Category: Trip Reports

The months of April and May were super snowy this year in the Pacific Northwest, and for that I’ve been really thankful. That said, I jumped at the opportunity to head out with John and Joe to get some corn snow turns in on a peak I’ve always wanted to explore — Belknap Crater. Given some challenging logistics, I met up with Joe, John and John’s friend Dennis at the snow gate on 242 around 6:30 am. It didn’t take long to load our packs, hop on the bikes, and head out.

The plan was to meet up at the trailhead, since John and Dennis had electric bikes and Joe and I were on pedal units. John and Dennis were planning to camp (Joe and I weren’t), so the plan was to be ready to hit the skin track about the same time since they were setting up camp first thing. Joe and I took off from the cars first, and it didn’t for John and Dennis to fly by us without even having to work for it!

The ride up the hill was quite pleasant, and quite a bit easier, at least from my memory of it from when I did Black Crate with John a few years earlier. Soon Joe and I made it to the Black Crater trailhead, and then pressed on, working our way through huge drifts of snow before eventually arriving at the top at Dee Wright. Once at Dee Wright, it was a downhill glide all the way to the trail.

At the trailhead, we met up with John and Dennis. Dennis was having an issue with one of his skins (it had failed the day before on the South Sister), and John realized he forgot to load both of their poles on the bike trailer. John was fretting a bit and even though about biking back to the car, but we figured it would kill too much time and give us way to late of a start. Not to worry too much, I found a couple of suitable sticks from a tree near the road that would work. Dennis decided his skin issues were likely going to be too difficult to work out right away, so he told us to head out and that he’d meet us at the trailhead in the afternoon and may just go out for a tour across the lava fields if he could get the skins working again.

With that, we headed out, and quickly gained access to the lava fields and views they afford just a little bit beyond the road. It looked like for the most part that the snow fields were connected, and there might only be one or two spots where the skis would have to come off. Meanwhile, Joe and I had to give John shit on the skin track for forgetting his poles. He earned the name “stickboy” and the joke that was told a few times was “Give a man a stick, he skis for a day. Teach a man to find his own sticks, and he skis for life.” I do have to say though, with the sticks, he looks even more like John Muir.

As we approached Belknap, it became apparent that a pretty large avalanche had occurred on the southeast face of the mountain. We had seen the fracture line from the road, but given it’s placement and location, couldn’t tell what it was and thought it might actually be a snowmobile track. Deciding that the snow on the face might be pretty soft, we elected to head to the north and skin up the ridge to provide a safe route to the top.

Once at the top, we ditched the skis and boards in at the end of the snow and made the short hike to the true summit to take in the views. It was a bit windy up top, but the views to the east, south and west were definitely worth it.

After enjoying the views to the south and out across the crater, we headed down towards the ski gear and found a wind break where we could sit and enjoy the views as well as drink a cold beverage. It sure felt good to bask in the sun while being protected from the wind, and it also felt good to tip back a cold beer. My beer of choice for the day was a tasty Northwest IPA from Dirt Road Brewing, brewed in the town I grew up in – Philomath, Oregon.

A bit later, it was time to strap on the downhill gear and make some turns. We agreed that we were going to come back up for another lap, so I left half my beer in a snow cozy to enjoy on the next go-around. Joe snapped a “sponsor” shot of me up top, and then we dropped in on the north slope for some fun turns.

I dropped in first, and made a few fun turns down before finding a suitable spot to shoot some shots of John and Joe as they headed down. I fired off several shots, and the one directly below of John skiing with two sticks (and one of my poles) cracks me up. He knew how ridiculous it looked as well, as is evident by the sheepish smile on his face.

We worked our way down the ridge and then wrapped on down around towards our skin track below. The snow was pretty good all the way down the ridge, but became a bit sticky lower down. Once down to the trees, we switched back over to skins and headed back up for another lap.

Back at the top, I enjoyed what was left of my beer, and we waxed up our bases for a bit better glide on the way back down. After talking it over, we decided to head over to the south side of the crater and give the south side of the east face a go. We figured the east face may slide with the snow being so soft, but figured we could work our way towards the south ridge if need be and ride next snow/dirt line.

It didn’t take long to get back on the snow, click into our bindings, and work our way to a suitable vantage point to find our line. We decided to ski above the crown face (which was around a week old or so), with the option of traversing south if needed. Joe grabbed the camera, and we headed down. We figured the snow would be overly soft, but it turned out to ski really well.

It was pretty sweep to slay the steep slope, and we hooped and hollered on our way down, working our way to the crown face below. We stopped to give it further inspection, and were surprised that it was almost three feet tall at it’s high point, and probably 2 feet tall across the majority of the face. Given it’s odd location, we figured it must have happened due to a combination of fresh snow and strong winds, followed by warm sunshine shortly thereafter.

From the crown face, we headed on down, enjoying the last few turns on the steep slope, before sliding our way through the trees and regrouping with our skin track from the morning.

The “ski” out from the bottom of Belknap proved to be pretty challenging. For some reason, the snow had a ton of pollen in it, and we picked up a ton of pollen/tar on our bases, making gliding out very challenging. I switched to split ski mode, and we slowly worked our way out to the trailhead. It took nearly as long to get out as it did to get int, but finally we made it back to the bikes, and found Dennis there waiting. Turns out he did get out for a tour, and was able to see us up top of Belknap from the lava fields below. At the bikes, since we weren’t camping, Joe and I hit the road rather quickly, and bid John and Dennis farewell.

We pedaled our way back up to Dee Wright, and opted to stop and check it out for a few minutes before heading on down the road. The views from the observatory were pretty nice, and the cutout notches for all the surrounding volcanic peaks were pretty cool too. They even had one for Belknap Crater.

With our urge to check out Dee Wright satisfied, we headed back to the bikes and pedaled a little more before a great downhill ride back to the cars. The downhill on the bike is kind of like the downhill on the skis — definitely worth it after a grunt on the uphill.

It was getting late by the time we reached the cars, and both Joe and I were hungry, so we headed down the road a short bit to a campground and found a picnic table that worked great to cook up some brats. Before long they were cooking up nice, and I was ready to enjoy another cold beer. The afternoon’s offering was a crisp and refreshing Oceanic Pale Ale from Pelican Brewing.

The beers and brats definitely hit the spot, and we wolfed them down after working up a big appetite biking and skiing. Feeling quite satisfied with the day, it was time to hit the road. Joe was headed to Belknap Hot Springs to meet up with his wife, and I was headed home, so we headed our separate ways, stoked on another fun adventure in the Oregon cascades. Here’s a parting shot from the day…

 

After getting skunked out of good turns last year on a Hoodoo Dusk patrol with a good crew due to thunder and lightening, Andy and I were hungry to head back this year on a good day. After having the invite the calendar for more than a month, and having to keep pushing it out due to weather, I was beginning to wonder if we were going to miss our window again this year. After several weeks of rain and inclement weather, it finally looked like Saturday would be a “go.” I met Andy in the work parking lot early, and we headed up highway 126, arriving to plenty of snow in the parking lot.

We sorted our gear quickly, and grabbed the skis and headed out. After a quick walk through the parking area and by the snow cats, the skins hit the snow and we headed up. It was already getting warm as we headed up above Ed’s Chair, and it didn’t take long to reach the summit and enjoy the views.

Although we had made turns last year on our dusk patrol, we didn’t go higher than Ed’s Chair given the weather. This year, I did manage to get to Hoodoo once with both my boys, but we didn’t get higher than Ed’s either because the top was closed due to lack of snow. So it was definitely good to be back on top of the ‘doo after a couple year hiatus. I set about getting my beer on ice, and then snapped a few photos with the telephoto lens. My beer of choice for this day was a tasty Hazy IPA from pFreim Brewing.

A bit more photography ensued while we got ready to drop in for our first run of the day, and I snapped some shots of Mt Jefferson to the north, and then set the tripod up to capture a shot of both Andy and I on top…

With my itch to shoot some photos from the top of the hill satisfied, it was time to drop in. The snow on the east side was looking pretty smooth, so we decided to head down and check it out. I dropped in first, and setup to shoot some shots of Andy as he headed down and harvested the corn.

We worked our way down the face, and the turns were really nice. We worked our way down towards the bottom, stopping where the slope mellowed and snow started giving way to manzanita brush, then donned skins and headed back up. It was a quick skin up to the top of Ed’s and then back to the top, where my cold beer was waiting.

For our second lap, we wasted little time up top, and decided to hit the east face again. This time Andy took the camera, and headed down while I waited up top. Once he gave me the signal, I dropped in and shucked some really nice corn…

At the bottom, it was back to skins and then back up the skin track for a second time. I snapped a few pics of Andy on the track as we headed back up.

By the time we got back to the top, a few more folks had made their way up and were skiing off the summit proper under the chairlift. Wanting to find an area that hadn’t been tracked yet, we decided to go explore the backside and see if any snow remained.

As luck would have it, there was a decent line on the back that hadn’t been hit, so we strapped in and headed down. The turns were nice, but somewhat short since we made a wrong turn and had to do a bit of brush beating to get back to the snow.

Although our line had decent coverage, the snow was pretty sloppy, so we decided to call it after one run and head back to the top to get one more lap in on the front before heading down to cook up some burgers.

Our final lap provided good, but somewhat sticky turns off the top, and we worked down the face and then on to the mellower slopes below. It was a treat to be able to ski right to the parking lot, and them make the short hike back to the car.

Back at the car, it felt nice to change out of the ski boots and get the burgers going on the BBQ. We had all the fixin’s to go along with the burgers, and it didn’t take Andy long to get the grill smoking. It was also time to throw another beer in the snow to get ice cold. This go around, I enjoyed a Lib Tech Skunkape IRA from Boneyard Beer to go with my Lib Tech DIY splitter.

A few minutes later, the burgers were cooked to perfection, and we were enjoying a moment that I look forward to all year — burgers and beer at Hoodoo!

After relaxing for a bit and enjoying our food and drink, it was time to hit the road and call it a day. With any luck, the snow may hold up until the first part of June at Hoodoo. Until then, here’s a parting shot from the day.

For the second Monday in a row in April, I headed out from work around noon and headed to the Pass, looking to score some fresh snow. The wild April weather was continuing, and this time my plan was to meet up with Joe to see what we could come up with. My drive up highway 58 was uneventful, and and I stopped off at the Waldo road to gear up before heading up to the area. Several inches of fresh snow greeted me, and unlike the previous week, the temperatures were quite a bit cooler as well.

 A few minutes later, I made my way to the Pass and had to spend about 30 minutes shoveling out a spot to park. Joe’s rig was already there, so I pulled in beside him once I had a space cleared out. With all the shoveling, I was plenty warm by the time I hit the skin track. Looking up at ByGeorge, the mountain was looking really nice, especially given how it looked a few weeks prior during closing.

I worked my way up KP, and then up to Eagle’s. Joe’s track was hard to follow, and whenever I fell off of it I could tell. On the frontside there was probably 18 inches of fresh snow, and I knew it was going to be deep on Peak 2. After topping out on Eagle’s, I worked my way up to the top and then over to Peak 2 where Joe was waiting. The snow stake was at 72 inches — considerably more than the 45 inches on closing weekend. After chatting with Joe for a few minutes, I ripped skins and we dropped in.

Northern to Down Under was our first choice, since Joe had skied Northern proper once before I arrived, and it did not disappoint. The snow was pretty blower, about 24 inches deep, and we ripped it to the intersection of June’s. A few more fun turns were had before we switched back over to skins, and headed up Joe’s previously established track, which was mostly filled in.

At the top of June’s, we decided to peel the skins and ski the run instead of heading all the way back to the top shack. It proved to be a good choice, and was easily my best run on June’s this season. Below are a couple of shots of the action…

Back at the bottom of the run, we transitioned back to skins and headed back to the top, following our established track which was pretty much mostly filled in from the new snow and wind. At the top, we headed over to the shack and it was time to enjoy a well earned beer. My beer of choice for the afternoon was a tasty Pale Ale from Buoy Beer Company.

For our next lap, we decided to ski the trees between Down Under and June’s, and it proved to be an excellent choice. The snow was blower and the fact shots plentiful, and at the bottom, both of us were stoked on some of the best conditions of the year. I snapped several shots of Joe, including the two below…

After exiting the trees, we worked our way down the rest of Down Under, and then partway down June’s, before heading back up to do it again. The skiing in the trees was so fine that we decided it was definitely worth another run, so once up top, we ripped skins and dropped in for one more lap on the backside.

We milked turns down through trees to our skin track below, and a quick check of the watch indicated we should probably head back to the front before it got dark. Joe led the way, and we headed up our filled in track one last time…

Once back at the top of Peak 2, we skinned over to EPA for one last run on the day. The amount of snow up top along the ridge and on Southbound was amazing, and the cornice buildup was impressive. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen quite so much snow up top after the lifts closed down for the season.

Once at the top of EPA, we wasted little time getting ready to drop in, and within a few minutes were making turns down towards RTS to check it out. The wind was really hammering — Joe and I estimated gusts of 45-50mph, and RTS was pretty scoured. Success however was looking pretty filled in, which was awesome since just a few days earlier it was nearly bare. We decided to drop in cautiously, and the turns were really nice. A bit lower down, we were able to open it up, and it turn after turn in the white room.

After skiing Success, we continued on down ByGeorge, and were able to ski right to the parking lot. Both of us were stoked on how good the coverage was, as well as the snow quality. This was easily one of the best dusk patrol ski days post-closing both of us could remember.

Once down to the parking lot, we made the short walk back to the trucks through a bunch of fresh snow, and it was time to enjoy another cold one. This time I had a super tasty and aptly named Big Swell from Maui Brewing. The swell in the Oregon Cascades was definitely rising, and it was awesome to be able to get to surf it.

After changing out of snowboard boots and into snow boots, it was time to enjoy my beer and spend another 20 minutes digging the truck out. Even though it’s a bunch of work, there’s nothing better than digging the truck out at the end of a good day! My only regret is that I couldn’t get out of work the next day and wouldn’t get to join Joe and Dan for some more epic turns the following morning.

After digging and clearing the truck of snow, I bid Joe farewell, and hit the road, fully satisfied with one of my best powder days of the year. “Apruary” as Joe called it, was continuing to deliver, and it was a pleasure to be able to experience it. Here’s a parting shot from the day of Joe ripping at the Pass.