Whereby M. G. Halle Lays it All Out…Silky Style
For one day this season we were ok with El Niño. Superbowl Sunday. Chris and I had a surprisingly good day skiing der Hood. We ditched the car in Govy, stuck out our thumbs and the first car up Timberline Rd. obliged. The clouds lifted and the snow up high was as good as Hood snow gets.
My likely last ski of the season was a grand one. Chris Hill, Blake Osmundsen, Trent Thelen and I bivied at the bustling Cold Springs trailhead Friday night and headed up 7,000 ft. or so to the top then skied down. Skied down most of the way at least. We did a wrinkle I’d never done before: traversing at 7,000 ft to the south side trade route instead of heading to the round the mountain trail and then walking the 3 miles back to Cold Springs. The verdict seemed to be that the traverse at 7k is better suited for earlier in the season or bigger snow years. We finished the day with cold brews at the car and Huckleberry shakes in Trout Lake. Yeeehaaaa!
The tour to Ramona falls is one of my favorite things. Yesterday Steven, Ralph and I skied the route with a snowcat assist part way up the Palmer. It was a great day spent with friends on the mountain. We encountered a handfull of giants along the way.
Today’s was an exploratory tour I’ve wanted to ski for a while. After a long approach Lynn, Blake and I found great corn snow to the southeast of Lookout Mountain near Mt. Hood. We could have chosen a better line to ski and were forced to traverse through thick trees and over lots of bits and boughs more than we would have liked. The views and uncanny feeling like we were on a Sierra Nevada spring trip made up for the descent. The views of Hood, Adams, Rainier, Helens, Jefferson, Washintgon and the Sisters were clear and a cold foggy blanket extended to the horizon east of the Cascades.
One of my favorite things about Mt. Hood Ski Bowl besides the lack of lines at the upper bowl chair, the WPA era warming hut and the overall friendly vibe is the proximity of Mirror Lake. Enough said.
My oh my the skiing was good off Alameda Ridge in NE Portland this evening:
This shot is a blast from the fairly recent past:
Captured atop Corn Biscuits at Turnagain Pass with Blake, Poach, Lisa and CD. Not sure I’ll be headed for AK this winter unfortunately unless I pull a bon bon of an assignment. Not sure I’ll even be skiing much around here with a newborn and all. There will be plenty of time to ski. There will be plenty of time to ski…
AC and I did a half day tour near Mirror Lake Wednesday. Winter’s going down swinging this year.
The end of winter means anything but ski doldrums in the Pacific Northwest. It means the start of something altogether new: volcano corn season.
Ralph, Pat and I did a familiar tour on Mt. Hood a little differently this weekend. A while back Ralph suggested that instead of doing the tour in typical car-to-car fashion we should leave a car at the Paradise trail head, walk the mile or so to highway 26 and then thumb it to Timberline along with our cousins the snowboarding rabble. Ralph uses this transportation technique paddling on the Clack all the time. Capital idea. Count me a new fan and advocate of the car-walk-thumb-skin-ski-car style of ski touring. The thumb part worked out smoothly to our surprise and glee. We thought we might have trouble being 3 unshaven, ripe rogues all with skis, boots and packs. The mountain folk smiled upon us and we were up at the great Lodge in nearly the same time it would have taken in a second car.
