Author: Matt

Somehow the winter of 2022-23 kept flying by, and before I knew it April was upon us. Patrol 2 was on the schedule for April fool’s day, so Shaun and I headed up early to prepare for what was shaping up to be a good day. The forecast was calling for several inches of new snow overnight, and by the time we arrived it was looking deep!

There was a least a foot of new, and it continued to snow all through our morning meeting. We headed out the door to the patrol room a few minutes after 8:00 am, and it was clear it was going to be a bit before EPA started spinning. Patrollers were lined up at the bottom of the lift, and I snapped a few pictures before walking up to the race shack to help Brian and Tyler with the fencing.

Walking up to the snack, I knew it was going to be a great day, and with each step we post-holed up to our knees in fresh powder. Tyler took one side and Brian grabbed the other, and we rolled out the fencing and worked to get it setup. I snapped a few pictures of the action, and it was hilarious watching Brian wallowing in the snow.

Brian started on one end and I worked up from the other, and soon we had it setup. We strapped in and made some fun turns back down to the lift, and it sounded like it would only be a few minutes until we were able to load.

The liftline was growing, and once we got the go-ahead for patrol to load, I made sure we let the lift ops know that we wanted to get to the top of EPA to start our avalanche work on RTS before public loaded the chair. 10 minutes later at the top of the hill, I radioed down to dispatch that we had shoved off and that public could load.

I took Anna and Patrick over to RTS with the goal of showing them how we ski cut the slope during avalanche conditions, and Brian, Tyler and Jon headed over to Peak 2 to start on the avy routes on the backside. We eased our way into RTS and were able to get a little snow to slide on the cornice above Success, and one by one ski cut the slope. The snow was surprisingly stable, and after a few traverses across the run we were halfway down and able to ski the side of the run out.

The snow was super nice, and easily one of my top three runs down RTS all season. I snapped several pictures of Anna and Patrick as they headed down, and everyone had a huge grin on their faces at the bottom.

After opening RTS and Ambers, we headed down to the base, rode the chair back to the top, and headed over to Peak 2 to work on getting the backside open. Anna and Patrick hiked to the top to take the lower avy route above Gravity Chute, and I hiked with them with the goal of helping Tyler and Jon on the upper route.

Once at the top of Peak 2, I worked my way over to the upper route and found Tyler on the end of the rope with Jon belaying. I was hoping we would get to see some big slides, but the snow was surprisingly stable given the significant depth, and we mostly got a few larger sloughs to run but no major slabs.

The first belay went quickly, and Tyler and Jon worked to get the second anchor setup quickly to start the second belay. A few minutes later, Tyler was on the rope again and working on the lower half of the route…

We finished the route rather quickly, and radioed to Anna and Patrick that we’d down in the meadow shortly and that they could begin their control work on Gravity.

Once our control work was over, it was time to make some fresh turns in the meadow, one of my favorite parts about doing the avy route. I dropped in first and then setup to shoot a few shots of the guys as they came down. Below is a sample of a few of the primo turns we encountered….

At the bottom of the meadow, I radioed to dispatch that we were ready for the backside to open, and I knew it was only a matter of a few minutes before the masses would descend on Peak 2 en masse. We took a brief minute at the bottom of the chair to catch our breath, help make sure everything was in order with the fencing, and then loaded up for the top.

About the time we reached tower 3 or so, the public came over the roll on Escalator and we could hear the whooping from the top.

At the top, Brian and I met up with Shannon, and we decided to take a run in the trees between Down Under and June’s. It was a great decision, as the photos below show….

We made a couple of more laps on the backside, and then took the avalanche gear back to the aid room. We got busy with a few incidents in the mid-morning, and then I managed to find time for a quick lunch around 1:00 pm before heading out to finish out the day. Brian switched out of his patrol coat since he wasn’t technically on duty for the day, and we decided it was worth riding the trees between Success and Timburr. It was another good decision…

We momentarily lost Brian, and as usual he was already down at the base by the time we decided to call him on the radio to find out his whereabouts. Shannon and I rode down and caught up with him, and then I spun another lap up to the top and headed to Peak 2 to check out the snowcat that was broke down near the top of Escalator.

I finished the day by working tower pads on EPA with Gretchen, and between our work and a few others, we had the whole place looking good by the end of the day.

The rest of the afternoon went off without a hitch, including sweep on Peak 2, upper mountain and lower mountain, and everyone was in a joyful mood for the evening meeting. I pulled out my now famous bean dip from the microwave, and we enjoyed some good food and beers after a great day. My beer of choice for the evening was a very tasty Magnetic Fields from Fort George Brewery.

After a half hour or so of visiting and hanging out with patrol, it was time to close up the patrol room and make sure all the incident reports were in order. When those tasks were completed, I grabbed Shaun and we loaded up the truck. It was still snowing when we left, and was a fitting end to probably my best April fool’s day of turns ever!

Here’s a parting shot of Anna skiing RTS in some perfect powder!

The weekend of March 11-12 started out like many others on patrol, with some fresh snow and expectations of a good day on the hill. As usual, I made the drive up early to the Pass with Shaun, and arrived before 7:30 am to get the patrol room unlocked and ready to go. A short time later, the rest of the crew arrived, and soon after we kicked the day off with our morning meeting.

The plan for the morning was to get a couple of our patrollers who were avalanche certified but hadn’t spent much time on our avalanche route out for some training, and we did just that after opening the front side of the hill. With the saddle closed while we worked to get the route done and the runs open, Tyler, Patrick and I headed out run the route, making the short hike to the top of Peak 2 and then ski cutting our way down one at a time to the ridge above June’s Run.

After working our way along the ridge cutting cornices and getting some snow to run, we arrived at the Nose and pulled out the rope to setup the anchor and ski cut the slope while on belay. Tyler volunteered to go on the sharp end while I belayed, and Patrick took my camera and snapped a few pictures of the action.

After controlling the Nose, Tyler headed on out the ridge and made a few ski cuts, and then we pulled the rope and anchor and headed down to the second anchor point. From there, it was a quick discussion about setting up the anchor system again, and then we skied into the Meadow, following safe protocols on our way to the rendezvous point at the treeline skier’s right at the bottom of the meadow.

At the bottom of the Meadow, we discussed the route, and then headed down to the lift to hitch a ride back to the top. As we were departing, Ian came down through the Meadow, so I snapped a couple of pics as he descended.

At the top of Peak 2, I ran into Silas, Edward and Shaun, and was able to convince them to pose for a picture before I headed down to the base with the avy pack and gear.

While on the way down, near the bottom, a call came over the radio that no patroller wants to hear — a report of an unresponsive skier who collapsed in the lift line at the base. Being that I was just at the Race Shack, I was the closest patroller in the vicinity, so I let the crew know that I would respond, but as Hill Chief I wanted to have another patroller be first on as soon as they could relieve me. Chris radioed that he was near the top of Twilight and would be right down, so I headed down and found one of our Mountain Hosts near the patient in the middle of the lift line on what turned out to be our busiest day of the year. Without getting into details, the patient wasn’t breathing and had a faint pulse (that went to no pulse a couple of minutes later), so I immediately made the call to dispatch and asked for an ambulance and LifeFlight. Long story short, over the next 45 minutes to an hour, a team of patrollers led by Shannon and Chris, as well as a couple of bystanders, provided CPR and much other care and support for the patient before they ultimately left the area via LifeFlight. The rest of the day was spent cleaning up the scene and restocking our BLS packs, documenting what happened, rehashing and debriefing the incident, and getting the hill closed for the day. Needless to say, the incident weighed heavily on everyone who was involved, but all things considered, I was incredibly proud of how our our team handled the situation. From the patrollers involved to the Mountain Hosts that provided assistance to the SPY that closed Sleepy and helped prepare the LZ, everyone did their part. Several days later, we learned our patient would make a full recovery, which is nothing short of remarkable.

The last couple of hours of the day were somewhat of a blur, but we managed to get the hill closed and then had a larger debrief meeting after our regular routine evening meeting. After such a difficult day, I was definitely in the mood for a cold one, and a tasty Shred Kindly hazy IPA from Oakshire Brewing helped take the edge off.

Eventually, it was time to close the patrol room up for the afternoon, and after reviewing the incident reports and documentation, Shaun and I headed down to the valley, exhausted from a long day. The following morning, Shaun was eager to head back to the Pass with a couple of his friends. After the heavy day the day before, I can’t say I shared his desire, but nevertheless we headed up. When we arrived at the patrol room, Patrol 3 was discussing the previous day’s incident and getting ready to open the hill.

With Shaun skiing with his friends, I wasn’t super stoked on heading out immediately, and instead opted to work with Laurie and the toboggan crew who were up for RTS belay training. It was a great way to take my mind off the previous day’s incident, and a good refresher since it had been a few years since I last ran through it. We started off with the anchor setup and belay device in the aid room, then moved up to the top of the hill to practice there.

It was a good refresher, and I was enjoying just being around patrol. A few minutes before we headed back to the top to get ready for the real thing on RTS, I saw Shaun unload the chair with Jesse and Henry, and skied a lap with them down Good Time…

After our run, we spun back around to the top of EPA and I was just in time to catch the group as they were ready to depart with the sled down to RTS. Ian grabbed the handles and Jenn was on the tail rope, and we headed off to the belay tree.

A few moments later, we had the run closed and the crew had the sled staged, the anchor setup and the belay on. 

Once the anchor was setup and the belay was on, folks took turns in the handles as well as running the belay system. Tyler headed down first, and the others followed. Eventually everyone had a turn and Gretchen brought the sled to the bottom of RTS after the belay was taken off.

We pulled the rope down, flaked it back into the pack, and headed down to the base with the pack and sled in tow. I went in to eat lunch, then spent the rest of the day making turns with Shaun, Henry and Jesse. It got pretty wet towards the end of the day, so we left a few minutes ahead of closing. On the drive down, I reflected on the weekend, and although it was a challenging one, I was happy with how the events unfolded, as well as the great people on patrol that I was fortunate enough to share them with.

After a fun weekend leading the avalanche class, I was back on the hill the following Saturday for another patrol day in February. As usual, Shaun and I showed up early and unloaded our gear in the patrol room before parking the car and getting ready for the morning meeting.

The morning started off nicely, and I headed out to help open Twilight by taking a sled up the lift. After making a run back down to base, I headed up on EPA and opened RTS, which was in good condition. The rest of the morning was spent making turns and doing various patrol work, before I headed in for lunch a few minutes early so I could meet Julie who was bringing up Carson to ski for the afternoon.

Right about noon and just on time, Carson and Julie showed up and pulled into patrol. I helped Carson get his skis and gear out, and we got him situated in the patrol room before saying goodbye to Julie who was heading back down the hill.

A few minutes later Carson and I headed out and he was ready to rip. After making a run or two off of EPA, we headed over to Peak 2 and skied down Boundary Pass and then Where’s Waldo. Next we sampled Escalator before heading back over to the front to make turns down Eagle’s Flight and Good Time Charlie.

Fortunately for me, it was a slow day from the patrol perspective, and we only had a few incidents that needed management, so Carson and I were able to ski together most of the afternoon. Before we knew it, it was time for Peak 2 sweep so we made our way to the top of the lift.

Carson was excited to get to help sweep, and we took Boundary for our sweeping assignment. Shaun was sweeping Escalator, so he headed down upper Boundary with us and Ken was gracious enough to snap a picture of all three of us together on the run.

After sweeping Peak 2, we headed over to EPA. I snapped a few pictures of patrol just before upper mountain sweep started, and then we headed down. Carson and I headed in ahead of lower mountain sweep so I could review incident reports and get the bean dip going,  and soon after the rest of the patrol started to trickle into the patrol room.

After clearing the mountain and calling dispatch, we held a quick evening meeting and then it was time to enjoy the bean dip and crack open a few beers. My beer of choice for the evening was a tasty Hazematic Hazy IPA from Ninkasi Brewing, and it was quite refreshing after a good day of skiing.

Eventually the bean dip was completely consumed, and folks started to trickle out to the parking lot to head home. Once everyone had left, I locked up the patrol room, made a few notes for the crew coming up on Sunday, and grabbed Shaun, Carson and our gear and loaded the truck to head back to the valley, happy with another fun day of patrolling at the Pass.

Mid-February had arrived, and with it was our first NSP Level 1 Avalanche course that we’d offered through patrol in the last several years. And although conditions weren’t prime for holding an avalanche class, it was good to be up at the mountain for a couple of days of fun. As usual, I pulled in early at the Pass with Shaun (who was on duty for the weekend for SPY) and we unloaded our gear into the patrol room.

Soon, other patrollers and folks taking the class arrived as well. After grabbing the gear we would need for the day one, including beacons, probes and shovels, we headed over to the lodge to get oriented and discuss plans for the day. A short time later, we headed up on EPA, dividing the groups into two for the morning. One group would go over tranceivers and probing, and another was set for digging and evaluating snow pits as well as strategic shoveling. Brian, John and I led the snow pit group and we headed out to Lighthouse Knob to dig some pits.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous during the morning, and as suspected we didn’t find anything too interesting in the pits with respect to weak layers. Numerous extended column tests didn’t produce fracture/propagation, but the students still found a lot of useful information in the pits. After a couple of hours, the two groups switched, and the folks from the transceiver group headed our way and we did it (digging pits) all over again.

The morning went by quickly, and soon it was well past noon and time for the students to do a little work on their own with companion rescue before we all met up below the Sleepy headwall for some formal organized probing to round out the day. Hannah and Laurie led the conversation with the group, and soon the commands of “probe left, probe center and probe right” rang out.

After a healthy dose of organized probing, it was time to call it a day and we headed down about the same time as patrol was completing sweep. It was a good end to our first day of the class, and I was looking forward to a well-earned beer. My offering for the evening was a tasty McKenzie Hazy IPA from McKenzie Brewing.

After hanging out in the patrol room for awhile and enjoying some good conversation, it was time for Shaun and I to head down to Oakridge for the evening. Brian and Shannon were kind enough to let us stay over at their place, and it was nice to have a shorter drive the next morning for day number two. We had a good evening filled with good food and wine, and then headed back to the hill early the next morning. The students headed out with a few instructors on tours to put together all the information from the in-town lectures and yesterday’s field day, while Hutch and I recruited the SPY to help set up the final avalanche scenario.

Setting up the scenario is always a lot of work, but I think this year we made the most realistic looking avalanche we’ve made in several classes. Hutch dug out an awesome crown face the day prior, and the SPY did a great job of climbing up and down the slope and churning up the snow to make the debris look realistic. We put out several clues, buried six “victims” and things were pretty much ready to go by 12:30.

Around 1:30-2:00 pm, the class met at the top of Peak 2, and we went over the logistics of organized rescue as well as the various tasks associated with it. Before we headed in and turned the students loose, I snapped a group picture of everyone at the top of Southbound.

A few moments later, we headed in and the “rescue” unfolded. Toby was kind enough to act as the incident commander, and formed the teams prior to entering the scenario. The first team in was looking for the victims that may have had beacons, and did a great job honing in on them quickly.

A short time later, a search team was deployed to strategically probe around clues as well as uphill of trees and around the toe of the avalanche. They did an awesome job, communicated with their team leader and IC well, and found a few more “victims.”

 It was fun watching the class unfold, and I snapped several pictures to document the action. All told, including setting up the scenario, I must have climbed up and down the slope at least a half a dozen times if not more.

Finally, after there wasn’t any beacon signals anymore and all clues/likely catchment areas had been spot probed, the team setup an organized probe line to find the last two remaining “victims.”

Prior to setting up the probe line, I took advantage of the great light and snapped a few candid pictures of Brian as well as Hannah and Shannon with the trees along West Peak as a back drop…

The students setup the formal probe line, and did a great job, eventually finding the last two “victims” in and near the toe of the avalanche.

After the class, we did a debrief at the top of Peak 2 as we usually do. All things considered, I think this class performed as well or better than any class we’ve had in the last several years with respect to the final scenario. Once the debrief was over, folks headed down with gear in tow to the patrol room. Since we weren’t in uniform, Tyler, James, Brian and I headed down via SDN for our final run of the day, one of my favorite parts of the avalanche class.

The snow wasn’t the best, but it was still fun and we enjoyed the run back to the area. Down at the bottom, I was happy to have a cold beer waiting for me as we wrapped up our day. This day’s offering was a cold and refreshing Alpha Centuri IPA from Hop Valley Brewing, and it hit the spot!

Like the day prior, I enjoyed socializing with patrol for a half hour or so after the day was over, and then it was time to grab Shaun and hit the road. With all the effort that goes into planning and executing the class, it’s always a bit of a relief when the weekend is over, and this year was no different. All in all, it was another great weekend at the Pass. Here’s a parting shot of Tyler shredding through the terrain below West Peak Saddle on his way back to the patrol room.