After one of the hottest July’s on record, August finally arrived and Dan and I decided to head up to Mt Hood to get some summer turns in. We left the southern Willamette Valley early, and arrived in the Timberline parking lot around 8:30 am to find conditions on the mountain looking more like September than August.
It was already warm in the parking lot as we set about getting our gear organized, and a few minutes after 9:00 am we shouldered packs and headed up the trail. Conditions were dusty, but we made good time up the trail, eventually working our way up to the ridge over looking the White River Glacier.
The White River looked smaller than in previous years, and it was obvious the warm summer had taken it’s toll on the glacier. Dan and I both mused what it might look like in September or October if the weather didn’t change. We kept booting up the ridge, and soon came to the top of the Palmer. Another 5 minutes of hiking put us on the lower section of the White River snowfield, where we switched out of hiking shoes. The spot we stopped was adjacent to a large crumbling crevasse, which may have been melting from the inside out, and it made for a good shot to shoot a few pics….
After snapping a few photos and catching a quick bite to eat, we booted up the White River snowfield, staying on climber’s left to steer clear of the crevasses. The snowfield itself didn’t look to fun in terms of skiing, being dirty and rather bumpy. Around 9300 feet, we decided it was worth traversing west across the rocks to see what the Zigzag looked like. 15 minutes later we found the answer…..it was money!
Dan clicked into his skis, and I strapped into my board, and we dropped in. Dan snapped a few photos of me ripping the corn, and I returned the favor shooting a few pics of him a little further down…
The snow was pretty sweet on the upper slopes of the snowfield, but as we descended, it became even better and turned into some of the smoothest, most perfect corn we’d shredded all season.
We continued to milk turns, skiing down around the bend of the Zigzag to an elevation around near 7000 feet for a total vertical on the run of somewhere around 2300 feet. Not bad given the overall snow conditions in the Oregon cascades this summer.
At the bottom, we enjoyed a well earned beer — my choice was a Pineapple Kush from Cascade Lakes Brewing Co. — and then started the long boot back up. It didn’t take too long, and we worked our way over to the top of the Palmer for an exit ski out to the car.
The lifts had closed an hour or so earlier, and we sat around up top for a few minutes to enjoy the views before dropping in for some more turns. It’s always fun ripping the summer snow on the Palmer snowfield, and I snapped a few pics of Dan as we cruised down.
The snow below the Palmer in the Mile Canyon was a bit on the slushy side, but we weren’t complaining. Both of us were stoked that the snow extended down to a few hundred vertical above the lodge, and took full advantage…
Once we made our way to the bottom, it was a short hike back down through the tourists to the climbers lot where cold beer, garden salads and fresh salsa was waiting. Changing out of ski and snowboard boots sure felt good, and it was nice to sit in the parking lot in flip flops, shorts and t-shirts. All in all, both of us were stoked on how the day exceeded expectations, and were already looking forward to September and what it would bring.
