Somehow the summer had blown by, and before I knew it the calendar said August, which meant it was time to head up to Hood for some turns. Joe and Dan were game, so agreed to give Saturday a go. Dan and I met Joe at the cop shop in Albany a few minutes before 6:00 am, and we headed north on I5. We made a quick pit stop for some breakfast items at Joe’s Donut shop in Sandy, and arrived at Timberline a little after 8:30
We organized gear, loaded packs, and set out up the trail from the climbers lot. The climbers lot was as packed as I’d ever seen it, and it was nice to get away from all the commotion. I snapped a picture of Mt Jefferson to the south before we headed out, and then a pic of Hood with some wildflowers shortly up the trail…
We worked our way up the trail, putting some distance between ourselves and the parking lot below. The morning was warm, and any concerns we had about the snow turning to corn were pretty much gone by 9:30. The wildflowers were readily abundant, indicating it had rained some in the past couple of weeks, and made the hike really pleasant.
We made it to the top of the Palmer in just under two hours, and hiked a few feet above the area where a few folks were practicing self arrest as part of a group. We pushed on a bit further, then decided switching from tennis shoes to boots would be a good idea before heading further up the snowfield.
It didn’t take too long to hike to the top of the White River triangle, near the base of the White River headwall. From there, we decided we may as well hike further up towards Crater Rock and see what type of condition the snow finger was — if nothing else it would make for a long descent down onto the Zigzag…
We crossed over the rocks towards the finger, and soon got a glimpse of the snow —- and it was pretty rough. There were quite a few rocks on the surface, and it was dominated by large suncups. We hung out for awhile up top, taking a needed break to refuel, and then decided there was no way in hell we were going to hike back down, so we dropped in…
There were a few decent turns, mixed with mostly garbage, but it was still better than hiking down. That said, none of us were considering heading back up for more. Eventually we worked our way on to the Zigzag snowfield, where the snow smoothed out and the turns became pretty nice…
We continued down the slope, ripping turns on the perfect corn. Ironically, given all the unconsolidated snow we’d skied this season, this was some of the best corn of the year. I snapped some pics of the skiers as they came down by and below Illumination Rock…
The lower we went, the better the snow became. From 8,500 feet on down, we found the best snow of the day, and were stoked to keep on going. Dan snapped a few shots of me as we continued on….
We milked turns down to the bottom of the snowfield, near 7,700 feet — not bad, considering we’d started around 10,000. I caught a few shots of Dan and Joe skiing down the last sections…
At the bottom, the clouds were starting to build higher on the mountain, so we wasted little time transitioning over and started hiking back up the snow. The hike up the Zigzag is always a bit on the mundane side, but soon we were ready to make the traverse back over to the Palmer…
As luck would have it, we were able to ski a short pitch before the traverse, so we made the most of it. I snapped a shot of the skiers heading down, and then it was a short hike back over to the top of the Palmer for a well deserved cold beverage….
While sitting at the top of the Palmer and enjoying a new favorite hazy IPA from Deschutes Brewing, we heard the familiar hum of a couple snowcats coming from below. Soon, one of the cats was moving a healthy dose of snow a few feet away from us on the road above the top of the Palmer. 20 minutes later when his work was done, he headed down and they began grooming the glacier for the next day of skiing — score! We headed down and ripped the smooth snow, enjoying every turn!
Below the mid-station, the corduroy was extra nice — pretty much hero snow. It didn’t take long to make short work of the groomer and get down to Silcox Hut…
The snow in the Mile Canyon was tracked out by the snowcats, but it still skied pretty nicely because it was plenty soft. We were able to ski down below the cats, and ultimately to a few hundred feet above the lodge, making for a pretty decent sum of 5,000 feet of vertical on the day…
At the end of the snow, we shouldered our packs and made the short trek down the trail and back the car, where cold beer, garden fresh chips and salsa, and fresh garden salads were waiting. Sitting in the parking lot enjoying the feast, all of us were stoked on the day, and already looking forward to what September would bring. Until then, here’s a parting shot from the day…
