After enduring countless days of smoke filled air in one of Oregon’s worst fire season’s on record, I was happy to be heading to the mountains with Dan and Joe for some September turns. A recent rain event had cleared the air, and we pulled into the climbers lot around 8:30 am. The mountain looked good, as did the coverage…
The air was crisp, and it felt like Fall. After going through the gear, we shouldered packs and headed up towards Timberline Lodge, opting to take Mile Canyon approach rather than the White River since the lifts had quit spinning the previous weekend…
I was pleasantly surprised to see snow all the way down below the spot where the snowcats normally park, which meant turns all the way back in the Mile Canyon would be possible for the first time in September since 2014. We started skinning at the first snow, and before long had made our way up to the Palmer Canyon…
At the top of the Palmer, we made the decision to head up the White River Snowfield, which was looking to be pretty smooth. Dan and Joe had skied it a few weeks earlier, and it appeared the rain had smoothed it out quite a bit. A short bit later, and we made it to Beer Rock at around 9300 feet. Sitting there enjoying the views, we could look out to the south and see the Whitewater Fire still burning in the Mt Jefferson area.
Sitting at the rock, a few butterflies flew by, and reminded me of the epic California Tortoiseshell migration a month earlier on the Middle Sister. Soon, after enjoying the views and eating a snack, we prepared to enjoy some of those September turns we’d come to get. Before we set out, Joe snapped the below picture of me looking to the south…
To gain access to the good snow, we had to negotiate through a finger of snow that was less than stellar. Once in though, the quality was excellent. I rode down first and found a suitable spot to snap a few pictures of Dan and Joe enjoying some turns….
We worked our way down the snowfield, taking care not to ski too closely to the open crevasses, and eventually made our way down to just below the top of the Palmer. A short carry brought us up to the top shack on the Palmer snowfield, where we took a quick break to enjoy a beer and snap a few pics….
The Palmer was in excellent shape, even though it hadn’t been groomed in a week since closing day on Labor Day. This time, I dropped in while Joe snapped a few photos of me as I ripped the perfect September corn….
Partway down the snowfield, I grabbed the camera back and returned the favor, snapping some pics of Joe. I had my telephoto lens on, and it works great for getting in close to the action. The grin on Joe’s face says it all about how good the snow was….
We skied down to the mid-station, and it was so good we had to head back up for another lap. 20 minutes later, we were back on top enjoying the rest of our beer and readying for another round of turns. As expected, the snow didn’t disappoint….
The exit ski out the Palmer Canyon was superb. As Dan put it, it was probably one of the best September ski’s ever. The snow was perfectly corned, and the coverage was excellent.
The Mile Canyon skied nicely as well. There were a couple of “crux” spots, but overall, we found smooth but dirty snow all the way down to below the snowcats.
At the bottom, we were all stoked on the day, and looking forward to a cold beer and an assortment of the season’s offerings to grub on. The hike down the trail went quickly, and soon we were back at the climbers lot.
Sitting there in the warm sun enjoying a cold beer, eating fresh salsa (both an onion salsa and regular garden salsa) along with pickled Chinook salmon caught on the Pacific, I must admit that life really doesn’t get much better…
As we loaded up the car and got ready to make the drive back to the southern valley, we all agreed, this September’s ski was one that would not soon be forgotten!
