Splitboard Oregon

November 23, 2024 – Opening Weekend at the Pass!

Early and heavy snowfall throughout the first half November led to the earliest opening weekend at the Pass in 21 years, and I was excited to be able to head to the mountain on Saturday to experience the stoke. After some shuffling and juggling related to patrol duties, we worked out a solution where I would be hill chief on Saturday with a small crew of patrollers while the rest of the patrol attended our in-town OEC refresher. After attending our instructor refresher on Wednesday evening, I was ready to go on Saturday and met Jan, Richard and Atticus a few minutes after 6:00 am at LCC. We made the drive up highway 58 without incident and arrived to a beautiful snowy scene at the Pass.

There were a total of about 6-7 of us for the day, with 2 alpine patrollers, 2 patrollers, 2 hosts and 1 SPY. After a quick morning meeting, we headed out to open runs and greet the public. The plan for the weekend was to run Twilight only, with the rest of the mountain likely opening the following weekend. We headed out, and I was stoked to try out my new board, the Amplid Singular, both on the groom and in the fresh snow. A few minutes later, after a short walk and lift ride, we were ready to open runs at the top of Twilight.

Opening went smoothly, and after a couple of runs I made a brief stop at the patrol room before heading back up. At the top, I found Richard and Jenn hanging out, and snapped a few photos of them including the shot below.

We hung out up top for awhile, with at least one patroller staying up top all the time. For whatever reason, folks were having a difficult time with the ramp at the top of Twilight, with approximately 50% of the people flat out wrecking as they unloaded. The temperature was hovering right around 32 degrees F, which caused the snow to be quite slick, contributing to the overall carnage. Hoping to improve the conditions, I worked with one of the lifties and mountain hosts Michael and Jan for over an hour and we improved conditions on the ramp considerably. The temperature dropped as well which also served as in improvement.

After the ramp work, I headed to the patrol room to check the RTS rope and get it ready for deployment for the season, before getting a call for a courtesy ride for 3 skiers at the top of Twilight that couldn’t ski down safely. I dispatched Jenn to survey the scene, and made my way to the lift to join her. We ended up putting all three in the sled, for a combined weight that must have been somewhere around 300 pounds, but it worked out well and we skied the sled to the base area safely. It was my first sled ride of the season, and I’d be lying if I said driving in the handles didn’t burn my quads a little bit.

An hour or so and several runs later, it was time for closing and we all met at the top of the lift. One of the lift ops took a photo of our crew, and then we headed out to sweep the lower mountain. I swept Sally’s Way, and then met up with the rest of the crew in the patrol room, where we held a brief evening meeting, before enjoying some chips and hummus, along with some cold sodas and beer. My beer of choice for the evening was a smooth-drinking Space Sailor IPA from SeaQuake Brewing, and it was just what I needed after a good day of patrolling.

A bit later, it was time to hit the road, so we closed up the patrol room, gathered our gear, and made the drive back to the valley, fully satisfied with a great day of patrolling on opening weekend in November! Here’s to hoping the rest of the season is as good as the start, and to more opening days in future Novembers!

November 1, 2024 – Mt Bachelor

With a flight scheduled for first thing in the morning out of Portland on November 2nd for a trip with the family to Maui, I didn’t want to chance waiting until we got back to get November turns in, so I made plans to head out on the 1st and see what I could find. The weather forecast that had looked so promising earlier in the week for dropping a load of snow at the Pass didn’t pan out, so I decided to head over to Mt Bachelor to see what I could find. I took the Cascade Lakes Highway and then cutoff Road 40, enjoying some good music and nice morning colors before pulling into the parking lot a few minutes before 8:00 am.

Approximately 24 to 28 inches of snow greeted me, and I wasn’t surprised to see a hundred other cars in the parking lot. Not having a lot of time to kill since I needed to get back to head to Portland in the evening, I donned skins quickly and started out towards the Cone, before deciding to head off towards Pine to leave the crowds behind.

The skinning was taxing and the snow was deep, but soon I worked my way over towards Old Skyliner and headed up from there. When I reached the bench about halfway up, I snapped a picture, sent it to Dan, and then called him with a report before continuing up. A couple of other folks came down as I continued up, and eventually I stopped near the top of Pine. After switching over from skins to ride mode, I pulled out the tripod, fired off a few shots, and then stepped into bindings to enjoy some soft and fresh November turns.

The turns down were fun, and the snow was great. It wasn’t that epic 20 degree blower powder, but it wasn’t too heavy either and it was pretty damn fine for the first of November. I enjoyed turns all the way down to the bottom and back to the truck. After checking my watch, I figured I had time for one more lap so I headed out again with the goal of exploring some of the snow beneath the Red Chair.

I skinned up towards the Cone like the first lap, and then cut off again part way up and worked a few hundred feed higher to a suitable point where I could enjoy a cold beer while pulling the skins. My offering for the day was a tasty Mooncrusher Porter from the Obelisk Beer Co. and it hit the spot. I always look forward to that first porter or stout to start the season that marks the beginning of the powder season!

A cold Mooncrusher Porter from Obelisk Brewing

After getting my board halves back together and downing the rest of my beer, it was time to enjoy some more turns and that’s exactly what I did. After making my way back down to the truck, I wasted little time before heading out, super stoked to have November turns in the book. The road home was a bit dicey, since it had snowed about 2-3 inches on Road 40 since the morning, but I made it back to Highway 58 unscathed and the rest of the drive was easy.

A few hours after getting home, we had the car loaded with our travel gear for Hawaii, and made it to the hotel later that evening. Our flight left at 8:00 am the following morning, and by 11:15 (Hawaiian time), we were enjoying beautiful Maui. It was definitely a trip to remember, with our trip to Hana being one of the many highlights. I’m already looking forward to heading back! Below are a couple of shots from the trip…

October 1, 2024 – Mt Hood, Palmer Patches

After enduring a long, hot summer, I was happy to see the calendar approaching October, which is one of my favorite months of the year. The transition to fall is something I look forward to each year, along with getting October turns in early in the month. This year was no exception, and Dan and I made plans to head up to Mt Hood and ski on what was left of the Palmer patch. I’d been watching the Timberline webcam for the past couple of weeks, and the snow was going fast, but it looked like it would hold out for turns in the first few days of the month.

We met early along the freeway at the Harrisburg exit, and made good time to Sandy, where we got a quick charge for the Tesla and a coffee for ourselves before heading up to the mountain. Pulling into the parking lot revealed a much different scene than a month prior, and there were only a few other cars around. After getting our gear organized and packs loaded, we headed up, and made good time up to Silcox.

Just above the Silcox, we found snow in the Palmer canyon, which allowed for some easy hiking, but the quality of the snow was just a notch below hideous. Neither of us were too stoked on the extremely bumpy and filthy snow, but held higher hopes for the Palmer above.

We worked our way up to the mid-station, and after negotiating a mix of scree, glacial till and dirt, we were able to don skins a couple hundred feet higher and skin the to within about 50 feet from the Palmer top shack. Once at the top, it was time to get a my beer on ice (after the obligatory photo). My first offering for the day was a tasty Big Juicy IPA from No-Li Brewery that I’d picked up in Washington a bit earlier in the summer on a trip with the family to Mt Rainier.

We sat around up top for awhile, enjoying the views while the snow softened some. A bit later, we got ready to head down for a first lap, and Dan snapped a “sponsor shot” picture of me before we clicked and strapped into our bindings and headed down.

I headed down first, and setup to shoot a few pictures of Dan as he came down, before he grabbed the camera to return the favor for me. The first hundred feet or so was “ok” snow, but after that both of us were surprised by how smooth and fun the turns were. Several pics are below…

Working through rock islands on the Palmer patch

Enjoying some October corn on the Palmer

We skied down a finger of snow on skier’s left, milking it until it ran out, and then donned skins to head back up for a second lap.

A short stint on the skins brought us back up to the top, and we ran into a fellow turns-all-year enthusiast and ski patroller from Utah named Darrell. As it turned out, Darrell had a one-month longer streak than Dan, at 349 months. The three of us chatted for awhile, and then Dan and I headed down for a second ski.

The snow on the second run was nice enough to warrant heading back up one more time, so we decided to make one more climb. As we were getting ready, Darrell came down and I snapped a few pics of him enjoying the turns, including the shot below.

Before we headed out, I pulled out my second (and final) beer of the day and snapped a picture of it, before placing it into a snow hole to make sure it would be chilled and ready when we returned after skiing a third lap. I’m generally not a big fan of pilsner’s, but I have to say the Phil’s Pilsner from Wild Ride Brewing was a beer that I would go for again.

For our third climb, we elected to forgo packs and skins, and booted up to a couple hundred feet below the top of the Palmer with the intent of enjoying the smoothest snow on the patch. A few minutes later, we did just that…

Enjoying some “packless” turns on the Palmer patch

We skied back down to our packs and gear, and after loading our gear and approach shoes, made a couple of final turns down to the end of the snow. I caught a picture of Dan making the final slide on the Palmer patch, as well as a picture looking to the south towards Mt Jefferson. The Bingham fire, which had blown up in the last few hours, created an all-too familiar scene

At the bottom of the Palmer, we elected to head down and ski some of the smoother looking snow in the canyon below us, rather than returning immediately to the Palmer Canyon with it’s rough and dirty snow. A long carry through scree and till brought us to a couple of dirty but smooth patches of snow, and we made some enjoyable turns.

At the second, longer patch, we found some really dirty snow. A short section of it proved to be too difficult to slide on, so we booted across it. Dan snapped a couple of pictures of me showing just how filthy it was…

Looking down at the rest of the good “skiing”

Below our dirty snow, we managed to eek out another hundred feet of turns before calling it and making the traverse across the scree to the Palmer canyon. We both agreed that the final couple hundred feet of snow in the Palmer canyon was some of the most unenjoyable turns we ever made in our lives, but we managed to get down without injury or wipe out.

Hiking out the Palmer canyon just above Silcox

A short hike brought us out to the Silcox, and from there it was an easy stroll back down the road to the parking lot. As usual, it felt good to get the packs off our backs, and get the brats on the grill. While we waited for the meat to cook, I pulled out some of the season’s offerings from my garden, including some hot salsa as well as a new batch of tomatillo sauce made fresh a few days earlier. Both were great, but the tomatillo sauce was excellent and might become a new staple on the menu for fall ski trips.

Grillin’ and chillin’ in the parking lot

A bit later the brats were ready, and we enjoyed them after a fun day of burning calories and making turns, before packing up and making the long drive back home to the southern Willamette Valley. All in all, it was another great day on Mt Hood, and it felt good to have October turns in the books. Below are a couple of parting shots from the day…

Dan enjoying some October turns while Darrell looks on

September 1, 2024 – Mt Hood, Palmer Snowfield

Labor Day weekend in Oregon brings a pretty good likelihood that turns-all-year seekers will be heading out in search of the remaining snow patches, and this year was no exception as Dan, Joe and I made plans to head to Mt Hood to get some snow-sliding action in. As usual, I met Dan early at the Harrisburg exit at I-5 and then we headed north to pick up Joe at the cop shop in Albany, before heading to Sandy to charge up. After our stop to charge, as well as a quick additional stop at Safeway since the Fred Meyer was closed due to the Kroger strike, we made our way to the mountain by about 8:20am and literally got the last parking spot in the climber’s lot.

Mt Hood from the Climber’s Lot on September 1

A full climber’s lot on Labor Day weekend

Not only did we get the last spot there, but the entire parking lot was full. Turns out Timberline had a big all-day event going on, and people were parking down the road below the lot since everything was full. On the bright side, the snowpack was looking pretty good, and we were stoked to see snow come way down in the canyons. After gearing up, we shouldered packs and made our way up to the Mile canyon.

We were able to get skins on early, and were able to skin all the way to the Silcox. There was one or two spots where we had to skin over really dirty snow, but it appeared that the ski down the Mile canyon would be a nice treat on the way out.

Looking up from the bottom of the Palmer

At Silcox, we crossed the road with skins on to access snow in the Palmer canyon, and then it was an easy skin to the mid-station, where we took a quick break to grab a snack and re-hydrate, before continuing on to the top. Upon reaching the top of the Palmer, we put beers on ice and enjoyed the views, which included several other fellow turns-all-year enthusiasts climbing up the Palmer. My beer of choice for the day was a tasty Oregon Sunshine IPA from Silver Falls Brewery, which I’d picked up on a date night trip to their Eugene location a few weeks earlier with my wife. It didn’t disappoint!

A tasty hazy IPA from Silver Falls Brewery

After hanging out up top for awhile, we readied to drop in for a first lap. I headed down from our position about 30 feet above the crowd that had gathered at the top of the Palmer and stopped to chat with a few of the folks while waiting for Dan and Joe. Turns out several of the skiers were with Nikki’s group from Washington and doing a two-fer for August and September. A few minutes later, Dan and Joe rolled up and we headed down.

At the bottom of the Palmer we regrouped to head back up for another lap. As we were donning skins and packs, Nikki and the Washington crew set off from above and began ripping some really nice turns down towards us. We watched as they enjoyed a great corn harvest. I pulled the camera out of my camera bag and fired off some shots as they skied, including the few below.

After the Washington crew passed by us and headed down, we skinned back up and found our half-full beers cold and waiting above the top of the Palmer. It felt good to relax in the warm sun and enjoy the views for a bit, and then it was time to get ready to drop in for a second lap.

Dan dropped in first for lap 2, and had the camera. After he set up, I headed down and he fired off a few pictures before handing the camera back to me. After the handoff, I headed down and fired off several pictures of Joe enjoying the corn.

I caught a couple pictures of Dan skiing out the mid-station road, and then we regrouped at the mid-station before heading down to enjoy turns in the Palmer canyon.

The turns in the Palmer canyon were nice. The snow on the sides of the canyon nearest the wall was pa bit dirty, but thankfully enough folks had skied the canyon over the last several days to keep a nice white path open down the center. I shot lots of pics as we descended, including several below…

Halfway down from the midway station, Dan took the camera and snapped a few shots, including the two below…

We eventually popped out at the Silcox, and after a short portage across the road, were back on the snow sliding tools and making turns in the Mile canyon. The snow here was quite a bit dirtier, but again there was cleaner snow to ride on nearer the middle which made for pretty good turns.

We were able to ski to down below where the cats normally park, which was awesome for September — it’s been a couple of years since that was possible. It made for a short walk back to the parking lot, which both the skiers appreciated since they didn’t have to change out of ski boots!

Looking back at the mountain on the hike down

Back at the lot, it was nice to change out of ski boots and into shorts and flip flops. There was still a bunch of cars in the lot, and the live music was just about ready to begin. We got the brats on the grill and enjoyed another cold beer. My second beer for the day was one I’d picked up in Sunriver with the family a few weeks earlier while vacationing, and the easy drinking King Crispy pilsner from Deschutes Brewery was just right after a day of skiing and riding.

A few minutes after we put them on the grill, the brats were done and they hit the spot. As we were eating them, the wind picked up substantially, especially on the upper mountain. The three of us were glad we decided against heading back up for a third lap, since it looked like a pretty dusty storm. In fact, it was so dusty that I hiked a few feet up from the lot just to snap a pic!

A little later, with the beer and brats gone, we loaded up our gear and hit the road, making it home just in time for me to take care of some needed hive manipulations with my bees before it got dark. All in all it was another great September ski on Mt Hood! Here’s a parting shot of Dan from the day…

Parting shot of Dan getting some September turns on Mt Hood

August 2, 2024 – Mt Bachelor Patches

After some sweet turns on Mt Hood a week or so earlier, the calendar said it was of August and time to seek out turns again. Dan, Joe and I made plans to head over to Mt Bachelor to check out how the snow patches were holding up early in the summer, and met at Dan’s in the morning before loading gear in his Tesla and heading out. The drive up highway 58 and along the Cascade Lakes highway went smoothly, and we pulled into the parking lot a few minutes after 9:00 am.

It was already getting warm, and after a few minutes of organizing gear we shouldered packs and headed up towards the hill. We got hassled right out of the gate by a gestapo lift ops that informed us we would no longer be able to hike up any of the ski runs because everything was closed for biking. Instead, we could follow a 4.4 mile trail (shared with bikes) to the top of Pine. Whatever, fuck that policy, we headed out up the trail and once out of sight proceeded up the Coffee run, which provided a much more direct (and safer) route to the rope tow patch.

Joe at the bottom of the first snow patch

After a bit of climbing, we made our way to mid-mountain and over to our spot where we’d head up. After a quick change out of approach shoes and into ski/snowboard boots, we proceeded up. The first patch wasn’t too long, but the main Rope Tow patch was looking pretty nice.

We set a quick boot pack to the top of the Rope Tow patch, and soon made our way to the remnants of the Rope Tow, before setting our sights on the really good looking Cirque patch. We booted up to the top of the Cirque patch, and then it was time to put a beer on ice to chill it before enjoying a couple of sips. My beer of choice was one I was really looking forward to — a Pacific Northwest IPA brewed by Talking Cedar Brewing. I’d picked this can up a few weeks earlier on a trip to Mt Rainier with the family while visiting guest shop at Sunrise, and it definitely hit the spot. After it was chilled, I enjoyed a few drinks before enjoying some turns.

The Rope Tow, Broken Top and the Sisters

After stepping into our bindings, Joe and I enjoyed some quality turns down the Cirque patch. Dan, who’d been a bit behind us all day due to hiking a slightly different route up the hill, was just arriving as we headed out for a first lap.

The snow in the Cirque patch went down much further in years past, although it was only August 1st and normally we’re visiting the patch in September or October. Regardless, we enjoyed the skiing although the snow was a bit bumpier than normal for Bachelor. As we set a boot pack up, Dan was skiing down, and I caught the below photo of him skiing down while Joe was climbing up.

The climb back to the top of the Cirque patch didn’t take too long, and Joe and I decided to wait for Dan so the three of us could ski together on the second lap. After a few minutes (and after enjoying the rest of my beer), Dan arrived and we headed down a little bit later. Dan took the camera and shot some photos of me as I headed down, including the two shots below.

Partway down the patch, I stopped and took the camera back from Dan, before skiing down a ways further to setup and shoot some shots of the skiers as they came down.

Dan enjoying some August turns on Mt Bachelor

We skied down to the bottom of the patch again, and then regrouped there to discuss the plan. I shot a few more pics at the bottom of the patch, including one looking back up at our turns. After a quick conversation, we agreed that the snow wasn’t so good that we wanted another lap, so we decided to head over to the Rope Tow patch to ski that.

I had another beer in my pack that needed to be drank, as well as another drink that I’d found on the way up. It seemed like a good time to bust it out, so I grabbed the smooth tasting Cold Chillin’ Vanilla Cream Ale from Wild Ride Brewing and snapped a picture of it before chilling it in the snow. I have to say, it might be one of the better tasting beers I’d had in awhile.

Joe, the Rope Tow, and the upper reaches of the Rope Tow patch

A few minutes later, we were standing at the top of the Rope Tow patch with skis and boards on, ready to rip some more turns. I dropped in first, and the snow was much better here than over in the Cirque. I caught several pics of Joe and Dan as they headed down, including the shots below. Lower down, Dan took the camera and took a few photos of me as well.

Joe enjoying the smooth snow on the Rope Tow patch

Matt sliding the lower section of the Rope Tow snow

From the bottom of the Rope Tow patch we made the short hike over to the last snow patch above the road, and enjoyed the final turns of the afternoon. I caught a pic of Joe sliding down the final few feet, right back to where we left our approach shoes!

At the end of the snow, we transitioned back to shoes for the hike down, and Dan and I split the drink that I’d found on the hike up, an interesting tasting Grapefruit Paloma from Craftwell Cocktails out of Corvallis. I can’t say it was my favorite drink ever, but it wasn’t terrible, and free is always nice :).

The hike down to the base was mostly uneventful, with a couple of exceptions. As we neared the bottom, we took extra care not to be noticed by the gestapo and made sure to hop back on the trail and hike the final few hundred yards across the hill to avoid getting yelled at. Everything went well and we made it to the car without getting hassled.

Joe with a flag found in the middle of the run

Walking the “official” hiking trail back to the base

At the car, it felt nice to get out of ski boots and enjoy some fresh garden salsa as well as as a tasty garden salad I’d made the day prior for each of us. Enjoying fresh food from the garden after earning turns is one of the things I look forward to most about this time of year.

After enjoying our fill of chips and salsa, as well as the salads, it was time to call it a day and hit the road home. All in all, it was a pretty great way to kick off August, and I’m looking forward to getting out again soon.