It seemed like May arrived early this year, and with Hoodoo closing a couple of weeks earlier, it was time for a favorite tradition of dusk patrol turns at the ski area followed by grilling in the sun. Andy and I left work around 1:00 and headed over to Dan’s to carpool up to the mountain. A couple of hours later, we were ready to head out and join Joe, who was already on the hill.
The weather was almost perfect, with nice sunshine and a bit of wind that would calm down later in the evening. We followed Joe’s skintrack, and it didn’t take long to get to the top, where Joe was hanging out enjoying the view. We decided to ski the east face for our first run, and the snow was super smooth dropping in on the rollover.
Towards the bottom, the snow gave way to the manzanita brush, but we found a path to the bottom and enjoyed turns down to the flats below before traversing back around to the front to head up for another lap.
After a short bit of skinning, we regained the top in time to see Todd, who was going to meet us on the hill, heading back through the parking lot to the car. He was one and done after breaking a boot buckle I would find out later. Regardless, it was time for a cold one prior to dropping in for run 2. The drink of choice for the day was fitting — a Hoodoo Voodoo IPA from Three Creeks Brewing.
The second lap down the northwest face of the mountain was fun, but the snow wasn’t worthy of bringing out the camera, so we just enjoyed turns down the face before switching back to skins for one more trip up to the top.
Up top, we finished the remainder of our beers, and took out the telephoto lens to shoot a couple photos of the distant volcanoes. The first photo below is of North and Middle Sisters. It was fun to look out over the area we skied the last couple of years at the end of July and first part of August. The second photo is of Mt Jefferson.
With my photo session over, we strapped in for a final lap back down the east face. The turns were good as we headed out and Dan grabbed my camera and snapped a few photos of me halfway down the run….
On the lower half of the run I snapped a few pictures of Andy ripping up the over-softened snow with Mt Washington and Hayrick Butte in the background. Once we milked turns all the way to the bottom, it was time to ski the flats back to the parking lot and get ready for some apres grilllin’.
Back at the car, after organizing gear and cracking a beer, it was time to get the grill on. We pulled out the burgers, brats and all the fixings and got to work. Honestly this is probably the best part of the trip. The weather was warm and calm — pretty much perfect, and after a few minutes dinner was ready…
We devoured the burgers and brats in short order, and after a bit more relaxing and bs, it was time to head out. Unfortunately, what little snow had fallen this year was melting fast, so it was unlikely we’d get another dusk patrol this year. Not to worry however, more turns will be had somewhere, and before too long it’ll be time to head back to the ‘Doo for burgers, brats and corn in 2019!
