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05/23/10 My buddy Freeheel Jay and I went up to Bennett Pass on Sunday. At 10 am it was 33 degrees and snowing, with a decent snow pack still at ~4900 feet. It snowed off and on all day long, higher slopes (~5000 feet) were hardpack with a couple inches of fluff on top, lower slopes were concrete. A great day on the mountain - winter at the end of May. Bennett would have been great for our Memorial Day snow camp if family stuff hadn't got in the way. Pics and more extended blog should be up on my site sometime over the upcoming holiday weekend (links are in my previous reports). Planning on going up at least once in June as well. TeleMurray

05/02/10 Another day up at Bennett Pass. Arrived at ~noon, 3 or 4 cars in the lot plus a couple snowmobile rigs. 36 degrees F, cloudy with light flurries. Snow pack is still pretty decent at 4900 feet, but rapidly melting down lower. A great afternoon of turns and touring - pictures and long winded report can be found at http://www.telemurray.info/2010/SpringHasSprung_2010.htm TeleMurray

04/25/10 Oops, mistyped the date - previous report was for Sunday April 25th up at Bennett Pass. TeleMurray

04/15/10 Another great day at Bennett Pass. Sunny and warm, with a touch of fresh snow on top. An excellent day for skiing open glades. Only one other car in the lot at noon, 5 cars at Teacup Lake, cars still heading up to Meadows. Snow pack is still good, basically unchanged from last week - still a good 4 to 5 feet at 4900 feet. Blog and pictures at: http://www.telemurray.info/2010/SpringHasSprung_2010.htm TeleMurray

04/17/10 An outstanding day up at Bennett Pass. I took many varied runs, steep, treed runs, open runs, mellow runs and had some most excellent touring as well. One of my all time best days at Bennett Pass. Weather excellent, 50 degrees and partly sunny. No crowds, parking lot was empty when I arrived at 11 am, with some 'bilers showing up later. Full report and pictures can be viewed at http://www.telemurray.info/2010/SpringHasSprung_2010.htm. TeleMurray

04/03/10 Awesome! Spent the last week playing in the waves on tropical beaches - come back to the deepest powder of the season. My wife and I headed up to Bennett Pass for a short pre-Easter tour. We hit the trail at about 11:45 and headed up to our usual spot to eat lunch. We're still getting used to the time zone so my wife was pretty tired, but she let me head up the hill for a run. So we finally get some powder and now it's too deep! Well almost - I had a few good turns, but had to push myself through thigh deep snow a few times to make it to the bottom of the hill, then had to break trail for a couple hundred yards to get back to the tracked trail we came up. She wanted to do a tour so we headed towards the Terrible Traverse, expecting that no one was foolish enough to try and cross today. The snowmobiles had turned off to head down the big clearcut so the trail to the traverse was only a single ski track - I don't think I've seen that here for almost 20 years. We talked to some AT skiers at the clear cut just below the 'S' turns, the snow seemed pretty stable - that slope has some steep roll overs. We headed on up to the traverse and sure enough there was avalanche debris where it starts and I could clearly see a crown up above and it looked like there was more above that to slide as well. Judging by the size of the chunks the crown was probably 18 inches or more orginally - it had filled in somewhat from wind deposition. Too bad, 'cause the slope below looked primo :-). We headed back down and as we were traversing some steep South facing slopes talked to a snowboarder who was post holing his way back up the slope after taking a run - I think (hope) I talked him out of hitting the slope below the traverse - he wasn't happy with the amount of work he had to do to make a failrly short run. The slope he was boarding was at least 40 degrees, so the snow was pretty darn stable. It was a fun run down the 'S' turns, then we headed back to where I took my earlier run - my wife was tired so headed back to the car. I set my pack down and headed up for another run, trying to find some steeper shots. It was a pretty sweet run, thigh deep turns on the steeper shots, but I still had to push myself through a few spots. If Freeheel Jay had been here we would have found some majorly steep tree runs and thrashed ourselves. But the snow was excellent, the snowpack is looking a lot better and it looks like it's going to keep on coming. There were people skiing at Pocket Creek again as well - it was melted out a couple weeks ago. TeleMurray

03/21/10 Last weekend before the family vacation in Hawaii :-). We got a leisurely start, as usual, arriving at Bennett Pass around noon. No cars, nor any snow left at Pocket Creek, a few cars and a rain snow mix at Teacup Lake and heavy, wet snow at Bennett Pass with only a few cars in the lot. I put my skis on and tooled around on the slopes next to the Sno-park as Kiyomi and Rachel finished eating lunch - 4 or 5 inches of soft, heavy concrete, choppy in the trees, but pretty skiable. After they got ready we headed up the trail, I stopped at my usual warm up spot for some sweet concrete turns, easy to climb back up in the grippy wet snow. We headed up to our usual hang out, I put the tarp up next to an abandoned snow cave someone had built and then headed out for some runs. I headed up the road looking for some steep, open shots, nearly hitting a tree after dropping in - I need to remember to flow with the concrete, not fight it. The steeper shots weren't as nice as expected, the heavy snow tended to slide out on the turns - probably best to stick to more mellow slopes today. Still, a nice run as I weaved between the smaller trees in the more open slope. I headed back up, watched my wife take a run down the road and this time took a more mellow line in the trees - a mix of nice concrete and chopped up debris under the tree. I then headed down below the lower road and hit a nice mellow slope over a log down to the creek below. Probably the best run of the day. Since we were all pretty wet, we packed up and headed out, still snowing pretty steadily - Monday should be an awesome day on the mountain (but I'll be working :-( ). I took another short run on the way back, then headed down the slope that Freeheel Jay and I skied last weekend and headed back to the lot on the Tie trail. A great, if short and wet day, on the mountain. A few more storms like this and we might end up with decent Spring season after all. Freeheel, if you're reading this, it'll be a couple of weeks before my blog gets updated - I'll get to it eventually. TeleMurray

03/14/10 Freeheel Jay was jonesin' for some powder, so he headed up to my place to check out the fresh snow at Bennett Pass. We headed up a bit late - daylight savings time - arriving at Bennett Pass around 10:45 or so, heading out on the trail about 20 minutes later. Temps were right around freezing, sun was out, looked to be soft, fresh snow. I was still feeling the effects of being sick the previous week (missed out on some choice powder at Meadows on Saturday :-( ), so I was content to just head in and find an area to make turns - gee, that's almost anywhere :-). We headed in on the trail a couple hundred yards and said "this looks good" and headed down - actually I started making an uptrack and Jay headed down, but we determined that with 2 of us, making an uptrack wasn't a problem, so then we really headed down. The snow was excellent in the more open areas, much faster under the trees where there was less snow. The issue was all the small trees - when I last skied here the snow pack was 10 feet or more instead of 3 or 4 feet. But the snow was nice, the small trees were just tight. We set our packs down at the bottom and headed back up, this time heading just skiers right where I knew there were some good steep shots, but here the trees were even tighter so we had to bear left going down the slope. A good run, we both took a tumble or two negotiating the tight spots, but we headed all the way down crossing the Bennett Pass Tie trail at the bottom. We then headed back for lunch thinking we should ski the more open glades even closer to the snow park - and that's what we did all afternoon - still some tight spots, but more open and more consistent snow. After the first run or two we made a new uptrack - just for fun heading right through some small tree wells - and headed back to the junction at the snow park and headed up the road that goes up from there to make a longer run out of it. The weather was really nice, the views were awesome, though the mountain had a light cloud cover behind it preventing any spectacular photos. The upper slope is more mellow, but more open, so the snow was very good - ski down to the road, pause, then pick a line below and go. We took 3 or 4 runs from the very top all the way down with it starting to chill as it got later. Where it was sunny, the snow developed a slight crust, but it wasn't bad and the North facing glades stayed excellent all day. We skied until the light started to fade then picked up our packs, hit the uptrack and skied the agonizingly long 150 or so yards back to the snow park. Pretty sweet - outstanding turns just a couple minutes from the lot. Snow pack is still pretty slim, probably 4 to 5 feet at the parking lot, hopefully we'll get a few more Spring storms rolling through. An outstanding day of turns with Freeheel Jay in some of my favorite terrain. We probably would have gone further in if I'd been at full strength, but given the more treed areas weren't all that great and that the snowmobilers had most likely tracked out the clear cuts pretty good, we hit it just right. TeleMurray

03/06/10 A warm sunny day, I got a late start as I played a gig in Hood River the night before. Driving up it looked like late May instead of early March, hardly any snow at Pocket Creek, I'm sure the trail is melted out in spots. I arrived at Bennett Pass a bit after noon and hit the trail around 12:30 - temp in the mid 40s with about a 3 to 4 foot snow pack still. No leftover powder anywhere, I headed up the trail and decided I would check out the lower clear cut. I headed down my usual warm up run - not too bad, pretty firm but carveable. I dropped my pack at the top of the clear cut and headed down. In the sun the snow was pretty nice, still pretty firm, the issue was the low snow pack and all the small trees. I headed back up and ate lunch and decided that for today the best option was for a long tour instead. I picked up my pack and headed down, heading towards what looked like a more sun exposed area, but the angle of the sun was such that the snow was still pretty crispy, I had close encounters with a couple of small trees on the way down. Below that I had a much nicer run down through the open glades down to the lower road, then headed along the road to the Pocket Creek junction with the Meadow Trail and the upper Pocket Creek trail (I guess they call it the Pillory Trail). I headed up, following snowmobile tracks (in low snow years they sled up here), having a slow go up the shaded icy trail. When I got to the junction, I took a couple pics of Mt. Hood in all it's glory and took a few turns down a short, sun soaked slope. At this point the snowmobiles were really loud as they were high marking on the steep clear cut up the trail next to the Bennett Pass trail. I headed up the trail, meeting the 'bilers as they came down. The mellow clear cut in the middle (where FHJ and I did a rain soaked snow camp years ago) was in the sun, so I headed up to the corner and dropped my pack, staying in the edge of the trees to avoid all the 'biler tracks. A very nice run. I stopped for a snack break picked up my pack and nailed another run, missing a turn near the bottom and wrapping myself around a small tree - I should be more careful when I'm out by myself. As the road went up through a section of trees I de-skied to hike up the hill and put the skis back on when I came into a small patch of sun. As I headed up the last hill to the junction with the Bennett Pass trail I was having trouble getting any grip with my skis when I realized it was because it was POWDER. Wow, a small section, shaded by the trees on a North facing slope with a few inches of powder on top. I immediately took a run making 4 or 5 wonderful powder-licious turns down the steep slope before crashing in the crust at the bottom. I climbed back up and hit another slightly steeper spot, skidding on the crust beneath but enjoying the sweet powder before again breaking through the crust at the bottom (I just had to make one more turn). I headed up through the trees, finding the going much easier than on the raod, came out near the top of the large clear cut on what looked to be the same powder I had just enjoyed, but was instead icy crust. A speedy cruise down the mostly icy road then up over Gunsite Notch, a treacherous, icy cruise down from the Notch, as people had walked that part of the trail, leaving an icy hard bump run. As I turned the corner heading towards the S turns, there were some short, sun soaked South facing slopes so I took a few additional runs here in creamy soft snow. I also detected an easy climb up to the ridge top which should lead to a sweet open run down into the trees under the right conditions. The S turns were really nice, almost perfectly groomed. Then an icy trek back up the slight grade to the junction and an easy cruise back to the car, arriving a bit after 6 pm. An excellent tour, a few pretty good turns mixed in, great weather, and a quickly dwindling snow pack. TeleMurray

02/26/10 Our lift served skiing got cut short, so after lunch we put on our backcountry Outtabounds skis and headed out to the backcountry access. We weren't too ambitious, just looking for some turns, so we hit the first hill we came to, between the Anthony Lakes nordic area and the downhill slopes. It was pretty slow going up the slope - waxless skis don't climb well in dry powder. We set our packs down in a sheltered area and headed up the slope - mellow down low and steeper just below the downhill runs. Even with the narrower, lighter skis the snow was excellent. We took a couple of runs and Jay was tuckered out, so he took a break and I headed up for a couple more runs. First run I went where we had been and took another outstanding run, second run I headed on up to the downhill slopes and headed up Lower College and then headed down through the trees. Some real nice turns, some tracked out wind blown turns and then back down to meet up with Jay. It was about 4 pm, so we headed up to the downhill run and made a quick run back down to the car to end our skiing day at Anthony Lakes. A great time was had, next year we may want to hit some different areas of the backcountry, if we're ambitious enough, off the back side of the ski area would be awesome (would need to bring skins for that). TeleMurray

02/26/10 Anthony Lakes report. Our last day out East at Anthony Lakes, we woke to a coudy and windy morning in Baker Valley, packed up our gear and headed out from the North Powder Motel - a cheap and handy access to Anthony Lakes ski resort. We headed up the mountain into a cloud bank, snowing and windy when we arrived at around 9 am. We used our Motel discount to get $10 off lift tickets today ($29). We headed up shortly after, the lifties requiring all chairs be fully loaded due to high winds at the top (it's a triple). Sure enough, it was nuking at the top - the top is quite exposed to the elements. The obvious choice when we got off was to head right (West) as the wind was coming from the East (the runs are mostly North facing). The wind pushed us right along the flat area at the top - but the trees were even nicer than the day before. They had 6 inches over night and the wind had pretty much covered all the tracks from Thursday. We decided to check out some of the areas we'd missed the day before - we found very nice untracked lines in the trees out between Broadway and Bert's Run - a little more mellow but very nice. The trees next to Holiday were most excellent again. Chicken Out and Paint Your Wagon were very nice - excellent wind packed powder and the open glades were also outstanding. We shared the lift a couple of times with the legendary Wayne - one of the SnoCat guides (I've seen him on their website and also on a movie someone posted of Anthony Lakes SnoCat skiing - would love to check that out, but they haven't opened this year due to the low snow pack on their lower slopes). I apparently stepped on his ski when we got off at the top - oops. It appeared the weather was starting to break a bit, but the wind was still howling up top. We were about ready for lunch, but decided to take another run - good thing as they had closed the lift down when we got back down. So we got a little less than 3 hours in, we went in and ate lunch, they were still closed - a rain check doesn't do us much good. We managed to talk them into giving us and some other out of area people a rain check for next season. Hmm, I guess we're heading back to Anthony Lakes again next season. That works for me, a great little ski area, not real big, but a good mix of terrain and if you hit it right excellent quality snow - further East (the Blues are technically part of the Rocky Mountains) and higher elevation. And cheap - the total cost of our trip was less than half of what we usually pay when we head to Willamette Pass - Willamette Pass still has unbeatable terrain, but it's hard to beat Blue Mountain snow and low prices. TeleMurray

02/25/10 Hmm, no entry for Anthony Lakes - highest base area in the NW (7100 foot base elevation). Thursday morning arrived, cloudy, a light dusting of snow or frost in the Baker Valley. We headed up to Anthony Lakes ski area arriving a tad after 9 am, knowing we would have freshies (they're only open Thursday - Sunday). Mentioning their Facebook page netted a $15 discount ($24 lift tickets!). We hit the slopes, seeing nice, lightly tracked runs coming off the top. We had talked to a guy at the car who told us about a nice tree stash (off Holiday) so we headed down there. There was about 6 inches of dry, light powder everywhere, but it was quite a bit deeper in the trees. We did make the mistake (or I did anyway) of heading down some trees at the bottom and ending up in a flat area that's actually below the lift (a little hollow next to the main run). We tried out some of the steep runs off the top, finding nice powder on top, but not deep enough to keep from scraping the hard pack underneath. The trees along side the runs were very nice, we hit some really deep shots along side Variety, soon discovering why they were so deep as the trees got really tight below that. We hit various shots all morning, dipping in and out of the trees between runs, finding excellent, dry powder everywhere. The mountain has steep shots coming directly off the top and then mellows out below, but by following ridge lines you can find steep lines closer to the chair as well. We took a lunch break around noon and then hooked up with the tele skier we had talked with in the morning and he directed us to Schuss Alley - a steep shot coming off the ridge right above the lodge that's accessed by coming through the trees on the ridge. It was a great run, with plenty of untracked still along the edges. We continued to hit various shots, finding some good steep shots in the trees off Holiday. The views were spectacular as the sun came out in the afternoon. The snow stayed excellent, except for a little crustiness on East facing aspects. We headed into the trees down lower off Holiday and found some untracked steep shots but the reason for the lack of tracks soon became apparent - it took us a while to get through the thick trees and I whacked myself pretty good a couple of times trying to squeeze through tight spots. Near the end of the day we were finding real nice powder in the trees on the East facing slopes so we headed out on the ridge just below (East of) Schuss Alley - I had seen what looked like a nice open glade from below, but it didn't look so good as we traversed out. So we kept going and eventually hit a nice run that was totally untracked. Last run down we hit Schuss Alley again and then watched the Woman's gold medal hockey game in the bar. A great first day with an expected storm moving in for Friday. TeleMurray

02/24/10 On short notice (given a forecast calling for 6 to 12 inches of fresh) Freeheel Jay and I headed East to North Powder. We arrived at the motel at a bit after 3 pm ($45 a night for 2 beds with refrigerator and microwave with lift ticket discount as well). We decided to head up to Anthony Lakes to check out the area and the road conditions. It was snowing when we got there a bit after 4 pm. We parked in the Nordic area and headed out on their trails looking for some easy to access slopes. We headaed through the campground, past Lillypad Lake and found a nice hill to our left (East). We were able to follow the nordic trail up, veered off the trail and set our packs down and took a run down the hill in light, dry powder. Perfect conditions - we took several runs, stopped for some schnapps and proceeded up the trail to find some different runs. We took a couple more a little further along, coming down in about the same location - the trees were fairly thick, but it was good fun negotiating a route down. As it was getting dark we decided to head up the trail and look for some other hills. We had a nice cruise along the groomed trail, which had a couple of inches of powder on top - hit some nice hills on the trail, climbed up a fairly good sized hill, decided to just follow the trail down since it was now completely dark. But the trail circled back around so we cut down through some trees, crossed a meadow and rejoined the trail near our earlier runs and headed down from there (to make sure we didn't get turned around on their trails, not having any sort of map with us). A nice cruise back to the car for a 4 hour evening/night tour. A couple inches of additional snow had fallen while we here as well, boding well for our day at Anthony Lakes on Thursday. A great start to our annual ski trip (moved from Willamette Pass due to low snow pack). TeleMurray

02/20/10 The sunny weather (and lack of snow) continues. Anticipating icy conditions I headed up to Pocket Creek with my leather boots and E 109 backcountry skis. I hit the trail just after 10:30 am, temp in the 30s, sunny, only a few cars at the snopark and a paltry snow pack at ~4000 ft - about 6 to 12 inches of solid ice on the trail. I headed up the road, having difficulty getting any traction with my waxless bases, parts of the road had melted and refrozen into a glasslike ice surface. Where the sun was shining I had some grip, but no where else. I had originally planned on heaading up towards Bonnie Butte, but with the lack of grip I decided I would make a big loop up to the Bennett Pass Tie trail and over to the Teacup Lake trails. Not many people out today, I passed some snow shoers and talked with a lady pulling her kid in a sled (planning on de-skiing on the icy sections). Even though the sun was shining on some of the open glades along the way, the snow was still quite icy, not until I got up to the Meadow Creek Tie trail junction did I find some short South facing slopes on which I could make a few turns (very few). I finally found a sunny spot out of the wind at the bottom of the big Bennett Pass clearcut and stopped for a late lunch and some beer. No turns on the open slope today, I didn't see any skiers on it. I talked with some snow shoers at the Bennett Pass Tie trail junction, they were headed up towards Bennett Pass and said the bridge over the East Fork Hood River had collapsed on the Teacup Lake Tie trail. I proceeded through the woods on the trail - my first time skiing this route - a nice ski through an open forest on marginal snow. After some minor elevation gain I came to the bridge and could see what they were talking about - the bridges are made of logs with gaps between them - the snow had collapsed off one end leaving some gaps. I probably could have managed if I was hiking, but it appeared the easier route was to de-ski and ford the small river. I managed to get across without slipping on ice or getting my feet wet and a couple hundred yards later hit the groomed tracks of the Teacup Lake Nordic area. Much easier going here, my E109s fit nicely in the tracks as well. There was a mild sun soaked hill facing South so I detoured off and made a mellow run down the perfect corn slope. I talked with another skier to get some directions (I was looking for the Meadow Creek trail). But I had skied here years ago and recognized that a trail heading up must head to the Vista Ridge trail. The groomed slope was so nice I took a run down and headed back up and turned onto the Vista Ridge trail, hoping to ski down a sun soaked South facing clearcut that Rick, Jay and I had skied years earlier. It was a nice ski out, down a hill to the top of the cut - I cut down and made a sweet turn in the soft snow and stopped as there was no clear path through the small trees and exposed ground. I headed back up and traversed down, hmm, doesn't look to be any path through. I headed back up and it seemed just a little more open near the edge so I headed down. I was able to make 2 or 3 turns then traverse over to the next little patch, avoiding the stumps, logs and bushes along the way. It was a really nice run, but not worth a repeat with the meager snow pack. I came out on one of groomed trails at the bottom and proceeded North, hoping to hit the Meadow Creek trail at some point (my map is old enough to not show all the trails here). I ran into the woman I had talked with before and she thought that the Meadow Creek trail was along this trail, so I had a nice kick n' glide on the groomed track, a nice easy downhill took a right turn and hit the Meadow Creek trail away from the groomed trail. A pleasant ski through open forest brought me to the trial back to Pocket Creek, a short icy ski through the woods and I was on the main trail again. Despite the road being a very gentle downgrade (Jay and I had a long kick n' glide here a month ago) I went flying down the road. I even had to check my speed and stop and rest my calf muscles. This is the iciest I have ever seen it here, but it made for a quick ski back to the main trail and a short jaunt back up the icy road to the car. Got back to the car at about 5 pm, for a long tour with a few turns thrown in. We need fresh snow or Pocket Creek and Teacup Lake are done for the season. El nino sucks at our latitude. TeleMurray

02/13/10 My ski buddy Jay came up from Lebanon to hit the slopes at Bennett Pass. We arrived at Bennett Pass at around 10 am - 32 degrees and lightly snowing. We were hoping to be shredding powder, but it was not to be - there was about an inch or so of nice snow on top of a heavy, breakable crust with more concrete underneath. So we decided to make it a long tour. We headed up the road, checking out the snow at the junction a mile in - heavy and crusty concrete - not suitable for runs, so we continued on. There's a decent pack here - a minimum of 3 to 4 feet - if we ever get a powder dump the trees will be awesome. We headed up the 'Terrible Traverse', which in this low snow year is quite mild, and headed up the road towards the Windy Ridge junction. We conversed with some skinny skiers along the way - skiing along with them until they turned off at the upper Pocket Creek clear cuts to make that loop. Just below the junction we ran into some guys on fat skis with big boots who had harvested some open slopes along the road. We took a couple short runs and determined that smooth, open snow was at least skiable up here - they had pretty well chewed up the slopes so we continued on up. At the junction we turned right following old snowmobile tracks, no one else had been up this far today. We skied up the hill, topping out and headed down towards the junction with the road to the top of Bonney Butte, but since it was after noon we turned off and headed up a small hill and found a nice spot for lunch and beer. It had warmed up, we could hear the snowmelt dripping from the trees and hear the whumps as big clumps of snow fell to the ground. The trees were pretty open, there was a mild slope, so we decided to look for some turns. Much like the skiing we did a couple of weeks ago at Lava Lake, we had to follow the open patches and traverse through the trees to find the next open patch. As we headed up the hill it gradually became steeper as we hit the East slopes of Bonney Butte - which is basically a narrow ridge top extending North/South for about a mile. As we went up the hill the trees became tighter, so we took our first run. The snow was quite carvable, heavy, but firm and consistent with heavier slightly icy snow under the trees. It was a nice run - we ended up back at our packs and took a different route up for another run. I talked Jay into heading up further, he stopped and I headed up for one higher turn where through the trees I could see some steep, open slopes up above. We headed down for another really nice run - a few linked turns, traverse through the trees and link a few more turns. After a beer and snack break I suggested we check out the steep open slopes I had seen. we had one pretty tight band of trees to climb through but we could clearly see a steep slope below a rollover that was all open. We headed up and came out on top of Bonney Butte - we could see some nice views through the snow covered trees to the West with foggy conditions to the East. We headed down for a run, the snow very heavy, but carvable nonetheless. We both struggled a bit in the heavy snow, but carved it up down to the trees and headed up for another. I suggested we follow the open slopes along the top towards the South end of the ridge, so after another run we headed along the ridge. As we proceeded the trees got thicker, but we soon saw a fairly large open slope heading off to the East so we checked it out. It continued down the slope so we ended up skiing almost to the base and then traversed back over to our packs. Since it was getting late and we still had about 6 or 7 miles to ski back to the car, we headed out. The run down from the Windy Ridge junction was pretty fun, the road still being somewhat icy under the trees, we went screaming over the bumps on down. A pretty fast ski back to Gunsite Notch, another screamer down over the traverse and the long slog back from there. Another great day of skiing with Freeheel Jay - mediocre conditions - but we still nailed the turns and skied a good 14 mile roundtrip as well. Hoping to hit the trees here in powder one of these days, hopefully El Nino will start to weaken soon. TeleMurray

01/31/10 The weather was nice, hoping there's still some powder, the family headed up to Bennett Pass - getting a really late start as my daughter took a looong time to get ready. Snow pack was sparse down low, but Pocket Creek was as crowded as I have ever seen and Teacup Lake was jammed - people double parked and parked along the highway on both ends. We arrived at a full Bennett Pass lot at about 12:30, finding a couple of openings (people already leaving). The snow seemed somewhat heavy and crusty, but a decent pack - probably about 4 feet at the lot (~4900 feet). Rachel was still eating her sandwhich so I took a couple of runs down into the trees from the lot - pretty decent in the more open spots and not so great under the trees - but skiable. we finally headed up the trail - I tried a warm up run at my usual spot - very nice indeed. Not light powder, but about 4 to 6 inches of heavy powder made for easy turns. I took another short shot on the way and then set out my pad for the family to sit on and headed up into the trees. I'd never really gone far in this direction - as I went up I noted some really good tree skiing opportunities. I saw an open space up above and came out on top of the ridge, apparently where the trail dead ends (there were snow show tracks, most likely belonging to a family we had talked to on the trail). Time to head down - what fun! Quick turns on varied terrain, trying to stay out in the open as much as possible where the snow was better. Whooping my way down the hill, into a small clear cut at the bottom, schussing over the big bumps from the felled logs and Whap! Schussing into a small tree below a bump for a memorable face plant, ski stuck in the snow, pole buried underneath my now bruised hip. Help, I've fallen and I can't get up... It took me a minute or so to figure out I could lean on the tree to get some leverage to get my pole out and my ski unstuck. But what a great run. I joined the, skiing up with my now custom racing pole (bent!) to join the family and had a beer (home brewed IPA). Kiyomi was making runs on the road and I made some short excursions on the more open spots and hit some really choice shots below the road - a nice open, mellow slope with a jump off a big log at the bottom. I headed up the hill to check out the good steep shots here - not enough snow at the preferred entrance, went in a little lower and was able to pick out some pretty nice lines by weaving around the small trees. I hit another shot below the road, this time actually catching some air on the log jump ('cause this time I knew it was there :-)) and swishing to a stop just above a creek bed. The family was tired out, I was pretty well thrashed, the weather was good, the snow pack is good, all we need is some powder for an epic day. Regardless, it was an excellent day on the mountain with a lot of people up and skiing. A lot more snow than down South at Santiam. We may be heading over to Anthony Lakes instead of Willamette Pass this year unless we get some good powder dumps. TeleMurray

01/23/10 It was time for me to head down and ski with Freeheel Jay, who now lives just outside of Lebanon instead of down in Ashland. I arrived at his house at just after 9 am and we headed up South Santiam highway shortly after, destination Tombstone Pass. It was a beautiful, sunny day. As we climbed up the curvy highway we started wondering where all the snow was. We arrived at the pass (4236 ft) at around 10:30, pulled into the snow park and checked out the map. There was so little snow we decided to head out on the highway to check out another location. We looked at Lost Prairie, didn't look promising so we pulled in at Lava Lake. Still not much snow, but it's located in a beautiful old growth grove, so we hit the trail here. We skied in to a junction and headed towards West Lava Lake, came upon a small stream and decided not to de-ski to cross it and headed back to cross the main trail to a little clearing for lunch and beer. Some brief glimpses of 3 Fingered Jack could be had through the trees and there were 100s of small birds in a couple of the trees nearby. We pondered where to go - seek views or look for turns? We decided to meander up through the trees to the West and see if we could find some turns. The snow was actually very nice, 4 to 6 inches on about a 6 to 12 inch base - with basically no snow under the trees. We weaved our way up, having to pick our way through trees and slide alder to find the nice patches of snow and all of a sudden noticed we were on a ski trail (blue diamond on tree). There was enough snow to ski on it so we headed down the traill - a few turns, some nice straight shots, some sparse coverage - but a lot of fun. We skied down until we hit a spot without much snow and then headed back up - not wanting to miss the turns weaving down through the trees that we followed up to the trail. We decided to follow the trail up past where we came upon it, enjoying a nice tour through a beautiful forest. It kept going up so we followed it until it topped out and entered an old growth area (most of the trail seemed to be on the border of an old clear cut and older forest). Once into the old growth, the deadfall and lack of snow signalled the end of the skiing, so we stopped for a food and beer break enjoying the sun through the trees and the beautiful scene. After our break we headed back down, soon hitting a nice little hill that afforded quite a few turns - it was so nice that we decided to take our packs off and ski it again (and again and again). We took a whole bunch of runs here, taking some vids and having a great time. The pitch wasn't steep or long, but you take what you can get when the snow pack is this low. Eventually we headed back down the trail, wanting to hit our earlier trail before dark since we had skied in at least a couple of miles on the trail. The turns back down through the trees were most excellent, some moderately steep, some very tight and all around entertaining. Back down at our lunch spot we decided to check out the lake and sloshed across the creek with our skis on, following boot tracks down the trail. The trail was kind of a stream and we hit a junction and turned off towards the lake, following another stream apparently doubling as a trail for a few hundred yards until it became impassable with slide alder - with the tracks we had been following abruptly ending. So we just trudged back out to the main trail and had a nice little kick and glide back to the car - arriving at a bit after 5 pm. The snow pack was really low, the weather was great and this South Santiam area has some really nice areas calling for further exploration. A long winded report, but I haven't been out in a couple of weeks and it was a great day of skiing with Freeheel Jay. TeleMurray

01/03/10 I got a late start - wasn't sure if the family was going to join me - they didn't. I arrived at Bennett Pass at about 12:30 - temp 33 degrees. There looked to be a pretty good dumpage of fresh poured concrete - Snopark pretty full - mostly because people don't park head in. I headed up the trail, thought about heading down the lightly treed slopes close to the parking lot, but it didn't look like coverage was all that good, so I headed on up towards the junction. Just before the junction I had decided my usual tree skiing spot probably wasn't that great, so I decided to try a run in the trees below the road. Chunky, compressed concrete - skiable, but barely so. I decided I would continue on down and check out the well known lower clear cut area to at least be able to ski on smooth snow - I was pretty sure the concrete was pretty well tracked at the big clearcuts having seen numerous people with fat skis and AT bindings. I set my pack down at the top and took a run - not bad - heavy concrete as expected but quite skiable. I then ate lunch and had a beer and got down to business. I took a bunch of runs on the various lines of the clear cut - all pretty nice as long as I went with the flow - no powering through anything today. Dodging around the trees and picking the lines to keep the skis pointed down as much as possible. I thought it was getting late so I picked up my pack and headed back up the hill - about half way up I saw some people going by on the trail so I decided to check the time. Holy cow, only 3:45 - I set my pack down and headed back down and took a couple more runs. It was an exceelent work out in the heavy snow and with all the climbing in between. The snow pack is looking a lot better, problably about 3 to 4 feet at Bennett Pass now, hopefully we'll get some deep powder days coming up. January might be a sparse month for me as family matters and other stuff will keep my off the slopes. TeleMurray

12/28/09 My ski amigo Jay took the day off from work and headed up to my place to get some of the powder up on Hood. Since he moved last Fall, he's been really busy so this was his first ski day of the season. Freezing fog slowed him down so he arrived at my place around 10 and we headed up to Pocket Creek shortly after. We arrived at around 11:30 or so, temp about 26 degrees with about 1/2 inch of fresh snow from yesterday. We headed up the road, looking for turning options along the way. The snow cover down low was pretty sparse so we headed up towards the junction where I slew the powder the day before. There were some nice looking shots up higher, but this being a short day - and us with a late start - it seemed not the best bet for today - but we discussed some future backcountry trekking options which include much tree skiing vertical given the right conditions. We ended up at the same place I was at yesterday, the back side of the ridge just below the Pocket Creek/Meadow trail junction. We took a couple of warm up runs and then headed back to our packs for lunch and beer. After a refreshing lunch we again hit the slopes for more turns. Great fun, swooping down between the trees, not real long runs, but a good work out yo-yo-ing up and down the slopes. The snow was excellent - about 4 inches of soft powder on top of the hardpack. After another 4 runs or so we headed back up to our packs for another beer and a snack. It was getting late so we finished up with a couple more runs to get as much of that powder as possible. Sweet runs indeed, we milked all the vert out of the slope we could, skiing the mellow lines below until running out of openings between the trees. We headed back up to pick up our packs, took a sweet run back down to the road and headed up to the junction just as Mt. Hood was showing the Alpenglow. A fun run down the trail into the trees and a nice tour with a few little fun shots on the icy trail in the dusky gloom, before the trails joined the road for the rest of the ski back. The moonlight was shining brightly - it made for a real nice kick n' glide on the road. I really got into it and motored down the trail at speed leaving Jay temporarily behind. We got back to the car around 6 pm, the last car there - temp was 22 degrees. A great day of skiing with my good friend Freeheel Jay - I owe him a trip down South to ski up on Santiam Pass, Mary's Peak or at Hoodoo ski area. TeleMurray

12/27/09 I finally got an opportunity to get out again - after missing one weekend when the roads were iced over and another just due to marginal conditions (and familial apathy). I headed up to Mt. Hood, getting a late start as I was originally planning to meet my friend Jay (who now lives in Lebanon - a 2+ hour drive). it turned out that he was stuck at home as the valley was covered in a sheet of ice. I arrived at Pocket Creek around 11:30 - pleased to see that there was soft snow on top of the hard pack. Temp was about 22 degrees, no wind, maybe 20 cars at the Sno Park. I headed up the Meadow Trail - it's always more fun on an icy trail through the woods than on a road. The trail was rock hard, but there was about 3 to 4 inches of soft, dry powder on top of the road - at least in the more open spots, under the trees was marginal at best. I headed up to the junction with the main Pocket Creek trail and headed South along the low ridge there to look for turns in the lightly treed old clear cut on the back side of the ridge. By this time it had started snowing lightly - which continued for the rest of the afternoon. I set my pack down in some trees and ate lunch (with the prerequisite home brewed IPA). I then headed down in the sweet powder - I needed to allow for the light snow cover over ice as I slid into a tree on my first run. I took a bunch of runs on varying terrain, a few steep shots and lots of moderate slopes weaving between the small trees. At about 4 I decided it was time to head out, so I took a nice run down to the road and headed back up to the junction where I discussed trail routes with a couple of ladies who had just come up the Meadow Trail. I headed down the Meadow Trail for a fun run on fast, hard packed snow, arriving back at the car around 5 pm. An excellent day of skiing, my legs feeling it - about a 5 mile tour combined with lots of turns. The snow was excellent and should stay that way for a few days at least. TeleMurray

11/29/09 With the family in tow we headed up to Bennett Pass for some cross country skiing. I was hoping there would be powder in the trees, but it was not to be. Apparently it had warmed up and then refrozen, everything was hard as a rock with a thin dusting on top. The road was pretty packed out, we headed to the usual spot and set our stuff down so my daughter could play. The snow was actually decent where it was smooth, so my wife could take some runs down the road and I could hit a few more open spots between the trees - about 1/2 inch of powder on top of the hardpack. I tried one run down an East facing slope, it was crusty and not skiable, must have gotten some sun earlier. I headed up the road to the top of the hill, saw some tracks coming up (or down?) through the trees, skiied when the snow was much softer. Some nice views as some clouds drifted through and a pretty sweet run down the road, avoiding the tracks. We then headed out towards the old forest service lookout, Rachel tiring and turning around with my wife a couple hundred yards from the end of the road. The snow out here was really bad, crusty and heavy, but I headed up to the top anyway, following the tracks that had come down through the woods from the upper road. It appears that they headed down through the woods again from here, maybe they skiied down to White River - impressive, especially as it appeared they were on skinny skis. I headed out to the viewpoint, such as it is anymore, giving a brief glimpse of Bonney Butte and the ridges around the White River valley. I had some decent turns near the top of the hill, and then had to survival ski the rest down to the flat. An easy ski back to the car, with one detour back up to our lunch spot for a few extra turns on the way back. A good day on the mountain, snow conditions not great, weather beautiful, snow pack - not bad for November - 3 feet or so at the parking lot and 1 to 2 feet in the trees. Looks like a dry spell coming up, either spring conditions or ice skating, depending on location. TeleMurray

11/22/09 First day out for the new season. Big storm rolled through over night so I was not in a big hurry to head out, left the house about 10:30 am. Lots of cars coming down the mountain on the way up - hmmm, Highway 26 must be closed, or it's raining up high or it's really stormy. Rolled by Pocket Creek, conditions looked perfect, thought about pulling in, should have done that. Headed up to Bennet Pass, arriving at the Meadows turnoff - there was a wreck there, turned left towards the B Pass Snopark, big gust of wind - total whiteout - had to stop, couldn't see the front of my car. Got to the snopark, someone was parked in the middle of it so I tried to go in - thupf - stuck in a foot and a half of powder. Got the shovel out, but no luck, too much snow under the car. Got some guys to help push, no luck either, Honda Civics are no longer light cars. Finally, I pulled out my handy tow rope (courtesy of Hieb Enterprises - a childhood friend of my dad's, Harley Hieb, a decorated World War 2 hero, escaped from the Death March of Bataan and waged a guerilla war in the jungle afterwards, wrote a very good book titled Heart Of Iron about it - been in my trunk(s) for 25 years or so) and a very helpful gentleman in a Subura was able to pull me out. He also said that Meadows was closed - completely - due to the high winds. So I was back on the road, I headed back down to Pocket Creek (with my tail between my legs :-)). I ate some lunch in the snopark - after first verifying I could get in and out of my parking spot. I put on the skis and headed out - very nice snow conditions - looked to be about 2 feet of fresh and not very windy down here. I was thinking a tour would be just fine, I met a lady coming down the road, noticed she had Diamar Titanol 3 bindings on her skis and asked her some questions about them as I just bought my wife skis with the same bindings. She mentioned that the road to the left into the lower clear cuts had been tracked so I headed over there. The clearcut was pretty windy so I headed past as the tracks kept on. I took a short detour into the trees for some easy turns as the snow was only about 6 inches deep in the trees. I headed a ways further until the tracks ended where a small stream crossed the road and a bunch of downed trees blocked further progress. I noticed a steep shot off the road in some trees, hesitated a bit and then went for it. A sweet turn indeed, but all the snow slid with the turn, so I decided to tromp out and headed up the road. I noticed a nice looking mellow slope and headed down, a couple mellow turns and then swoop down the steeper slope between the fallen logs - good for some Yeehaws. I climbed back up and tried a different shot, very nice until I hit the submerged log and came to a halt. I headed back up the road a ways, stopping for another mellow shot, this time catching one of my skis on a branch and doing the splits - slowly, luckily. It was windier here so I headed back down to the end of the road for a snack and some single malt Balvenie. On the way back up I took another exellent run near the others and I then headed up to where I had first ventured into the trees, seeing an opportunity for some more turns up the hill So I tromped up as far as I could go while avoiding major windfall and took a sweet run through the powder back to the road. It was so nice I did it again, this time running over some hidden obstacles, having to vary my route to keep from crashing. I then headed out to the main road and headed down the hill, took a couple pics where the road crosses East fork Hood River, then decided to head back up the hill to get in a longer workout. I talked with some folks up looking for turns and directed them to the largest and most open of the clear cuts for that purpose, somewhere along the line I talked with someone who said that Highway 26 was closed due to accident(s). I made it to the top of the hill and noted the next road, which heads up to the top of all the lower clear cuts was not tracked, so I headed into the woods, seeing some tracks coming down - the area looked pretty gnarly, so I took a couple of short runs near the bottom and then headed back out to the car. In the lot I joined a fellow backcountry skiier in helping get some ladies Subaru unstuck, learned he had also got stuck in the Bennet Pass Snopark that day. An eventful day, an early warm-up (getting my car unstuck), a nice tour with nice turns and no traffic whatsoever on the way home - and I didn't wreck my car either. All in all an excellent first day out. TeleMurray

07/18/09 The annual trip up to the Glisan Glacier on the North side of Mt. Hood - I was just a day tripper this time around. I got to the Top Spur trailhead around 9:30 am and headed up the trail. I decided to go light this year, wearing my 23 year old PMS boots (that's Pacific Mountain Sports) and carrying skinny Fischer BC109 skis (a dubious choice on both accounts). I arrived at our usual camp site around 1 pm, no one there, just piles of gear in various spots, so after a quick energy recharging snack I headed up the valley to the Glisan snow fields, my destination the saddle between the Glisan and Sandy glaciers. I saw some people glissade down from the McNeill point ridge and then a skier came down the center of the Glisan - Anton on AT gear. I continued my trudge up the steepening slopes, seeing another skier traverse over to the saddle, eventually joining CR on the saddle - a spectacular view spot - looking out over the Glisan snow fields towards Mt. Adams, Mt Ranier and Mt. St. Helens and over the Sandy Glacier down the Sandy River canyon with the rugged West face of Mt. Hood above. We hung out for a couple of hours and were joined by Chauncey, Blair and Terrence. I ate a sandwich and had some beer - a bottle of Delirium Tremens hit the spot nicely. Around 4 pm we put on our skis and prepared to head down the mountain. CR and I both with ancient leather boots, but CR with more substantial skis - Outtabounds. I soon found out what a bad idea it had been to bring skinny skis and soft boots. The Glisan is pretty steep - not gnarly steep like the Ladd Glacier - I've skied it numerous times with leather boots and 10th Mountain, XCD and Outtabounds skis. A couple easy turns at the top then the steeps - I turned my boot and nothing happened (the boot had no effect on the ski), made for a nice semi-controlled slide down the first couple hundred feet until I was finally able to stop. I just couldn't get the skis to bite at all. From there it was careful parallel turns until the slope mellowed out and then I was able to tele turn the rest of the way. CR had made the careful parallel turns from the top as he had already figured out the boots weren't up to it. I will have to stick with the Crispis and bigger skis up here I think - the Glisan is one of my all time favorite runs - a perfect bowl with any level of steepness desired. Back at camp I said hello to Hans, Steve, Dan and Rich, shared some potent potables and pulled out my trumpet and played some tunes. Anyway, the weather was perfect, the views spectacular and the company good and I enjoyed my last turns of the season - despite the fact that I straight lined it at the top :-). I headed out around 6 through the clouds of biting bugs at the lower elevations, arriving at the parking lot around 9 pm. Last report of the season - there's still plenty of snow up there, but I'm not a Turns All Year guy. TeleMurray

05/17/09 My ski amigo Freeheel Jay came up from Ashland to ski where the snow pack is still deep. He showed up at my place and we headed up to Bennett Pass, hitting the trail around 10:40 am. No other cars in the lot, with a healthy snow pack at 4900'. Sunny and very warm, the snow was quite soft, but it looked like it had frozen overnight - it was a bit slushy, but only the top 3 or 4 inches. Across the valley, Mt. Hood Meadows looked like it still had complete coverage, no rocks showing even on the HRM runs. We proceeded up to the big clearcut, a snowmobiler had been out on most of the good runs, but only 1 or 2 tracks had been made. I suggested we proceed to the next smaller, but steeper clear cut. we set our packs down and headed down in the soft snow. First run wasn't great, we weren't prepared for how soft and heavy the snow was - I think we both were sliding into the turns to check our speed. After that warmup we figured out we need to let the skis run and made many marvelous runs in the soft snow. The clearcut isn't quite as wide or as long as the big one, but has steeper lines all around. we could also see that on a powder day the trees on both sides would be excellent. After a couple runs we stopped for lunch and some beer, taking a nice long, lazy break before heading out for some more runs. After a total of 5 longs runs, we took another beer and snack break and then headed along the ridge top a couple hundred yards to another clear cut for some more runs. I skied the trees here a couple of seasons ago in a blizzard, good steep glades. The clearcut had some nice roll overs on it. We took a run down the middle into lightly treed slopes at the bottom. The next run we went down skier's right over a steep roll over - felt about as steep as the roll over just below One Bowl at Meadows which is one of the steeper shots at Meadows. Another steep roll over below that made for a primo run. Luckily the soft snow wasn't too deep, these slopes are definitely steep enough to slide - which was why I was in the trees when I skied here earlier. One more run and we took another beer and snack break - amazing how much lighter are packs felt when we headed out. After another lazy break we headed back through the trees and decided we might as well make it a big day. We headed down the big clear cut all the way to the road at the bottom - smooth, creamy turns all the way down - they felt really easy after the steeper slopes we'd been skiing all day. We booked back up the road through the small lower clear cut and before we reached the parking lot we headed down through the open glades I skied a couple of weeks ago for some final turns and cruised back to the parking lot on the Tie Trail. An epic day, easily my biggest backcountry day of the year - just under 8 hours of skiing (with some good beer along the way). I'd guestimate somewhere between 4 and 5k of vertical for the day. Great conditions, it's easy to stay out a long time when it's warm, but we had to work it on the uptracks. Still 6 to 8 feet of snow at Bennett Pass. I may not make it out for a few weeks (family vacation and work on the house) so I may have to move up the mountain next time out. TeleMurray

05/02/09 With rain predicted, the family didn't want to go to SkiBowl, so I headed up to Bennett Pass for some skiing in the rain. I got there around 11:30, 40 degrees, 3 cars in the lot. Still lots of snow - 6 to 8 feet at the parking lot at ~4900 feet. It started raining lightly just as I was preparing to head up the trail but let up soon. I was just looking for turns so I headed down in the open glades about 1/4 mile up the trail - excellent Spring conditions. A little bit of fresh slush on top of a hardpack. I set my pack down in a nice sheltered spot which I have used numerous times and headed up the hill for some more turns. It started raining again as I headed up and I felt very warm, so I paused under some trees a couple of times to try and stay dry and stop sweating. I headed up above the road up to the upper road near where Freeheel Jay and I did our snow camp last year. I saw some large tracks, wondered whether they were bear or cougar - why don't I just follow these old ski tracks... uhh, I guess they're just dog tracks. I did see some other tracks later in the trees, maybe coyote or raccoon? I alternated runs from the lower road and the upper road in variable weather and excellent snow conditions. It was sunny and warm, then it was cloudy and then it was raining. It looked like Mt. Hood Meadows (just across the valley) was socked in most of the day, only clearing a bit late in the day. After 4 runs I ate lunch with a nice pint of homebrewed IPA. After lunch many more runs - I took at least 12 runs - 6 from the upper road and 6 from the lower road. I also took a couple of movies with my cheap camera in my hand - I'll try to attach them on my web site (www(dot)telemurray(dot)info). I almost left earlier than intended as it started raining pretty hard, and I saw a flash and got a really loud thunder clap within a second or two after, but then it stopped raining again and the excellent skiing continued. When I was down on the lower slopes a snag fell across the road - I didn't hear anything - another reason to be careful around snags in the forest - we saw one fall near here a few seasons ago in totally calm conditions. An excellent day of fun turns, weaving in and around small trees, nailing varying terrain - one face plant after shooting a gap between trees down into a small hole, I planted coming out the other side. Not as much snow as last year at this time, but still a lot for May - it should be skiable for the rest of the month. But I can move up to Meadows as well as this was their last weekend. We're hoping to enjoy SkiBowl's last weekend next week. Lots more skiing to do! TeleMurray

03/14/09 I headed up to Bennett Pass to see if last weeks snow was still soft, arriving at around 11:30 - snowing hard and 29 degrees. I headed up the trail, finding soft snow once I got away from the parking lot. I headed up about a quarter mile, looking for fresh tracks. Since the snow was fairly deep, I took an easy run down with no turns - to make my uptrack. I left my pack at the bottom under some trees and headed back up, only having to modify my uptrack in a couple spots on the way up. The snow was excellent, but there were treacherous, lumpy spots under the trees where last weeks snow had fallen off. I headed down - the turns were sweet and the lumpy, crusty spots could be skied with care - did a nice face plant near the bottom as I hit a crusty spot going too fast. Had a similar wipeout at the bottom of my second run as well. But from then on it was nothing but sweet powder turns as I got better at finding the powder lines and the snow kept dumping. After lunch, I got the cold fingers and had to move fast - must be getting old. It's odd though, I used to get cold toes, but with the new liners my feet never get cold, but my fingers sure do - maybe I drink too much... Anyway, I kept heading up and finding tight entrance shots at the top and more open powder turns towards the bottom. I didn't want to stay too late as I knew we were having sushi at home (I bought the fish on the way home last night) so I figured after 8 awesome powder runs it was time to head - but I took one more because it was sooooo good! I probably would have taken a few more even, but my feet were getting a little sore and I was getting a bit wet since it had been dumping all day - there was about 5 inches or so of fresh when I got back to the car - much more and I might have had to dig my way out of the lot. Temp was up to 32 degrees as I headed out, but still dumping hard. A stellar day of great powder turns in one of the area's premier tree skiing areas. It dumped all day long, last week's powder was still excellent - what an awesome day, what a great late season so far. Hoping to hit up SkiBowl tomorrow. TeleMurray

02/18/09 We had hoped to hit Willamette Pass when it was dumping snow, but scheduling issues made this the week. I met Freeheel Jay at Odell Lake at around 12:30. We ate lunch, had to wait a while as the previous guests had taken the key to our cabin home with them, but eventually we got settled in and headed out with our Outtabounds skis to look for some turns. We headed out around 2:30 under bright sunshine and cold temps. Not a whole lot of snow East of the crest, maybe 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 feet of snow at the Lodge (around 4500 feet). We headed over to the Union Pacific railroad tracks which run just behind the lodge and crossed over at the Fawn Lake trailhead. The snow was harpack ice on the flat areas, but in the trees or on North facing slopes was still pretty nice powder. The trail looked tracked, but we headed up the short slope to the left (South) to check out the snow. It was pretty nice. We took the short run back to the tracks and then headed back up to the low ridge having decided we would head through the trees to a higher ridge just South of us. Icy and crusty on the way over, but once we got across the flat space (and crossed a marked cross country trail - we'll have to take a closer look at the network of trails around here someday) we found about 6 inches of powder in the trees. Some crusty spots and thin coverage where the trees were thicker - and they were pretty thick - but real nice where the trees were smaller or more widely spaced. We set our packs down and took a short run to sample the snow. Very nice - a challenge picking the lines to make it through the tight spaces, but nice powder. After climbing back up to our packs we decided to head up the ridge to see what we could find. Even the uptrack was challenging because of the tight spaces and the bumps due to the light snow pack. We headed all the way to the top - no views - so we headed down. First shot ended in a tight clump, so we tracked back up and started down a different line. Better luck this time - fun turns in tight trees. We had to stop a few times to reconnoiter so we didn't end up in impassable tracts, but it was a fun run, lots of challenging turns - a good warm up for the resort the next day. We headed back catching some nice turns down the short slope to the tracks in time for a large dinner with lots of good beer. After dinner we headed out for a short tour along the railroad, hoping to see a train. As soon as we reached the tracks we saw headlights coming around the bend to the West (we're on the East side of Odell Lake, the pass tops out at the lake on both sides). It was moving fast having had 5 miles to gain speed from the top of the pass. It may have been the longest train I've seen - apparently they hooked 2 trains together to come over the pass. We then cruised along the trail next to the tracks climbing up where the tracks were elevated, finding some nice powder on the North facing road cut. We took several runs and watched another train go by. A very powerful experience standing 10 feet from the tracks as they roar by. An excellent first day at Odell Lake resort. TeleMurray

02/15/09 A friend wanted to hit Meadows, but I didn't want to fight the holiday crowds, so I headed up to Bennett Pass with the family. Arrived at about lunch time to sunshine and about a foot of fresh powder. Rachel took a long to time to eat her sandwich, so I took a couple of runs right from the parking lot through fairly thick trees. Pretty nice, not super light, but definitely nice pow. We then headed up the trail - I took my usual warm up run on the way up. Really sweet, about as deep as I've hit it up at Bennett this season. We headed up to our usual junction, there was a family there so we headed up just above and set our packs down. As usual, Kiyomi and I skied while Rachel played in the snow digging stuff with my shovel. I headed up the road looking for the steep shots up at the top of the hill. Really sweet, especially on the more open border between the old growth and the old clear cut. On the way back I hit a few short turns on a nice slope below the road as well - there's good skiing everywhere up here! I headed back up for another, this time going up a bit further for a really tight entrance and steeper turns. Outstanding skiing on the steeps, maybe the best turns of the year so far (with Willamette Pass coming up this week I think). I headed up and did one more, starting where I took the first run but skiing into the trees a bit more. Rachel was ready to leave (wanted to get back to go to a sleep over), so I headed up just a little ways and took a run down the gully. We packed up and headed out around 4, for a nice cruise down the well packed trail. Near the parking lot I headed down through some open glades to hit the Pocket Creek Tie Trail at the bottom to get in some more sweet turns. Very nice, some steep shots, some tight spots, varied terrain and a short slog to the trail. About a 10 minute slog back up to the parking lot for an outstanding day on the mountain. Hoping to hit one of the resorts next weekend now that we're actually getting fresh snow again. TeleMurray

02/08/09 No fresh snow at any of the local resorts, looks like a day for a tour. I headed up to Pocket Creek, with my lighter gear, temp right around 30, icy everywhere. I headed up the Meadow Creek trail, figuring if I can't make turns it'll be more fun skiing through the woods on an icy trail. Rock hard, it was even difficult to side step up the steeper little pitches on the trail, but the weather was nice and the scenery beautiful. I headed up to the upper junction with the Pocket Creek trail and stopped for lunch, with the last of the previous batch of home brew - next batch should be ready in a week or two. Since it was too gnarly for turns I decided to head up the trail towards Bennett Pass, cruising by a clear cut Jay and I nailed quite a few years ago and stopping at the bottom of the largest of the Bennett Pass clear cuts. I then headed back, a flat ski for about a mile then a slight downhill to the junction. I decided I'd head down the Meadow Creek trail rather than Pocket Creek, an icy ski down through the woods would be much more interesting than a cruise down an icy road. It was pretty fun actually, the top was steeper and there was a large party coming up as I was heading down so I had to make a couple side slipping stops as I came upon them and their dogs - I always stop for dogs, I'm afraid they won't get out of the way and I'll run over their paws. Pretty much survival skiing, but pretty fast, some nice shots through the woods, a short climb on a connecting road, then I was able to glide almost the whole way back on the road section of the trail - not very steep at all, but about as icy as it gets. A fun 4+ hour tour, I covered about 8 miles all together for a nice work out. Hopefully we'll get some storms in, there's supposed to some little shots of snow moving in, but no major dumpage yet. We're waiting for some big storms to come in so Freeheel Jay and I can make our annual trip to Willamette Pass. We're holding out for deep pow this year after scraping the icy slopes last year. Text and some pics up at www(dot)telemurray(dot)info. TeleMurray

02/01/09 Super Bowl Sunday, in keeping with tradition I set the VCR and headed up to the mountain with the family. We got a late start (as usual) and arrived about lunch time. There looked to be a bit of corn-like snow on a firm pack at the parking lot, but that was misleading - the snow was actually a manky crusty mix. We headed up the trail - I tried a warm up run and discovered just how bad the snow was, one nice turn and then survival skiing to keep from losing it on the next. We headed up to the usual junction and I headed up the road to try a run through the trees - the smooth sections of snow were sort of skiable, under the trees was just icy. Not a bad run, a few nice turns, only one wipeout, but definitely not the place to ski today. I then tried one on a more open section, skiable, sort of. Fatter skis might have kept me on top, but as it was I'd start to build up some speed and then - whomp - sink into the crust - and just as I hit the steep road cut, an icy crust - very difficult conditions. So I talked the family into cruising up the road towards the old fire lookout. Rachel tired out and they headed back and I continued on to the top, and through the woods to see what's left of the view as the trees have all grown up around it. A nice ski back down the hill, as it was packed out wide enough for fun survival type skiing. Then back to the car for a nice tour. We need some fresh snow, January has not been very conducive to my powder addiction.

01/25/09 I had to take last week off with a bruised wrist - TaekwonDo is a lot of fun but does have it's downside :-). I headed up to Pocket Creek, arriving in a light snow with temps in the mid 20s. Since I was expecting cold conditions with only a dusting of powder I was looking for some open slopes that weren't too steep. I decided to do the Meadow Trail loop and headed up through the woods. There was a couple of inches of soft powder and hoar on top of a bullet proof hardpack. The Meadow trail is a nice ski on a road part of the way and then on a more interesting trail through the woods, kind of fun with very nice scenery. I headed up towards the junction remembering some slopes I had skied in similar conditions a year or two ago, but since there was no wind the slopes I was thinking of didn't look that inviting - the wind blows the snow into that area. Instead I was seeing some nice open glades below the hill right where the Meadow trail meets up with the main Pocket Creek trail. I headed over, set my pack down and headed down through the trees. Sweet! Very nice, whooshing down through the trees and over the bumps. I headed back up and ate lunch (with the usual homebrewed IPA) and then headed over to the right where there were some steeper slopes. A truly excellent run - I could have easily skied some of the steeper clear cuts, but there was enough variety here to satisfy me for the day. I took several runs on the steeper part, then headed over to the left to hit some longer, less steep shots - it was all good. A few more runs there, then one last shot down the steep slope and I was feeling like I'd got a good days skiing in - and my feet were getting sore - the new liners are really warm, but they're a lot thinner so my feet get rubbed and bashed in more places. I headed down the Pocket Creek trail, hitting some shots off to the uphill side - a pretty easy ski back since it's mostly downhill. An excellent day of skiing. I'm seeing more terrain that needs to be explored at Pocket Creek - I may be heading here more this season instead of Bennett Pass - of course it's easy enough to get to Bennett Pass from Pocket Creek. It looks like the dry pattern is finally starting to break, hopefully the big dumps will start up again. As usual, this report plus a few pics is up on www(dot)telemurray(dot)info. TeleMurray

01/11/09 I wasn't sure I would head up due to weather, but the ski shop in Hood River had room for Rachel's old boots (on consignment) so I decided to check it out. Got to Pocket Creek before 1 pm, a dark, wet looking cloud up towards Meadows and Bennett Pass, so I parked at Pocket Creek and headed out. I headed up to the second of the big clearcuts just off the trail past East Fork Hood River, set my pack down and headed up for a warm up run. This is a pretty steep clear cut - Rick and I took some runs here once when we were learning the tele turn. The warm up run was pretty nice, some tight spots, fairly steep but pretty good Spring snow conditions. I then ate lunch (with the prerequisite home brew) and decided I would head up to the top and follow the road at the top to the end - I'd been up about as far as the top of the clear cut I was on but had never followed it further. It ended up being quite a bit longer than expected - longer than it shows on the map. There are 2 more clear cuts past the one I was on, then the road winds up the hill and ends at a small clear cut up near some pretty steep and rocky terrain - definitely worth some more exploration in better conditions and with a ski partner. It was worth the extra effort as the further I headed up the road, the better the weather was and the nicer the views. Up at the top there was some fresh snow - albeit fairly heavy - so I took a run on the smaller clear cut. Slow, but quite nice. I then headed back down intending to ski down the clearcut past the one I came up, but when I got there there were some downed trees and very little room for turns so I headed back up to the one I came up - some unplanned extra work going back up the hill. The issue with this clear cut is finding a spot to drop in - I followed my side step tracks through the edge of the woods to get to a more open spot and headed down. Very nice snow at the top, with some challenging bumps and trees to work around. As I headed down it changed into big bumps and a gnarly gully with some holes in the snow, so I traversed over to the other side of the clear cut where I started out - ended up taking the same line I hit on my warmup run. Then a routine ski back to the car for a quite strenuous 4 hour tour - probably the hardest I've worked on any of my tours so far this season. But there's some excellent terrain that's fairly accessible and some pretty steep slopes - steeper than the terrain up at Bennett Pass I think. Another excellent day on the mountain - this text and some photos on my ski page at www(dot)telemurray(dot)info. TeleMurray

01/04/09 I got a late start - had to do some chores to build up some points with the family. I arrived at Bennett Pass about lunch time, calm weather, temp in the mid 20s. I headed up the trail, noting excellent conditions - looked to be about 8 to 10 inches of fresh on top of hardpack. I headed up to the main junction and headed down at a slight angle to make my uptrack. I made a long trail down, to about the bottom of the lower clear cut, then headed back up to make a run. At last - fresh powder on a hard base - excellent conditions, excellent coverage - primo runs. After a long run through the trees I ate lunch and drank a home brew and headed up again - with very cold fingers. I took 2 shorter runs in the more open shots below the junction. I then headed up past the junction to some tighter shots - lots of smaller trees the further you go - makes for some real challenging turns and a really long run. Easily the best backcountry turns of the young season - a great long run winding down through the trees and over the bumps left over from the rain on New Years day. I could easily have taken many more runs, but it was getting late so I hoofed out (20 minute uptrack), taking a couple shorter shots off the trail on the way back. Temp was 20 degrees when I headed out at 4:30. An excellent day, helps make up for the short night at SkiBowl on Friday - heard the highway closure on Friday was due to a head on that killed 3 young ladies (14 to 18) when their car slid into the oncoming lane - what a terrible tragedy. Drive careful out there. I've updated my aki page as well - www(dot)telemurray(dot)info with the reports and some pics. TeleMurray

12/31/08 I was hoping to take the family up, but they wanted to go shopping, so I headed up to Bennett Pass to check out the fresh powder situation. I stopped in Hood River and got Rick's old liners fit for my boots - only cost me $5 - cool. I got up to the snow park at about 12:30 - 30 degrees and a howling blizzard. The wind was so strong and biting it was very difficult to get my pack organized and hit the trail. Up the trail, after a few turns in the road, the wind was blocked and it was much more pleasant. I thought at one point I should check to make sure my shovel handle was still attached to my pack, but I foolishly ignored it - so I lost the shovel handle to my now useless Life Link shovel. I turned right at the junction, but the road up the hill to my usual powder stash hadn't been tracked so I headed back to the main junction and headed down through the trees at a gradual angle to make my uptrack and set my pack down to have a sandwhich. That's when I discovered my missing shovel piece - damn, I might need to dig my car out. After wolfing a sandwhich I retraced my entire route with no luck. Back at the junction I then sampled the goods - not that great. A nice layer of powder over a breakable crust and crud. It was skiable, in fact it was actually easier on the steeper shots, but it was just mediocre. Heavier gear would've helped. I took 2 long runs anyway - might as well get some turns in - occasionally getting stuck in the deep mank and at one point skiing into a tree as I got caught leaning the wrong way. I then headed out to the whipping winds at the parking lot for a good workout, not great turns, but the coverage is excellent. All tree areas are skiable - conditions permitting. Now if I can just hit it when we've got the fresh powder shots. Oh well, I can't complain after all the freshies I had from my house the last couple of weeks. TeleMurray

12/28/08 We got new cross country boots for my daughter so we headed up to Bennett Pass to see if it was snowing or raining. The rain turned to snow around Pocket Creek so we parked at a nearly empty Bennett Pass lot and headed up the trail. The snow wasn't real good, a little powder on a heavy base, with icy lumps under the trees from all the snow that had fallen off the trees. We got to my warm up hill and I thought, might as well give it a try. It was real nice - I took 2 runs. Heavy, but consistent, I could ride on top and turn with no problem. We headed up to the right most junction, set our packs down and did some skiing. Rachel built a tall snowman, I headed up the hill to take a short run on the snow in the open. Pretty nice. On the way back I headed down from the road for a couple steep turns, then survival skied down a bunch of bumpy icy crud to a smooth section lower down. I took a couple runs there, my wife took some runs on the road, I had some home brew and Rachel worked on her snow creature. Before heading out, Rachel went up and took a run and I followed her. I took a couple short shots on the way back to the car as well. A pretty nice trip, there's already a great snow pack - probably a good 4 to 5 feet. This next week should be really good as we should be getting mountain snow all week. All the tree shots should be ski-able. TeleMurray

12/18/08 Snowing all day in the Gorge, but not enough on the ground for a decent tour, so I headed up to Bennett Pass to check out the deep pow. When I got up there, the snow park hadn't been plowed all day - there were a couple cars there, but it was too deep to get my Corolla into, so I headed back down the hill and parked at Pocket Creek. Luckily some snow shoers had been there, it was tracked down to East Fork Hood River, but I was looking for some turns so I had to break trail from there. It sure would have been nice to have a ski partner along, it was really hard breaking trail in 3 feet of fresh snow. I headed up and took the first fork to the left to one of the old clear cuts where there was a real nice sheltered spot under some large trees. Ran into snow shoe tracks again, but I couldn't follow them as they were zig-zagging up and down and I didn't have climbing skins. After major effort I arrived at the spot to discover no shelter, the trees had toppled during a storm. Anyway, there was a short hill there so I heaeded down and set my pack down to make some runs. A very short hill, good for 2 to 3 turns per shot, but it was deep and fluffy and very nice. As I headed up each time I could see a really nice tree shot above and to my left, but it was late in the day and I just didn't feel like trying to break trail to get up there - darn, where's Freeheel Jay when you need him :-). After a bunch of runs and a bottle of home brewed IPA I headed out glad to have gotten a few turns and a taste of deep powder finally. I should've taken my wife's CRV, I would've had no problems at Bennett and would've really gotten the goods. Oh well, there's enough snow in the Gorge for me to have some nice tours around the house and the forecast is calling for a couple of feet of snow tomorrow, so I'll guess I'll be cranking the turns out in the trees and under the power lines off Berge Road. TeleMurray

07/19/08 After a restful night I got up when the sun hit my bivy spot and ate breakfast, then played the horn a bit and headed up the mountain with Chauncey and Terrance. I was leaving today so wasn't overly ambitious, they were staying another night so were planning a much bigger ski. And of course with all the snow on the trail it was important to hike out in the daylight (in years past I have hiked in and out in the dark - but there were no route finding issues without a snow covered trail). We headed up to the saddle between the Glisan and Sandy glaciers and hung out for a while, eventually seeing some tiny figures arrive at our campsite way below. They headed down the rocks over to the Sandy Glacier and I put my skis on and headed down the steep upper section of the Glisan. When I got to the bottom of the upper part I traversed to my left and up the West wall of the Glisan to get another run in on some good steeps. As I was heading across I saw some people up on the ridge just above McNeill Point and then headed down to enjoy my final turns of the awesome 2007/2008 ski season. The snow was perfect corn, with some mild runnels and not too badly sun cupped. An excellent run indeed. Back at camp I said hello to Blair, CR and Bob as they were preparing to head up the mountain and get in some skiing. I played the horn for Kent and Laura, packed up and headed down the mountain sometime around 3 pm or so. On my way out I could see some impressive tracks running down the gut of the Sandy Glacier - the work of Chauncey and Terrance. Another great ski trip to some of the best ski terrain on the entire mountain, but it was major work to go and get it. Signing off for 2008... TeleMurray

07/18/08 Time for the annual trip to the North side of Mt. Hood to ski on the glaciers and snow fields near McNeill Point. I arrived at the trail head at around 11:15 and hit the trail by 11:30. There was snow in the first quarter mile but no major obstacles until I got just below the McNeill Point junction. The trail was completely snowed in the rest of the way. Luckily I know the trail well and have a good sense of direction, I was able to follow the trail all the way to the Cathedral Ridge trail junction, an extra trudge up the hill and our camp site, which actually had several bivy spots not covered with snow. I set the pack down and relaxed a bit, pulled out my trumpet and played some tunes and then decided I probably ought to ski a run as it was approaching 5 pm. I headed up the snow filled valley heading towards the top of the Glisan snow field, still wondering if anyone else was going to show up. I was pretty bushed after the long trudge in on the snow covered trail hauling 70 ounces of beer and assorted food stuff in addition to my horn, so it took quite an effort to gain the saddle between the Glisan and Sandy glaciers. A very beautiful spot, one of my favorite spots on the mountain. I hung out for a while, snacking and drinking water before heading down the slope. While it's pretty steep, the Glisan isn't radical, probably topping out at 35 degrees or so, maybe a few steeper shots. The snow was excellent and the turns felt good. I ripped it down the steep upper part and cruised down the mellow lower area - from about 7200 feet at the top to about 6000 feet at camp. An outstanding run, now I was ready to crack open my 34 ounce can of Asahi beer and cook dinner, wondering if this was going to be a solo ski trip this year. Around 8 pm or so Chauncey and Terrance came up the hill, so I at least had some drinking companions. Sunset was awesome, as always, with the view of Adams, Ranier and St. Helens with the spectacular North side of Hood behind us. TeleMurray

06/08/08 A beautiful day to head up to the mountain and see how much snow is left. I arrived at Bennett Pass snow park at a bit before 11 am. Weather excellent, about 50 degrees or so. I headed up the upper road to have a look at our camp site from Memorial Day weekend. With all the snow that had melted it was a little hard to find. There was a couple of inches of fresh snow in the open areas, so I skied down through the trees and headed over to the big clear cut. I ran into another skier on the way and talked for a few minutes - he was skiing on E-99s - a great backcountry touring ski (I should know, having gone through 2 pair of them). The big clear cut had some tracks over on the right side (looking down) from a few days earlier, but it was mostly untracked. I skied down looking for a nice place to set my pack down and hang out, finding it about a third of the way down. I wolfed down a snack and then headed back up to the top to get a run in. With the fresh snow, it was a little heavy and slow, but still very nice. I ripped it up all the way down, then slogged back up to the top thinking I'd take a run just back to my pack, but ended up taking almost a full run. With the heavier fresh snow, it was a good work out for the legs. But I was hungry, time to stop for a sandwich and a cold can of Caldera IPA (the only quality micro-brew that I know of that comes in a can). After lunch it was time for a couple more runs, and it was getting cold in the trees. Again, great turns, really working the leg muscles. With the heavy snow I managed to cross my tips and do a nice face plant - decided I better put my gloves on for the next run. Four long runs was enough to tucker me out, especially in the warm sun, so I headed on out. I stopped on the way back to hit a few open shots down through the trees on the fresh snow. A really excellent day of turns at Bennett Pass. Easily the latest I have ever been able to ski here. There's still plenty of snow, next week would be great, but with the family taking off in a couple of weeks, my next time up will be too late for Bennett Pass I think. But there's still tons of snow at Meadows! I think my next time out will be my 40th ski day of the year - an outstanding season continues! Ski on! Report is up with some pictures at www.telemurray.info - just follow the links to the Latest Ski Trip. Eventually I'll figure out how to post videos on the site, but not yet. TeleMurray

05/25/08 After a fitful sleep (it seems to get harder to sleep on foam pads every year) we woke up to some pretty heavy rainfall. I was worried that my daypack sitting under one of the tarps would get soaked from water coming through the slight opening between tarps, but stayed put until the rain tapered off. I was in my tent and Jay was bivied under a tarp a short distance away, we got up at around 7:30, thinking we'd pack up out wet stuff and go shove it in the car and see if we could still do some skiing - we weren't expected at my house until 5 or 6 pm, we'd just get on my wife's nerves if we came home sooner :-). So after breakfast we shoved the wet tarps and tent into plastic bags and stuffed it all in the trunk of my Corolla and headed out again hoping the rain wouldn't drive us away. We headed up to the big clear cut - I had lost the basket on one of my poles on our last run of the previous evening, so I had to work a bit harder and my pole kept sticking in the snow. It was windy and raining lightly when we arrived. We figured we needed a sheltered spot to hang out at - all the tarps were in my trunk - so we headed down the clear cut with our packs on, enjoying the turns on the still most excellent Spring corn, looking for a sheltered area. Down near the bottom there were some big trees and we headed in and found a perfect spot - a very large old Doug Fir with a nice open area underneath and set our packs down and ate an early lunch and had a beer. It was still blustery, but we were nice and dry under the big tree, but when we started to get cold we knew it was time for another run. So we headed up in the wind and light rain, making the long slog up the clear cut. From the top it was another awesome run, ripping turns all the way down. I headed into the edge of the trees on the right side, skiing directly into a tree well at one point - luckily I missed the tree and landed with my skis pointed straight up on the downhill side of the tree well. I guess I'll stay out of trees for the rest of the day :-). We ripped it up, snapping some decent action shots with our cameras. After another awesome run we stopped off at our packs and I put on my Goretex pants for the next run - of course it stopped raining as soon as we started slogging up the slope again. Another awesome run down the long slope, thighs burning with the effort. The big clear cut is as nice as any of the runs at Meadows for Spring skiing, though not as steep as the bowls. By the time we got to the bottom the sun was out and it was getting warm. We took another lunch break, to finish off our food and drink our last beers and decided we were good for one more run. Another long slog up the hill for a last ripping run. Then the slog up the hill and out to the car. What an awesome two days of skiing with my buddy Freeheel Jay. The only hard rain came while we were bivied and the snow conditions were most excellent. Freeheel says this may be his last ski outting of the year - the snow's melting fast down South, but I have a few more coming up after my family heads out to visit the in-laws in late June. Also, I now have a website - there's not much there now, but I should have my home page up by this weekend at www.telemurray.info. There should be pictures and possibly vids available there as soon as I link them in - though maybe only a link to the files at first until I figure stuff out. TeleMurray

05/24/08 Freeheel Jay, my ski amigo from Ashland, came up North to sample the awesome snow pack on Mt. Hood. We headed up to Bennett Pass for an overnighter, looking to camp about 1/2 mile from the car, so we could bring enough beer and food. We headed up and found a nice spot, open enough for some views but with enough trees to set up tarps and be sheltered from the wind. On our second trip in we found some large crows (Ravens?) attacking Jays gear on the ground. We set up one of the tarps and buried out food under the snow and went out to sample the snow. We headed down to the glades I have been skiing here this year (directly below our campsite). Even though the snow was covered with debris, it was quite skiable and pretty nice conditions. I showed Jay the nice roll overs and the terrain in general. I think we took a couple of runs then headed up for lunch and (more) beer. After lunch we headed down again and took a run in the open glades directly below, but it was a short run and the snow was still pretty dirty, so we decided to head over towards one of the clear cuts to find some better snow. Since we were already at the bottom of the hill, we headed down the Pocket Creek Tie Trail which runs through the woods and comes out below what we call the lower clear cut. When we got to the junction, we decided to head down the other trail which runs over towards Teacup Lake (where the Oregon Nordic Club runs groomed trails). We went just far enough to mosy over to the upper reaches of East Fork Hood River. We then headed up towards the lower clear cut, stopping to take a couple of runs in the steeper glades just below. Very nice, smooth, soft corn with great coverage, I was able to hit turns all the way to the creek bed - which is usually filled with cracks and openings. We took a couple of runs here then headed up to the lower clear cut for a couple more runs, taking some time to shoot some pics and a couple of low res vids on my cheap old point and shoot. A couple of great runs and then we headed back to camp to get things set up and take a break. After a snack (and some beer) we headed over towards the big clear cut - a smooth, reasonably steep slope of about 500 feet or so of vertical about a mile or so up the road from our camp site. We took some time for some photos, the run was really outstanding. Beautiful Spring corn, smooth surface, long run with some trees to play in along the edges and some steeper sections. Absolutely outstanding, by far the best run of the day. We ripped the whole run down to the Pocket Creek road at the bottom. Since it was approaching 7 pm, we headed back to camp by slogging up past the glade and up the lower clear cut to prepare dinner - a huge, satisfying feast with more beer to wash it down with. It had stayed cloudy, so the snow was not icing up, it was now time to think about some night skiing so at around 9:30 or 10 We headed down to the main trail, with head lamps at the ready and headed towards the big clear cut. By the time we arrived it was completely dark, the waning moon comes up much later, though we were able to see stars in parts of the sky. With head lamps on we headed down for another excellent run on the big clear cut. Not quite as nice as earlier, only because vision was limited to the slope directly in front, but still an excellent run with perfect Spring corn snow. Yeehaw! Then the slog back to camp, arriving at 11:30 pm. Time to have desert, a 24 oz. bottle of fine Belgian Framboise Ale - what a topper to an awesome ski day! Stay tuned for day 2... (as soon as it gets writ) :-) TeleMurray

04/26/08 I couldn't make it out for the powder earlier in the week, so I headed up to Bennett Pass to get some Spring glop. I had to start late as the family had a bunch of stuff going on, arrived at the parking lot about 1:45 - about 50 degrees and sunny. Still a ton of snow, the outhouse is almost buried again, I would estimate a wall of snow about 14 feet high at the lot. I headed up the trail, I'm still recovering from my month long illness so I didn't want to push it too much. Pole plants showed about 15 inches of fresh Spring snow. I headed up past the open glades and headed down the slope about the same place I've been going for the last couple of months, a bit heavy, but pretty consistent everywhere. I set my pack down and took another run and then stopped for a sandwich and beer. The next couple of runs I skied above the road to the upper road and took 2 longs runs starting from there and skiing down through the more open areas where the snow was smoother - no chunks dropped from the trees. After the 4th run, I packed up and moved my pack a little further up the trail and headed up the road to where the really steep roll overs are for my last couple of runs. Wow, great runs - steep, deep, soft, tight shots through the trees, just outstanding. I skied all the way down to the Pocket Creek Tie Trail at the bottom, a great way to fnish off an excellent afternoon of turns. I got back to the car around 5:30 pm, for a good 3 1/2 tour for turns. Bennett Pass should be skiable into June this year, the snow hasn't even started to melt yet. It looks like one more week of cold temps to keep that Spring snow pack up. An incredible year. SkiBowl is back up to 18 feet, hoping to head up with the family tomorrow. TeleMurray

04/12/08 The warmest day of the year, hoping the snow froze over night. I headed up to Bennett Pass, arriving a bit before 1 pm, sunny and warm. I talked with someone in the parking lot who had been skiing at Meadows, said the snow never froze, was gloppy like yesterday. Oh well, the weather was great, so I headed up the trail. Since I had a late start and I knew the snow was deep and heavy I headed up just past the open glades a short distance in and proceeded down at an easy angle, making my uptrack, leaving my pack at each switch back and skiing down to it. The snow was soft, heavy and fairly deep - I could still see traces of my tracks from a couple of weeks earlier in spots as well. But unlike up at SkiBowl, it was all untracked, which even with my lighter backcountry gear made it much easier to ski. I was able to ski anywhere I wanted, even the chunky spots under the trees were soft. The one problem I had was if I didn't keep the weight on the inside ski it tended to wander and then I'd do the splits as there was no way you could power through this crud. It was nice to relax with a beer and stay warm too. I took a bunch of runs down the slope, finding interesting terrain features wherever I went - steep roll overs, little whoop-te-dos over stumps, tight shots between trees and long smooth shots in more open areas. I stayed away from the steepest slopes, I saw all the slides on the East Wall at SkiBowl yesterday. With the warm temps I worked up a good sweat on the uptracks and cooled off coming down. I talked with a guy who was out with his family, an ex-marine, and thanked him for his service. He's interested in learning to telemark as well. I finally felt like I'm kicking the bug that's hit my family, it felt good all afternoon. I took about 7 or 8 full runs on the slope, finishing by skiing down to the Pocket Creek Tie trail and heading back that way. A great work out, I skied for about 3 1/2 hours. The wall of snow at the snow park is still huge, 13 or 14 feet at least. The outhouse is now visible again, it was completly buried a couple of weeks ago. The endless season continues! TeleMurray

03/30/08 I was supposed to take the family, but my daughter is sick - again. So I headed up myself, arriving at around 11:30 am. It was sunny with melting snow on the East side (as I passed by Meadows), but snowing as I headed towards Government Camp. The sun poked out as I arrived, parking lot maybe 2/3 full, about 25 or 26 degrees. I headed up towards what has become my favorite lately, West Wall. This time I ventured further into the trees on the way down to it, finding thigh deep powder in thick trees. West Wall was pretty tracked, but I still managed to find a less tracked line, even getting a few turns of untracked at the top. I did a few runs here, then headed over to East Wall to check out the trees over there. No one had skied the tighter lines so I headed down, floating down through steep glades in more thigh deep powder - as good as I've skied this year - on March 30th!. More tracked lower, but still sweet. I then hit the glades next to Pizzazz, finding some nice soft turns and then traversed over towards Radical and hit the chewed powder down to the lift. Since it was then past lunch I headed down past West Wall out to the end of the ridge and headed down a run called Powder Keg, next to some cliffs. Again, thigh deep, but it had started to set up in the sun and was a little crusty in spots. After lunch I headed up towards West Wall again, having a blast in the thickets on the way down to it - thigh deep, untracked, but after a couple of runs of whacking into trees and branches - you've got to find ever tighter shots to get those fresh tracks :-) - and given that East facing slopes had started to set up a bit I thought I'd head over to East Wall. Got to the bottom, lift was stopped and a long line had formed, so I decided to head over to Cascade chair. When I got over there, the short Poma lift to get up to the chair was stopped too - luckily not for long. I headed down the chewed up powder on skier's right - Raceway - as I got half way down I noticed Yumper was not roped off (it's usually closed for tubing). I headed down, finding thigh deep freshies on the fringe. Next run up I headed over to Rhododendron, skier's far right, which is hardly ever open. I tried heading down through the trees, but they soon got too tight, heading out into a big cut up bump field and my d#mn O2 binding popped loose again - major hassle on a steep soft bump field. The liftie said lift closed in 20 minutes so next run I hit the tight trees next to Stump Garden. Heading further right I was able to link thigh deep turns again. Instead of heading down the run out, I crossed over into the trees below, finding some really nice shots before I had to pay the price and traverse my way out. Back over for more Upper Bowl, I tried a thrasher down Pizzazz, but being East facing it had started to set up and I struggled in chewed up bumps and traversed over towards Radical and Accelerator. I took a run down Accelerator, starting in the trees at the top, getting a few thigh deep turns before hitting the chewed up face. Some nice shots in scattered glades on the way down. Last run was East Wall again, taking the first open shot down through the glades, barely tracked, hitting glorious thigh deep shots again, then traversing across Scotty's Run to the trees towards the top of the Lower Bowl chair. Awesome thigh deep turns through tight trees, actually came out skier's right of the chair. I cut back towards Lower Bowl and headed down through the trees again - as usual, more thigh deep turns and then out, finishing at about 5:40 for a ripping 6 hours of skiing. 17 feet mid mountain - I heard talk that SkiBowl is talking about staying open though May. Sweet indeed! The awesome season continues! TeleMurray

03/29/08 Wow! Easily one of the best days of the year. I arrived at the Bennett Pass SnoPark at around 10 am, 3rd car there, 25 degrees, sunny, windy and snowing. A ton of snow, there was a cornice hanging over the highway right at the turn-off, the wall of snow towers 13 or 14 feet over the parking lot. I headed up the trail, glad I was not the first out - pole plants throughout the day consistently showed between 30 and 36 inches of fresh, soft powder. I thought the glades where I've been skiing lately were a little open with all this new snow, so I headed up a little further, but realizing that anywhere I went would be untracked and that with my waxless skis I couldn't use the uptracks of the skinners heading to the big clearcut, I decided that the trees just beyond the open glades would make an excellent location for today's turns. I worked my way down one switchback at a time, making a mellow uptrack (on the way down), dropping my pack, heading back up and making turns back to my pack and repeating the process for 5 long tracks between switchbacks, leaving my pack at a sheltered spot at teh 4th one as I wanted to track over below some very steep shots coming down through the trees. It was all thigh deep, sweet powder. The roll-overs on some of the shots were as steep as portions of the Upper Bowl at SkiBowl, which was perfect for the deep conditions. I could head straight down a 40+ degree slope through thick trees and just float in perfect control. Absolutely delightful runs. I took about 6 full runs, pretty long ones too, since I tracked all the way to the bottom of the slope to catch all the steeps. It was amazing, even with my light gear I could nail lines I would hesitate to try at the resort with my big boots and heavier skis - straight down through narrow shots between tree wells, just floating down. Since the family is heading to SkiBowl tomorrow, I had to get back early so headed out around 2 pm (or so), taking extra runs by dropping my pack at one of the switchbacks and skiing down to get it. Arrived back at the car at about 2:40 or so for a solid 4 1/2 hours of awesome freshies. An amazing season continues - should be able to ski into July this year. It looks like my pictures came out OK despite dropping my camera in the snow and then frosting the lens trying to shoot a movie coming down one of the steep slopes. TeleMurray

03/23/08 After stuffing my face at Easter Brunch (Raccoon Lodge, great Brew Pub), I headed up for some turns at Bennett Pass. I guess they missed the forecast, it was 36 and a rain/snow mix when I arrived a little after 3 pm. I headed up thinking I would go to my old fave spot, took a couple of warm up runs down through the heavy concrete and then headed back to the open glades near the snow park. It was a little tricky at first, I guess I was spoiled by the soft powder ar SkiBowl the last couple of times out. But after a few runs I figured out you can't power through concrete. I took 4 runs down through the open glades and then headed up the road a bit for some runs through the trees for a little more challenge. Despite the wet conditions and heavy snow, a good workout and lots of good turns. There's still at least 12 feet of snow at the parking lot, Spring skiing should be great. A little disappointed, I was expecting nice powder, but concrete is OK and it was probably raining at SKiBowl, so Bennett was a good choice. Only out for 2 1/2 hours, but still got a good workout - I really needed it after that brunch. TeleMurray

03/01/08 Rachel wanted to go to Cooper Spur, but it looked like they didn't get any fresh there from their web page (3400' on the NE side of Hood). Since Meadows reported 6", I talked them into heading up to Bennett Pass for a tour. We got a late start and arrived at the snow park at about 12:30, snowing steadily, hardly anyone at the parking lot. When we headed up the trail there were only 8 cars in the lot. A huge amount of snow, with the wall of snow towering over the car, at least 12' high. As we headed up the trail I took a couple of warm up runs down in about 6 to 8 inches of fresh powder on top of hard pack. Very nice. We headed up towards our usual area, but it turns out I forgot my tarp, so Kiyomi said "let's do a tour". Despite Rachel's complaints, we headed up the trail towards the Terrible Traverse. I took a short run at the junction before we headed on, skiing alongside 3 skiers with big boots and big skis looking at skiing the traverse or the upper clear cuts. I haven't skied this way for quite some time, everywhere off to the side there were skiable lines (fresh tracks) in the trees. An unlimited area of mellow 20 to 25 degree lines through the open forest. I took advantage with several forays down and quick uptracks back to the road, getting an excellent work out in the process. Man I love my waxless BC skis, no skins, just ski, 4, 8 or 80 turns, it doesn't matter. We arrived at another junction just below the ridgeline that leads to the traverse and found a slightly sheltered spot in the trees. I set my pack down and unfolded it's built in chair for Rachel and headed over to the clear cut on the other side of the road. It looked a bit steep to ski the open portion (8+ inches of fresh on a smooth hard pack, I'm not taking any chances - I want to ski out with my family). I headed over to the left side and found some nice semi-open glades and headed down. Wow, excellent snow and good steep lines, definitely quite a bit steeper than where I usually ski up here. An excellent run. I headed back up to check on the family, they were ready to go, it was snowing hard the whole time, so I talked them into letting me take one more run. This time I headed further into the trees to hit a steeper glade. There is so much tree skiing here at Bennett, I will defintely make the longer trek up here to hit the steeper lines in the trees again. The snow was deeper each run, - another outstanding run around and through the trees with a steep first pitch and some nice roll overs below. My uptracks from earlier were almost covered as it was just dumping. We headed back out and I, of course, took advantage of the lines off to the side and took several more forays off the trail into the untracked trees. Combined with my hurried uptracks to stay up with my family I was getting thoroughly thrashed. As we got close to the parking lot, I said I'll meet you at the car and I headed down the hill through the trees where I skied a few weeks earlier coming out at the Pocket Creek Tie Trail and headed back up to the lot on that trail, talking with some other backcountry skiers on the way - marvelling at how great the conditions were and how few people were out. It must be Spring, meaning we'll have the area to ourselves (the few hard core skiers out there) for the rest of the season, which looks to be a long one. An outstanding day of turns and touring with my family in my favorite ski spot. TeleMurray

02/20/08 Freeheel Jay and I hit the backcountry at Odell Lake Resort. After lunch we headed out on our backcountry skis and crossed over the railroad tracks to look for some turns. The snow was soft, the weather partly sunny. We found a mellow slope and took a bunch of runs and relaxed with some beer. Odell Lake Resort is about 4900 feet, there looked to be about 6 to 8 feet of snow, more than we've seen here before. A good start to our annual trip to Willamette Pass. After about 3 hours of skiing we headed back to our cabin for dinner and more beer, completely spacing the lunar eclipse. I guess too much beer eclipsed our brains. TeleMurray

02/09/08 After the powder comes the concrete. I headed up to Bennett Pass Saturday, arrived at around 11:30 am, sunshine and 37 degrees. Small parking lot, the snow is so high they're having trouble keeping the snow parks clear, the wall was about 15 feet. I headed up the trail, not expecting to be able to do much skiing off trail, but there was actually a fairly firm layer on top. I skied in about a quarter mile to the slopes I skied a couple weeks ago, took some pictures for some folks who had stopped and just headed down right there. A fast layer on top with heavy concrete below, but pretty darn nice - very skiable. I set my pack down at the bottom, noting no one had skied the tie trail yet and headed up. Easy trail breaking with the firm layer, I took another run straight down and took a food and homebrew break. After lunch more of the same, a couple more runs on the more open portion of the slope and then I headed up the road a bit further and headed down through more treed areas. There's really a lot of lines available, you can just head down anywhere and keep going until you hit the tie trail and head back to the base. I also headed up above the trail, found hard crust up above where it flattened out and was a little more open, still quite skiable, as long as you kept the speed under control. I did notice that when my pole broke through you could easily put it in all the way to the handle, but I only sunk in a couple of times. An excellent day of turns down through steep, treed slopes off the main trail down to the tie trail. I think I took 8 runs plus several forays above the trail. I took a couple of nice tumbles as I tired, it was very easy to get slightly off balance and not be able to recover in the heavy concrete. Tons of snow, the warmer temps should serve to consolidate it. Hopefully we'll get some low level snow in the next week or two, the annual trip to Willamette Pass is coming soon. TeleMurray

01/26/08 January 26, 2007 I got a late start - I had ordered 2 new Nokian RSI studless snow tires, so had to stop in Hood River and have them mounted. I didn't know it would be snowing and in the mid 20's. I left the tire shop at just before noon and headed up towards Mt. Hood. As I got into the mountains the temp started goind up - just as I passed the Cooper Spur turn-off, the snow changed to freezing rain and I was driving on a sheet of ice. As I headed up the mountain, it got warmer yet, turning to rain and 36 degrees - I almost turned back to find somewhere lower, but as I headed up the temp started going back down, turning to snow at around Pocket Creek snopark. I arrived at Bennett Pass at a bit before 1, snowing and 33 degrees. No signs of rain, just 6" or so on top of a hard pack. I headed up the trail, about a quarter mile in I eyed a nice, lightly treed slope, looks good so I headed down. Very nice, soft, heavy powder on a hard pack, weaving down through the trees and gullys almost all the way to the Bennett Pass-Pocket Creek Tie trail. I set my pack down in a sheltered spot under a large tree and headed back up the hill. At the road, the slope above also looked nice, so I continued up the hill, going all the way to the upper road from the snopark right where it ends. I headed down, mellow turns through the trees at the top, a little steeper right above the road and some good steep shots below the road. I took about 4 runs and then stopped for a break, eating some food and having a home brewed IPA. After lunch I headed back up and tried some different lines. This is an excellent slope, maybe better than where I usually ski. Wide open shots, more treed shots, good variation of mellow and steep slopes, and starting from above, defintely more vertical. The last 3 runs were the best of the day, I headed up the road a little further and went down through an area with more trees up top but more open down lower. The snow was getting deeper, with some thigh deep turns (knee deep, but when you're crouched in the tele stance it's thigh deep). On my last run, I followed some tracks up from the upper road, wondering if they connected with the other raod which runs above where I usually ski here. Followed them up a ways to a large screen (?) in the woods. A tower, about 25 feet high with a large, flat panel on front, maybe 10 to 15 high and wide. No road, interesting, I'll have to find out what it is. One of the best days of the year as far as sheer fun and nailing turns. I'll definitely ski these slopes again, a nice change from my usual spot. I got back to the car at about 5, at least 6 inches of fresh in the 4 hours I was there. The drive back was interesting, snowing all the way home except for the warm band near Cooper Spur. Lots of snow in the Gorge, I guess I-84 had closed down, so about a half mile from Home Valley (1 1/2 miles from my regular turn off) I got caught in a traffic jam on SR 14. It took me an hour to go the half mile to Wind Mountain Road. This is a back way to my house, I was happy I had the new snow tires, as it's a pretty steep road - I made it up the hill - slipping in spots and arrived home in time to shovel the foot plus of snow off my driveway. An awesome ski day, a sucky commute. TeleMurray

01/19/08 I headed up to Tilly Jane to meet up with a bunch or other telemark skiers (and a split-boarder and several AT skiers). I got a late start as I thought the family was going cross country skiing, but they backed out and I was able to go. Got to the parking lot at about 11:15, last parking spot as Cooper Spur resort was filling up - sunny, windy and about 37 degrees. I put kicker skins on my Outtabounds and headed up the Tilly Jane ski trail, quite surprised to find 3 to 5 inches of nice, settled powder in the trees. I was expecting icy hardpack. It took me a couple hours to climb the 2300 feet to the cabin, I relaxed with a few buddies and ate lunch and had a beer before heading out for some turns. It was now snowing and as we climbed the wind got stronger. When we got to the tree line, I removed my skins to ski down and Steve and the 2 AT skiers (Kent and Jay) kept going up - I had very light skis and no goggles, so I didn't need to head into the high winds above the trees. The snow was quite good, a little inconsistent, which made for some challenging turns and a few falls with my light skis. But I picked some tight lines down through the trees and had a good run back to the cabin. I then headed up into the trees behind the cabin and took a couple more shorter runs, having a good time ripping through the various tree shots. Then back to the cabin, for some chow, some beer and other potent potables and a jam session. I had a pocket trumpet, there were 2 guitars, a harmonica, a banjo and some percussion instruments. We had a fun jam session and I headed out down the trail with my headlamp at around 7 pm. It was still snowing, so there was several inches of fresh on the trail, made for a nice mix of tele turns and keeping the speed down on the narrow sections. With better light, I would have been able to nail lots of tree shots, but with the steady snow and the headlamp I kept to the trail. I took the Cooper Spur fork near the bottom and had a nice run ripping turns under the lights down to the parking lot and hiked the last couple hundred yards to the car (where I flicked my windshield wiper off wiping snow off the car - took me a few minutes to figure out how to reassemble it). A great day of skiing, a ton of vertical, a great work out, a good jam session and some great turns. There's a ton of snow, they had to dig the cabin out when they arrived on Friday. TeleMurray

12/31/07 Wow, Holy S###, Awesome, Smokin', whatever superlatives you want to use applied to today. Sunshine, no wind and 2 feet + of cold smoke powder. I arrived at the Bennett Pass lot at about 9:30, 15 degrees F. I was expecting to meet my friend Sam, from Portland - who skis with the tele posse I sometimes ski with, but who also worked at Chico's Pizza with me over 30 years ago :-). He wasn't there so I headed up the trail. No one had headed over to my usual tree stash, but the snow was so light it was easy breaking trail in the previous days tracks. I set my pack down and headed up the road and cut down through the trees. Again, WOW! As good as it gets on Mt. Hood. 2 feet plus (about 28 inches on various pole plant tests) of light, dry, untracked powder everywhere. I took a couple of runs, took a short food break and headed up and took another run. Sam must have heard me whooping on the way down as he called out and I could see him heading up the upper road. I quickly followed and caught up with him at the top of the hill. we were both ready for lunch, so I suggested he follow me down through the trees and drop off his pack with mine lower down the road. Sam's first turns of the year, my best turns of the day, so far - a steep line near the edge of the old growth area. We ate lunch and then headed up the road, Sam suggesting (and me quickly agreeing) that we head up around the corner and cut back down through the steep runs above the road. What a great idea :-). I usually ski here with my family, so I don't get that far away, but the road curls around the top of the ridge, allowing as to just cut down and hit the road we were already skiing off of. There were some pretty tight entrance lines leading to some very steep shots in knee deep powder, followed by the great shots below the road. We took 3 long runs, finding steep and deep shots on the upper portion, then cruising up the road just a bit to find the steeper lines down to the lower trail. At this point Sam was pretty thrashed and I didn't want to be out on the road too late on New Year's Eve, so we packed up and headed down the main trail, arriving back at the snow park at around 3:40 pm. An absolutely awesome day of turns in snow as good as it gets in the Cascades. As good snow as I have ever skied I think - including the Big White trip years ago. TeleMurray

12/23/07 I had heard that we were supposed to have a couple of feet of fresh, so I headed up on Sunday morning. The morning news said something about a "brief" period of higher snow levels, but it sounded like it was going to be good. A worrisome sign, no snow on the cars coming down - sure enough, when I passed Cooper Spur, it started getting warmer. I skipped Sunday morning hoops to go ski in the rain? I arrived at a little before 10 am, 34 degrees and pouring rain. I put the Goretex pants and jacket on and headed up the trail noticing that the snow was actually pretty nice. I headed up to my usual spot, the road was tracked up the hill, so I set my pack down and set up my poncho as a tarp to have a dry spot to hang out at. I headed up the hill and headed down through the trees - sweeeet concrete!. It was actually really nice - smooth and consistent, easier to ski than the powder of Friday, and of course I've had lots of practice skiing concrete. It was still pouring, but I took several runs, whooping down through the trees. Given that there really wasn't more than an a couple of inches of new snow from Friday, I thought I'd take run through the trees off the junction and just use the uptrack I made on Friday. That was maybe the best run of the day, smooth concrete on the steep upper portion, the cratered areas from the tree bombs was much easier to negotiate. I took a long run, almost to the bottom of the lower clear cut. The snow was softer and it was wetter down lower, and there were noticeably more bombs coming off the trees. Nice as it was, I wouldn't take another run down here as I got pelted a couple of times with cold, icy bombs off the trees. I headed back to my pack, dug in for a quick peanut butter sandwich and some hot tea and then headed back up the road for more runs. The snow was getting a little more challenging, as the wind had picked up a bit and the clumps were really coming off the trees now. I took 4 more runs and then headed back to my pack. I took my skis off, changed into some dry layers and relaxed with some home brewed IPA and wolfed down some salami sandwiches. After lunch, I packed up all my wet stuff and headed down the trail, passing a large family group on the way. I hadn't planned on it, but I dropped my pack at my usual warm up spot and ended up taking 4 runs down the smooth, open slopes. Still not as nice as earlier in the day, but a nice way to finish up a rain soaked day of turns. I'm glad I didn't take my daughter up to Cooper Spur (she just got a snow board) - it would have been a miserable day on the lifts. I headed out at 3 pm, 40 degrees F and still pouring rain. Hoping for more powder, no rain. Hopefully it will turn back to snow soon, so we don't lose too much of our base - Bennett Pass has about a 3 to 4 foot base right now. A nice early season pack. TeleMurray

12/21/07 A nice day, I took the day off from work and headed up to the mountain to check out all the fresh snow. My usual destination, Bennett Pass. I left the parking lot at 9:30 am, 24 degrees F, a pole plant showed about 2 feet of fresh, dry snow. I was grateful that a couple of other skiers had headed out before me to break trail. I was hoping to hit my usual spot, but it wasn't tracked that way, so I decided to just head down into the trees at the junction. I was carrying skins, but didn't feel like using them so I picked a mellow line to use as my uptrack - easily the hardest run of the day - breaking through all that fresh snow. I headed down to the lower clear cut (where Freeheel Jay and I skied last weekend) and set my pack down, and headed back up my uptrack to get in some turns. The snow was very nice, but conditions were not that consistent in the trees. It varied between deep, soft powder and firmer powder where the snow had fallen from the trees. Very nice skiing, but challenging as the speed was so variable. But the trees were nicely spaced and the lines were unlimited. I skiied about 4 runs and then decided I would extend my uptrack to the bottom of the clear cut - another difficult run down through the deep, variable snow :-). I turned around when I got to the road at the bottom, kind of regretting that I hadn't instead gone down to the lower glades, where the lines were steeper and it was more open giving deeper, more consistent snow. Anyway, I headed all the way back up to the upper road, skied down the road a ways and headed down through the trees aiming for the high point of the lower clear cut, hoping to get some of that deeper snow. It was (again) a nice run down through the trees, but the upper part of the clear cut wasn't steep enough for the deep snow. The lower part was very nice though, I could nail little turns heading straight down the fall line, coming out right at the creek at the bottom. I then had to break trail a couple hundred yards to get to my uptrack, quite a chore. I stopped for lunch and home brewed IPA at my pack and after lunch (as my fingers started to freeze) I headed up for some more runs. I took 3 or 4 more long runs down through the trees, nailing some nice lines, weaving through the small trees near the top and cruising through the widely spaced trees lower down. Another great day in a powder filled season (so far). TeleMurray

12/15/07 My buddy Freeheel Jay came up from Ashland and we headed up to Bennett Pass to take advantage of all that new snow. Except Meadows' snow phone indicated they had only received 3 inches - about what I was expecting given that we had a couple of inches in the Gorge that didn't get washed away with more precip. We hit the trail at just before 10 am and headed up - since we were early we decided to go ahead and check out the big clearcut first. We followed tracks all the way, but the previous skiers checked it out and didn't like what they saw and went the other way. We thought it was just fine, 3 to 4 inches of fresh over a bumpy hard pack, with lots of small trees to dodge around. We cruised down, nailing turns, avoiding trees, looking for the most open paths. It was a good run, but more snow is definitely needed (it's on the way now). We skiied all the way down to the road at the bottom and headed over towards some glades and a smaller clear cut we have spent many an hour upon, stopping to take a short side run down into some fairly crusty snow below the road. Despite what Freeheel asserts, we didn't test out the glades, we looked at them and decided they looked too bumpy, so we proceeded up to the other clear cut. :-) As we were making our uptrack, I saw some movement and noticed some other skiers coming down. It turned out to be the AT skiers I met a couple of weeks previously - Paul, Joe and their friends - small world :-). we headed up to the top, dropped our packs and headed down. It was pretty good, really nice snow, very carveable, with lots of bumps and trees to avoid. we proceeded to take a whole bunch of runs, exploring all facets of the area. We also consumed multiple beers (Caldera IPA and Murray's home brew IPA) and moderate amounts of our favorite, Benedictine. After lunch, we were pining for some more open terrain, so we headed down to the glades below and took a couple of runs down there. It was more open, but the base under the fresh was a bit crusty as you descended. The Pocket Creek Tie trail was tracked, so we decided that we would take that route back to the car. We headed back up to the upper clear cut for a couple more runs, packed up the tarp (our shelter from the storm), picked up our packs and headed down for a last run down the clear cut and the glades. We headed up the Tie trail in the growing gloom for a pleasant ending to a full, turn filled day. As usual, a great time was had by TeleMurray and Freeheel Jay. TeleMurray

12/01/07 I headed up on Saturday morning to check out the fresh snow before the big rain and wind storm moves in on Sunday (though as I write this Sunday afternoon at 4 pm, from the center of the Cascades in the Gorge there is no wind at all). As expected, it was cold - 19 degrees as I arrived just aftet 9:30 am. Plenty of fresh, I was expecting about 18" on top of slightly settled powder from last week. A pole plant at the parking lot yielded a depth of 1 meter (~39"). I talked with some AT skiers who like myself, skied the trees here instead of heading to the big clearcut like most of the tele skiers that head up here. I headed up the trail, catching up with them again at the junction about a mile in. I decided to head right to my usual area despite it being untracked since there didn't appear to be enough snow to ski the trees off the main trail. They headed up to the clear cut, I headed over and dropped my pack and headed up the upper road. It was a bit of work to break trail, but not too bad - the old snow had settled. I was able to head straight down without having to work my way through the small trees (at least down lower). Sweetness indeed! Soft, dry and deep - as good as it gets in the Cascades! I figured I would take 3 or 4 runs and eat lunch and head out early to beat the predicted snow storm in the Gorge. 6 runs later I stopped for lunch. Heading up the road a tad further yielded steeper lines, but a gnarly entrance through the tight, small trees. Big grins, whoops and hollers - awesome conditions, great turns, mucho fun! Right at noon I stopped for a delicious sandwich and a cold can of Caldera IPA (the home brew should be ready in a few weeks). 2 more awesome runs after lunch, then I took 2 shorter runs down lower just because it was too good. On the was back I again met up with the AT skiers at the junction and headed down the road. This time I stopped at my usual warm up spot - I had passed it by on the way in thinking that coming up in 3'of unconsolidated snow would be too much. Best run of the day, steep, open and because it was more open, deeper than my earlier runs. It was soooo good, I took another. What a great early season day of turns. Absolutely perfect conditions. My Taekwondo must be helping my leg strength - my legs never felt tired, never had any leg burn at all - of course it was perfect, soft, dry powder. Hopefully the rains will just pack it down and then the snow will move back in. As an addendum, I arrived home at 3 pm, just in time for it to start snowing in earnest in Home Valley. By 8 pm there was enough to take my rock skis out for a tour. I headed up the road to the power line and headed over to the ATV trail in the trees. There wasn't enough snow to ski in the trees - I kept scraping rocks - even though I had my rock skis, hitting rocks makes for sudden, unexpected stops :-). I headed back down the road for a nice tour. TeleMurray

11/23/07 Meadows opened with a 14" base, so I decided to see how much had fallen at Bennett Pass. I got a late start, had to rent a car for my wife as some fool plowed into her CRV as she was turning left off SR 14 Wednesday night. I arrived at the snow park at around 3 pm, the temp had been steadily rising as I gained elevation, from the low 20s up to right around freezing at the snow park. The snow still seemed soft and fluffy, and there looked to be pretty close to the 14" inches up at Meadows. I headed up the trail finding very nice snow conditions. I had to pass by my usual warm up spot as there just wasn't enough snow to cover up the small trees and deadfall. I headed over to my usual spot, whacked my way through the scrub trees and set my pack down and popped open a cold can of Caldera IPA - then found out the batteries in my camera were dead. I then headed up the hill - the road was well tracked by snowmobiles - looking for some turns in the trees, I have taken turns here many times on minimal snow packs. I had to pick my way through the small trees next to the road to get to some open terrain. Not very deep, it was a challenge to avoid the fallen logs and other debris, but I managed a decent run, able to link a few turns at a time before needing to work around another obstacle. I forced my way through another row of small trees at the bottom, out to the lower road for a nice run. In fact I took 2 more runs through the same area, figuring on the third run (as it was getting dark) that it was time to stop as I failed to negotiate a log and nearly impaled myself on a broken branch. I took one more run down the road, almost working up a decent leg burn and headed out. A nice, if brief outting, some decent turns and an enjoyable tour. Another good dump and the trees will be rocking! It looks like next weekend will be excellent. TeleMurray

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