December 16, 2023 – Hoodoo
After sitting around waiting for winter to arrive for several weeks, I was able to persuade Dan to get out for a day of turns. Our goal was to ski a peak that I’d skied once before a few years earlier, but I didn’t know if it would go or not. We met at Dan’s house early with the goal of finding out, knowing that Hoodoo would be a possible backup option in the event things didn’t work out.
We made our way to the Santiam Pass area and then drove up the road to where we wanted to access our peak from. There was some snow on the road, and it looked promising as we started out on skins. After a mile or two, we got a good look at our objective. Unfortunately it didn’t go. It looked like the warm inversion that had been plaguing the mountains had caused the upper slopes to melt out, so we turned around and enjoyed the slide back down the road, getting a few decent turns along the way.
The ski down the road was a bit crack headed, but we made it back to the truck in one piece with plenty of time to head up and check out Hoodoo. Before we headed out, Dan skinned up a side road and made a few fun turns back down to the truck. We enjoyed a Hazy IPA from Ninkasi Brewing while changing out of ski boots, and then hit the road.
After a short drive, we arrived at Hoodoo and the snowpack was looking pretty dismal — maybe 6 inches for a base? We figured it would go however, and hope was that maybe we could find some soft turns somewhere on the hill. It didn’t take long to get the skins on and soon we were working our way up the slope.
W followed our standard route up and it was quite warm. Before long, we arrived at the top and enjoyed the views of the volcano’s to the north and south. I snapped a picture of Mt Washington looking pretty fine in the early afternoon sunlight with the telephoto lens. It was also a good time to enjoy a cold beer, and my Hippy Haze IPA from Wild Ride Brewing in Redmond hit the spot.
We enjoyed our beers along with the sunshine and views on the summit, and then it was time to drop in. The north facing terrain was pretty firm and cut up from skiers who made turns a few weeks earlier, but I thought the east face might yield some corn so we checked it out.
After the first turn I knew it was going to be great skiing, and immediately I wished we would have come here earlier instead of spending a few hours slogging up and down some out of the way Forest Service roads. Regardless, I enjoyed some choice turns before setting up and shooting a few shots of Dan as he came down.
We skied down the bowl, then cut out early since the lower half was snow free, popping out at the top of Ed’s chair. From there, we were able to find a few soft turns in the sun, but the rest of the ski down was on an icy crust. Even so, it was fun to get out and make turns, and we were all smiles by the time we reached the parking lot.
We made turns right to the truck, and decided to drive up the lot a little ways to find a spot in the sun to enjoy a beer and grill up some brats. It was really warm as we fired up the grill. In fact it was so warm that Dan was able to sit comfortably in shorts and flip flops! A few minutes later, the brats were ready to go, and we enjoyed them along with some chips and salsa to cap off a day that turned out to be pretty damn nice.
After we scarfed down the brats and finished our beers (thanks Jack for the Cold Smokes!), it was time to load up and head out. The temperature was above 55 degrees as we headed down the road from Hoodoo towards highway 20, and although it felt great to sit in the sun and enjoy the nice afternoon, I’m ready for some cold smoke to fly and looking forward to a return to winter!
Protected: December 2, 2023 – Willamette Pass
Protected: October 26, 2023 – The Twins
October 1, 2023 – Mt Hood, Palmer “Snowfield”
October finally arrived, and with it came a dusting of fresh snow, and thank the Lord for that! Dan and I had been watching the remaining snow on Mt Hood’s south side dwindle away on the Timberline webcam during the month of September, and by the middle of the month it was basically gone. Needless to say, we were pretty happy to see some moisture move through at the end of the month which gave us a fighting chance to score some early turns on the 1st of October.
We met at Harrisburg interstate exit early where my wife dropped me off, and after loading gear into Dan’s Tesla we made the drive up to the mountain, arriving a little after 8:00 am. There wasn’t a lot of snow, but it looked like it would go and mountain sure was looking good in a fresh coat of white.
We shouldered packs and hiked up the road to Silcox, stopping briefly when we arrived. Shortly thereafter, we continued on and worked our way into the Palmer canyon. We had to hike a few hundred vertical before we were able to don the skins and continue up without the weight of the skis on our backs, and it looked like we’d be able to negotiate some turns in the canyon on the way down as well.
It felt good to be skiing in fresh snow again, and soon we worked our way up to the top of the Palmer. The clouds had been rolling in and out all morning, and we decided the best odds at the moment were to ski now while we had visibility and then maybe head up above the Palmer later if the weather allowed it. The first order of business was to get the beer on ice before changing over to ride mode, so I did just that after snapping a picture of my tasty Blonde Ale from Chief’s Brew House.
After getting the board put together, it was time to enjoy a few swigs of our beers. I was pretty stoked on mine, especially given that it is brewed literally a few miles down the road from my house. I drank about half of it and then we slipped it behind some snow near the Palmer top shack, clicked into our bindings, and headed down.
I dropped in first and setup to shoot some photos of Dan, and the snow was remarkably good, resembling some pretty smooth corn. The fog gave way after we descended a few hundred feet and then some creamy, sunny turns were to be had.
Both of us were amazed at how smooth the snow was, as well as the fact that there basically wasn’t any residual snow left on the Palmer and we that were only skiing on 4-6 inches of fresh snow over glacial till. If it hadn’t been for the glacial till (as opposed to rocks elsewhere on the mountain), I don’t think we would have been able to link turns.
We worked our way down to within a hundred vertical or so of the mid-station and called it good at that point, not wanting to head down any further for fear of breaking ourselves off in the epic conditions. The decision to skin back up for another lap was an easy one, so we kicked off and headed up.
The skin back to the top of the Palmer didn’t take too long, and soon we were enjoying a quick swig of beer before making the decision to head up even higher since the weather was looking a bit better. We worked our way up to about 9,000 before the clouds and snow conditions made the decision to turn around and easy one and readied to head down. This time, Dan grabbed the camera and shot a few pictures of me as we headed down. Part way down I returned the favor and took a few pictures of him as well.
We worked our way back down to the top of the Palmer, thoroughly enjoying the turns along the way, and made a quick stop to grab our beers, finish them, and then head down. Our second lap turns below the top of the Palmer were equally as good as the first lap, and we threaded our way through quilt-work patches of snow and rocks.
We worked our way down to where we’d turned around earlier, and decided that we saw a path that would work to continue descending with the skis on, so we took it. For the most part it worked fine, and we found some really good turns as well as a few new scratches and dings on our bases.
Once down to the mid-station, we contemplated trying to ski a line outside of the canyon, but it didn’t seem like the best idea so we went with the safe alternative and hiked the skis for 50 vertical or so to where we could continue making turns.
The turns in the upper canyon were quite good, and we only hit one or two rocks as we worked our way down. After a couple of hundred vertical, we had to walk a short patch but were then able to resume skiing.
The last section of skiable snow in the canyon above Silcox skied quite nicely, and we milked it for all it was worth before putting the skis on our backs and traversing out and making the short walk to Silcox to enjoy a second beer. All told, we figured we’d only missed out on skiing about 100 feet between the top of the Palmer and the Silcox — not too bad given the conditions.
At the Silcox, we changed out of ski boots and into approach shoes, got our beers on ice, and enjoyed a well-deserved rest. My beer of choice for the afternoon was a smooth Cast Out IPA from the Crux, and it hit the spot.
A bit later, it was time to shoulder the packs and make the long walk back to the car, but it was made a bit easier knowing we made some pretty sweet turns. The views looking back at the mountain behind us as well as Timberline Lodge below us weren’t too bad either…
Eventually we made our way back to the car, and it felt good to get the packs off our backs. We fired up the grill and enjoyed some chips and salsa as well as a good view of the mountain. A bit later we were enjoying some tasty brats to top off what was already a great day.
Although the permanent snow of the Palmer was sadly gone, the mountain still provided some great early-season October turns, and both Dan and I agreed that this wouldn’t be a day that we’d soon forget. Until next time, here’s a parting shot from the day…
