Category: Mt Hood

After watching the snow patch on the south side of Mt Hood dwindle during the month of September, Dan, Joe and I made plans to ski on the 1st of October to give us the best chance to get our turns in. We met at the cop shop in Albany, and made the drive up I5 to Hood. It has snowed a few days before on the mountain, and there was even a few inches at the lodge, but the warm weather and rain from a day or two ago melted most of the new snow away. Even so, pulling into the climbers lot, it was good to see snow on the mountain again…

We went about getting our gear organized, and after a few minutes it was time to shoulder the packs and hit the trail. Hiking up to Silcox afforded some pretty views of the mountain, so we had to stop and snap a few photos along the way…

As we neared the top of the road below Silcox, we encountered some snow on the road, and it looked like it would have probably been skiable a few days ago, perhaps even down to the parking lot. Continuing on, we arrived at the hut a few minutes later, and took a few minutes to enjoy a rest along with the views….

After enjoying our quick rest, it was time to head on up. We changed into ski boots, started booting up the canyon, and cleared some rocks along the way. It looked like we’d be able to ski most of the way back down to Silcox on the return if we played our cards right…

Once we made our way to the mid-station and got a good look at the Palmer, we were all pretty astounded at the lack of residual snow. In fact, beyond one or two really small patches, the Palmer was gone and the only snow was that which had fallen a few days ago. Nevertheless, we worked our way up to the top of the Palmer, and then headed on up above, since the snow up higher looked pretty good…

As we worked our way up, the views became better and better. Off in the distance, Illumination Rock loomed large, and once we got to a point where we could peer down on the Zigzag, we were pretty amazed to see it looked like it had basically melted out completely, sans a really small patch of smooth snow that was perhaps residual.

We continued up, and every time I thought we might run out of snow, we were able to link another patch and continue hiking. I was pretty stoked to be getting up in elevation even with the minimal coverage, and it was beginning to look like we’d have a pretty good day of turns as the snow started softening…

As we headed up above 9,500 feet, the views back to the south to Mt Jefferson and the Three Sister became better and better, and it was pretty awesome to be able to have visibility without the haze of the summer forest fires clogging our views….

We climbed up to just over 9,800 feet and decided to call it, and found a nice spot to drop our gear and enjoy a well earned break a few feet away from the climbers trail and the White River Glacier. After getting my beer on ice, we took a little walk over to the ridge to check on the health of the White River after a scorcher of a summer, and as suspected, it was looking pretty bad… 

We stood there and admired the views, barely believing our eyes with how much ice had melted. Looking up at the headwall, it was melted down to bedrock in the middle, and the gap between the headwall and the rest of the glacier was huge…

After soaking in the views of the glacier, it was time to head back to our packs and crack open an cold one before doing what we’d come for. I pulled out my now ice cold beer from the snow and cracked it open. This day’s beer of choice was a Cosmic Cold Brew Stout from Block 15 Brewing Co, and it definitely was what the doctor ordered.

We sat around for about 20 minutes or so, enjoying the views, drinking our beers, and getting stoked on the turns. Finally, when our beers were gone, it was time to drop and enjoy the turns. I headed down first, and set up to shoot some shots of the skiers.

The snow was really nice, having corned perfectly for some pretty sweet turns. We ripped nice turns back down our boot track, linking the patches without having to take the skis with one or two exceptions.

We continued picking our way down, enjoying the nice sliding as we went, and then Dan grabbed the camera and fired off a few shots of me getting some of the action. I was on my favorite rock board — my DIY Jamie Lynn Lib, and it didn’t disappoint….

A little farther down, I grabbed the camera back from Dan, headed down a few hundred feet below the skiers, and set up to shoot some more shots as they headed down. This time I zoomed in a bit more, and captured the below images of Dan and Joe enjoying the corn harvest…

The turns above the Palmer seemed to go on forever, I think in part because we climbed a long ways up above the Palmer, but also because the snow was holding in the gullies. Instead of being able to ski a wide open snowfield like would be possible in May, we were a bit more confined, but it made it all the more fun. Instead of skiing a slope, we were skiing the mountain, and all of it’s fun features, like the gully in the first picture below…

We kept making turns and taking pics, working down to above the top of the Palmer. The snow about 500 feet from the top of the Palmer was choice, and we milked the turns for all they were worth….

Finally, we made our way to the top of the Palmer, but not before milking the last of the snow above it. I pulled out the camera and snapped one more shot of Dan hopping off a roll over before we made our way down below the top shack…

Once onto the “Palmer,” we started out on skiers right of the lift, and then worked our way down under the lift. As mentioned before, the riding was only on the new snow, and we worked down through the fingers and gullies towards the mid-station below…

We managed to hit one patch of residual snow on the Palmer, and though it was super short, it skied really good. In the second photo below, you can see Dan enjoying what’s left of the Palmer snow patch….

We navigated our way down to just above the mid-station, and decided it was time for another break. Joe and Dan each had another beer, and I’d saved my can from up above, so we put the beers on ice and enjoyed a quick rest. Joe’s offering, which he graciously split with me, was a tasty Battlestar IPA from the Crux Fermentation Project.

We enjoyed the beers for the next few minutes, and then it was time to head down again. There’ nothing quite like taking off to make turns with minimal snow coverage and a slight beer buzz — it’s really one of the best feelings in skiing.

We worked our way down, connecting snow patches to skier’s left of the main gully. We were able to milk the turns quite a ways before having to take the skis off and walk a short bit…

The hike from on patch to the next went pretty quickly, and before we knew it we were back on the sticks and enjoying some more turns…

We connected some more patches, then ultimately ended up back in the canyon and were able to ski it out to Silcox below. From there, we picked up our shoes, and made a short walk down to the last patch of snow in the Mile canyon. Our boards went back on one more time, and we made some surprisingly good turns to within 500 vertical feet or so of the lodge, satisfied with an awesome day of turns.

The hike down to the car went smoothly, and I even found one last patch of snow to ride — one of the benefits of walking down in snowboard boots while the skiers had already changed over to sneakers. Back at the car, it felt good to change into shorts, and bust out the chips and salsa and get the ‘brats on the grill. They were ready in short order, and we made short work of them, gulfing them down in no time after a big day of turns. Overall, though there wasn’t much snow on the mountain, what there was was in pretty good shape, and this October day will be one not soon forgotten. Below is an apres’ ski picture, as well as a parting shot from the day….

 

After watching the webcams pretty closely for the previous two weeks, it looked like the Palmer patch was holding on, so Dan, Joe and I made plans to head to Mt Hood on the 1st in search of September turns. We met at the cop shop in Albany, piled into Dan’s Tesla, and after a quick stop in Sandy to charge, arrived in the parking lot around 8:30 am. We shouldered packs and hit the road to Silcox just before 9:00 am, and started up. As usual, the views from Mt Hood didn’t disappoint…

The hike up was quite warm, and before long we were all in shorts, trying to keep cool. A bit later, we arrived at Silcox and took a quick break to get a snack and refuel. Just around the corner from the hut, we were pleased to see snow in the canyon that looked like it was skinnable, at least for part of the way up…

 We were able to skin up about two-thirds of the way to the Palmer mid-station, and had to walk over dry ground the remainder of the way to the mid-station. Once at the mid-station, the conditions were looking pretty bleak, but we knew there was some snow out there somewhere….

We worked our way up and over to the snow, and found a suitable place to stage for a few minutes, as well as put our beers on ice. The snow above us looked to be in okay shape, so we headed up after having a few sips from our now frosty cold beverages. My beer of choice for our first lap was a tasty Alpine Trail Pale Ale from Plank Town Brewing Company in Springfield, Oregon.

The hike to the top of the Palmer went quickly, given the relatively short distance, and we had to stop about 50-75 vertical feet below the top of the lift shack. All told, it looked like we would get about 500 feet of turns or so with each run. We sat around for a few minutes, chatting with a couple of folks we met lower down on the mountain, and enjoyed the view.

Soon though, it was time to do what we’d come for, and we strapped into our bindings. I headed down first, then setup to shoot a few shots of Dan and Joe as they came down…

The first few hundred feet of turns were pretty bumpy, but we managed to get some okay turns despite the bumps since the snow was starting to soften. We skied down to our gear at the bottom of the patch, finished our beers, and then headed back up for another lap.

We skied back down to the bottom, and it was time to pull out our second (and my last) beer for the day to celebrate some fun skiing. Plus, we decided it was worth heading back up for another half lap, so we needed a good refreshment for that:). My second beer was a tasty hazy IPA called Return to Normalcy, from Worthy Brewing, and it definitely hit the spot.

After downing half of our second beers, we made the short, 250 foot hike back up to the top of what we considered to be the best snow of the day, and headed down from there. This time, Dan grabbed the camera and snapped some photos of me enjoying some September corn on the patch…

We enjoyed the turns down to our waiting gear on our third and final run on the patch, and agreed it was the best turns of the day so far. After loading our gear into our packs, we headed down to the middle canyon in search of some skiable snow in hopes of not having to walk back down to the mid-station.

Our hunch was that there would be some snow holding in the middle draw below the Palmer, and our hunch paid off as we found some of the smoothest and best snow patches of the day…

We had to make a few carries, but the snow kept going below the rocks, and we were pretty stoked to continue to make turns down most of the way instead of carrying skis on our backs…

We continued to work our way down the draw until eventually the snow ran out, but our decision was definitely a good one, since our elevation was not just a little below the snow in the Palmer canyon.

The hike over to the Palmer canyon was quick and easy, and soon we were back to sliding on snow again. The snow in the canyon wasn’t anything to write home about, in fact it was pretty shitty, but it still be walking down with skis on the back…

We worked our way down and were basically able to ski all the way back down to the Silcox. Not too shabby considering the amount of snow on the mountain.

Once back at the Silcox, we picked up our approach shoes and decided it was worth sliding on the remaining snow in the Mile canyon. The snow here wasn’t a whole lot better than the Palmer canyon — it was dirtier, but it was less bumpy.

After booting across a few more bare sections, we skied the last patch of snow to within a few hundred yards of our “normal” exit spot in the canyon for the summer. All things considered, we were pretty happy with the amount of skiing we were able to get — pretty much continuous skiing, more or less, from within a hundred feet of the top of the Palmer.

From the end of the snow, it was a short hike back down to the parking lot, and it felt good to unload packs, change out of ski boots, and bust out the food for some apres’ ski activities. I pulled out some fresh salads made the day prior, with all fresh ingredients from the garden, and along with some fresh chips and salsa, we feasted on the season’s offerings, all with a great view of the mountain.

As we reflected on the day, we agreed that even though there was minimal snow, it was still a great time and exceeded expectations, and you really can’t beat that. That said, I really hope it snows in October, or conditions could get really grim for those of us chasing this turns-all-year dream!

After a nice evening of turns and camping the night before, Dan, Joe and I woke early on Sunday morning with aspirations of August turns. All of us ended up with a pretty good night’s sleep at the White River Snopark, and after a good breakfast, it was time to head back up to Timberline. We pulled into the climber’s lot around 7:30 am, and it looked pretty much the same as the day before.

The day looked to be a warm one, so we wasted little time in the parking lot and headed out. The hike up the road to Silcox went quickly, and soon we were enjoying a break from the top of the old Magic Mile chairlift….

After soaking in the views and getting a quick snack, we set back off up the hill. The trail alongside the Palmer lift was our access to the top, and we made good time to the top of the Palmer. Our target was to hit the Zigzag first, then come back for the Palmer in the afternoon, so we headed west towards the Ziggy.

 Once we crested the final pitch that affords access to the Zigzag, I was happy to see the snowfield again. It was looking more like September than August, and I shuddered to think what it would actually look like a month from now. Nevertheless, we took the skis off our packs, and started skinning up, ultimately ending up at a high point somewhere around 9300 feet before the snow petered out…

At the top, after snapping a few photos, we took a well deserved break and enjoyed a sandwich with a view. A few minutes later, we were rested and ready to drop in. I headed down first, and set up to shoot some shots of the skiers. The upper few hundred feet of snow were pretty suncupped, but both Dan and Joe made it look easy as they skied down…

After several hundred feet of turns, Dan grabbed the camera and returned the favor for me, shooting several shots as I rode down, including the two below….

We continued working our way down the snowfield, and once we hit about 8500 feet the snow quality improved quite a bit. At this point, we could really open up the turns, and enjoy the corn snow to the max….

As we continued to descend, the snow seemed to get even better, as it often does on the Ziggy. The turns below 8000 feet were really nice, and we continued working our way down, swapping the camera back and forth and shooting pictures as we descended….

As we approached the bottom, the conditions really reminded me of a quality ski we had back in September 2018. In fact, the day before, I had checked out the snowfield on Google Earth, and the digital imagery was shot one day after we skied it, and you could actually see our turns from space!

As we have done so many times before, we milked the snow as low as it would go, enjoying every single turn down to the bottom. Once there, I snapped a few photos, and then we donned skins and headed back up…

We had a bit of a scare on the skin out — Joe took a little slide on a steep headwall — but skillfully positioned his skis to hit the rocks before he did and he came out mostly unscathed. The rest of the skin back to our gear up top went without incident, and I was happy to be back at the pack where my beer was on ice. My beer of choice for the day was one of the best beers I’d had in a long, long while — a super tasty Blood Orange IPA from Daft Badger Brewing I picked up while on vacation with the family in Coeur’dAlene a few weeks earlier.

I decided to enjoy my beer at the top of the Palmer, so I stuffed it back in my pack and took a few swigs of Dan’s Ninkasi before we headed out. We made the dusty, dry trek back to the top of the Palmer, and I was happy to see nobody around as we walked up to the top shack. I put my beer back on ice, and it was good to go a few minutes later and I thoroughly enjoyed it. After a bit of BS, it was time to strap back into the bindings again and crank some smooth turns on the groomers…

Halfway down, Dan grabbed the camera and started shooting. The snow was really choice, and we ripped the corn down to the mid station…

At the mid-station, it was a bit of a no-brainer to head back up for another lap. Dan and Joe left their packs at the bottom, and I kept mine as we skinned up for another run. We dropped in as before, and the turns were still sweet….

We worked our way back down to our packs, then headed down below the mid-station for some fun in the Palmer canyon. Unfortunately there wouldn’t be any fresh corduroy since we were a bit earlier than yesterday and the groomers were still parked below, but the smooth snow was still pretty damn nice!

We continued down the Palmer Canyon and into the Mile Canyon, and like the day before, enjoyed the turns all the way down. I snapped a few photos of the skiers on the way down, but mostly just enjoyed the riding. Near the bottom, we had to wait for a couple of cats to pass, then skied down to the very bottom…

Once at the end of the snow, we made the short hike back to the parking lot to enjoy some great apres skiing. On the menu for the day were some garden fresh chips and salsa, as well as a tasty garden salad with all the ingredients. Sitting in the parking lot, basking in the sun as well as in the glow of the awesome day we’d just had, we were all stoked on the day, and looking forward to some more turns in the near future!

August was quickly approaching, and given the meager snow conditions in central Oregon, Dan, Joe and I opted to bail on our scheduled trip into the Middle Sister and instead head to Mt Hood for a couple of days of riding. Dan arrived at my house at noon, and we loaded up gear and headed out shortly thereafter. Traffic was decent on I5 with only one major slowdown, and we arrived in the climber’s lot a little after 3:00 pm, where Joe was waiting. To all of our surprise, it started to rain as we got out of the car, but it quickly turned to a mist and then stopped a few minutes later.

We shouldered our packs, carried our skis, and made the short walk up the trail to the snow’s end. Given the hot summer, I was pretty stoked at how far down the snow went in the canyon —- it would only be a couple hundred yard walk to the parking lot.

We started skinning up the Mile Canyon, and made it about half way up before getting hassled by ski patrol who told us we weren’t allowed to skin in the area even though it 4:00 pm and well after they were closed. It looked like they were taking down the last camp, and had quite a few cats running. We agreed to skin to the side and avoid the cats and headed on up, working our way into the Palmer Canyon, then onto the Palmer proper before making our way to the top around 6:00 pm.

Although it was quite a different experience than sitting at the Prouty Saddle on July 31st like we’ve been accustomed to, we all knew the turns would be better here on this day. We put our beer on ice, then set about removing skins and getting ready to ski down. My beer of choice for our run was a tasty Hazy IPA from Full Sail Brewing Co.

After enjoying our beers and a quick snack, it was time to drop in. I headed down first, and made some pretty sweet turns on the upper Palmer before setting up to shoot some shots of Dan and Joe as they came down…

Halfway down the Palmer, Dan grabbed the camera and returned the favor, shooting several shots of me harvesting the evening corn, including the ones below…

At the mid-station, we were stoked to see a groomer coming up with his tiller down, laying a nice track of corduroy behind him. We waited for him to pass, and then it was game on!

We skied down to the intersection of the Palmer and Mile canyons, and enjoyed the grooming all the way down. Unfortunately, the Mile wasn’t groomed, but it still skied really nicely in the soft snow and cat tracks.

We waited at the top of the Mile for a few minutes for one of the many cats to pass, then headed down, skiing all the way back to the end of the snow a few hundred yards from the lodge.

At the bottom of the snow, we made the short walk back to the cars, and celebrated by enjoying a cold beer in the parking lot. My second offering was a Summer Honey seasonal ale from Big Sky Brewing Company.

By the time we had the gear loaded in the cars and our beer drank, it was time to think about a spot to camp for the evening. After looking around, we settled on the White River Snowpark, which I like due to the really nice view of the mountain. Once we had our camp setup, we cooked up some tasty brats for dinner, before hitting the sack in anticipation of getting August turns in the morning. After bidding the skiers goodnight, I crawled into my Outback and fell asleep shortly after my head hit the pillow, stoked from a great day of turns on the last day of July.