Even though the calendar said it was November, the weather felt more like late September. With sunny skies and warm temps in the forecast, Dan and I headed up to Mt Hood with hopes of scoring some fall corn. Travel up I5 went smoothly, and we pulled into the climbers lot around 9:00 am. In addition to the weather, the mountain looked more like September than November as well.
We set out on the road towards Silcox, and it was fairly warm already, which meant the snow had a great chance of corning on the Palmer. As usual, the views south of Timberline Lodge and beyond were as scenic as always…
We worked our way up to Silcox and then the bottom of the Palmer. It was easy booting to the top of the Palmer, and we chatted up a cat driver for a few minutes before heading up a bit further. The snow above the Palmer was a bit on the rough and dirty side, so after a few hundred feet we decided to call it.
We took a deserved break to enjoy the views, eat a sandwich and re-hydrate, and then it was time to rip. I headed down first, and made some enjoyable turns on the soft, dirty snow, and Dan followed as I shot pics….
We worked our way down and then onto the Palmer, where the snow improved considerably. Dan grabbed the camera and took a few shots of me, and we enjoyed prime corn turns down to the bottom.
The snow was in good shape, so of course we headed back up for another lap. The boot went quickly, and soon we were back above the top of the Palmer, enjoying the views back to the south of Mt Jefferson and beyond….
Our beer, which we’d stashed earlier, was now ice cold after being submersed in the snow for 45 minutes, and went down smooth. My beer of choice for the day was a 20 oz. Dale’s Pale Ale from Oskar Blues Brewing. After downing our beers in quick fashion, we were both a bit tuned up for our second lap, and felt like heroes ripping the smooth corn on the snowfield…
I ripped big fun turns halfway down the slope, then grabbed the camera from Dan and snapped several shots of him skiing the November corn.
At the bottom, we both agreed that a third and final lap was in order, and this time without packs. We booted back up the slope to a few feet shy of the top, and let ‘er rip one more time.
The snow on the third lap was equally as nice as the previous two, and maybe even a bit softer. We milked the turns down to the bottom of the Palmer, and regrouped where we’d stashed our gear…
At the bottom of the Palmer, we spotted what looked like a finger of snow on skiers left that went way down through the gullies and avoided the Palmer “canyon” to the west, which had been littered with rocks and dirt on the climb up. We decided to give it a go, figuring we could ski at least as low on this route as we could on our ascent route.
The snow wasn’t the best quality, but for some reason we both enjoyed the hell out of it. Cranking turns through the tight, gritty fingers was pure joy, and beat the hell out of walking. We skied down way lower than we expected, and ended up only a few hundred vertical above the lodge.
At the bottom of the snow, we were both stoked on the day, and made the short hike down the trail and back to the climbers lot, where more cold beverages and good food was waiting…
Back in the lot, we did something I don’t think either of had ever done in November on Hood —- we pulled out the grill and cooked up some brats. Normally, we be hunkered down in the cold, with a few extra layers on, enjoying some chips and salsa along with a cold beer. This day however felt more like September, and the temps were in the mid-50’s at the lodge.
The brats hit the spot, as did hanging in the parking lot in shorts and T-shirts. Even though we weren’t skiing powder, I think both Dan and I counted this as one of our better days of the year, given the uniqueness of skiing corn snow in November on Hood. Winter will be here soon enough, and one thing is for sure — when it comes, we’ll be ready!
