Category: Central Oregon

Dan and I had been planning on taking Thursday off to make some turns at the Pass, but it didn’t look like the lifts would be turning. Not to worry, we threw in the packs and skins and headed up to the Pass early, leaving Dan’s around 6:00 am. The drive up went quickly, and we stopped off at Gold Lake to change into ski boots and gear. After a quick chat with Jensen, who was also heading up to make turns, we made the short drive to the Pass, dug out a spot to park the truck, and headed out.

There was about 6-8 inches of fresh, heavy snow at the base, and it took us 20 minutes or so to shovel out a spot for Dan’s Toyota. Then, after a quick jaunt across the highway, we followed Jensen’s skin track up Timburr Glades…

The snow on the front side of the mountain was in decent shape, but there was a pretty firm crust under the new snow from the the rain from a few days earlier. Once we topped out at the top of High Lead, we decided to head over to Peak 2 to see if we could find some better conditions.

As we made our way over to Peak 2, the snow felt better, and when we arrived at the top, there was about 10 inches of fresh and it appeared there wasn’t the persistent crust that was on the front side. The snow stake was at 42 inches, and we wasted little time ripping skins and making our first run down Northern. I dropped in first, and the turns were really nice, and Dan followed as I snapped a few pics…

We worked our way down to the bottom of the run, and the coverage was excellent. At the bottom, we were both stoked, and quickly transitioned over to skins and started up Escalator. The wind was ripping up Escalator as we headed up, and soon we worked our way to the top and up Boundary.

Back at the top of Peak 2, it was time for a snack, and also time to enjoy the beer we’d put on ice a little earlier. My beer of choice, and also Dan’s since I brought one for him, was a super tasty Big Winter barley wine from Good Life Brewing. The notes of caramel and chocolate definitely hit the spot, and we enjoyed a few drinks before putting them back on ice so we could enjoy another run.

Northern was so good on the first lap that we decided a second was in order. This time, Dan grabbed the camera, and took some shots of me as I ripped through the powder. As before, we made turns down to the bottom of the run, then headed back up our skin track, which was mostly filled in, back to the top of Peak 2.

Back at the top, we took another brief break, and enjoyed some more of our beer before heading out for a third lap. For lap three, we decided to head down and check out June’s Run, which proved to hold even better snow than our first two laps.

We took turns with the camera shooting pics of each other making turns though the primo pow, and worked our way down June’s and then over to the lift line for some more turns before traversing over to the Northern/Escalator runout.

We put in a skin track back up to the base of Northern, and then back up our existing, and yet again filled in, skin track up Escalator.

Back at the top of Peak 2, we enjoyed what was left of our beers, and decided that one more lap on June’s was in order. For our fourth lap on the backside, we determined the snow was as good or better than it had been all day.

Like before, we skied out to the bottom, traversed over to our skinner, and headed back up one more time to the top of Peak 2. At the top, we collected our gear, and headed over to the top of EPA. After spending all day in the wind and snow, we were a bit cold by the time we reached EPA, and decided a brief stop in the patrol bump shack was in order. It sure felt good to take a nice break in the shack with the heater going to warm up and dry out some of our gear…

After enjoying a warm space and a good break, it was time to head down the front side for some more turns and then make our way back to the truck before the light waned too much. At the top of EPA, we stepped into our bindings and poked over towards RTS to check it out, but it was super wind scoured and the wind was blazing, so we opted to ski Success, which proved to be a good choice…

Success was in superb shape, and the snow was fast. We did hit the crust we’d encountered on the skin up, but only a couple of times, and both of us were super happy with the run when we got to the bottom. After skiing Success, we cruised down George and the turns were awesome — reminiscent of some of our April days from years past after the Pass was closed and after a big cold, late season dump.

At the bottom, we made our way back to the highway quickly, and then over to the truck, which had 4-6 inches of fresh cold snow on it. Clearing it off didn’t take long, and then we headed back down to Gold Lake to grill some ‘brats and enjoy a cold beer. As usual, both the ‘brats and the beer hit the spot, and made for a great way to end the day. I washed my brats down wiht a tasty Orange Kreamciscle Ale from Pelican Brewing, and soon it was nearly dark and time to hit the road.

The drive down to Oakridge was uneventful, but after Oakridge it turned into a bit of a mess. A five car pile near Dexter involving a hay truck had sent several folks to the hospital, and the road ended up being closed for about three hours. Rather than sit on the highway, we decided to head back to Oakridge to Jensen’s house, and were able to visit with him and Hilary for a couple of hours until the road opened. It was good to catch up with Jensen, and even though we didn’t get home until around 10:30, it was still a superb day getting some earned pow turns in at the Pass!

The weekend was shaping up to be a snowy one, so I made plans to head up to the Pass on Saturday to get some afternoon turns in, with the idea of staying at Dan & John’s cabin and making turns again on Sunday. The forecast was calling for up to a couple of feet of snow by the end of the day Sunday, so I was optimistic when I left home around 9:30 after enjoying a hearty breakfast with the family. After a quick stop in Oakridge to get a snow brush for the truck after leaving mine at home, I pulled into the lot a few minutes before 11:30.

Some of the candidates were training on-the-hill OEC skills with Laurie, and Dan was helping as well. After checking in with him, he indicated that he and Joe would be heading up around 12:00 pm or so, after running back down to the cabin and picking up Joe. Since I was already booted up and ready to go, I decided to head up to check things out. I was a bit let down with the conditions — there was only about 7 inches on the ground, but at least it was snowing. I worked my way up KP and followed a skin track up to the base of Eagle’s.

I started up Eagle’s and it looked like it would go, but the snow wasn’t deep. About half way up, I saw the skier who made the skin track ahead of me as they started down. I gave them a nod as they skied by, and I found out later that it was Quin (after talking with Dan & Joe). I worked my way up to the top of Eagle’s, and checked out the tree farm on my way towards the top. From there, I decided to skin over and check out the Peak 2 conditions. There was about a foot of snow at the snow stake, give or take an inch or two, and I skinned out to see if anything looked doable. After checking out Waldo, I decided it and Northern weren’t worth it, and headed back to the lift shack to change over to board mode.

I decided to drop into Boundary, since the coverage looked so-so, with the plan of heading back towards EPA afterwards and linking up with Dan and Joe. I stepped into my bindings and dropped in, and made less than fun turns down to the top of Escalator before calling it. Reflecting back on it, it was probably one of the worst runs I’ve ever had at the Pass — basically every turn was either hitting rocks, stumps or small bushes. Somewhat dis-satisfied with my turns, I skinned up and headed up kris-kross back towards Peak 2. Once at the bump shack, a quick call to Dan confirmed that they would be up in about a half hour, so I settled in and had a sandwich, and drowned my sorrows with a tasty 10.5% Minutes After Midnight Imperial Stout from Coldfire Brewing.

A few minutes later, I was feeling a bit better about the day by drowning my sorrows, and then Dan and Joe showed up. I was happy to see them, and we drank our beers while they ripped skins.

A few minutes later, we made the short walk up to the top of EPA. After talking it over, we agreed the plan would be to ski KP down, since it looked like it would be the only safe way down. Apparently Eagle’s had lost most of it’s snow up to due to the high winds, and it was down to dirt, so KP would have to do.

We shoved off and started down, and the snow was pretty good, even if it only was 8-10 inches over absolutely no base. We worked our way down the run, and I snapped a few pics of Dan and Joe as they came down.

Partway down the run, and below Eagle’s, we stopped to regroup after Dan went down from hitting something lurking under the meager snowpack. A few moments later, we were back on track and making wiggles down the run. Given the low snow depth and shallow slope angle, wiggles was about all we could muster…

We skied down to the base, and right to the parking lot, which is always a treat. We chatted with Laurie, Rob and Ian, who were just heading out after working with the candidates on OEC skills, and then headed out.

A few miles down the road, I pulled into the cabin behind Dan and Joe, and we settled in for the evening. The first order of business after getting the gear on the drying rack and making a fire was to cut a round off a big log behind the cabin. After that, we enjoyed some brats, as well as another beer. This time, my offering was a tasty Lights Out Stout from Worthy Brewing.

The remainder of the evening was spent enjoying the warmth of the fire, good company, and conversation about how much it might snow and where to ski tomorrow. As I settled into my sleeping bag, I reflected back on the day, and although it definitely wasn’t one that exceeded expectations, any day out touring and skiing isn’t bad. Soon thereafter, I feel asleep, dreaming about deep pow and what the following day might bring.