Category: Mt Hood

The weekend weather forecast looked good, so Dan and I made plans to head to Hood for some easy south side turns in mid-July. From the webcams, it looked like the snowpack was holding up nice, and we weren’t disappointed when we pulled into the climbers lot and got a view of the mountain…

The cloud deck was hovering just below Timberline all day, and we even had drizzle in Sandy, but above treeline the mountain was basking in the summer sun. We hiked the climbers trail up towards the Palmer, and the summer wildflowers were in full effect…

Above the Palmer, we took a break on the White River Snowfield to eat a quick bite and re-hydrate, when some snowboarders started descending our way. I recognized Jeff Steele as he rode down to us, and it was good to catch up with him and his wife Kelley. Seems like we always meet up somewhere on the side of a volcano! After a good chat, we continued booting up the White River, and traversed over towards the base of Crater Rock. Illumination Rock looked pretty nice against the cloud bank to the west….

At the base of Crater, we made the decision to head up higher, but agreed to pay close attention to the clouds that were starting to pose a threat to visibility as morning shifted to afternoon. Here’s a view looking south from below Devil’s Kitchen….

We punched steps in the final slopes to the Hogsback ridge, skirting a crevasse or two. The east facing snow below the ridge was pretty ripe. Upon reaching the ridge, we worked our way up towards the bergschrund, which at 10,7000 was what we decided to call our high point for the day. The upper slopes looked nice, but the clouds below and the perfect snow were more than enough to persuade us to make some sweet turns….

After soaking in the views, it was time to make turns, and I dropped in first while Dan snapped a few photos of me with my camera. I returned the favor with a few shots of my own from my cell phone, which actually turned out pretty decent…

The snow below the bergschrund was excellent, and each of us had mile wide smiles on our faces when we regrouped above Devils Kitchen. After working our way past the crux point between a couple of crevasses and over a snow bridge, we had to work our way around a group of gumby climbers who had no business being that high on the mountain (basically if downclimbing a 30 degree slope in corn snow conditions is a problem you have no business being on the mountian, but hey it’s Mt Hood, right?).

The snow above the White River Headwall was the only poor snow of the day, and was pretty hideous. Thankfully it only lasted a few hundred vertical, and then we were back to the smooth snow we came for. Here’s a few shots of Dan ripping on the Zigzag snowfield…

We skied down quite a ways on the Zigzag, and stopped to have a beer and eat some food. Unfortunately, my beer decided to blow up in my pack, so I had the good fortune of getting to drink no beer, but still pack the weight and smell like a brewery. Oh well, it was hardly a damper on an excellent day. After our quick break, we made big, high speed sweeping turns down the Zigzag before traversing over to the top of the Palmer….

Gaining access to the top of the Palmer required a very short hike, and then we were able t enjoy the views from 8500 feet. Since the lifts had quit spinning, it was just us and the ravens on the mountain….

At the top of the Palmer, we soaked in the views for a few minutes before heading down for 2400 feet of excellent July turns. I always love riding the Palmer in the summer and fall after the public has gone home for the day…..

It’s such a treat to ski out the Mile Canyon as well. This option hasn’t been available late in the year for the last couple of years, and it sure was nice to ride almost all the way back to the lodge.

Back at the car, we enjoyed some fresh garden salsa, as well as a fatty garden salad. Summer in Oregon is the best.

Wednesday looked like the perfect weather window for November turns, provided enough snow fell at Mt Hood from the recent storm that passed over the Oregon cascades.  I decided it was worth the gamble to take a day off work, and met Joe at park and ride on I-5 early in the morning.  We cruised up the Interstate and soon found ourselves staring at a refreshing sight —- a snow covered Mt Hood.

Stepping out of the car, the temps were cold, and it was nice to experience the winter environment again.  We got our gear in order, donned skins, and started climbing up the road towards Silcox Hut, which was nicely tracked from a snowcat earlier in the morning.  The snow was around 8 inches deep at the lodge, and held that depth up to Silcox Hut…

I always enjoy skinning up to Silcox so much more than hiking, and especially enjoy seeing the rime ice on the roof of the old building after the first real snowfall of the season.  Below is a shot of Silcox under winter’s first coat of snow in black and white….

Once above Silcox, we found skinning on lookers left of the Palmer to be the easiest, and worked our way up the snow filled gullies to the top lift shack.  At the top of the Palmer, we took a quick break for lunch, then continued up under beautiful blue skies.  By the time we reached 9000 feet, the snow depth was somewhere on the order of 18-20 inches, and we were pretty stoked…

The snow between Crater Rock and Illumination Rock looked best, so we headed that way, following the smooth gullies and staying clear of the rime covered ridges.  The snow on the upper mountain was soft wind packed powder, which made breaking trail easy….

The rime on the rocks of the upper mountain on Hood is always impressive in the early season, and such a welcome sight after the long dry months of summer.  Joe and I snapped a few pictures below the Steel Cliffs, but the pictures don’t do justice actually being there in person….

At the base of Crater Rock, somewhere near 10,000 feet, we decided to call it.  Clouds had been rolling in and out of the crater for the past hour, and it looked like the sun was starting to lose the battle for good on the upper reaches.  We hiked over a few feet to the ridge to get a look down into the White River before strapping in for November turns…..

After soaking in the views for a few minutes, it was time to drop in.  I was extra stoked, as the coming turns would mark a turns all year milestone for me — 120 months (10 years) of consecutive riding.  Joe dropped in first with my camera, and made sweeping turns down the smooth snow.  A few moments later, it was my turn…..

We skied the middle of the smooth snow down, working our way down adjacent to our skin track.  I snapped a few pictures of Joe as well, enjoying the November pow…

The snow was good all the way down to the Palmer.  We passed one other skier a few hundred feet above the Palmer, but for the most part nobody else was around on the upper mountain.  It certainly was nice to ride some fresh snow again after months of corn and firn….

At the top of the Palmer we stopped to enjoy a beer and some lunch.  Soaking in the view from the top of the Palmer is always nice, but even with the fresh snow, it was shocking to look out and see how little residual snow made it through the summer — definitely a different look than normal.  After our quick break, it was time to shred another 2500 feet back to the car.  Following our skin track down the Palmer worked best, and the snow quality remained good…..

Once we made it back to Silcox, we followed the road back down to the parking lot.  Riding the road was fast and fun, and allowed us the ability to catch a pow turn or two off the track where there weren’t too many rock sharks lurking.  I captured a few shots of Joe heading down, including the one below….

Back at the car, we enjoyed a well earned beer, as well as some other snacks, including my personal apres ski favorites — fresh homemade salsa from the garden and pickled halibut caught in the Pacific earlier this spring.  Overall, I couldn’t have asked for a better day, nor a better way to log 120 months of turns all year!

“Sunday looks like the day” I said to Dan on the phone.  We were debating on whether to try for September turns on Thursday or Labor Day weekend.  We preferred Thursday, but the forecast for the weekend looked better, so we opted for Sunday.  Dan showed up at my house just after 5:00 am on Sunday, and we loaded the car and headed out.

Driving up I-5, we could see the mountain from Salem and things were looking good.  As we approached Portland, clouds were moving in and I could sense some unplanned weather might be headed our way.  The mountain was shrouded in clouds by the time we reached Sandy and stopped for a donut at Joe’s, and by the time we reached the parking lot it looked like it may actually rain.  Regardless, we packed up our gear and headed up the road to Silcox…

Silcox was visible as we left the parking area, but a few minutes later it was shrouded in clouds.  By the time we reached the top of the mile, it had started to rain.  Bummer.  We continued up and soon arrived at the mid-station of the Palmer, which had exactly zero snow…..

Pushing on, we eventually reached what was left of the snow on the Palmer “Glacier.”  The rain came down harder.  We found some fresh snow left over from the previous storm, mixed in with the residual dirty older snow.

We topped out just below the top lift shack, switched over to ski boots, and started down.  It was raining harder now.  The turns were actually pretty good.  Dan and I took turns snapping a few photos to document the event….

We managed about 500 feet on the first lap, and decided to head back for another.  At the top, we met fellow turns-all-year enthusiasts Jeff and Aaron, and enjoyed some brief conversation while enjoying a beer and continuing to get soaked.  At this point, both Dan and I had come to the realization the weather wasn’t going to improve (despite the forecast) and that we couldn’t get much wetter, so we just enjoyed what we had — a fun time skiing and boarding in September.  The second lap was even better than the first….

We decided to climb back up for a third lap, and milk the day for somewhere around 1500 vertical.  The last lap was great, and so, completely soaked, we headed down the hill for the long hike out over snowless terrain.  An hour or so later, it was sure nice to be in a set of dry clothes, siting in a warm car, and enjoying a cold beer and fresh chips and salsa.  Although it wasn’t epic riding, both Dan and I agreed, we’ll probably never forget these September turns!  Here’s a parting shot from the day…

 

Finding time for turns this summer has almost been as challenging as finding a place to make turns.  On the same weekend my family and I moved into a new house for the first time in 11 years, I headed out with Dan on Sunday the second day of August to try to find some skiable snow to keep the streak alive for another month.

Given the meager snowpack everywhere, we elected to head up to Mt Hood and ride the White River Snowfield.  I called the Timberline snow phone on the way up to the mountain, and it looked like this would be the last day of lift served riding for the season as well.  I didn’t know it at the time, but this would be Timberline’s earliest closing day in some time — maybe ever since they started summer operations.  In the poor snow year of 2005, closing day was August 18th.  Nevertheless, we arrived in the parking lot and found the mountain pretty naked with respect to snow…..

We set out on the trail from the climbers lot, and it was already warm.  I hiked in shorts and a t-shirt, one of only a few times I’ve hiked and made turns in shorts while snowboarding.  After an hour or so up the trail, we came to the overlook of the naked White River Glacier…

With the lack of snow, we were able to keep trail shoes on until we reached the White River Triangle, at which point it was easier to switch to snowboard boots for the climb.  The snow on the White River Snowfield looked fairly decent, but was starting cup out a bit.  Clouds had been forming all morning, and by the time we reached our high point at 9400 feet it started to drizzle.

We took a brief break, and the cloud that had been following us cleared enough that some sun broke through for the descent.  I dropped in first, then snapped photos of Dan as he skied down.

The best turns were on the east side of the snowfield, and we skied as close to the crevasses as we dared.  With all the stress of moving the past few days, it felt good to let my Lib Tech run and make fast turns on the dirty corn snow…..

We found a connector patch of snow and skied down to the dry road bed along the top of the Palmer, before hiking over to sit at the top of the lift shack and enjoy the view and a cold beer.

At the top of the lift, we me of a couple from Idaho who were at their first or second year of doing turns aanll year, and talked about volcano skiing for awhile.  Sitting at the top of the Palmer, eating lunch and enjoying a beer and the view, I reflected back on all the great seasons of riding at Timberline and enjoying the same view in September and October.  I was saddened briefly at the prospect that there might not be any snow on the mountain this year in September, but the thought only furthered my resolve to find snow in this leanest of years and continue the streak.

With lunch eaten and beers consumed, we dropped in and skied the Palmer to the mid-station.  The snow was really nice, so we headed back up for one more lap from the top.  Arriving at the top, it started drizzling on us — somewhat ironic given the fact that this has been one of the driest and warmest years on record.  Pushing off in the rain, we enjoyed great turns down to the mid-station, ducked the rope, and continued down to within about 300-400 feet from the top of Silcox Hut to where the snow turned to ice and then rock, and hiked the rest of the way back to the parking lot.

Sitting back at the car, eating chips and salsa and pickled herring, I was stoked just to get out for a good day of turns in the middle of summer.  Whatever September brings, what will be will be.  I just hope there’s a patch of snow left out there where a few friends and I can have fun and continue this crazy thing called snowboarding year-round.