Category: Central Oregon

With a flight scheduled for first thing in the morning out of Portland on November 2nd for a trip with the family to Maui, I didn’t want to chance waiting until we got back to get November turns in, so I made plans to head out on the 1st and see what I could find. The weather forecast that had looked so promising earlier in the week for dropping a load of snow at the Pass didn’t pan out, so I decided to head over to Mt Bachelor to see what I could find. I took the Cascade Lakes Highway and then cutoff Road 40, enjoying some good music and nice morning colors before pulling into the parking lot a few minutes before 8:00 am.

Approximately 24 to 28 inches of snow greeted me, and I wasn’t surprised to see a hundred other cars in the parking lot. Not having a lot of time to kill since I needed to get back to head to Portland in the evening, I donned skins quickly and started out towards the Cone, before deciding to head off towards Pine to leave the crowds behind.

The skinning was taxing and the snow was deep, but soon I worked my way over towards Old Skyliner and headed up from there. When I reached the bench about halfway up, I snapped a picture, sent it to Dan, and then called him with a report before continuing up. A couple of other folks came down as I continued up, and eventually I stopped near the top of Pine. After switching over from skins to ride mode, I pulled out the tripod, fired off a few shots, and then stepped into bindings to enjoy some soft and fresh November turns.

The turns down were fun, and the snow was great. It wasn’t that epic 20 degree blower powder, but it wasn’t too heavy either and it was pretty damn fine for the first of November. I enjoyed turns all the way down to the bottom and back to the truck. After checking my watch, I figured I had time for one more lap so I headed out again with the goal of exploring some of the snow beneath the Red Chair.

I skinned up towards the Cone like the first lap, and then cut off again part way up and worked a few hundred feed higher to a suitable point where I could enjoy a cold beer while pulling the skins. My offering for the day was a tasty Mooncrusher Porter from the Obelisk Beer Co. and it hit the spot. I always look forward to that first porter or stout to start the season that marks the beginning of the powder season!

After getting my board halves back together and downing the rest of my beer, it was time to enjoy some more turns and that’s exactly what I did. After making my way back down to the truck, I wasted little time before heading out, super stoked to have November turns in the book. The road home was a bit dicey, since it had snowed about 2-3 inches on Road 40 since the morning, but I made it back to Highway 58 unscathed and the rest of the drive was easy.

A few hours after getting home, we had the car loaded with our travel gear for Hawaii, and made it to the hotel later that evening. Our flight left at 8:00 am the following morning, and by 11:15 (Hawaiian time), we were enjoying beautiful Maui. It was definitely a trip to remember, with our trip to Hana being one of the many highlights. I’m already looking forward to heading back! Below are a couple of shots from the trip…

After some sweet turns on Mt Hood a week or so earlier, the calendar said it was of August and time to seek out turns again. Dan, Joe and I made plans to head over to Mt Bachelor to check out how the snow patches were holding up early in the summer, and met at Dan’s in the morning before loading gear in his Tesla and heading out. The drive up highway 58 and along the Cascade Lakes highway went smoothly, and we pulled into the parking lot a few minutes after 9:00 am.

It was already getting warm, and after a few minutes of organizing gear we shouldered packs and headed up towards the hill. We got hassled right out of the gate by a gestapo lift ops that informed us we would no longer be able to hike up any of the ski runs because everything was closed for biking. Instead, we could follow a 4.4 mile trail (shared with bikes) to the top of Pine. Whatever, fuck that policy, we headed out up the trail and once out of sight proceeded up the Coffee run, which provided a much more direct (and safer) route to the rope tow patch.

After a bit of climbing, we made our way to mid-mountain and over to our spot where we’d head up. After a quick change out of approach shoes and into ski/snowboard boots, we proceeded up. The first patch wasn’t too long, but the main Rope Tow patch was looking pretty nice.

We set a quick boot pack to the top of the Rope Tow patch, and soon made our way to the remnants of the Rope Tow, before setting our sights on the really good looking Cirque patch. We booted up to the top of the Cirque patch, and then it was time to put a beer on ice to chill it before enjoying a couple of sips. My beer of choice was one I was really looking forward to — a Pacific Northwest IPA brewed by Talking Cedar Brewing. I’d picked this can up a few weeks earlier on a trip to Mt Rainier with the family while visiting guest shop at Sunrise, and it definitely hit the spot. After it was chilled, I enjoyed a few drinks before enjoying some turns.

After stepping into our bindings, Joe and I enjoyed some quality turns down the Cirque patch. Dan, who’d been a bit behind us all day due to hiking a slightly different route up the hill, was just arriving as we headed out for a first lap.

The snow in the Cirque patch went down much further in years past, although it was only August 1st and normally we’re visiting the patch in September or October. Regardless, we enjoyed the skiing although the snow was a bit bumpier than normal for Bachelor. As we set a boot pack up, Dan was skiing down, and I caught the below photo of him skiing down while Joe was climbing up.

The climb back to the top of the Cirque patch didn’t take too long, and Joe and I decided to wait for Dan so the three of us could ski together on the second lap. After a few minutes (and after enjoying the rest of my beer), Dan arrived and we headed down a little bit later. Dan took the camera and shot some photos of me as I headed down, including the two shots below.

Partway down the patch, I stopped and took the camera back from Dan, before skiing down a ways further to setup and shoot some shots of the skiers as they came down.

We skied down to the bottom of the patch again, and then regrouped there to discuss the plan. I shot a few more pics at the bottom of the patch, including one looking back up at our turns. After a quick conversation, we agreed that the snow wasn’t so good that we wanted another lap, so we decided to head over to the Rope Tow patch to ski that.

I had another beer in my pack that needed to be drank, as well as another drink that I’d found on the way up. It seemed like a good time to bust it out, so I grabbed the smooth tasting Cold Chillin’ Vanilla Cream Ale from Wild Ride Brewing and snapped a picture of it before chilling it in the snow. I have to say, it might be one of the better tasting beers I’d had in awhile.

A few minutes later, we were standing at the top of the Rope Tow patch with skis and boards on, ready to rip some more turns. I dropped in first, and the snow was much better here than over in the Cirque. I caught several pics of Joe and Dan as they headed down, including the shots below. Lower down, Dan took the camera and took a few photos of me as well.

From the bottom of the Rope Tow patch we made the short hike over to the last snow patch above the road, and enjoyed the final turns of the afternoon. I caught a pic of Joe sliding down the final few feet, right back to where we left our approach shoes!

At the end of the snow, we transitioned back to shoes for the hike down, and Dan and I split the drink that I’d found on the hike up, an interesting tasting Grapefruit Paloma from Craftwell Cocktails out of Corvallis. I can’t say it was my favorite drink ever, but it wasn’t terrible, and free is always nice :).

The hike down to the base was mostly uneventful, with a couple of exceptions. As we neared the bottom, we took extra care not to be noticed by the gestapo and made sure to hop back on the trail and hike the final few hundred yards across the hill to avoid getting yelled at. Everything went well and we made it to the car without getting hassled.

At the car, it felt nice to get out of ski boots and enjoy some fresh garden salsa as well as as a tasty garden salad I’d made the day prior for each of us. Enjoying fresh food from the garden after earning turns is one of the things I look forward to most about this time of year.

After enjoying our fill of chips and salsa, as well as the salads, it was time to call it a day and hit the road home. All in all, it was a pretty great way to kick off August, and I’m looking forward to getting out again soon.