Recent Posts

Like it does every year, the end of the season snuck up on me way faster than I anticipated. Patrol 2 was closing this year, and as I ‘d done several times earlier in the season, I woke Carson and Shaun early in the morning and we loaded gear and headed to the Pass for one last day of riding the lifts and helping the skiing public. We arrived to the patrol room early, and other patrollers started trickling in. As usual, we had our morning meeting at 8:00 am and then headed out to open the mountain.

The coverage on the hill was beginning to look a bit like the season was ending, but as we worked our way up EPA and then over to Peak 2 there was still a great base for skiing and riding. I snapped a few shotos of some of our crew as we headed up the chair and got to the top, and then we set about opening runs and readying for day’s tasks.

After opening the hill, I headed down to base and worked with Hutch to go over our plan for ensuring closing went smoothly. We walked over to the lodge and had a quick chat with management, and after getting buy-in from them on our plan for Peak 2, we headed up to the top of Twilight and loaded up gear that could come down on the sleds, including the evac gear and extra tarps, etc. By the time we got to base, a few of the crew were cooking up lunch on the grill, so our timing was perfect.

After eating a quick bite, I headed out with Carson to make a few laps on EPA before we got into the more extensive work of bringing in tower pads and equipment later in the afternoon. We took a couple of runs on Eagle’s Flight and then headed over to Twilight to get ready to pull tower pads from EPA…

After loading the chair and riding the lift up, we found Steve and Chris at the top hanging out on bump. I joked that Chris looked like a marmot from the lift, sitting on top of his perch on the rock in the snow. A few minutes later, several other patrollers and SPY arrived and we headed out to pull the pads on EPA and Midway.

With the healthy crew, we made short work of the tower pads, after closing By George (with the exception of the park that had an exit to Twilight). The SPY were all over it, and contributed in a big way!

With the tower pads on Midway and EPA down and handed off to Laurie and crew at the base, I headed up to EPA to get ready for pulling pads on Peak 2. I had enough time to make a couple of runs on the back with Brian before we started our work…..as usual on closing day, it’s hurry up and wait!

Carson was tagging along with us, and skiing pretty well. He followed us down Escalator and then caught the chair with Brian.

Once back at the top of Peak 2, the SPY and a few patrollers headed down to pull the pads. Again, they made quick work of all the pads on Peak 2, and fortunately we were able to stack them all neatly at the base for the area to take care of later in the week as opposed to having to haul them all the way back to the base.

It only took one run to pull all the pads with the help of the eager SPY, which gave Brian a few minutes to enjoy some down time at the base of the lift :).

Then it was time to head up top and get ready for the final Peak 2 sweep of the season. I pulled my beer from my pack that I’d been packing around for a photo op (don’t worry I didn’t drink it until after we were done with our evening meeting well later in the day) and snapped a few pics. The 1983 Lager can from McMenamin’s looked good with Fuji Mountain providing a blurry backdrop.

After snapping some pics of my brew, I turned the camera and captured a few shots of some of the crew below me at the top of Peak 2, including Dan, Brian, Hutch and Joe.

A few moments later, we swept off Peak 2 for the final time of the season and then regrouped at the bottom. After riding the chair back to the top, I was able to orchestrate a pic of our crew before most of us headed off to EPA for sweep and a few others headed down with sleds loaded with gear.

Another picture of our crew went down at the top of EPA before upper mountain sweep, and it was awesome to have both Shaun and Carson in the picture with our crew. Amber, who is always up to some sort of shenanigans, unzipped her patrol coat for the photo, which created one of the better photo bombs in recent memory :).

For sweep, Brian and I headed down RTS to be extra resources at Twilight, and I caught a few pictures of Brian ripping the run riding switch. Brian rides switch better than most people ride normally…

The remaining work on Twilight included bringing down loaded sleds and pulling tower pads. I skied down with a Brian, Edward and a few other SPY, and we pulled several tower pads on our way. Brian, Edward and I all were able to catch one more lift ride (after closing and after sweep started) to head up and get a final lap of the season in and bring down the remaining gear and sleds. I brought down the Sabrina and Brian took a Cascade 1o0, and with that the hill was officially closed.

At base, we spent 45 minutes or so putting all the gear away, including evac ropes, sleds, tower pads, etc. and then it was time for the final evening meeting of the season. I was stoked to pull out the frozen Snickers and Klondike bars from the freezer that I’d brought up, and the patrol (especially the SPY :)) made short work of them. I enjoyed my McMenamin’s Lager which I had icing down on the snow, and just like that another season at the Pass was in the books. All in all, even though it started out slowly, it was one of my favorite of the last several. It was awesome to be able to have several good days on the mountain with both Shaun and Carson, as well as such a good group of people that make up the Willamette Pass Ski Patrol. I’m already dreaming of those first lift served turns at the pass next year, and can’t wait for winter to make a return!

Late March days at the mountain usually bring fun conditions, and this year was no exception. On Saturday the 23rd, the forecast was calling for a bit of fresh snow and cooler temperatures, and the mountain was looking good when Shaun and I arrived early to unlock the patrol room. After our morning meeting, we headed out to open the hill and I snapped a few pictures of Shaun, Silas and Edward lined up at the base of EPA waiting to load the chair. A few minutes later we hopped on the lift and made our way to the top to open runs.

Once up top, patrollers headed down to open runs after getting the saddle closure up. The word on the radio was that the resident Sierra Nevada fox was out at the top of Twilight, so a few of us headed that way once we had Peak 2 open for the morning.

By the time I rode the Twilight chair and made my way to the top of Twilight, the fox was gone but I found Hannah, Matthew, Gretchen and Jenn hanging out, and it was fun to just hang out and enjoy the quiet morning. A bit later, I worked my way to the top of EPA where Anna was going over knots and fencing work with the SPY

From the top of EPA, I checked my watch and decided it was a good time to head down and check out the rail jam at the lodge. After a brief pit-stop in the patrol room for a bite to eat, I headed out and saw skiers and riders sessioning the rails near the Midway lift, while DJ Toby kept the beats pumping.

There were a few riders that were definitely killing it on the rails, and several patrollers and other folks enjoyed watching the jam session unfold. After enjoying the scene for awhile and downing the rest of my coffee, I got called away to deal with dispatching a couple of patrol to an incident, and then headed up to enjoy a couple of runs before getting ready to close.

Closing the mountain went off without a hitch, and we closed down Peak 2, then upper and then lower mountain before heading into the patrol room to enjoy some bean dip along with cold beers for patrol and cold sodas for the SPY. My beer of choice for the evening was a tasty Cold Smoke Porter from Planktown Brewing Company, and it was the perfect pairing for the cold, snowy weather.

After changing out of ski boots and enjoying the camaraderie of fellow patrollers, as well as some good food and beer, Shaun and I locked up and headed down the hill for home. We were on the schedule with Patrol 2 for the next Sunday for Easter, and after a quick week, we found ourselves back at the Pass ready for another fun day of riding and keeping the mountain safe. I was especially stoked for the Easter brunch we had coordinated for the day thanks to Amber’s great idea the weekend before.

The morning started off per usual and we got the mountain open after our morning meeting and medical minute. It was nice to see Mindy out getting some skiing in, and she was making a few laps with Brad’s son Carter, who was dressed up in a Shark outfit for Easter. They both were all smiles at the top of EPA.

After that I headed in with a few others and enjoyed a great Easter brunch. The food dishes were numerous, and the quality of the entrees was excellent. The deviled eggs were probably my favorite, but the ham in the crockpot was a close second! After eating my fill, I headed out with a full stomach and sat bump for an hour or so at the top of EPA to cover for one of our patrollers who was out. It was a good time to snap a few pictures of the SPY and enjoy the views from the top while the snow softened.

While hanging out, Emily made her way to the top and it was good chance for me to shoot a few pics with my telephoto lens. It has a great bokeh and I grabbed a couple of shots below, including the one of Emily pointing to her season pass from when she was like 5 :).

While hanging on bump, it was also a good opportunity to snap a photo of my beer of the day (which I drank after we were done), which I had in my pack and wanted to shoot from high up on the mountain. The below shot of my Tropical Fresh IPA from Deschutes Brewery was taken just off the top of EPA, with Diamond Peak in the background looking all fuzzy.

Once I was done with bump, I made a lap down Timburr and the snow was starting to corn perfectly. It was night and day difference from my opening lap on the run in the morning. At the bottom, I caught up with Dan and Amber who were game to try Timburr, so I turned around and did it again.

After that, Amber wanted to ski RTS, so we spun a couple laps on it, and it was in pretty decent shape. I was surprised to see some snow was still hanging on the trees as we headed over the side of the run.

After four or five runs, my legs needed a break and I stopped up top at EPA where several other patrollers were hanging out, enjoying the perfect weather. I caught a few pictures of Anna and Emily, including Anna lounging in the sled and then the two of them reflecting in the EPA camera.

I snapped a few more shots, including the one below of Emily and Anna that might be my favorite patrol picture of the season framed in front of Diamond Peak. A 183 mm focal length did the trick.

Someone (James?) even offered to grab a photo of all of us with me in the picture, so I got out from behind the lens for a change.

Soon after the photos sesh at the top of EPA, it was time to head to Peak 2 for closing. I found the SPY crew waiting at the top, ready to close runs, and was stoked to get a picture of them all together. This year’s Patrol 2 SPY crew was all-time, and probably the most competent group of ski patrol youth we’ve had on patrol since I’ve been on. Pictured in the first photo below are Silas, Shaun, Edward, Ryan and Scarlett.

Since I was a bit late to the party I ended up closing Boundary, and it was nice to close the run after everyone was gone. It reminded me of trips out to Pulpit in year’s past, coming back to the area after it had closed and having to skin back up the run to get back down the front.

Peak 2 sweep and then upper mountain sweep went smoothly, and I headed down RTS with Edward as an “extra” to help with lower mountain sweep. Lower mountain sweep started a few minutes later, and with that the month of March came to a close.

At the base, everyone enjoyed a beer and/or some sodas, as well as some leftover ham and other tasty food from our morning brunch. It felt great to get out of ski and snowboard boots, and after socializing for a half our or so I reviewed incident reports and closed up the patrol room for the night. Shaun and I hit the road a few minutes later, after locking things up and cleaning the tables, and it capped of a fitting end to a great March at the Pass. Below is a parting shot of Emily from the top of EPA….