Matt – Page 15 – Splitboard Oregon

June 7, 2023 – Mt Adams, Avalanche Glacier Headwall

After watching the forecast closely for a few days, it looked like a weather window for Adams was approaching. I called up Joe, and he was thinking the same thing, so we decided to head north for a mid-week shot, with the hope of riding the Avalanche Glacier Headwall. It had been awhile since I’d been on the line, and I was pretty stoked when I left work around 4pm and headed up the freeway to meet Joe at the cop shop. We carpooled the rest of the way up, and made it to White Salmon in good time, where we stopped to get a bite to eat from the local grocery store. A few minutes later, we hit the road and got our first good look at the hill from Trout Lake, and it was looking good.

From Trout Lake, we rolled up the road and soon worked our way up the gravel roads towards Cold Springs. About a mile and a half from the trailhead, we were stopped by a large snow drift blocking access to the campground. A couple of folks were working on digging out a track, so Joe and I decided to park and give them a hand. It took a couple of hours of digging, but we were able to get it in shape for a dude with a large Dodge with chains to bust through. Once he made it through, the rest of us were good to go and it was pretty nice to be able to drive all the way to the trailhead, both from the standpoint that we would be able to have a level place to sleep and since we’d be that much closer for the climb in the morning.

First truck to the trailhead for the season

As soon as we got to camp, I got the bivy setup and we hit the sack a few minutes later. I slept pretty well that evening, and the next morning we were up by 4:45 or so. After a quick breakfast, we shouldered our packs and headed up the trail. There was some snow right off the bat, but both of us were happy to be in approach shoes since we had a mile or so of walking before we were able to put on the skins…

Once we hit the snow, we donned skins and it felt nice to get the skis and boots off our backs. We worked our way up the trail and towards the ridge to the west of what’s labeled as the Crescent Glacier on the maps. There was a spicy traverse just before gaining the top of the ridge that required taking the skis off for a short section, but soon we hit the ridge and continued on up.

Soon we started gaining altitude quickly, and followed a bit more traditional path towards the bottom of Suksdorf Ridge rather than following the current climbers path that was quite a ways further east. As we headed up, a solo skier took off with a kite to do some kite skiing, so we had to stop to get a picture of that action…

After a short break, we continued skinning as high as we could, eventually finishing the last thousand feet to the top of Piker’s in crampons with the skis on our backs. As usual, the climb up to the top of Piker’s was a slog. The snow on the last five hundred feet to the top was in really poor shape, and both of us were happy that we wouldn’t be skiing that on our way down…

At the top of Pikers, we took another quick rest break, and enjoyed some food along with the views. Looking down into the SW Chutes, they looked to be in good shape, and we were optimistic about the conditions of the Avy Glacier headwall.

After catching our breath and enjoying the views, we agreed the snow on the summit slope looked worthy of our attention, so we set off on skins and worked our way to the base of the final slope to the true summit. The last few steps above 12,000 feet were a bit of work, but we topped out around 11:30 am or so if memory serves.

As usual, the views off the top of Mt Adams didn’t disappoint, and it was great to see Mt Rainier’s southside staring us in the face. Looking off to the west, there were some spicy lines of the West Pinnacle, and I made mental notes to get back for something on the White Salmon in the next few years.

Crescent Harbor Citra IPA from SeaQuest Brewing

As we hung out on top, the weather was really nice. I grabbed my beer to take a picture, but given that I was feeling a bit tired, I elected to just take a picture of it and enjoy it later when we were down at a lower altitude. I do have to say, that Crescent Harbor Citra IPA from SeaQuake Brewing was one of the tastiest IPA’s I’d put on my taste buds in quite awhile!

Around noon or so, we readied to take off and head down to check out our line. As we were getting ready to leave, a single skier approached on skins, and as they got closer I could tell it was Amar. It was good to see Amar again, and we chatted for several minutes on the summit. Turns out his party was back at Piker’s waiting while he tagged the summit, and they were going to ski the headwall as well, so we agreed we’d all ski it together. After firming up that plan, we clicked into our bindings and headed down….

The turns off the summit were pretty nice, especially for the summit slope on Mt Adams. I headed down first, and then setup to shoot some shots of Joe and Amar as they came down. After we worked our way down a ways, Joe grabbed the camera from me and returned the favor…

After descending a ways, we regrouped and Amar headed down towards the entrance to the headwall to meet up with the rest of his crew. Partway down, we met up with David, who was also with Amar, and then we continued on down.

Turns on Adams with St Helens in the background

Above the headwall proper, we met up with the rest of Amar’s crew, which included Khanh who is a good friend of a friend of mine at work. The entrance to the headwall was looking quite a bit spicier than the last time I was up several years back, but nevertheless it still went, so one by one we dropped in. Once we got through the choke entrance, the steep long slope of the headwall was looking really inviting…

Looking small on the Avy Glacier headwall

The turns down the upper headwall are always quite exhilarating, and are made even better when the snow is smooth. The turns down on this trip didn’t disappoint, and we worked our way down, enjoying the smooth corn and steep slope angle.

I shot a bunch of photos of the skiers as we descended, and in between taking some shots of the action I enjoyed several big, sweeping turns down the steep pitch, with a few occasional jump turns mixed in. One of the things I love about this line on Adams is the views looking off to the north as well as looking down the line on the from above with the forest sprawling out below.

Joe ripping through a steep section on the headwall

Enjoying the afternoon corn on the headwall

We continued working our way down the long, steep pitch, which seems to go on forever and is several thousand vertical feet in length. On a few occasions, we had to stop to rest tired legs before continuing on down…

Enjoying the corn on Mt Adam’s west side

Joe enjoying a quick rest on the descent

Finally, we made our way to the bottom of the headwall and waited for the rest of the skiers to complete their descent. I snapped a few pictures showing the skiers near the bottom of the line which provides a good perspective for the scale of the lower half of the slope…

A few of the skiers looking small on the headwall

Once everyone regrouped at the bottom, we discussed exit options and decided to head further down the slope in hopes of making a lower traverse option work. This was a different exit than I was used to, but I deferred to Amar’s experience given he was fairly confident in being able to link turns on snow for most of the way out.

The turns down the lower portion of the runout were a bit bumpy but still fun, and we slowly worked our way back towards the south side of the mountain, working down as we skied. Eventually we ended up running out of snow, and needed to throw the skins on and work our way back up to the regular exit, which didn’t require that much climbing. From there, it was (what felt like) a long slog back to our uptrack on the south side route. It’s always longer on the way out when you’re tired after climbing over 6,700 feet!

A bit weary from all of the climbing and skiing, we finally linked back up with our uptrack, and after a quick break and putting the skis/boards back into ski mode, Joe and I bid the group farewell and headed down. We were able to link turns way back down towards the trailhead, which was quite a treat, and left us with just a short hike back to the pickup/

We made a quick change back into trail shoes, and a short time later were back at the car enjoying a cold beverage and changing into comfortable clothes. Both Joe and I were pretty stoked on the ski day, and definitely happy with our choice to head north from the valley to gamble on getting some corn on Mt Adams.

We wasted little time loading gear into the truck, and headed down the bumpy road back towards home. After a quick pit stop back in White Salmon to refuel, it was an easy drive back down I-84 and then I-5 home. All things considered, it was the perfect way to spend a couple of days in early June!

May 31, 2023 – Willamette Pass

The last day of May was approaching quickly, and Dan and I wanted to get one more day in at the Pass since the snow was melting fast, so we made plans to head up mid-week and check out the conditions. We piled our gear into Dan’s Tesla and made the drive up Highway 58 quickly, arriving at the Pass where we found Jeff and Brett working on the Twilight lift doing maintenance. After a quick chat with them, we drove the Tesla up the haul road and parked at the bottom of Swoosh.

It was nice to get the car off the main road and even nicer for Buddy, Dan’s Border Collie, who didn’t have to be on the leash at the highway as we started out. After leisurly getting our skis and boots on our packs, we headed up the run hoping to find some continuous snow for turns on the way down.

Unfortunately, the snow on Swoosh wasn’t as good as we were hoping; in fact, there wasn’t really any skiable snow to speak of, which bummed us out a little given our experiences in similar conditions over the previous years. Nevertheless, we continued on up past Chaser and then worked our way over to Success. After a brief break to check out the snow fingers on Timburr (which looked a little better), we climbed up Success toRTS and then the top of EPA.

RTS looked like it would “go” as we eyballed it on the way up, and then once on top we headed over to Peak 2 for the primary objective for the day. Arriving at the top of Peak 2 always feels like coming home, and in fact Buddy made himself right at home on the ramp when we got there.

As usual, the first order of business was to get the beer on ice, so I wasted little time getting a couple photos of my tasty Lahaina Haze IPA from Kohola Brewery that I’d picked up the previous fall during a trip to Maui to visit family. (Edited to note; the Kohola Brewery was completely destroyed in the devastating fires that swept through Lahaina and destroyed most of the city).

After enjoying a few sips of beer and then getting it back in the snow, it was time to drop in for some turns. The snow was in good condition as we dropped over the edge, and I snapped several photos of Dan as he came down towards me…

We skied about halfway down, and then stopped to regroup. I gave Dan the camera, and he headed down the run a ways to return the favor and shoot a few photos of me…

The turns were pretty nice, and as always it was a blast to be skiing and riding the patches on Peak 2 at the very end of the season. Given the big snowpack this winter however, both of us were a bit surprised at how advanced the melt was for the last day of May, given that the previous couple of years we were able to ski the runs well into mid-June.

We worked our way towards the bottom of the run, and by the time we made it to where Escalator joins in we were all smiles. Even Buddy had a blast, adn I caught a pic of him and Dan at the bottom looking back up at our turns.

At the bottom, we made the decision to hike up Esalator even though there was a slim chance it might go with skins, and it proved to be a good decision. After booting up the run, I headed on up Boundary in boots while Dan switched to skinning and worked his way up.

Once back at the top, we hung out for a bit and enjoyed the views and the rest of our cold beers. We kicked around the idea of skiing Waldo for a few minutes, then decided against that since it was getting warm and we wanted to get into RTS before any more snow melted.

With a decision made, we shouldered our packs and made a few turns down Southbound towards the saddle, and then walked up to EPA. Accessing the Success Patch required a walk down and round from the top of EPA, but the patch still provided a few good turns as we worked over to RTS…

Getting into RTS required a bit more effort than previous late season ski trips, and reminded me of hiking up and down the run with a saw in tow during the fall while cutting trees from the run.

Once we made our way to the snow and got our gear under our feet, we both were a little happier. As soon as we made our first turns, we became much happier. As usual, RTS delivered some fun skiing and riding conditions. Buddy got into the action as well!

I dropped in first and made some enjoyable turns down between the rocks, trees and stumps, and then setup to capture Buddy and Dan as they came down. Dan wasa clearly enjoying the turns, and ripped the run from top to bottom…

Turns thorugh the chocolate chips of RTS

We took a few photos at the bottom of the run, then headed out via Amber’s Way with the goal of walking over to Timburr to milk the last few patches there. Amber’s “skied” ok for the first half, but soon we were relagated to booting after the snow ran out…

The hike across the top of Twilight and past Success was short, and soon we were clicked into our bindings for a few more turns down the Timburr Glades patch. Even though it was low angle, the turns didn’t disappoint! Once the snow on the glades patch ended, we booted over across George for one final ski on the Swoosh patch that we hiked by on the way up.

Even though it was short, the Swoosh patch was still fun and Dan captured me enjoying a few turns on the way down. At the bottom, we switched over to hiking shoes for the walk down, and I decided it was time to drink a rasberry White Claw that I found on the way up. Normally I’m not one for hard seltzers, but when you find a full one on at the ski area you definitely have to drink it!

Matt and Buddy at the bottom of the Swoosh patch

With our gear loaded and our packs shouldered, we headed through the trees and over to Swoosh to collect two remaining tower pads on the lower Twilight lifts that Brett asked us to collect when we talked earlier in the morning. We each took 0ne, and they were an easy drag down to the haul road for what would be our final “patrol” work of the season!

It was a short walk back to the car from the bottom of Rough Cut, and it felt good to change into flip flops and shorts. A little later, we pulled out and headed to Gold Lake to enjoy a cold beer and cook some brats, and it put the finishing touches on a great day. My beer of choice for the afternoon was a Starburst IPA from Ecliptic Brewing, and it paired nicely with the fresh brats.

We enjoyed the food and beer at the snowpark for a half hour or so, and really enjoyed having the snowpark to ourselves while sitting in the sunshine. A bit later, with our beers drank and our stomachs full, it was time to hit the road home. Overall, it was a satisfying last day of (the season) turns at the Pass on the last day of May, 2023. I’m already looking forward to next season and hoping the snow comes back in early and often, all season long! Until then, here’s a parting shot of Dan skiing on RTS….

May 21, 2023 – Mary’s Peak

After hearing Carson talking about going to Mary’s Peak for a couple of weeks, Julie and I decided it was a good day to head up and go for a hike. We didn’t leave our house until about 1:30 pm or so since the morning was filled with taking care of chores, and I decided to throw the snowboard and boots in at the very last minute just in case there was any residual snow patches lingering.

We arrived at the parking area an hour or so after we left the house, and it didn’t look like there was much snow around. We decided to head to the top without the board in tow, and a bit later arrived at the top. Walking over to the far side, I could tell there was a patch that still went, so we agreed to head back to the car and come back up to get some turns in.

Julie and Carson hiking the road to the top

The weather was surprisingly cool, and clouds shrouded the upper part of the Peak as we headed up for our second trip to the top. Carson was pretty excited to be out for an afternoon hike, as evidenced by his big smile in the photo below.

A few minutes later we made our way to the top and over to the snow patch. Carson was excited to play in the snow, and would have loved to ski, but we had returned his season rental to Berg’s at the end of April.

Looking across the summit prairie to the snow

I handed Julie the camera and stepped into the bindings on my DIY split. I can’t remember the last time I snowboarded in shorts, but it seemed like this patch called for it and I set off. I rode down by Julie and continued on, enjoying the low angle slope and smooth snow. Surprisingly, the continued down quite a ways, and I worked my way down until it ran out.

At the bottom, I stepped out of my bindings and hiked up the grass along the snow patch back up to Julie and Carson who were hanging out up top.

Looking back up from the bottom of the patch

At the top, I was able to convince Julie and Carson to let me go for another lap, so I quickly stepped back into my board and headed off again. I don’t know what it is, but sliding on snow is fun no matter where I’m at, be it a 5,000 foot 4o degree line or a 600 foot long 20 degree patch.

I milked the patch to the bottom again, and headed back up to Julie and Carson one more time. We met halfway this time, and took a different trail back down towards the car. I snapped a quick picture of Carson with my board next to a big ant hill, then loaded it up on the pack for the walk down. It was starting to get quite cold, and it was nice to crank the heat in the Subaru once we loaded up.

To cap off the day, we decided to head to American Dream Pizza in downtown for some good pie and a beer. Julie and I enjoyed a tasty Hazy High IPA while Carson had an Izze.

All things considered, it was a pretty good way to spend a few hours in the afternoon in late May. I’m already looking forward to heading back the next time the Peak is skiable.

May 19, 2023 – Willamette Pass Dusk Patrol

The month of May was starting to slip away, and I was hoping to get an evening dusk patrol day in at the Pass, so I phoned up Dan and Joe who both were game to get some turns. I left work around noon and we carpooled up 58 in Dan’s Tesla, stopping at Gold Lake to gear up. Halfway up the highway I realized I’d left my skins at home, so booting it would have to be for me.

We arrived at the Pass a few minutes later, and loaded packs and headed out. The coverage was about what we expected, and it looked like we’d be able to ski all the way to the base on the way out. The weather was warm, and some big thunderheads were looming to our north and east, but stayed far enough away that we felt comfortable on the approach.

We worked our way to the top of Twilight, and then up to Amber’s and RTS. The booting wasn’t bad, and soon Dan and Joe changed over to boots as well for the climb up RTS.

At the top of RTS, I found a full 16 oz Rainer can sitting next to a tree that had melted out, which improved my mood significantly and made up for leaving my skins at home. We worked our way to the top of EPA, and then over to Peak 2 to check out the conditions on the back.

At the top of Peak 2, we put a beer on ice and nervously watched a very large developing thunderhead to the northeast which seemed to be approaching our direction. My beer of choice for the day was an aptly named Maiden West IPA from Little Beast Brewing. I positioned it with Maiden in the background and snapped a few photos, including the one below.

Maiden West IPA from west of Maiden Peak

At one point, we decided we weren’t going to drop into Northern because the clouds were looking pretty menacing, but after another 15 minutes or so they dissipated enough that we elected to give it a go. After taking a tripod shot of the three of us, I stepped into my bindings and headed down to shoot photos of the skiers making turns…

Tripod shot of the three of us on Peak 2

I positioned myself just down the slope far enough to catch the skier’s coming over the slope as a silhouette. The turns looked nice and the corn was flying. Dan dropped in first…

After Dan, Joe dropped in and I fired off several shots from my Canon R5 as he headed down. Some of them are below….

We skied the run about halfway down, maybe a bit more, then decided to exit stage right because the snow was still a bit on the bumpy side from closing weekend a week before.

We slid our way through the trees, and it was hard to imagine that only a month ago we were running sleds through here in the deep stuff while doing sled training for patrol. It was a short boot hike up to Boundary, and then we walked back up Kris Kross to the top of EPA.

Sitting at the top of EPA, it was a good time to take a break, enjoy the views, and drink that cold Rainier that I found earlier while coming up RTS. We watched a marmot (most likely the same one from a month earlier that we saw during the season) and enjoyed the calm that comes with a pleasant evening in the spring at the Pass.

A few moments later, it was time to click into the bindings and shove off. We had to walk down from the top to the Success patch, but it was worth skiing as Dan demonstrates in the below photo.

The get in to RTS was a bit spicy as usual, but once in the skiing was really good. One of my favorite parts of skiing the Pass during May and June is hitting RTS when it’s at it’s most sketch.

We all made it through the crux without issue, and Dan gave me the camera back. I headed down a bit further, and took some pictures of Dan and Joe as they headed down. Joe skied all the way to the bottom and by the time I could get my camera out of it’s pouch he looked tiny at the bottom….

At the bottom we were all pretty stoked with how good the run was skiing, and it wasn’t a hard decision to head back up to reuse the bootpack and put in another lap. The hike up went quick, and we dropped in again in perfect conditions and perfect weather.

I took some more pictures, including ones of both Dan and Joe skiing through the throat near the top of the run while dodging rocks, trees and stumps…

We skied the second lap top to bottom in perfect corn, and everyone was all smiles at the bottom. As usual, RTS delivered once again and we got to enjoy a perfect sunset as well as excellent snow.

Basking in the glow of a couple good runs

At the bottom, we gathered our gear that we’d left below, shouldered our packs, and headed off down Lois Lane to ski Swoosh back to the car. To our amazement, Swoosh had firmed up just enough from earlier when it was roasting in the sun and it skied perfectly.

We worked our way down the run, enjoying the smooth snow right down to the bottom. It definitely was a pleasure being able to link turns all the way to the lodge…

At the bottom, it was a short push over to the parking lot, and then back to the car. Although it was hard to believe how much snow had melted in the week since closing, we definitely couldn’t complain at the quality of snow we had during this evening outing.

Once back to the car, we made the short drive down to Gold Lake to enjoy a beer and cook some brats. I was looking forward to a cold Farmstand Fresh Mango IPA from Deschutes Brewing, and it hit the spot with a tasty brat hot off the grill.

We hung out in the parking lot for a few, enjoying our beers and food, and even had to don jackets as the temperature dropped. A bit later, it was time to hit the road, and I think I can safely safe we all were pretty happy with how the day turned out. Here’s a parting shot from the day….

May 12, 2023 – Hoodoo Dusk Patrol

Hard as it was to believe, it was time once again for the annual Hoodoo Dusk Patrol with the crew. This event is one that I look forward to all year long, and this year it looked like the weather was shaping up for us to have a perfect afternoon. After running my Commission meeting in the morning and meeting with the lawyers after that, I managed to get a quick lunch in before Andy and I left work and headed for Dan’s to carpool up to Hoodoo. We made the drive up without issue and pulled into the parking lot and found Todd and Neil putting on their skis.

The weather was beautifully sunny and the corn looked ripe, so we wasted little time getting ready to go and hit the skin track. It was short skin to the top, and soon we were enjoying the views from the top of the ‘doo.

The volcano lineup was looking pretty nice, and I took out the telephoto lens to snap a few shots of Mt Washington and Mt Jefferson looking prime in their coats of white…

Since the weather was pretty warm, my first order of business was to get a beer on ice, and I couldn’t think of a more appropriate brewery to represent than Kona Brewing. My beer of choice for the afternoon was a tasty Gold Cliff IPA.

We enjoyed the views up top for a bit, and then it was time to get some turns in. For our first lap, we decided to try the northwest face. It turned out to be a good choice, and we enjoyed nice turns off the top. I took the camera out and snapped several shots of the skiers as they came down.

Neil enjoying some May turns on the northwest side

We worked our way down the slope, eventually stopping at the bottom a bit below mid-mountain. The snow was baby butt smooth, and each turn brought a smile to my face. At the bottom, we donned skins and made the quick climb back to the top.

Back on top, it was a good time to crack open my beer which was chilling on ice and enjoy the views. Looking to the southeast, I snapped a few photos of Mt Washington and beyond. The scenery from top of Hoodoo in the spring is quite beautiful.

We hung out for a little while, debating on what to ski next, and settled on the main bowl under the chairlift. After snapping a few more picture, we dropped in.

The snow was quite good, and I caught several more photos of the guys skiing, including a couple of shots of Todd below. It was great to be out with Todd and watch him rip it on the tele skis, and reminded me of days gone by from numerous Hoodoo dawn/dusk patrols in the years past…

At the bottom, we skinned back up again and decided on skiing one more lap, this time on the east side. The brats down at the cars were calling our names, so we finished our beers on the summit and dropped in. This time, Dan grabbed the camera and shot a few pictures of me on the upper slope. The snow was absolutely choice.

Halfway down, I grabbed the camera back from Dan and we continued making turns. The sun was in a perfect position to get some silhouette shots of the skiers, and really highlighted the snow as they carved it up….

Dan and Todd harvesting the eastside corn

Todd dropping a knee in front of Mt Washington

We worked our way to the bottom, harvesting quality corn all the way down, and then made the slow slide back out across the flats and to our waiting cars at the parking lot.

With the skiing over, it was time to fire up the grill. Grilling after skiing is nearly as much fun as the skiing itself, and something I’m always game for.

It was also time for a second tasty beverage. This offering was a True Gold refreshing golden ale from Breakside Berwing, and it was aptly named for such a great outing.

It didn’t take long and the brats were ready, and we gobbled them down quickly. Hanging out in the sun in flip flops and shorts, enjoying a cold beer and a tasty brat with a good group of guys — it just doesn’t get a whole lot better.

Soon, it was nearing the time to hit the road, so I walked across the parking lot to grab a couple of last shots from the area, including Hayrick and Hoodoo itself from the base area.

By the time I got back, it was time to pack up and hit the road, so we did just that, satisfied with another fun day of after work dusk patrol turns at the ‘Doo. I’m already looking forward to our 2024 dusk patrol, but until then, here’s a parting shot from the day.

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Author: Matt

June 7, 2023 – Mt Adams, Avalanche Glacier Headwall

May 31, 2023 – Willamette Pass

May 21, 2023 – Mary’s Peak

May 19, 2023 – Willamette Pass Dusk Patrol

May 12, 2023 – Hoodoo Dusk Patrol