After some sweet turns on Mt Hood a week or so earlier, the calendar said it was of August and time to seek out turns again. Dan, Joe and I made plans to head over to Mt Bachelor to check out how the snow patches were holding up early in the summer, and met at Dan’s in the morning before loading gear in his Tesla and heading out. The drive up highway 58 and along the Cascade Lakes highway went smoothly, and we pulled into the parking lot a few minutes after 9:00 am.
It was already getting warm, and after a few minutes of organizing gear we shouldered packs and headed up towards the hill. We got hassled right out of the gate by a gestapo lift ops that informed us we would no longer be able to hike up any of the ski runs because everything was closed for biking. Instead, we could follow a 4.4 mile trail (shared with bikes) to the top of Pine. Whatever, fuck that policy, we headed out up the trail and once out of sight proceeded up the Coffee run, which provided a much more direct (and safer) route to the rope tow patch.
After a bit of climbing, we made our way to mid-mountain and over to our spot where we’d head up. After a quick change out of approach shoes and into ski/snowboard boots, we proceeded up. The first patch wasn’t too long, but the main Rope Tow patch was looking pretty nice.
We set a quick boot pack to the top of the Rope Tow patch, and soon made our way to the remnants of the Rope Tow, before setting our sights on the really good looking Cirque patch. We booted up to the top of the Cirque patch, and then it was time to put a beer on ice to chill it before enjoying a couple of sips. My beer of choice was one I was really looking forward to — a Pacific Northwest IPA brewed by Talking Cedar Brewing. I’d picked this can up a few weeks earlier on a trip to Mt Rainier with the family while visiting guest shop at Sunrise, and it definitely hit the spot. After it was chilled, I enjoyed a few drinks before enjoying some turns.
After stepping into our bindings, Joe and I enjoyed some quality turns down the Cirque patch. Dan, who’d been a bit behind us all day due to hiking a slightly different route up the hill, was just arriving as we headed out for a first lap.
The snow in the Cirque patch went down much further in years past, although it was only August 1st and normally we’re visiting the patch in September or October. Regardless, we enjoyed the skiing although the snow was a bit bumpier than normal for Bachelor. As we set a boot pack up, Dan was skiing down, and I caught the below photo of him skiing down while Joe was climbing up.
The climb back to the top of the Cirque patch didn’t take too long, and Joe and I decided to wait for Dan so the three of us could ski together on the second lap. After a few minutes (and after enjoying the rest of my beer), Dan arrived and we headed down a little bit later. Dan took the camera and shot some photos of me as I headed down, including the two shots below.
Partway down the patch, I stopped and took the camera back from Dan, before skiing down a ways further to setup and shoot some shots of the skiers as they came down.
We skied down to the bottom of the patch again, and then regrouped there to discuss the plan. I shot a few more pics at the bottom of the patch, including one looking back up at our turns. After a quick conversation, we agreed that the snow wasn’t so good that we wanted another lap, so we decided to head over to the Rope Tow patch to ski that.
I had another beer in my pack that needed to be drank, as well as another drink that I’d found on the way up. It seemed like a good time to bust it out, so I grabbed the smooth tasting Cold Chillin’ Vanilla Cream Ale from Wild Ride Brewing and snapped a picture of it before chilling it in the snow. I have to say, it might be one of the better tasting beers I’d had in awhile.
A few minutes later, we were standing at the top of the Rope Tow patch with skis and boards on, ready to rip some more turns. I dropped in first, and the snow was much better here than over in the Cirque. I caught several pics of Joe and Dan as they headed down, including the shots below. Lower down, Dan took the camera and took a few photos of me as well.
From the bottom of the Rope Tow patch we made the short hike over to the last snow patch above the road, and enjoyed the final turns of the afternoon. I caught a pic of Joe sliding down the final few feet, right back to where we left our approach shoes!
At the end of the snow, we transitioned back to shoes for the hike down, and Dan and I split the drink that I’d found on the hike up, an interesting tasting Grapefruit Paloma from Craftwell Cocktails out of Corvallis. I can’t say it was my favorite drink ever, but it wasn’t terrible, and free is always nice :).
The hike down to the base was mostly uneventful, with a couple of exceptions. As we neared the bottom, we took extra care not to be noticed by the gestapo and made sure to hop back on the trail and hike the final few hundred yards across the hill to avoid getting yelled at. Everything went well and we made it to the car without getting hassled.
At the car, it felt nice to get out of ski boots and enjoy some fresh garden salsa as well as as a tasty garden salad I’d made the day prior for each of us. Enjoying fresh food from the garden after earning turns is one of the things I look forward to most about this time of year.
After enjoying our fill of chips and salsa, as well as the salads, it was time to call it a day and hit the road home. All in all, it was a pretty great way to kick off August, and I’m looking forward to getting out again soon.
