Category: Ski Patrol

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!

 

After an excellent day of turns at Mt Hood the day before, Dan and I settled in for a long weekend of ski patrol refresher activities, starting with the in-town OEC refresher on Saturday, and then the on-hill refresher on Sunday. Even though it’s always a long weekend, spending the day on the hill refreshing on lift evacuation and outdoor emergency care activities is a good way to spend the day. This year, we did our evacuation practice on the Sleepy lift, and after leading a discussion on the lift evacuation plan and safety concerns with the patrol, I headed over with group 1 to do the evacuation. After loading the seats on the lifts, it was time to get going.

Our practice went quickly and smoothly. Passing the rope over the chairs was pretty easy given the height of the Sleepy lift, but it’s always good to get back in the with the ‘biner ‘boo…

After everyone from group 1 was lowered, then moved to belayer and then communicator, it was time to rotate out and go through the same practice with group 2. Group 2 went as smoothly as group 1. The only challenge was trying to line the chairs up just right so that we didn’t have to climb more towers than necessary. That being said, it proved easier with the short height of the Sleepy lift to use the wrist rocket system to get the rope over the haul line anyway…

Before long, everyone was lowered, and then it was time to go through the RTS belay practice and then get some lunch. The weather was absolutely beautiful, and I found a nice spot in the shade since it was getting quite warm.

After lunch, it was time to practice some more OEC skills, and various different scenarios. Hannah led the station, and went over the logistics before we broke up into our individual groups to get refreshed.

The scenarios ran the gamut from upper extremity injuries, broken femurs, flail chests, etc., and we worked them from start to finish, including patient packaging into the sled. I pulled out my camera and snapped a few photos as we worked…

Even though it was hot in the sun, it was good to get refreshed on the different skills that weren’t part of the in-town OEC refresher the day before. All in all, we completed 4 or 5 full scenarios, and then wrapped up and headed over to our last station of the day — mass casualty.

Laurie led our mass casualty event, and as usual it was quite chaotic. Such is the nature of those types of scenarios, and after working through the challenges, it was time to call it a day and put the capper on another refresher weekend. We helped get all the gear back into the patrol room, and then Dan and I loaded up and headed to Gold Lake to enjoy a well deserved beer and cook up some brats. My beer of choice for the day was a tasty Hazy IPA from Cascade Lakes Brewing. With the warm weather, it definitely hit the spot.

It didn’t take long to cook the brats to perfection, and we enjoyed them with hot mustard and garden fresh onions. Along with some fresh chips and salsa and our cold beers, it was the perfect way to cap off a great refresher weekend.

After a pretty fun dusk patrol the night before, Dan and I woke early at the cabin, anticipating the final weekend of lift accessed turns at the Pass. Both of us were on the schedule with P3, and it looked to be a decent day, with a break in the warm weather we’d been having. We had a hearty breakfast of sausage and eggs, and headed out the door around 7:30 am to make the short drive to the Pass.

There was a  half inch of new snow at the Pass when we pulled in, and I donned the patrol coat and radio for the last time of the season. Heading over to the patrol room, it was bittersweet for the season to be coming to an end, but I knew we’d have many days of turns in the backcountry ahead of us before the snow was gone.

After a morning meeting, we headed out and helped get the ramp and fencing setup prior to the lift opening. The area was running a little slow, so after our work was done I snapped a few pictures…

Around 8:45 am, we finally loaded the lift and headed to the top. I was tasked with opening Timburr and Timburr Glades — not the most pleasant task. The snow was super frozen skier cut, and nearly chattered the teeth out of my head. Nevertheless, I made it down, and helped set up the closure at Sleepy…

It was basically one and done to get the mountain open since Peak 2 wasn’t running, so I headed back up with Dan to check out the grooming on Charlie. The corduroy was quite good, and Dan and I ripped it up for a couple of runs. I snapped a few shots of him slashing turns on the first run down…

After three or four runs, I headed to the parking lot for a quick break, and found Quin, Matt and Dan hanging out. A few minutes later, Dan and I headed up to Peak 2 with Ian to get all of the patrol gear packed onto the sleds and bring it down for the season.

Once at the top, we pulled out the two Cascade 100’s and the 350, and set about loading them up with the medical gear, evacuation gear, boo, signs, and packs. It didn’t take too long, and we had Peak 2 ready to be closed down for the year. It was nice hanging out on top of Peak 2 with nobody around, and I was looking forward to being back with my splitboard in a few weeks. Before we left, I snapped a picture of us loaded up and ready to go…

Dan and Ian kicked off, and started out down Southbound, with sights set on the Kris Kross closure to grab the gear there as well. I followed behind, towing one of the Cascade 100’s, and snapped a few pictures, before we all headed down Rosary and KP to the base.

The ski down with loaded sleds was pretty fun, and it didn’t take long to reach the base. I ditched my sled at the bottom, and headed back up EPA in order to get to my bump slot.

Hanging out at bump was pretty nice, and was something I didn’t get a chance to do much during the season with P2, either because I was hill chiefing or because we were so incredibly busy most of the year. I was a bit bummed however when a few folks headed back to Peak 2 to pull the tower pads — I wanted to get one more lift ride back there, but it wasn’t to be. Oh well, next year! After bump, I skied a few runs down RTS, which remained super icy. In fact, I think it was as icy as I’ve ever seen it. Success was really nice however in the afternoon sun, and I made several laps on it, adjusting tower pads on EPA as I went. The afternoon passed quickly, and soon we were ready for upper mountain sweep.

I ended up sweeping Rosary, and although we had to wait for a couple of slow skiers, we worked our way down to the parking lot with plenty of time for the evening meeting and social hour afterwards. The meeting went quickly, and just like that my patrol season was over. There would be one more day of skiing in the morning, but I had several things to take care of on the home front. But that would be tomorrow — for now, it was time to enjoy a cold beer in the parking lot. My beer of choice for the day was a super tasty Cocoa Cow from Sunriver Brewing Co. The pic below was from the day before at Gold Lake snowpark.

For the first time all season, the parking lot scene felt like “normal.” With all of patrol fully vaccinated (but still taking some precautions), it was super nice to enjoy the apres’ skiing activities. Dave even busted out the shot ski, complete with pixie cups that were changed out each time it was used.

An hour or so later, it was finally time to hit the road, and call it a season. All things considered, it was a pretty damn good year at the Pass, despite the issues presented by COVID-19, and despite the near record number of people. I’m already looking forward to next year, and hope the snow flies early and often!

After getting several days on the hill earlier in the season, Shaun felt like he was ready to tag along with me for a full day of ski patrol. I was pretty excited that he wanted to ski with me for a full day, and it looked like it would be a warm day with decent snow conditions. We hit the road early, and arrived in the parking lot around 7:40 am.

I let him stay in the truck while we conducted our morning meeting on patrol, and then I headed out to help open the mountain. The temperature was around 25 degrees, and conditions were firm as I opened RTS, but it was easy to keep an edge in.

After opening RTS, I headed back to the car, helped Shaun gear up, and we headed out a couple of minutes past 9:00 am. It sounded like Eagle’s and Charlie’s were groomed on the front, so we headed up EPA for his first ride of the morning.

We made a run down Eagle’s, and it was in pretty good shape, and we headed back up for another lap. At the top, several patrollers were hanging out, since conditions were still a bit firm. Matthew suggested we get a quick P2 photo, so I pulled the camera out and snapped a pic of the crew and Shaun.

After taking a pic of patrol, I made a quick switch of my lenses and put the telephoto on the camera. Diamond Peak was glistening in the sun, and I wanted to get a few close up shots of the mountain. The below pic turned out nice, and I’m looking forward to getting back in there later this spring…

Shuan and I made three or four more runs on the front, alternating between Charlie, Eagle’s, KP, and the Rosary’s, and then headed down for a quick break. While Shaun had a snack and some water, I snapped a few pictures of the base area with my fisheye lens…

Our break was relatively short — I had to explain to Shaun that when you’re patrolling you don’t get long breaks:) — so we headed back out on the hill. By this time, the snow was starting to soften quite nicely, and Shaun was skiing with quite a bit more confidence.

Soon, the snow became pretty sticky, so we decided to head over to Peak 2 to check out the conditions on the back. I’m glad we did, because it turned out to be the last day Peak 2 would turn for the season. We spun a few laps on Peak 2, checking out the various runs, and then headed back via the James Bond trail to hit Charlie on our way back to the base.

Shaun wanted to do a lap on Twilight, so we headed over there and skied a couple of runs, and then it was time to head back to Peak 2 for sweep. Ironically, after a super busy season, with several double digit incident days, we didn’t have one incident on this day. Nevertheless, Shaun was excited to help sweep, and be the last skiers on the hill.

We closed Waldo, and it was pretty cool to see Shaun skiing down the run, stopping every couple hundred feet and yell ‘Closing!” We met up with the other sweepers at the bottom, and rode the last chair of the Peak 2 season back to the top.

We helped put the sled away at the top, then made the ski/hike back to the top of EPA for upper mountain sweep. I happened to catch John and Joe standing up top with Diamond in the background, so I asked them to hold that pose for a moment to frame a shot of them with the Peak, which turned out below…

For upper mountain sweep, Shaun and I drew Eagle’s, and the snow was pretty soft as we headed down. We met the other patrollers at the intersection of KP, then finished sweeping the fun back down to the base. Shaun and I were in the back, and I think we was really enjoying getting to be the last skiers on the hill…

At the base, we conducted a quick evening meeting, and then everyone headed to the parking lot to change out of gear and enjoy a cold beverage. My beer of choice for the day was a refreshing Steady Orbit from Ninkasi Brewing, and Shaun photo bombed my picture…

Once out of my patrol gear, Shaun hung out in the truck with his phone, and I joined my fellow (fully vaccinated) patrollers for some post apres` ski fun in the warm parking lot. Watching folks sit around in t-shirts and shorts, I knew the season was almost over, which is always bittersweet. That said, I was super happy that Shuan was able to enjoy a great day on patrol with me, and am looking forward to more father/son patrol days next year!