Category: Ski Patrol

After a pretty fun day of turns the day before, I headed up to the Pass with Shaun in tow for my first patrol day of 2022. The forecast was calling for mostly sunny skies, and the snow looked to be in decent shape after several feet had fallen over the prior several days. We pulled into the parking lot and I geared up, and then headed over to the patrol room to get ready for the day…

Around 8 am, we started the morning meeting and discussed plans for the day, which included sled check-offs for existing alpine patrollers. We also had a quick conversation about assessments and upper extremity injuries, and then it was time to head out and open the mountain. After making a run, I headed back to the car and got Shaun, and we headed back out on the hill.

We made some good runs on the front, and enjoyed the snow on Good Time and High Lead. After a couple of runs, we headed down at 10:00 am so I could spend some time with the Spy to get them lined out for the day. While Anna and I were working with the Spy, Shaun headed back out on the hill to make some more turns.

After working with the Spy on various activities around the base, I headed back up top to EPA to get ready for sled-checks. Both Joe and Ian were up and set to lead the sled running, and we determined High Lead would be a good run for the check-offs.

I ended up running the sled with Tyler, and brought it down to the top of High Lead unloaded. Laurie then hopped in, and with me in the handles and Tyler on the tail rope we headed out.

The run was a bit on the icy side, and it took me a minute to remember that instead of trying to muscle the sled it was better to push down on the handles and engage the break to make the sled do the work, and then feather the handles as needed for navigation. Once Laurie reminded me of that, it was smooth sailing down the run. Halfway down, Tyler and I switched, and he took over the handles while I grabbed the tail rope. The check went smoothly, and soon we were back out on the hill ready for another run.

I linked back up with Shaun at the top of EPA, and we made a couple more runs together, and then I wanted to check out RTS with Dan while Shaun skied one of the front side runs and would meet us at the base.

RTS was in pretty good shape — it was definitely skier cut, but the packed powder skied well and we enjoyed turns down to the bottom.

As the afternoon wore on, we made a few more runs on the front side, finishing up with a couple on Timburr, after receiving clearance from the area to do a little chain saw work and cut up a couple of trees that had fallen on the run —- one that had fallen a few days prior and one that had just fallen the night before.

We made our way down to the base after checking on John and Dave who were working with the saw, and then headed up for another lap. There was an empty Cascade 100 that needed to go up, so I grabbed it and headed up. At the top, Laurie was waiting to greet me, and I snapped a pic of here getting ready to take one of the OEC training sleds back down to the base….

It looked like we had plenty of time for another run down Timburr, and I wanted to stop and give John and Dave a hand with the tree work. By the time we got there, they had cut the log from the new tree up into large chunks, and Calvin and I helped them with rolling/pushing them off the run and out of the ski path.

After our work, we made it to the base just in time to catch the last chair for sweep. Shaun rode up with me and was happy to be able to help with sweep.

While we were waiting for sweep to begin, I pulled out the camera and snapped a few pictures of the sun setting over Diamond Peak, with Shaun in the first one and Anna and Tyler in the second.

Closing began a few minutes later, and we swept the hill clean without incident. At the base, we held a quick evening meeting, and then it was time to enjoy some tasty Red Chair beers from Deschutes Brewery that I had brought up for everyone. The cold beer hit the spot after a long day, and it was a great day to end my first patrol day of 2022.

The final day of the year had arrived, and Shaun wanted to make some turns for his first day of the season, so we headed to the Pass for a day of lift serviced riding. I wasn’t on duty, but after checking the schedule it looked like it was going to be a light day for patrollers, so I threw in my coat and pack to give P4 a hand. We pulled into the patrol lot around 9:00, and shortly thereafter were geared up and ready to go.

We took a first lap on Twilight, since EPA was iced up and not quite ready to spin yet, and cruised down By George. By the time we got to the bottom, it looked like EPA was ready to go, so we joined in the big line to catch a lift to the top. Given that it was a holiday weekend (with the 31st being a holiday for many since the 1st fell on Saturday), I wasn’t surprised to see a ton of people at the mountain…

We met up with Dan and Cindy, and caught a ride to the top with them. At the top, for some reason, the area had a snowcat parked out past the unloading ramp, and it made for a nice spot to snap a quick picture. After that, we skied down and made a run on Good Time Charlie, which was in really nice shape. Shaun skied it nicely, and I was happy to see his skills gained from the year before were still there.

Another long wait in line at the bottom followed, and then Shaun and I made several more laps on the frontside runs, starting with Eagles, then High Lead and then Timburr.

Around noon, it was time to head to the car to enjoy some lunch, and we got to visit with Carolyn (a former patroller) in the lot. The snow, which had started falling earlier in the day, kept falling, and there was nearly 3 inches of new by the time we headed out for some afternoon turns.

As we headed back towards EPA, I noticed a sled that needed transporting to the top of the hill, so I had a patroller load it for me and then we headed up with it in tow. Shaun wanted to ski Success, so after taking care of the sled up top we dropped in over the edge and skied some surprisingly decent snow under the chair.

The rest of the day was filled with turns, and Shaun did really well for his first day out of the year. We called it a day a few minutes before sweep, and headed to the car to change into more comfortable clothes. Shaun was content to get into a video game on his phone, while I was content to get into a tasty Rippin’ NW Pale Ale from Sunriver Brewing Company.

I finished my beer as I cleared the car of snow and ice, and we were ready to hit the road. All in all, it was a great day, especially considering I was able to spend it with Shaun, and definitely much easier that my previous patrol day a few days earlier, with a lot less work!

Having missed my regular patrol day on Christmas, and knowing P3 was looking super thin for the 26th, I was looking forward to heading up to the Pass to give them a hand and also hopefully score some fresh snow in the process. The forecast was calling for 8-10 inches overnight, and I was shocked when I called the snow phone while heading down the road from my house to hear the report of 24 inches overnight and still snowing heavily. Traveling up the highway to the Pass was a bit slower than normal, with snow on the valley floor, but I managed to pull into the parking lot around 7:30 am. Toby and a few others pulled in shortly thereafter, and everybody was pretty excited for the day.

It didn’t take me long to gear up, and soon I made my way to the patrol room. It was clear a significant amount of new snow was present, with at least two feet of fresh, on top of the several feet that had fallen over the previous three to four days.

While we got ready for the morning meeting, I set about clearing the snow off the patrol room roof, and Ian happened to catch a photo of me from under the roof — the pic below reminds me a bit of being on the back side of a waterfall, or in this case, snowfall!

By 8:00 am, we had the morning meeting, and discussed plans for the day. It looked like there would be a significant amount of digging to start with to get the base area dug out, as well as a bunch of tower pad work in addition to other deep snow related activities.

After the morning meeting, we headed out quickly to help the area dig out from the significant overnight dump. Our first task was to dig out the EPA ramp, and then we gave the lift operators a hand digging out and setting the fencing around EPA. It was difficult work, but eventually we found all the fencing and were able to reset it, and we had the ramp looking good.

The next priority was to dig out under the chair at the base, since a significant amount of snow had fallen/blown in overnight there as well. Sam, who was back for winter break, donned a sled vest and gave us a hand…

By 9:40 or so, things were looking good, and the lift started spinning to the delight of the significant number of folks waiting in line. Below is a pic of Toby and Sam showing our nearly finished shovel job….

As soon as the lift started spinning, patrol hopped on and headed for the top to gear up for opening the hill. Toby and I donned our avalanche gear and headed over to RTS to do control work, and it was deep. Thankfully, Ian closed the run while we were working, and even though it was super deep, we only saw minimal movement. It did look like a small natural release had occurred earlier, but for the most part we were able to control it without incident. Then it was time to call the run open, and head down to get some of the goods. I dropped in first, and then snapped a few pictures of Toby tele-skiing through some of the deepest snow I’d seen in awhile.

We worked our way down the run, skiing one at a time for safety, and then headed over to Amber’s to see if we could work our way through the deep snow to exit to Twilight. Fortunately for us, several other folks joined us after about 5 minutes, and we gang skied the run (which wasn’t groomed) to get a track in for an exit. It took about 10 minutes with about 8 of us, including Jensen and a few others, but we finally made it out.

I headed down George, and then loaded EPA to make one more run, this time on Timburr, after checking on a stuck skier up top. After riding the deep blower pow, I saw Toby working on tower pads on Midway, and decided to give him a hand. It was ridiculously deep on Midway, and getting to the tower pads presented a significant challenge, but eventually we got them done. I snapped a few photos of Toby “skiing” between the tower pads, as shown below….it was literally waist deep with skis on.

After working my ass off for most of the morning, I caught up with Dan for a few runs in the early afternoon. We spun a couple of laps on RTS, and Dan was kind enough to take a few photos of me getting into the white room, even after the area had been open for over half the day…

After skiing RTS, I grabbed the camera back and returned the favor of shooting a few photos of Dan on Timburr, and then we worked our way back to RTS for one more lap before heading down to the base to get some well deserved lunch.

It was really refreshing to enjoy a hot microwaved lunch of leftover Pad Thai on a cold day, and I wolfed it down quickly. The snow was great, and there was still work to do, so I headed out to the truck to drop my lunch box back off before we headed out. While there, I grabbed a quick pic of the beer I’d brought for the day, a super tasty Dark Star stout from Fremont Brewing. Although I would enjoy this beer after the day was done (and I did), I can say without a doubt that this is one of my favorite stout’s of all time.

With lunch over, Dan and I headed back out on the hill, and headed up to RTS. Our plan was to get a crew together to work on tower pads on Twilight, and to take care of fencing that was still up at the bottom of RTS (from earlier in the year when the area got a cat stuck). We were successful in getting the fencing picked up before it was totally buried, as well as getting some good turns in the process. When we got to the bottom of RTS, I took my board off to work on the fencing and immediately sank up to my chest!

Next up, Dan and I fielded a crew and headed down Rough Cut to work on tower pads. This was easier said than done, since Rough Cut hadn’t been groomed, and also hadn’t seen a skier all day. We started down, and it was brutal. Our crew consisted of myself, Dan, Mike, Ken, Stefan and Jan.

I ended up having to walk down the entire run (turns were impossible) in chest deep snow. After me, Dan was able to keep his skis on and basically skin in waist deep snow. By the time the third or fourth person came down, they could (slowly) ski in our track. This system worked pretty well, and allowed us to be as efficient as we could given the super deep conditions.

By the time we reached the groomer at the base of Twilight, all of us were dog tired, and super happy to get out of the deep snow. I must admit, after 12 years of being on patrol, that was probably about as hard as I’ve ever worked.

After the brutal tower pad work, I had time for one or two more laps before heading up to help with sweep. I got to share a ride with Jen on one of the rides up, and it was really nice to get to chat with her since she’d been out for quite awhile with health issues. I snapped the below photo of her on the ride up, and it puked on us while we visited, like it had done all day long…

By 4:00 pm, I worked my way to the top of EPA to help with sweep, and it was starting to get dark. I drew a closing run of Timburr, which meant more work to take care of the fencing around the snow gun, as well as the race shack. No worries though, I still had a little energy left in the tank, and was just super grateful for all the new snow.

We swept the mountain clean without incident, and took care of the fencing at the gun and the race shack, then gathered around the patrol room for the evening meeting as it was getting dark. Everyone was beat after working like dogs all day, but it was super nice to be able to score such deep powder and to take advantage of the lifts that I don’t think we even cared.

After the evening meeting, we headed to the cars, and I enjoyed that super tasty Dark Star stout while changing out of my patrol gear. My truck had over a foot of snow on it, which made for over 36 inches of snow in the past 24 hours, and probably 60 inches of new snow in the past three days. After digging out and heading down the road, I thought to myself that while it may not have been the deepest day I’d ever been a part of, it had to rank right up there at the top. One thing’s for sure, winter is here, and I couldn’t be happier about it!

December had arrived in the mountains, and it was time to head to the Pass for the annual candidate/make-up refresher. I met Dan around 7:00 am, and instead of loading snow gear into the truck, we loaded saws instead, hoping for a little time in the afternoon to work on clearing a few saplings on the runs. We made the drive up highway 58 without incident, and soon found ourselves at the Pass ready for the day’s activities.

Since there was some wind forecast for the afternoon, we decided to move up the chairlift evacuation as the first order of business for the day. I ran through the evac plan with the candidates, and then we headed over to Sleepy to to practice. After explaining how to belay, lower, communicate, etc., we got to it. I did manage to snap a few pictures of the veterans who were there for the day as a make-up, including John, Stefan and Chris below…

Next up was a talk about the avalanche gear and the routes we run on the hill, followed by me organizing some of the lift evacuation equipment for deployment on the hill. Then, the rest of the group went on an area tour, while Dan and I had a quick lunch and then started off up the hill with the saws for the afternoon. After clearing our activities with the owner, we headed up to the top of Twilight to check on whether we wanted to start at the bottom of RTS, but ultimately elected to head up top.

The drive up the road, through Tait’s and onto Boundary went smootly, and there was just a little residual snow left in the area. The area was looking really good, although it looked more like early October than December. Nevertheless, we made our way up top, where Tim was doing some work on the EPA top shack.

After giving Tim a hand moving some concrete blocks, we donned chaps and safety gear, and headed over to the top of RTS to continue the work we started a few weeks prior. We cut for a couple of hours, making good progress on the hemlocks and grand firs that were surprisingly much bigger than the past year. Even with all the cutting we’ve done on RTS over the years, it seems like there is always plenty more to do each year.

After a couple of hours we’d had enough fun, and decided it was time to head down and get off the hill before dark and time to get some food. Looking back to the south, I snapped a photo of Dan with Diamond in the background, while he took a picture of me looking west…

We worked our way back up to the top and loaded our gear back in the truck. I pulled out my beer of choice for the day, a really tasty Squeezy Rider IPA from Deschutes Brewery. Instead of drinking it up top, I decided to enjoy it down at Gold Lake with the brats we were planning to grill, so back in my cooler it went.

On the way down, we decided to take a look down Escalator and over to Northern to see if there was any snow at all left on the runs. Escalator was looking pretty poor, but there were actually a few small skiable patches on Northern. As Dan joked, “we should have brought the skis.”

On the way down, we stopped at the big corner and cut a tree down that was right in the middle of the run that we’d identified on the way up. With Dan’s electric chainsaw, it’s super simple to make a quick cut, and then we were on our way.

From KP, we headed down to the base, and then after locking up, headed down to Gold Lake snowpark for some dinner. We had the brats on the grill, and were enjoying our beers, when Bill pulled up from down the road. We had a good chat with him, opined on whether or not we were going to get any snow this season and be able to get open, and talked about the challenges of hiring lift ops this season.

A few minutes later, Bill and his wife headed down the road, and our brats were done. We scarfed them down, finished off the rest of our beers, and headed down the road ourselves. As we turned out onto the highway, both Dan and I agreed we were probably done cutting for the year. The only question remaining was, how much would it snow and would we be able to capitalize on any of our efforts this winter? Only time will tell….

 

As hard as it was to believe, the middle of November was here already, and that meant it was time for the annual patrol room cleanup at the Pass. As usual, the plan was to get the patrol room ready to go in the morning, and then either ski or cut in the afternoon depending on the conditions. While this year had some promise early on, it definitely looked like there wasn’t going to be any skiing on this go-around.

I pulled into Dan’s house around 7:30, and a few minutes later, we hit the road and headed up highway 58. The weather was really nice at the pass, and the sun was shining down on a clear, cold morning. The first order of business for Dan and I was to get the avy beacons up and running with fresh batteries, and then go through the evacuation gear. The evacuation gear took a bit longer than normal to check, due in part to the fact that we replaced the rope savers with new ones from Cascade Rescue.

When it was all said and done, each system was checked to make sure the ropes were in good working order, and that each evacuation tee was safe with respect to the welds, seats, pulleys, etc. When going through the entire system, I like to apply the mnemonic DCAP-BTLS from Outdoor Emergency Care. Looking at the rope and hardware, I check for deformities, contusions, abrasions, punctures/penetrations, bruises, tenderness, lacerations, and swelling. While not all of those are applicable, you get the idea.

By the time noon rolled around, we’d checked through all of the 11 ropes and associated gear and loaded it back into the totes for deployment on opening day. I headed outside to check on some of the work the other patrollers were doing all morning, which included going through the sleds, checking the radios, and restocking the medical supplies. Dan and I were itching to get up and get a little cutting in, so I threw my pad thai in the microwave, wolfed it down, and we loaded in his truck to head up.

We headed up the haul road in Dan’s truck, and it was nice to see Diamond with a bit of white on it’s northside from Rough Cut. We worked our way further up the hill, and the views from mid-mountain were stellar as usual. I snapped a few photos of Dan driving up, including the second shot below…

We worked our way up the haul road and past Good Time and Eagles, and then rounded the “big” corner and headed on up. Our goal was to make the top of EPA, but we were stopped a few hundred feet shy on KP by a very mushy snow drift that was about 2 feet deep. We backed down the road to the top of Charlie, turned around and decided to park with a spot that afforded an excellent view.

We grabbed our packs, saws and safety gear, and headed out. Our plan was to spend an hour or two on RTS to try to remove a few more of the taller trees we hadn’t been able to get to over the past couple of year, as well as to buck up the couple of big trees that fell early in the season the year before.

The hike to RTS didn’t even take 10 minutes, and we went straight to work. Walking around RTS with a saw in hand, and a pack full of gas and oil on my back, I’m always amazed at how steep the run is. We spent quite a bit of time cutting the hemlock bushes, which are super difficult to cut because they branch out like a mother, as well as some of the firs that are much easier on the saws…

I took the camera out to snap a few shots of the action, as well as the shot below of Dan looking out over RTS. After taking a few pics, I decided to head down and buck up the two big trees in the middle of the run while Dan continued to work up high. I had a bit of mixed feelings in bucking up the trees and lopping off the big, dead branches after using the trees as a landmark on numerous occasions the previous season. I realized I’d come to associate them with RTS, which as a fellow patroller later told me means they’ve probably been there too long. Nevertheless, I bucked them up, and then headed back up to catch up with Dan up top.

 Back near the top, we were both hot, sweaty and tired, and agreed to call it for the day. We decided to hike over to Peak 2 to just take a look at it, and see if there was any snow hanging around. On the way over, we saw fresh elk tracks in the snow, and once up top enjoyed the views down the backside. While there wasn’t any skiable snow in the area, there was a bit hanging on in the flats of Boundary…

After enjoying a few minutes at the top of Peak 2, it was time to head back to the truck. Both of us were getting hungry after a long day, plus there was a cold beer calling my name as well. Today’s offering, which was iced down in the cooler, was a very tasty Firestorm Red Ale from Three Creeks Brewing.

With a cold beer in our hands, it was time to fire up the grill and enjoy some hot brats. They cooked up fast, and coupled with some sourdough bread and mustard, they really hit the spot as the temperature started to drop. We were well positioned to catch the last rays of sun coming up over Good Time Charlie, and enjoyed dinner with a view while looking out over Odell Lake and Diamond Peak.

Eventually, we devoured the brats, and it was time to head back down and hit the road. All things considered, and even though we didn’t have enough snow on the hill for any turns, we were pretty satisfied with the day and definitely looking forward to the start of the season. Let it snow!