The second weekend in June was one I had circled on the calendar for quite awhile and was really looking forward to for Shaun and I to return to Mt Hood for our 2nd year in a row at the Nuts & Bolts clinic at Timberline on Mt Hood with the National Ski Patrol. We headed out on Thursday afternoon towards Government Camp after Shaun got out of school, and after picking up Atticus in Coburg, we made our way to the condo. We met up with the rest of our crew and then spent the evening wandering about Govy before enjoying dinner at the Huckleberry Inn and settling in for the evening.
The next morning we woke early, enjoyed a quick breakfast at the condo, and made the short drive to Timberline to check-in. I was participating in a sled seminar for the day, and Shaun was free-skiing since there weren’t any SPY specific clinics on Friday.
After gathering and chatting with several patrollers from other areas, we headed to the lifts after the morning announcements and made our way to the top of the Palmer. The weather was absolutely goregous, and as usual I was packing my camera. Dave from the Pass was in my group of 4 to start with, as was a patroller from Mt Hood and Darin Wittwer or “Wit” from Mt Bachelor.
The first run down the Palmer with the Edge was with the unloaded sled, and I shot some pics of the skiers as they headed down. Halfway down, I took a turn in the handles as well. It was nice to get back in the handles again, and cool to be running sleds with such a good view.
We ran down to the mid-station and then loaded the sled to head back up and run another lap, this time with the sled loaded.
At the top of the Palmer, I hopped in the sled, and put on my wide angle lens to get a few shots from my seated position in the sled while Dave drove me down the hill in the handles. A couple of shots below came out well.
We continued to work on sled drills until about 1:00pm or so, and then cut loose for the rest of the afternoon to enjoy some free skiing on the Palmer. I caught up with several of our crew from the Pass and enjoyed some good turns and shooting a few pics.
After spinning a couple of laps on the Palmer, we decided to head up for one last run around 2:00pm and then head down and call it a day. I took some more pics, including the ones below…
After riding down the Palmer, we headed down the Mile and I dipped into the park to ride over a couple of the features. One thing that hasn’t changed in the nearly 25 years that I’ve been riding at Timberline, and that is that they produce an excellent park!
We enjoyed good snow right down to the parking lot, and I headed to the car to change into shorts and flip flops before heading to Timberline with the crew to enjoy a beer at the Rams Head. Shaun elected to stay at the car, but was pretty stoked on a good day of skiing. I ended up enjoying a Gin and tonic with the crew, and walked upstairs to grab a photo of the group enjoying some drinks in the lodge.
A bit later after enjoying drinks, we headed back to the condo and then made our way down to the Ratskellar where everyone from the Nuts & Bolts clinic gathered to eat pizza and enjoy a raffle. I won a nice pair of goggles, and all of us enjoyed some good pizza and beer. An hour or so after hanging out inside, we headed out to get out of the stuffy room where everyone was gathered and to play a few games of Cornhole. Shaun absolutely schooled everyone at Cornhole, including a few folks we didn’t even know.
Eventually after finishing our beers and tiring of Cornhole, it was time to head back to the condo and hit the sack in anticipation of the next day. We woke early again, and after a hasty breakfast, headed up to Timberline. For day 2, Shaun was enrolled in the ski enhancement seminar and I decided to do the snowboard enhancement seminar. I grouped up with about 6 other snowboarders from around the northwest, including folks from Washington and Idaho.
Our instructor Steve, from Timberline, ran us through lots of good drills. We started with working on proper alignment and then got into some pretty nuanced topics. I packed the camera along and took some pics of the crew throughout the day.
We worked on skill drills for the entire day, and then at 2:00pm we headed to the top of the Palmer to enjoy a fun lap on smooth corn out of bounds to rider’s right towards the Little Zigzag area. Steve snapped a picture of all of us before we strapped in, and then we ripped some good corn all the way down before traversing back to the area at the bottom of the Palmer.
I headed back up for one last lap at the top of the Palmer, and then enjoyed 2,500 feet of vertical back down to the car. Shaun and Atticus showed up a few minutes later, and we loaded gear and made our way back down to condo to get ready for a fun evening with the rest of the crew at the dinner in Govy at the Mt Hood ski patrol base. A bit later, we made the short walk down to the tents outside the patrol base and enjoyed a tasty Italian themed dinner. It didn’t take long until our crew was talked into hitting the shot ski, which we did a couple of times. Meghan took the below picture of our crew getting it done…
Eventually, the evening wore on and it was time to head back to the condo and get ready for day 3, so we headed out. Shaun and Atticus wanted a milkshake at the Huckleberry Inn, so we made a pit stop before heading back to the condo and hitting the sack.
Day 3 dawned early, and after a quick breakfast, we packed up our gear and checked out of the condo before heading up to Timberline for a final day of skiing and riding. Shaun was free skiing again for the final day, and I participated in a 350 sled clinic, led by Twig from White Pass.
The weather was looking nice as we headed out, with a few high clouds hanging above Mt Hood and sunshine on the Palmer.
Like the previous days, we loaded the Mile and then shuffled down to the Palmer to take it to the top. I rode the chair with Ian and Jeff (from White Pass), and at the top shack Ian and I grabbed a 350 and drug it out to east side of the top of the Palmer to stage for the clinic.
Twig led a discussion on the nuances of running the 350, and then we made the first run with the sleds unloaded. Subsequent runs were done loaded, and it was fun to practice on a sled that I personally like quite a bit but that we don’t use all that much at the Pass except during deep conditions.
We practiced with various techniques which culminated with performing the wheel barrow (running the sled backwards in case of an emergency), and everyone got a turn in the handles on both ends as well as being ballast in the sled. I shot a slew of pictures during the clinic, and a handful are below…
After several runs of running through bumps and other obstacles, the clinic ended around 1:00pm and Ian and I hooked up with the rest of the crew to run a few laps on the Palmer before calling it a trip.
I finally got to enjoy a couple of runs with Shaun, but wasn’t able to get the camera out to get any shots of him skiing. We did manage to get a picture together at the top of the Palmer, and the below shot was my favorite shot of the trip. A few minutes later, Emily and James unloaded the Palmer chair and Ian snapped a picture of the four of us as well.
Finally, the rest of the Willamette Pass crew showed up, and we got a one of the Timberline patrollers to snap a couple of pics of our group looking out from the top of the Palmer.
After getting our group pic, it was time to shred a few laps with the gang and close the place down. I took photos of nearly everyone as they skied down, including the three shots below of James and Ian enjoying the smooth Palmer corn.
Next up was Raina, who was able to join just for the day. It was awesome seeing how much her skiing has improved over the last couple of years…
Laurie dropped in next, and was a great subject for the camera as she ripped smooth turns down the Palmer…
We enjoyed a couple of laps on the upper Palmer before ultimately heading down a couple of minutes before closing. I snapped a few more photos on our ski out, including the three shots below….
Like the previous days before, we skied right to the parking lot, enjoying the park on the way out and then the nice grooming down to Timberline. At the parking lot, we ran into a couple of friends from Ashland that we met the year prior.
It sure felt good to get out of ski boots and into flip flops and shorts as well as crack open a cold beer. My beer of choice for the afternoon was a cold Kiwanda Ale from Pelican Brewing, and it was perfectly refreshing after a day of riding in the sunshine.
Shaun and Atticus showed up a few minutes later, and Ian brought the cooler out so everyone could enjoy some cold snacks and cold beverages. Meghan was kind enough to take a picture of our crew, and hanging out in the parking lot with a good group of folks and cold beer was the best way I could think of to cap off a great three days of skiing and riding.
Overall it was a great three days of skiing and riding at Mt Hood, and I’m already looking forward to next year’s clinic. Here’s a couple of parting shots from the long weekend…
