual to get ready for the day. After booting up and holding our morning meeting, we headed out to open the hill.

Brian found a training bib for Carson, and after clearing it with dispatch, he was able to open the mountain with us. He and Brian headed up to EPA, and later I heard Carson calling in the medical equipment in the bump shack over the radio. I caught up with him and Brian, as well as James, a bit later when we were opening Peak 2.

Once the mountain was fully open, it was time to take a few runs and enjoy the few inches of fresh snow before doing some sled checks. After hitting Destiny with Carson, Brian and Shannon, I worked my way back over to base and then up to the top of EPA where Joe and a few of our alpine patrolers were gathering.

After enlisting Silas from our SPY ranks to ride as ballast in the sled, and listening to Joe discuss the points for feathering the handles and running a loaded sled, we shoved off for Eagle’s. Gretchen started out in the handles and James was on the tail rope, and they ran halfway down the run before switching places.

Both Gretchen and James are strong sled runners, and both fresh off of training from the last year, and they made short work of running the loaded sled down the hill.

As usual, I snapped a bunch of photos while they headed down, and noticed Silas filming from the toboggan. At the bottom, everyone unloaded and then we ran the sled back down to EPA unloaded and took it back to the top.

At this point, it was time to head in for lunch. I caught a photo of Dave and Andy down at the patrol room on my way out after enjoying some tasty Pad Thai, and then headed back to the top of EPA to sit bump for a bit.

I found Shannon and Kerstin sitting bump in the shack, enjoying a break from the cold, windy weather up top, so I joined them for a bit. A few minutes later, Carson and Brian showed up, and I headed out to make a couple of laps with them.

Carson wanted to ski Good Time, and I couldn’t believe how much progress he’d made under Brian’s tutelage for the day. I got a call on the radio regarding an incident, dispatched a couple of patrollers, and by the time I looked up Carson was already at the bottom of the run.

We spun a couple more laps on EPA, and then it was time to head over to Peak 2 to get ready for closing. Peak 2 sweep went smoothly, and then we made our way back to the top of EPA to ready for upper mountain sweep.

Ian was kind enough to grab a photo of me with both Shaun and Carson, which is somewhat of a rarity since the three of us haven’t been able to ski together all that often. Before we shoved off for sweep, I grabbed a photo everyone who was left up top.

I hung back with Emily for a few minutes while she ran upper mountain sweep, and then headed down to sign duty cards, review incident report forms, get the queso in the microwave and the beers and sodas on the table. My beer of choice for the day was a tasty Stashadelica IPA from Hop Valley, and I had just enough time to get a picture of it before the rest of the patrol started to roll in from Twilight sweep.

A bit later, after clearing the mountain and holding our evening meeting, everyone enjoyed a beer (or soda) as well as some warm queso while de-booting and putting gear away. Finally, after everyone was gone, I locked up the patrol room and loaded the car with Shaun and Carson, happy with another fun day on the hill. Here’s a parting shot from the day…

After a month or so of planning, the NSP Level 2 Avalanche course was finally here. This year’s crew was a good one, and after a couple of in-town classroom sessions including trip planning, the class was ready for the weekend at the Pass. Hutch, who was the lead instructor, along with Brian and I, had a fun couple of days of activities planned for the group, and even though there wasn’t a bunch of fresh snow to greet us for the weekend the weather was looking to be beautiful. We spent the first hour or so in the lodge with the group, and after they did some additional trip planning, we caught the chair to the top of EPA with the goal of heading out of the area for some touring and learning.

The sun was out, and we arrived at the top of EPA about the same time as the rest of the Patrol 2 crew. Since I was helping to lead the class, Devin had volunteered to hill chief for me, and it was kind of nice to get a “play” day in for a change.

I snapped several photos of patrollers at the top of EPA, and the sun was bursting out above the fog that was hanging down on the east side. The below shot of Emily, Haley, Michael and James was one example of several…

After snapping some photos, the class gathered at Kris Kross by navigating to specific GPS coordinates, then did some beacon practice before donning skins and working our way up to the top of Peak 2 and then down to the saddle for an approach to West Peak. A few inches of fresh snow coating the trees made for some pretty pictures as we headed up from the saddle.

A few minutes later and we were standing on top of West Peak, admiring the views and discussing terrain options. Our second group made their way up a few minutes later, and before jumping into the next task, I snapped a couple of pictures including one looking back towards the Pass from the top of West Peak and one of everyone including Hutch and Brian.

The next step was for the students to perform snowpit assessments to determine snow stability — which resulted in super stable snow, which was a real shocker given the bomber snowpack. Nevertheless, it was good practice and it’s always good to dig a pit and perform an extended column test and examine the layers in the pack.

Once the snowpits were dug and tests performed, Hutch took off to hide a couple of beacons for a scenario down in SDN while the rest of us split into two groups led by Brian and I. We made some fun turns down the West Peak lift line, and the snow quality was actually pretty decent.

About halfway down, Hutch radioed in with coordinates of the “avalanche” and the groups switched from ski mode to skins and headed up to respond. We toured back up to the ridge and then dropped in to respond. After some confusion on the coordinates that was cleared up with another radio call, the groups responded to both locations and found the buried targets. A ski out through the trees and RTS runout brought us back to the area and we headed back up to work on some additional beacon drills.

My group headed back up to EPA and then to the bottom of RTS to work on beacon practice. The students buried 2 beacons 3 feet deep or so in the RTS runout and took turns finding and digging them out, working on multiple burial scenarios. An hour or so of doing this brought us to the end of the day so we headed down. We were just in time to help with sweep, and I ended up on Twilight after bringing a sled from the bottom.

After sweep, we had our evening meeting and then it was time to enjoy a cold beer and hang in the patrol room with the avy class to debrief the day and discuss the plans for tomorrow. I enjoyed a tasty Canadian-style lager from Oakshire Brewing, which hit the spot.

After plans were firmed up for the following day, I headed down the hill to Oakridge with Shaun to stay at Brian and Shannon’s. They whipped up a tasty dinner of lasagna, and we enjoyed some good company and discussion on possible ski touring opportunities for the coming spring before hitting the sack and getting ready for Sunday. Sunday morning dawned early, and after a quick cup of coffee we hit the road and found ourselves in the lodge again readying the class for the day. The morning consisted of a multiple beacon proficiency test. Brian and I buried the beacons, and then the students participated in a timed drill individually in the Tree Farm where we had the beacons buried.

 While the students tested individually, the rest of the crew worked on strategic shoveling, snowpit analysis and organized probing. The final scenario for the afternoon, which was setup by Hutch and Hannah, consisted of multiple victims in an avalanche in the usual place on SDN. One difference from the level 1 class was that the incident wasn’t controlled for the students and they weren’t fully aware of what it entailed. When the call came in over the radio after lunch for the avalanche, they had to respond accordingly.

The group designated Toby as the incident commander and he orchestrated a swift response to the scenario. He had Shannon lead a responding team that entered the incident to look for victims with beacons, and subsequent teams of two responded by spot probing around various clues and uphill of likely catchment areas.

It was fun to watch the students work the scenario, and they did remarkably well. Victims with beacons were all found within short order of them entering the scene, and soon others were found by probing clues.

After finding all the victims associated with beacons and/or clues, the final step was to setup an organized probe line and find the remaining victim. The group assimilated into a probe line quickly and made short work probing the toe, successfully finding the target in short order.

After the incident, everyone hauled gear and equipment back to the top of Peak 2, and we headed down for a debrief. Brian and I took SDN back to the base, and met up with the others in the patrol room. It felt good to have successfully led another avalanche class at the Pass, as well as prepare several more folks for leadership roles within the patrol. The students still had one in-town lecture remaining, but generally our work was done. Soon, the rest of the patrol came in after sweeping the hill, and after the evening meeting, it was time to hit the road after another great weekend at the Pass! Here’s a parting shot from the weekend…