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Backcountry OregonSubmit a report
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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