Category: Lift Served

To get turns in for month 33, I met up with Todd early in the morning at the parking lot of Mt Hood’s Timberline ski area. The weather was sunny and nice, and we elected to spin laps on the Palmer snowfield. The snow was somewhat hard as usual in the early morning, but few people were around.

As the snow softened up, more folks ventured up the lifts, and the snowboard campers started up the mountain as well. We spent most of our time on the upper Palmer, riding down to the mid-station without going all the way down.

Around 11:00, we headed over to the eastern boundary of the ski area and ventured out onto the White River Glacier to eat some lunch. Looking up at the White River Snowfield, it actually looked to be in pretty good shape. The usual large crevasses on the glacier itself were completely open in the mid-summer sun….

After lunch, we made several more laps on the snowfield, with each one getting better and better. We thought about hiking above the ski area since the White River snowfield looked so good, but decide against that since most people were off the hill by noon and we had the place to ourselves.

Around 1:00, being pretty spent, we made the long run down to the parking lot, having skied over 20,000 vertical feet for the day. Down at Govy, we stopped in at the Ratskellar for an IPA and some grub, rounding out a near perfect day. Here’s a shot of the mountain from the parking lot…..

I headed to Mt Hood Ski Bowl with Andy since I knew the majority of the month would be spent on ski patrol training at Willamette Pass. My wife, son and I headed to Gresham to visit family on Friday night, and Andy picked me up the next morning. We arrived at Ski Bowl just before opening, and there weren’t too many people there. We rode the two chairs to the top and spent most of the day riding the runs off the summit. The snow was pretty good, about five to six inches over a crust. We did venture out to the Outback Bowl,which was closed and we found out why for good reason. After riding down the mountain, there wasn’t enough snow to cover the run out back to the ski area and we were forced to walk out the road which took about an extra half an hour. Overall it was a good day, but I’m looking forward to getting back into the backcountry. Here’s the only shot I have from the day…

I was looking to get some October turn in, so when my wife, son and I headed to Gresham to visit family, I threw in my board anticipating some Fall snowboarding. I awoke early on Saturday morning and headed up to Timberline, after a stop at Safeway in Sandy. I had driven through a bit of rain lower down along the highway, but when I arrived int he parking lot the whole mountian was visible (and fairly devoid of snow as compared to the week before on the webcam). I met my buddy Todd and we opted to ride the lifts as opposed to climbing based on conditions (guess I shouldn’t have waited until now to get my October turns in……

I made a run before Todd got there, and the Palmer was nice and icy as expected. I rode down all the way to within about 300 yards of the lodge, met Todd, and we worked our way back up to the top of the Palmer. The snow didn’t really soften above 7500 feet all day, but was nice below that. I love unloading on the Palmer Chair when it’s pure ice, however, the view from up top is worth it. I did notice throughout the day however that several people had some good wrecks due to the conditions. Here’s a shot of Todd riding below the mid-station on the Palmer….

We spun laps on the Palmer until about 1:00 and had the place nearly to ourselves by the end of the day. I didn’t keep track, but we got several thousand vertical in for the day. After the long ride back down to the car, we loaded our gear and headed down to Govy for a stop at the Rat for the obligatory Ice Axe IPA and some college football. All in all, it was another excellent Fall day to make turns in Oregon and it won’t be long until the snow flies and another Winter season starts in earnest!

Here’s a parting shot from the day……

About the only viable option for turns this October was Mt Hood. I left the Southern Willamette Valley around 5 am with plans to meet up with Todd and hike/ski the Palmer Glacier. We arrived at Timberline around 7:30 am to partly sunny skies and a bit of fresh snow. Today marked my 47th consecutive month of snowboarding at least once a month. Here’s the view that greeted us upon pulling into the parking lot…..

Even with the fresh snow, it’s disturbing how little residual snow remains on the Palmer “snowfield” seen in the middle of the above photo. Still though, it was refreshing to see the fresh stuff and go from dreaming about new snow to actually riding on it.  Today I was testing my homemade Burton Custom split, and it didn’t disappoint. We started skinning above the base of the Mile Canyon and the board performed flawlessly. I didn’t miss the metal edge which was an initial concern, though we didn’t encounter anything too steep.

Skinning up, the snow got a bit crusty upon reaching the base of the Palmer lift. I was amazed by the lack of snow on the Palmer snowfield, and the Mile Canyon extended quite a ways up the actual snowfield. We were able to skin to about 150 vf below the top of the Palmer chair, essentially to where it had melted out. Staying all the way to skiers right yielded the best snow. At the top, we lingered for a bit taking in the view, then strapped in for the ride down. Here’s a shot of Todd……

The sunny skies that we had on the way up gave way to clouds for the ride down, so getting any good action shots was difficult at best. We did manage a few though. My board rode really well in ride mode, and performed as well as any other split I’ve ridden in the past. In fact, I’m really happy with the overall performance given the challenging snow conditions.

The ride down the rest of the Palmer and Mile Canyon was fun. There were pockets of fresh snow a few inches deep deposited by the wind, but also spots of fairly firm residual snow. Riding the Mile Canyon when it’s mostly devoid of snow if actually pretty fun. Down at the bottom of the canyon, the T-Line cats were parked and ready, waiting for more snow to start the grooming, probably in a few more weeks if it keeps snowing.

At the bottom of the snow, we packed our gear and hiked down to the cars in the parking lot. We were able to make it to Government Camp in time for lunch, and the cold beer tasted really good. College football was on the big screen and the burgers hit the spot. I love this time of year – it won’t be long now until winter is here in full force! Let it snow!