Splitboard Oregon

September 2, 2022 – Mt Hood, Zigzag + Palmer Snowfields

As it somehow always does, summer was passing by rather quickly and it was hard to believe it was already September. Wanting to get out early in the month, Dan, Joe and I made plans to head to Mt Hood over Labor Day weekend to get our turns in. As usual, we met at early at the cop shop in Albany, piled our gear into Dan’s Tesla, and headed up the freeway. After a quick stop to charge in Sandy, we may our way up highway 26 to Govy, and pulled into the climber’s lot a few minutes after 8:00 am.

It didn’t take long to get our gear in order, and soon we were hiking up the road towards Silcox. Two-thirds of the way up or so we peered into the Mile Canyon to check out the conditions, and to our surprise there was a lot of snow still remaining – much more so than most of the previous September’s in recent memory. Happy to see the snow, we headed down and donned skins to make the climb up quite a bit easier.

We worked our way up to the bottom of the Palmer lift, and then on up towards the mid-station, where a couple of cat drivers were farming snow to keep an access lane open for later in the month for maintenance purposes.

Once to the top of the Palmer, we took a quick break, then headed off to the west to check out conditions on the Zigzag. The hike over across the rock and scree went quickly. Looking off towards Mt Jefferson to the south, there was a thick layer of smoke that kept the mountain hidden for most of the morning, but as reached the Zigzag, we finally got a view of the peak above the smoke.

On the Zigzag, we switched back to skis and started the skin up. As we climbed higher, the haze lessened and the views improved. The snow surface was looking pretty smooth, and it seemed we were going to be in for some fun a little later on when it was time for the turns.

Enjoying a quick break near our high point

We climbed up to about 9300 feet or so, and elected to call it and not work our way up the snow finger above us which was looking pretty rough. The first order of business was to get a beer on ice, and then enjoy lunch and the views. My beer for the turns on the Zigzag was a very refreshing Easy Day Hazy POG IPA from Worth Brewing Company.

The relative solitude of the Zigzag is one of the main things I enjoy about the summer turns on Mt Hood. Sitting high on the mountain, enjoying a cold beer and getting ready to drop in — there isn’t a whole lot that can compare.

I dropped in first and snapped a few shots of the skiers as they came down, and then I handed the camera off to Dan and he skied down to take some photos of me. The snow surface was really smooth, and we were pretty stoked on the skiing.

We worked our way down the snowfield, stopping every so often to catch our breath and discuss options. Mostly, we hugged skiers right, which proved to have the smoothest snow. A few more shots are below…

Dan enjoying the smooth snow of the Zigzag

As we continued descending the corn continued to not disappoint. I fired off several pics of Dan and Joe as they headed down, and then put the camera away to rip the lower half of the snowfield myself…

As we usually do, we skied down to the end of the snow, enjoying our turns right to the very bottom. We were able to ski down to about 7200 feet before the snow gave way to the canyon — not too shabby for September.

We donned skins at the bottom of the snowfield and began the long, steady climb back out of the Zigzag under the heat of the sun. The skin out is always a warm one in the summer, but soon we reached the elevation to begin traversing back over to the Palmer. Dan decided it was time to have another beer, while I saved mine for later before the Palmer descent. His beer, a hazy IPA from Kulshan Brewing Co. was in a beautiful can, so I snapped a picture of it.

After the Dan and Joe changed back into hiking shoes, we made the trudge back across the rocks to the top of the Palmer. I snapped a few shots of my beer, a tasty Another IPA from Buoy Beer Co., before burying it in the snow to get cold. A bit later, it was ready to drink and was quite refreshing as we readied to drop in for some more turns. I drank about half of it, and left it up top since we were planning on coming back for another lap…

Just before we dropped in, I switched over to my telephoto lens, and managed to capture several shots of Joe and Dan as they came down the Palmer. The snow was excellent, and I could tell they were enjoying the turns as they came down towards me…

We continued working our way down the Palmer, and stopped a few feet above the mid-station to regroup, drop packs, and head back up for another lap.

Our second lap was equally as good as our first, and this time I headed down with beer in hand. The upper portion of the Palmer held good corn, and then we dropped into the canyon, which had been tracked up a bit by the cats, but still held enjoyable snow.

We worked our way down through the Palmer Canyon and towards past Silcox and the Mile Canyon. We were all stoked on how great the snow was in the Palmer Canyon as well as how deep and wide it was. Expectations were high for skiable snow in October given the good coverage.

Once down to Silcox, we worked into the Mile Canyon, which also held great snow with excellent coverage. All told, we were able to ski to within a few hundred vertical of the car, which made for a short hike back to the parking lot. Needless to say, everyone was pretty happy with the riding…

It felt good to get back to the car, change out of our boots, and get some well deserved dinner. Dan started the grill, Joe pulled out the brats, and I got out the fixings, as well as some garden fresh chips and salsa.

As usual, the food hit the spot, and we enjoyed it with a great view from 6,000 feet. All in all, it was a pretty special day, and I’m definitely looking forward to what October has in store. Here’s a parting shot of Joe from the day skiing high on the Palmer…

A parting shot of Joe enjoying some fine September Corn

Protected: September 26, 2022 – Mt Bachelor Patches

August 5, 2022 – Mt Hood, Zigzag & Palmer Snowfields

After our plans of making turns on Middle Sister fell through a few days earlier in the week due to inclement weather, Dan, Joe and I were anxious to get out and find some snow to get our August turns in. The plan was to head to Hood and check things out on the Palmer and possibly beyond. We met early at the cop shop in Albany, and loaded gear into Dan’s Tesla, and made good time up the freeway, pulling into Sandy around 7:00 am to charge. After about 20 minutes, we were back on the road again.

A short time later, we made our way to Timberline, and were pleasantly surprised by how good the coverage looked, especially compared to the last few years. It looked like the White River snowfield connected to the Palmer, and that the snow in the Mile Canyon went way down. After loading our skis and boots on the packs, we started out.

The hike to Silcox went quickly, and after passing by a fashion shoot at the top of the Mile, we headed west and worked our way up. After we were about halfway up the Palmer, we headed climber’s left and were abke to get on snow and start skinning towards the Zigzag…

Once we worked our way over to the Zigzag proper, we were pretty stoked on the snow coverage and conditions. Not only was it filled in fat, but it was really smooth as well. We continued skinning on up to somewhere around 9500 feet, then switched to booting for the final section below Crater Rock which would be our high point for the day at a few feet shy of 10,000.

A tasty Pilsner from Terminal Gravity Brewing

The first order of business, as it usually is, was to snap a picture of the beer and then put it on ice. My beer was a great tasting Pilsner from Terminal Gravity Brewing out of Enterprise, Oregon. Joe had picked up a 6-pack earlier in the morning during our stop in Sandy, and was kind enough to offer me one in the parking lot before we headed out.

We sat around up high for a little bit, enjoying the views and a bite of food, but eventually it was time to drop in. Everyone stepped into their bindings to get ready for a corn harvest, and I headed down first to shoot a few shots of the skiers as they descended.

Dan’s first turns from below Crater Rock

Dan dropped in after me, and I snapped several shots of him coming down, and then it was Joe’s turn for some action. I fired away as he came down towards me, and was happy to get a few good shots as he skied by me, including the two below…

We made a brief pit stop after about 400 feet so Dan could pick up his pack (he’d left it where we started booting knowing we weren’t going much higher) and then we continued on.

The snow was choice, and everyone was pretty stoked on the quality as we worked our way down the snowfield below Crater Rock. I fired off several more shots, and Dan (or Joe – I can’t remember) grabbed the camera and returned the favor by taking a few pictures of me enjoying the action.

We worked our way down the upper snowfield, and continued down towards the connector patch between the main Ziggy and the little Ziggy. The skiing seemed to go on forever, and I snapped more pics as we headed down to document the action.

Joe ripping in front of Illumination Rock

It really was a treat to be back on the Zigzag after it completely melted down to nothing last year in September. Seeing it pretty fat in August this year made us all very happy, and getting to ski it in such good corn was icing on the cake.

We made hundreds of turns down the gut of the snowfield, and switched back and forth with the camera to grab some pictures as we descended. The quality of the snow remained near perfect as we headed down, and was probably some of best August corn we’d ever encountered.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, we made our way to the connecting snow patch between the big and little Zigzag, and stopped to take a break.

This seemed like the perfect place to crack open the Pilsner’s from Terminal Gravity, and they hit the spot — cold, crisp and refreshing. I caught a pic of Joe enjoying his with Mt Jefferson and the Three Sisters in the background.

Enjoying a cold one after some great turns

After our brief break, it was time to continue on and we shoved off again. Rather than continue down the big Ziggy, we opted to try the Little Ziggy since it looked really smooth on the way up. The turns were pretty nice, and we worked our way down.

We worked our way towards the 7,000 foot mark, stopping a few hundred feet above as the slope started to mellow, before donning skins and heading back up to reconnect with the Palmer.

Skinning back up to the Palmer was a bit tiring, but eventually we made it and found a suitable spot about a hundred vertical feet above the top shack to catch a rest before heading down. It was also time for another tasty beverage, and this time I pulled out a Falling Sunshine IPA from Block 15 Brewing. I had planned on getting a picture of it on a trip to Middle Sister as the sun set over the McKenzie River Valley, but since our Middle trip didn’t happen, this afternoon on Hood would have to do. Nevertheless, it tasted great as we sat up above the Palmer enjoyed the views.

Before long, we were ready to make some more turns, and were looking forward to shredding the Palmer. After clicking into the skis and board, it was time to shove off. The turns were awesome, as demonstrated by the two pictures below…

Joe cranking turns on the Palmer snowfield

The snow was fabulous — soft, perfect corn. Secretly, we were hoping that we might get lucky and catch one of the cats laying down a groomer track that we could track up, but even though that wasn’t the case, it didn’t much matter — the snow was just that good.

We worked our way down the main section of the Palmer, passing by the the mid-station several hundred vertical feet below. Then it was into the Palmer Canyon, which was holding a lot of snow and in great shape.

We finished up with a great ski down the Mile Canyon. The snow stayed good almost all the way to the bottom, I snapped a few pictures of the skiers heading down…

When it was all said and done, we were able to slide to within about a hundred vertical feet of the lodge. All three of us were stoked on the day, and with how good the snow conditions were.

Matt at the bottom of the Mile Canyon snow

The walk back to the car was a quick one, and once we arrived it felt great to take off our boots and change into shorts and flip flops. I busted out the chips and salsa, and we got the brats cooking on the grill, and soon we were enjoying a great meal after some of the best August turns in recent memory.

As usual, the brats hit the spot, and put an exclamation point on a great day of skiing and riding. Once finished, we loaded the gear in to the Tesla and hit the road, looking forward to a return in September with hopes that the fat snowpack would hang in until our return!

Protected: July 7-8, 2022 – Diamond Peak, Various Aspects

June 26-28,2022 – Mt Rainier, Fryingpan Glacier Environs

After a five-year hiatus, it was past time to head back to Mt Rainier for a backcountry skiing visit to one of the northwest’s most iconic national parks. After some last minute shuffling, this year’s crew ended up consisting of Mark, Joe, Dan and myself. We left the valley early Sunday morning, and Mark was kind enough to chauffeur us and our gear up to the Park in his truck. We made it to ranger station a little after 10:00 am, with plenty of time to pick up our permit and get to camp.

After chatting with the rangers for a few minutes (and learning that the creek washed out a portion of the trail), we headed up to the trailhead, loaded our heavy packs laden with overnight gear, and headed out. The hike up Fryingpan Creek is always beautiful, and this time was no exception. After a few miles, we made it to the creek and it indeed had washed out part of the trail since our last visit. Crossing was pretty easy, but we had to get wet up to the knees. I went barefoot, and the water was cold, but refreshing. I snapped a few pics of the guys coming across…

After the creek crossing, we donned ski/snowboard boots and were able to start skinning on continuous snow. Mark led the way, and we worked our way up the drainage towards the spot where the trail diverges from the creek. The views of Big and Little Tahoma from this point on the trail are quite scenic.

The gully near the trail proved to be an easy, open slope to skin up, and it didn’t take long to reach Summerland, and it was nice to be back. It looked a little different than my past trips to the area (which occurred in mid-July) and was pretty much completely snow-covered.

With the amount of snow in the area limiting the thru-hikers on the round-the-mountain trail, we were told by one of the rangers that we’d be able to snag the group shelter for the night, and potentially the following night pending any reservations. All of us were pretty stoked to be able to stow our gear in the shelter, and after a half hour or so of organizing overnight gear, we headed out for some evening turns.

Joe heading out in search of some evening turns

The goal for the evening was to find some smooth snow and also be able to ski right back to camp, so we headed towards the direction of Goat Cirque. Just before we got there, we found a pretty nice, steep slope that looked like it met our criteria, so we started up. As the slope steepened, we switched to booting, and before long we reached a high point with commanding views of the surrounding area.

We enjoyed the views and a quick break up top, and then it was time to do what we’d come for and harvest some corn. I dropped in and setup to snap a few pics of the skiers coming down. The snow was consistent, smooth and pretty much perfect corn. Below are a couple of shots of Joe enjoying the harvest…

We worked our way down the slope and to the rollover halfway down, and I paused to take some photos while the skiers continued down.

The steep slope provided great turns and we skied to the bottom and transitioned to head back up and do it all over again.

Looking down at the skiers turns before dropping in

Being able to reuse the boot pack was pretty nice, and it didn’t take long to make it back up. After another transition, Dan grabbed the camera and snapped a few photos of me working turns on the ridge line…

Once at the bottom, we took a high traverse and worked our way back across the slopes above from camp, before eventually letting gravity take completely over and turning our way back down to camp.

The evening turns were really nice, and surpassed our expectations. It also felt pretty good to get back to camp, get out of ski boots, and settle in for the evening.

After getting our ski gear taken care of, it was time for a freeze dried dinner and a margarita. Dan fixed the margarita’s up nicely (and even had salt), and I enjoyed mine with a a shot and a half of tequila I’d packed in just for the occasion. Dinner definitely hit the spot, and after some good bs it was time to hit the sack in anticipation of a big day in the morning.

Having the shelter proved to be pretty awesome, and we got a pretty cozy night’s sleep. The next morning dawned early, and after a quick breakfast and coffee, we headed out, with the goal of making some turns on the snow fields around the Whitman Crest. Mark set a nice skin track out from camp, and found a good line up to the top of the ridge on Goat Cirque.

I arrived to the top of the Cirque shortly after Mark, and while waiting just a few minutes for Dan and Joe to arrive, I was able to take a few pics of the surrounding landscape, mostly looking off into the Ohanapecosh drainage.

Looking out over the Ohanapecosh country

The views from the top of the Cirque are quite scenic, and any way that you point the camera results in a pretty picture.

Looking back at Dan skinning up the Goat Cirque

The top of the Cirque proved to be a good spot to take a break and enjoy a snack, and we enjoyed the views, which included Goat Rocks and Mt Adams to the south.

A bit later, we stepped back into the skis and started on up, skinning up the ridge for awhile before it was time to make a few turns down and across the snowfields below one of our favorite ski slopes. Mark led the way, followed by Joe, and Dan and I came down after.

The view back towards Goat Cirque and beyond

We continued working our way up, and after another hour or so, found a spot with running water coming out of the rocks protruding from the snow, which proved to be a good spot to refill the water bottles and enjoy another break.

The view were really starting to open up; I especially like the views back to the east of the Fryingpan drainage and beyond. From this vantage point, we could also see our objective of Whitman Crest as well, still looming quite a ways above us.

Mark enjoying a break below Whitman Crest

The final skin to Whitman Crest from our break spot took another hour or so, but we didn’t mind as the views were excellent, and getting high on the mountain always provides a of stoke to keep going up. As usual, the views from the Crest were exceptional.

One of the first orders of business upon reaching the crest was getting my beer on ice. I’d packed a Terpilicious Hazy IPA from Worthy Brewing just for the occasion, and this spot was definitely worthy.

Little Tahoma was looming large directly across the Whitman Glacier, and I was really wishing we had secured a permit to climb it since the snowpack was looking fat— next time for sure! While we were looking at it, we noticed a couple of skiers working their way up. Eventually they descended, and although they got a wet slough to run, overall the turns looked pretty dang nice.

Mark was game to climb up to the high point on the crest, which required a bit of rock scrambling, but the views from up top were definitely worth it. The Emmons Glacier was looming large to the north, and Little Tahoma was also commanding our attention…

Eventually it was time to head back down to the skis and get ready to drop in. I finished my beer and as we were strapping in a skier (who we had seen lower down on the Fryingpan) worked her way up to the Crest. We chatted her up a bit, and then it was time to enjoy the turns.

The snow was perfectly smooth and although a bit on the soft side (due to a fresh snowfall a week or so earlier), it skied really nicely. I snapped a few pictures of the skiers as they descended the upper Fryingpan, then headed down to enjoy the turns myself.

We worked our way down the snowfields about halfway to our favorite slope, and shot multiple pictures along the way. A few pictures of me making turns through the virgin corn snow turned out well, including the two below…

Around the mid-point, where the slope angle lessened, we decided to stop and head back up to the Crest to do another lap on the higher elevation snow since it was skiing really nicely. I captured the below shots of Mark and Joe skiing above the Fryingpan drainage before we switched back over to skins and headed up…

Joe skiing high above Goat Island Mountain

The skin back up went quickly, and soon we were back at the Crest enjoying views out over the Whitman Glacier again. For our second run, we headed out further along the Crest to the south, where the slope was a bit steeper, and it did not disappoint.

Turns high on Rainier with the North Cascades in the background

We worked our way down, enjoying the perfectly smooth snow. Partway down, I handed the camera off to Dan and he took several shots of me shredding with Mt Adams making for a perfect backdrop…

This time we headed down as before, then worked our way through the mellower snow below and over to our break spot from earlier in the morning, before enjoying the snow on our favorite slope in the area.

The snow was really tasty, and we ripped it to near the bottom of our favorite slope before donning the skins and heading back up for another lap. It didn’t take too long to work our way back up, and though it was getting warm and we were getting tired, it was pretty nice to be able to refill water bottles at the drinking fountain atop our favorite slope at our break spot.

Dan working another lap on our favorite slope

For our second run on our favorite slope, we worked further skier’s right where the slope steepened considerably. The turns were absolutely perfect, and the snow forgiving, and it was easily the best turns of the trip.

Back down at the bottom, we all agree that one more lap was in order. Even though we were tired, the snow was too perfect and the scenery too spectacular to leave just yet, so we threw the skins back on and headed up one last time.

On the third lap, we worked even further to skier’s right, and this time Dan grabbed the camera and took shots of me working the slope. The steep turns were so good, and I enjoyed the chance to be out from behind the camera and let ‘er rip…

I worked my way down, ripping big, fast turns while Dan fired away. As I figured might happen, I cut loose a really slow, wet slough that moved super slow, and was easily able to work down in front of it…

Dan came down after me with the camera, and even jumped on my slow moving slide for a few turns for some novelty skiing. We met up at the bottom, and both of us were stoked on how good the snow was. Mark and Joe came down shortly thereafter, and we regrouped again to continue on down.

After some more sliding and then a little skinning up a steep slope to regain the ridge above the Goat Cirque, we gained a good vantage point to look back at our work from the previous few hours. A little more sliding and then a really short carry brought us back to the top of Goat Cirque, where I found my hat that had fallen off my pack earlier in the day, and from there it was home free for turns back to camp.

Dan skiing below Little Tahoma and Whitman Crest

We worked our way down the ridge atop Goat Cirque, looking for a suitable place to drop in, and ended up dropping pretty much along our skin track from earlier in the morning, which was the place that offered the best turns without cliffing out…

Back at camp after a long day, we were all pretty satisfied. Topping off our excellent day was the fact that we were able to score the shelter again for the night, since another party hadn’t reserved it. My freeze dried dinner really hit the spot after a long day on the skintrack, and we enjoyed another margarita as well. Before long, daylight turned to dusk and then to dark, and we hit the sack, capping off another memorable day on Mt Rainier.

Day three dawned early, and we woke to clear sunny skies. The plan for the day was to check out the slopes beneath the Fryingpan Glacier, further looker’s right than we had skied on the previous two days of our trip. After a quick breakfast, we headed out, and Mark led the way, setting a grueling sidehill skin track off towards our objective. An hour or so later, we reached our high point for the morning, and started the transition in between gusts of wind.

Looking off to the west of our position, both Little and Big Tahoma were looming large, with the Fryingpan and Emmons Glaciers stealing the show.

The snow here was a little less smooth than we’d found on the previous day, but it was still in pretty good shape, and we enjoyed the harvest. I dropped in first, and shot a few pictures of the skiers as they headed down…

Looking down into the Fryingpan from this vantage point, I felt like I was in the North Cascades or somewhere in Europe; it definitely had the feel of big mountain skiing as opposed to the typical volcano riding we’re used to in Oregon…

We skied down to our skin track below, and decided it was definitely worth one more run before heading back to break camp for the day.

The skin back up on the sidehill track Mark set was just as grueling on the second lap as it was on the first, but we eventually made it back to our high point and readied for another run.

Dan going back for seconds on Rainier, day 3

Lap 2 was pretty sweet, and we worked a slightly different line down the ridge and bowl than on lap 1. The turns were damn fine, and we miked them back down to our skin track before traversing back to camp. Sitting there in Summerland, it was nice to look up and see our artwork on the canvas above camp.

A few minutes later while breaking camp, reality set in that our trip was ending, but what a trip it was — some of the best turns of the season in a great spot with a great crew. And, we still had more turns remaining below us! Soon, we had our packs stuffed to the brim with our overnight gear, and shoved off from Summerland, working our way back down to the creek below. Being able to ski to the creek was a definite treat!

We slid without issue back down to the creek crossing, and then it was another “boots off” crossing to get to the north side of the trail. I captured a few more photos to document the adventure…

We ended up being able to slide about a mile or so of the trail on the various patches, with several spots of walking in between, but eventually the snow gave way to dirt and we put the skis and boots back on our packs.

Another hour or so of hiking along the creek brought us back to the trailhead, and to the end of our trip. One more important part of the trip was still to be enjoyed however — brews and brats at the truck. I fired up the grill, and we got the brats going, and the beer on ice. My beer for the afternoon was a great tasting Perpetua Pale Ale from Yachats Brewing.

A few minutes later, the brats were done, and we enjoyed them with all the fixin’s. Sitting there, enjoying our beers and brats after 3 days of great turns, we all agreed it’s hard to beat summer turns on Mt Rainier!