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SkibowlSubmit a report
04/10/10 Our first trip to SkiBowl this year - $25 lift tickets were the
call. We arrived around noon, looked to be a fair base - maybe 3
or 4 feet at the parking lot, probably as much as they've had all
season. We headed up the lift just after noon, sunny, but cold and
windy - temp at the lift tower showed around 40 degrees. I started
out on the Upper Bowl, the family headed over to Multorpor lift.
Off piste seemed pretty firm, so I hit up the groomed runs - pretty
nice - hard packed with a bit of powder on top. I hit all of the
main runs except Canyon - very nice except for the occasional scraped
areas - my edges are not sharp enough for steep ice. After a few
runs I headed over the East traverse and headed down through the
trees to head over to Multorpor - had some nice powder turns in
the trees, but pretty tight. The groomed runs at Multorpor were
really nice - the snow was a bit heavier, but not sticky at all.
I took a bunch of runs - mostly with Rachel on Broadway. Kiyomi
wanted some runs on the Upper Bowl so we headed over and she took
a couple runs on Canyon, I hit Radical - the snow getting noticeably
chunky as the afternoon progressed - and Rachel went around on
the cat track. We then headed into the Warming Hut for a brew and
snacks then back out - I wanted to ski a few more of the groomers
over on Multorpor so we headed over there. Rachel and Kiyomi went
back to the main runs while I took a couple high speed runs down
Mt Hood Lane. I met up with Rachel and we headed over to the Warming
Hut area - Rachel and Kiyomi took a couple last runs on the Lower
Bowl and I headed up for a last couple runs on the Upper Bowl. At
the top of Radical I decided to check out the off piste as I wasn't
finding the firm and chunky groomed runs all that fun - hmmm, wind
packed powder, not bad at all. Awesome, I headed down the side of
Radical, cut across to hit some steeper shots, then hit another
off to the side down to the chair. Next run I headed down off to
the side of Pizazz, finding the same conditions, as long as I kept
my speed down the powder was good - it was totally chewed. I was
thrashed but I headed up for one last run, again heading down the
chewed leftovers next to Pizazz, cutting over to Radical and down.
I headed into the trees on the Lower Bowl and had some nice powder
turns that got heavier and slower as I headed down getting to the
car at about 6 pm. A most exhausting and exhilarating end to a
great day at Mt Hood's friendliest ski area and the one with the
best terrain. Meadows gives good multi-day deals but their day
tickets are still $57.
TeleMurray
05/09/09 Last weekend of lift served skiing at SkiBowl - they stayed
open longer than Meadows this year. We arrived at about 12:30,
temps around 50, partly sunny, mostly cloudy, parking lot mostly
empty. Most of the people seemed to be here for a freestyle
competition they had going on in a small terrain park served
by a rope tow. We headed up, only Upper and Lower Bowl chairs
running today. The family stayed on the Lower Bowl and I hit
up the Upper Bowl. Snow was pretty soft, but the recent fresh
snow made the off-piste harder to ski, except where it was
untracked (not many spots for that). So early on I started off in
the glades just East of Pizazz, real nice in the bit of untracked
at the top, but a little tougher where it was tracked out.
Cannonball was realy nice - it and Canyon were the the shots
that got groomed on the Upper Bowl. I did several runs on
Cannonball, hit one on Radical, not bad but more work, but did
find some untracked glades part way down. Energy was a little
tough to come by, I've been nailed by allergies the last week
(never bothered by them in previous years), so after about 5
runs I headed down to ski some runs with my daughter and let
Kiyomi ski some runs on the Upper Bowl. Lower Bowl wasn't bad,
a good cruiser with the snow a bit sticky towards the bottom.
We hit Dog Leg, and I noticed that Powder Keg looked real nice
coming down from above. After 4 or 5 runs Kiyomi came back down,
said Canyon tired her out, so I headed back up to the Upper
Bowl. I decided I would check out Powder Keg, so I headed over
from the top down the upper bump run and then over some sticky
flat spots to get to the top. The East facing slopes had been
getting what sun there was in the afternoon and Powder keg was
only lightly tracked, so the run was soft and creamy. Next run
I decided to try Pizazz since the snow seemed to be getting
softer, also soft and creamy, tracked up but still very nice.
Another run or two down Cannonball, another sweet run down
Pizazz, then check with the family - they're ready to go so I
took my last run down Powder Keg again. Even softer than before,
with sluffs rolling down the hill for 30 seconds or more after
my turns, but still very nice. A great last day of lift served,
got a great work out in the heavy snow. They were planning on
being open next weekend for just the rope tow for the terrain
park, but we overheard the lifties earlier in the day - their
freestyle comp had like 88 people signed up, almost all in the
adult division. After the kids did their thing they opened up
the adult division and everyone jumped on the rope tow at once
and the cable broke. Sure enough when we headed down you could
see it lying on the ground and scattered across the place. Too
bad I wasn't on the lift watching it happen. An awesome Spring
season, still lots of snow left in the backcountry - I hope to
be hitting it up for another month or two family schedule
allowing. It may be a few days before I get to my website, it
always seems to get busy this time of year.
TeleMurray
04/25/09 Forecast was for possible rain showers below 4500 feet, but
we decided to check out SkiBowl anyway (base 3500'). East side
of Mt. Hood was mostly sunny, probably Spring conditions at
Meadows. We arrived to an almost empty parking lot - I'm
guessing they'll shut down in another week or two - at a bit
after noon, lightly snowing. No lines anywhere today, but poor
visibility up high with low clouds and frequent snow showers.
The thermometer at the top of the lift showed 30 degrees F. As
usual the family headed over to Multorpor and I headed down
the Upper Bowl. I headed over to Radical, entering from the
side off the groomed area - for today, ungroomed equals
unskiable - bumped out ice. The groomed runs were fast and
very firm, but not bad. I took a couple on Accelerator, Radical
and Cannonball. I tried going down Pizazz, but it hadn't been
groomed and it was total ice (and my edges aren't that sharp),
so I traversed across the gnarly icy slopes over to Canyon and
Radical. Usually Telemark skiing targets the muscles in the
thighs, but today with the hard edging required to turn and
check speed I found my calves taking the brunt. After 6 runs
on the Upper Bowl I headed over to Multorpor to ski with Kiyomi
and Rachel - the runs are less steep, but the snow was much
better on Multorpor. With the cold temps and the snow showers,
the groomed runs were excellent. We took a bunch of cruiser
runs and then headed over to the Warming Hut, but it was
closed for the season. We took a run down Lower Bowl, not
nearly as nice as Multorpor, kind of icy. As we topped out on
the chair the temp was down to about 26 F with continuing snow
showers. I didn't like Lower Bowl, so I headed back up to the
Upper Bowl. I headed down Accelerator in almost zero visibility,
hit an icy patch and took a nice slide. I moved over to Radical
for the next run and it seemed pretty nice so I took my last
5 runs on Radical. Cruiser runs all, heading all the way down
to the chair without pausing. On the last run I decided to
really work it and make short quick turns all the way down,
maybe too tired for that as I took a good tumble right near
the bottom and had to climb back up to retrieve one of my
poles. Instead of cruising out the Lower Bowl I headed to
the left to Dog Leg - it was much nicer than the Lower Bowl,
with a thin dusting of fresh, big GS turns all the way down.
There's still 8 feet mid mountain, but the people aren't
coming - maybe next weekend is the last week? We'll be there,
looks like it should be decent Spring conditions next week.
Another great season, a dry winter, but an epic Spring.
TeleMurray
04/19/09 Correction, we skied SkiBowl on Sunday, the 19th, not the 18th.
TeleMurray
04/18/09 A beautiful, blue bird day - we arrived at SkiBowl at around
11 am, maybe 125 cars in the lot. Somebody was complaining that
the Upper Bowl chair wasn't running, but it was. We headed up,
the family headed over to Multorpor chair and I headed out to
West Wall to check the sun baked snow. The bump run down was
pretty sweet, but the wall was really soft and heavy. I started
big sluffs that would run slowly down the slope for a long time.
For the most part I decided to stick to the runs, as the snow
was soft, but firm underneath. I took runs down Pizazz and
Radical and the bump run next to West Wall, but I also took one down Cliffhanger - I took a couple
spills on the upper part where I hit soft spots, but avoided
the rocks on the cliff and headed to the more open spots skiers
left of the lift. It was pretty good, but more suited for fat
skis as the snow off piste was very inconsistent. After a few
more runs I joined the family over on Multorpor and we headed
back to the lodge for lunch. After lunch, they again headed
over to Multorpor and I hit the upper bowl. I hit all the main
runs - Pizazz, Cannonball, Radical and Accelerator. They were
all really good, the only sticky snow was on the short run out
right at the lift. It was all outstanding, quick turns all the
way down. I decided to check out East Wall a little later -
there wasn't anyone out there, I guess because the snow
was kind of gnarly. It was skiable, but inconsistent, and soft
and sticky near the bottom. So I took more runs on Pizazz and
Radical, giving my legs a good thrashing. The temps were very
warm, just one layer all day for me. I wore gloves only on the
steep shots. We skied until closing, I took the last couple of
runs with the family on the Lower Bowl - a nice cruiser run.
Another outstanding day at my favorite Mt. Hood ski area. It's
too bad they don't get more business, IMHO their terrain kicks
butt on Mt. Hood Meadows or Timberline. It looks like one or
two more weekends before they close - we'll be there if it isn't
pouring rain.
TeleMurray
04/04/09 A bluebird day, temps still cold, I'm finally recovered
enough to try and get some of the copious Spring powder we've
been getting. I headed up with the family, passing a packed
Mt. Hood Meadows on the way - main lot full and blocked off.
We arrived at SkiBowl around 11:30, main lot maybe half full.
Not crowded at all, no waits at any of the lifts all day long.
The snow was excellent, sweet powder, even in the sun. Rachel
and Kiyomi headed over to Multorpor and I headed over to the
East Wall. The wind was whipping at times, from the East,
but it was warm in the sun. The East Wall was excellent, fresh
powder, lightly tracked, soft and skiable everywhere. On the
lift, West Wall was looking pretty nice baking in the sun, so
I headed over. Outstanding run - there were tracks filled in
from the wind, but everything was soft as butter. Steep and
deep. I was still a bit under the weather so had to make a
quick trip back to the lodge - I took advantage of the trees
along side the Lower Bowl chair on the way down. It was all
soft and lightly tracked, though a bit wet and heavy towards
the bottom. Back on top I hit the bump run down to West Wall,
followed a Telemarker down, lost sight of him and then saw
him follow me out on the traverse to West Wall. We talked
briefly then skied a few runs. We hit West Wall 2 or 3 more
times, each run soft as butter, though as the afternoon wore
on the snow got a bit heavier. We headed over and did a nice
shot down East Wall, way over towards the trees on the far
side - mostly excellent, a small crusty portion in the middle,
but really nice powder. Another shot down West Wall and I was
feeling pretty thrashed after being sick for 2 weeks, so I
thanked Ike for sharing some runs and headed back over to the
East Wall for a tree run down to Multorpor to ski with the
family. I checked out some new lines (for me) coming out on
Upper Reynolds and headed over to ski some groomers with
Rachel on Multorpor. I skied 5 or 6 over there, including 1
screamer down Mt. Hood Lane while Kiyomi skied with Rachel.
The snow was still pretty good, though getting sticky at the
base. At 4 Rachel wanted to ski Lower Bowl, so I headed back
up to the Upper Bowl for some parting runs. I figured West
Wall had probably started to set up so I hit the trees on
East Wall - still just as nice as earlier, the powder was
still light and fluffy and everything was skiable. I checked
the time at the top, I can squeeze 2 more runs in, so I hit
the off-piste skier's right of pizzaz, cut across and came down
between Radical and Canyon. Everything off-piste was excellent.
Soft, cut up powder. Last run I headed down through the trees
from East Wall down to Lower Bowl again, this time cruising
down Reynolds as my legs started cramping. Another outstanding
day on Mt. Hoods best terrain. I just stuck to the Upper Bowl,
one of these days I need to check out the Outback, but I like
the quick chair ride back to the steeps on the Upper Bowl -
and no long run out. Ready for Spring skiing now, though it
looks like we might get another shot of winter this week. Report up at www.telemurray.info - Spring 2009.
TeleMurray - back in the saddle again
03/22/09 Forecast was for snow all day, so we headed up to SkiBowl,
arriving just after noon - parking lot about 3/4 full and
snowing. We lucked out and found a spot directly across from
the lodge and headed up a few minutes later. I was a little
worried about stuffing my broken thumb into my gloves, but
it seemed to be OK. Rachel wanted to ski on Multorpor chair,
so they headed over and I started out on the Upper Bowl.
I headed over to the East Wall - the wind was really whipping
on the way over - from the West, so I was wondering if the
slopes would be scoured. I headed down through the trees,
not too bad, a couple inches on a hardpack. Down lower the
snow was deeper, but there was a crust underneath. I then
headed over to West Wall, hoping that the snow was blowing
onto the slopes. The bump run down was excellent, but out
on the wall it was not good at all. There was about a foot
of sweet powder on a bumpy, chewed, icy, crusty base. I
headed over to the run and it was about the same. So I hit
Radical and Accelerator the next few runs - they were most
excellent. There was plenty of powder on top - but today you
couldn't ski where it hadn't been groomed at some point.
After a few runs I headed over to ski with the family - took
a few runs down the groomers on Multorpor, but that lift is
so slow I started getting cold so I headed over to Cascade
lift for some shorter, steeper runs. I took about 5 or 6
fun, quick thrasher runs, then checked out Stump Garden - more
crusty off piste, but I got to take a nice bumpy traverse
through the woods back to the base of Multorpor lift. We did
few more runs down the groomers on Multorpor - which were
pretty nice really, the edges had fairly deep snow on both
sides. Rachel wanted to finish up on the Lower Bowl so I
got 2 last runs on the Upper Bowl - again sticking to Radical
and Accelerator. Great snow, but tough turns as it was a
total whiteout at this point. An easy run down the Lower
Bowl that left my face burning as the wind whipped snow
pelted me - the only run all day where I could have used
my face mask. Another excellent day at SkiBowl - they're
back up over 100 inches for their base - they should be able
to stay open through April I think.
TeleMurray
03/15/09 My wife and daughter are both sick, so I got a late start and
headed up to SkiBowl (had to wait until they said they weren't
going). Snowing all the way up, snowing hard when I got there at
a bit after noon to a half full or so parking lot. I ate lunch
in the car and then headed up to the Upper Bowl to check it out.
Not the same light dry powder of yesterday or last week, but
lots of it. I started out on West Wall, hitting thigh deep shots
in the trees on the way over. West Wall was pretty chewed, so
not a good warm up for me and my old style skis, so I headed
over to the East wall for a while. Lightly tracked and deep I
took a bunch of runs here, drifting into tighter and tighter
trees on top to hit more open untracked shots lower down. The
trees were pretty tight - I was weaving through some closely
spaced trees and thought I'd grab onto to a tree to swing around -
smashed my thumb, I'm icing it now. After a few runs I had
worked my way over to a spot where I only saw a couple of
old tracks so I headed down through some trees and came down
an open slope in waist deep powder - even as heavy as it was,
it was pillow soft. I hit that shot a couple of times
and then checked out the lightly treed run just to the right
of Pizazz, finding really nice thigh deep turns on the short
run down to Canyon. I found Canyon to be too fast and too
bumpy for my taste so cut under the cliffs to get some of the
deeper shots. Next ride up the chair I shared the lift with a
ski patroller who mentioned that Cliffhanger was good - he also
said he had skied at Bluewood a few days earlier and said it was
some of the best tree sking he's ever seen - I think that may
be worth a trip in the next year or two. Anyway, I took several
runs down Cliffhanger after that - the first one cutting to
the left and coming down the edge of the bump run, but the next
two I followed the lift down and went over 2 spots that with
less snow would have to be hucked. That's the first time I've
dared to follow the lift line down - the run was really nice.
Really deep and really steep below the cliffs. The second run
I was feeling it, I slid through a tree head first, but came
out with my skis on the downhill side - no harm no foul. I could
tell the heavy snow was taking it's toll, and it being Sunday
I didn't want to hang too late, so I figured I'd rest up with
a couple shots down East Wall again. It was definitely a lot
easier than Cliffhanger so I took a couple of runs there. Someone
had poached my deep shot, so I hit it from a different angle
and still scored some waist deep turns. I then took my last run
down Cliffhanger, really nice up top down over the two little
rock areas, but I struggled down the really steep lower portion -
it was pretty chewed by this time and I was pretty well thrashed.
I got back to the car around 5 for another great day at SkiBowl,
the snow wasn't the super dry powder we had last week, but it
was as deep as I've skied all season. It should really help
out the base for the Spring as well. Another long winded report, pics are posted at www(dot)telemurray(dot)info.
TeleMurray
03/08/09 What an awesome day! We got a late start (^%$^! daylight savings)
arriving at SkiBowl a little after 1 pm, main lot completely full -
we had to drive around before we found someone leaving so we could
park. It was snowing most of the time with occasional bursts of
sunshine. We found the relocated customer service area and purchased
Spring passes for the family, then headed up the mountain just
before 2 pm. They'd had a problem with the Upper Bowl lift, so the
line was pretty long when we got there - they were skipping every
3rd or 4th chair to keep it from overloading - which was the earlier
problem. Kiyomi and Rachel wanted to head over to Mutorpor lift,
but they let me stay on the Upper Bowl for a few runs. I hit Pizzaz,
pretty chopped up, but the snow was still very good. On the chair
the East Face (Scotty's?) looked pretty nice so I hit the traverse
over there - SWEET! Steep, deep and only slightly tracked. I stayed
there most of the afternoon and the lines cleared fairly quickly.
I was finding deep untracked lines every run down, so I just kept
on heading out there. After a couple of runs I got a call from
my wife on the cell, Multorpor lift had broken down (again), so
they were over on Cascade - I guess I might as well keep on skiing
the Upper Bowl :-). I kept on finding fresh shots over on the
East Face - the runs were really outstanding. By hitting slightly
tighter shots in the trees I could get fresh tracks every run. I
finally checked out West Wall, it was pretty good, but the snow
must have gotten some sun earlier, not as soft as on the East side.
So I stayed in the trees on the East side after that. Around 5,
Kiyomi called and said she and Rachel were on the Lower Bowl
again after taking the shuttle back over. I met them at the
Warming Hut, let Kiyomi ski a couple runs on the Upper Bowl while
Rachel and I went in and had something to drink and snack on. I had a nice conversation about beer and skiing with some folks in there :-). She
took a couple runs and got pretty tired, so they were ready to
head out - one more run on the East Face for me - but she called
and said Rachel wanted to take another run, so I took one last
run. The best run of the day - easily. I headed out to the East
Face again, but instead of heading down I kept going and headed
down through the trees down to the top of the Lower Bowl chair.
Much tighter trees, but really deep snow and untracked lines
galore. What a great run! I actually came out to the right of the
chair and then headed under the chair and ducked into the trees
again. More untracked, deep shots down to the next run, then
duck into the trees again and hit more tight shots near the
chair line. Not as steep, but still untracked and sweet. Fresh
shots all the way until the trees ended just above the lower
terminus. Sweetness indeed! Looks like some Spring conditions
coming up, but we'll be up there every weekend conditions
permitting until they close (at least I will). An outstanding
day, probably the best snow I've skied all season.
TeleMurray
02/01/09 I took advantage of the Superbowl parties and the resulting low number of skiers on the hill in the afternoon. By 1:30PM the upper bowl was mostly deserted.
I've been up to Ski Bowl four times this winter and have not been all that impressed with the snow conditions so far, but Superbowl Sunday was one of the best days I've seen so far this season.
The groomed runs were in very nice shape for some high speed cruising and the more popular non-groomed regions were fairly nice as well. The Outback was closed and after skiing around the western side of the upper bowl, I realized why. The areas bordering the Outback entrances were in miserable shape with lots of frozen moguls and sticky crud.
I moved over to explore the east wall past Accelerator (which had some of the nicest snow in the upper bowl, btw) to check out Oh Shoot and Scotty's Way. The snow in the woods around Oh Shoot was rather sticky, but skiable. Scotty's Way was in fairly nice shape once I got back into executing hop turns instead of the carved turns that were working so well everywhere else.
The snow level is a bit low for early February, but I did not encounter all that many rocks and stumps.
01/02/09 We woke up with another inch or two of snow in the Gorge so the
snow levels must be low enough for some good skiing at SkiBowl. I
headed up with the family for some night skiing arriving to a
completely full main parking lot at SkiBowl West at around 4 - some
people were leaving so we got a good parking spot. It was snowing
hard all the way up and continued on throughout the evening. We
headed up to the top of Upper Bowl and took different routes to
the base of Multorpor chair - Rachel and Kiyomi taking the easy
route and I headed down Pizzaz. The snow was soft on top with a
crust in spots and hard pack underneath in most spots - it was a
pretty good thrashing for my legs on my first real steep run of
the year. Got to the bottom of Multorpor and the lift was stopped.
A few minutes later Kiyomi and Rachel showed up and it was still
stopped, so we took the little platter lift over to Cascade chair.
We took a few runs over there (never crowded on Cascade), but it was time for dinner - Multorpor
was still broken - they said there was a shuttle from SkiBowl East
over to West - took us over 1/2 hour to get over there. After dinner we
headed up to Lower Bowl again, Rachel was going to ride with Kiyomi
so I headed up as a single - phone rang while I was on the lift -
Rachel's binding on her snowboard was broken, so I skied down and
checked it out. It appeared a spring was not functioning so her
binding was indeed broken - they just wanted to leave so I talked
them into letting me take a last run from the Upper Bowl. I cheated
(and paid the price for it later) and took 2 runs - it was so
primo! I took both runs over towards West Wall and cut under the
cliffs to some really steep drops in an open glade. Pillow soft
snow and steep drops made for a couple outstanding runs on this
abbreviated ski night. Of course my wife was pissed when I got
back and our night continued its pattern - after an icy drive off
the mountain we hit black ice just outside of Hood River - they
closed highway 35 due to an accident and we had to detour through
Odell making for a 2 plus hour drive home. Oh well, the skiing
was great, what there was of it. Coverage is excellent and
conditions were excellent - the terrain at SkiBowl rocks but
its lifts do not.
TeleMurray
05/10/08 The last weekend for SkiBowl this year. They still have a
ton of snow, 8 to 10 feet at the parking lot and almost 16
feet mid-mountain, but the Upper Bowl chair is broken and
business is dying out. Parking lot mostly empty, maybe 100 cars
or so. Weather, cloudy with a few sprinkles, about 50 degrees.
We got a late start, I don't think it mattered today, with
the cloud cover I don't think anything froze overnight. We
headed over to Mutorpor chair and took some runs on the heavy
Spring snow. We could see that Cascade chair was running,
and since I was skiing my patterned back country skis I
headed over to check it out. Turns out they were having an
end of season party for the Ski Patrol folks, they wouldn't
let me on the lift, so I skied up to the top and took a nice
run down the steepest run on the lift - Stump Garden. Heavy
glop, but lots of fun. I then discovered there are some trails
that head through the woods back over to Multorpor chair and
I had a nice, if somewhat slow ski back over to join the family.
The weather was really quite nice, it wasn't too warm and the
snow stayed consistent. we skied until they closed up at 4,
they were folding the chairs up as we arrived at the bottom
of the lift. At the top, Kiyomi and Rachel headed down to the
lodge and I skied up to the top of Upper Reynolds to hit one
last black diamond run. Again, very nice, I was quite comfortable
skiing with the lighter gear. As I came down the lower run I
was trailing the Ski Patrol - he was wondering where I came
from, but didn't have a problem with me poaching the upper
runs. It's been an awesome season, and there's plenty more
backcountry skiing to be done, but today was the last day on
the lifts.
TeleMurray
05/04/08 The family headed up to SkiBowl looking for some nice Spring corn
and sunshine. We arrived a bit before noon, parking lot maybe 1/6th
full at best. We headed up the Lower Bowl chair. At the top we
noticed that the Upper Bowl chair wasn't running. I skied over to
ask the liftie and he said that tower 3 had shifted that morning
and the Upper Bowl chair was closed, possibly for the season. Oh no!
So we headed over to Multorpor for a couple of runs on the soft,
sticky snow. I knew there was a reason I had my kicker skins in
my day pack all season, so after a couple of runs, I put my skins
on and headed up the green run to the top. It was very warm, even
with my bibs unzipped down below my knees I was sweating. But the
view at the top was spectacular, I could see Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson,
Signal Buttes to the South, Mt. St. Helens and a myriad of snow
clad ridges in every direction. The line skier's right of Pizazz
had looked sparsely tracked, so I headed over there. A sweet run
down untracked Spring slush, very nice. I then traversed over to
Accelerator, pretty manky with yesterday's tracks and quite sticky
below. Still, it was nice to get at least one run on the Upper
Bowl. Rachel was getting tired (she had too many layers on and
refused to take any off, stubborn, I wonder where she gets that :-)),
so they headed over to Lower Bowl for a few more runs and I joined
them. Middle and Lower Reynolds was pretty nice, the steepest run
on the lower mountain, I took the run far skier's left, it was
quite nice as well. With the Upper Bowl closed, I may stick to the
backcountry for the reast of the season, I'm guessing the record
snow pack must have been pushing down on the tower, it's hard to
see them getting it fixed before they close for the season. Major
bummer, just when we start to get good Spring conditions, the best
steep skiing in Oregon (IMHO) closes down. Oh well, they had an
awesome Winter and Spring this year. There's plenty more snow out
in the backcountry and at the resorts.
TeleMurray
04/20/08 We had to go up this weekend, with all the fresh snow, despite
the fact that I'm sick (still or again?). They reported a 17
foot 5 inch base this morning, we arrived at a bit before 1 -
temp about 29 with variable Spring weather (sunny, snowing,
etc.). It snowed about 4 or 5 inches while we were there, so
their base is still growing I think :-). I started out on the
Upper Bowl, headed towards West Wall, but it was pretty
chewed up and there wasn't enough fresh to really make it
good. I headed over towards East Wall and hit Accelerator,
the groomed was pretty hard, but it was very nice soft, chewed
powder off to the side. A run down Pizzaz, not bad, especially
off the run. I hit East Wall - I guess the glades there are
called 'Oh Shoot' (I saw the sign today), found some nice fresh
tracks heading down through the trees. In fact it was very
good, the snow light and fluffy and deep enough that I wasn't
scraping the hard pack underneath like out on West Wall. Being
still sick, I decided I shouldn't push it too hard, so I
decided I would do one more run and join the family over on
Multorpor when my wife called asking for her goggles and a
face mask - they were both in the car so I took what was the
outstanding run of the day. Down more fresh tracks through
the trees on Oh Shoot, traversed across to hit the trees
down to the Lower Bowl chair and down through various tree
shots down to almost the base area. Again the snow in the trees
was absolutely outstanding, light, fluffy and cold. There was a
wreck on 26 I guess, I could see the traffic stopped and could
hear numerous sirens as well. I headed up and then over to
Multorpor, hitting a nice open glade down to the top of the
chair to see my wife and daughter at the top. We skied a couple
of runs, I took another nice tree shot skier's right of the
chair, but when I caught up to my family I had a major coughing
fit, I guess it's time to head out before I overdo it and get
worse. About 3 1/2 hours of skiing in conditions as good as
any we've had this winter, still a huge base, it looks like
they can easily stay open through May if people keep coming
up, they had a good crowd today. As we headed back towards
Hood River, traffic was lined up all the way back to Snow
Bunny from Government Camp (headed towards Portland). I think
all the resorts had a good crowd this weekend. It's late
April and they still have more snow than I've ever seen.
Awesome!
TeleMurray
04/11/08 Still recovering, I took the family up to Ski Bowl to check
out the Spring skiing. We got a late start (what else is new?)
arriving at around 1 pm, temp in the low 50s and suuny. It
had not frozen overnight, as off the groomed there was about
a foot and a half of uncsolidated glop, but I started out on
Upper Bowl and headed down towards West Wall. The trees were
untracked so I headed in, finding inconsistent conditions,
varying between glop, to corn to icy crust. I made it out OK
and instead of hitting West Wall I headed down the run next
to it, trying to hit untracked shots as it was very heavy
snow. It was skiable, but it was really hard work - when I
got to the lift, the liftie said "that looked ugly" :-). It
felt ugly too. I hit Pizazz a couple of times, I could tell
that my legs just didn't quite have the needed strength to
make those quick transitions, it was like being stuck in
molasses - well the snow did have the same consistency.
East Wall was closed and I could see the evidence of heavy
slides all along, but I found some fresh off of Accelerator
that wasn't quite as deep and gloppy and took about 4 runs
there. I could tell I still wasn't at full strength - I had
trouble even on the steep groomers, the leg strength just
wasn't there. After 8 runs on various combinations of glop
on the Upper Bowl I was totally exhausted, so I headed over
to Multorpor lift to ski with the family. We skied for
another couple of hours on the soft, slightly sticky snow
and headed out around 5:30 for a nice 4 hours. There's an
unbelievable amount of snow, the windows on the Warming hut
are completely buried. We plan on heading up again on Sunday,
I'm expecting much better conditions the next couple of days.
It should freeze the next couple of nights so we get more
consistent Spring corn. Next week it looks like winter returns,
We should be skiing at SkiBowl at least through May. I can't
believe all the Washington resorts are already closing down,
all the Mt. Hood resorts are still running strong.
TeleMurray
04/06/08 The family is sick, I'm recovering, so I headed up to
SkiBowl for a short day, arriving shortly after noon. Parking
lot less than half full, temp about 37, snowing off and on.
I started with West Wall, finding deep freshies in the trees
on the way down, the snow definitely heavier than last week.
West Wall was less tracked, very nice at the top, but as it
got more tracked as I descended, the snow got heavier.
Combination of sun and warmer temps I think. I spent most
of the rest of the day on various glades off of the East Wall.
I found fresh tracks in the tight trees where I've skied
before. I tried some new shots off the traverse over, very
steep, only slightly tracked. Next time on the traverse, I
spied some open areas with no tracks, cut in, decided not
to huck the cliff, but cut in on the side, cutting off a
nice slide as I did. I then proceeded down some really steep
untracked, setting off another slide near the bottom. Next
run I dropped in on the same track, but spied another untracked
shot skier's left, so headed down, setting off another slide
and getting pulled down with it this time, my hat and goggles
getting torn off. Luckily I wasn't buried and after I got
up I spied my hat and goggles down the slope a bit. I was
getting tired, but unfortunately the Warming Hut was closed,
so I cleaned out the snacks in my pack and hit a few more
shots off the East Wall traverse. Again, about the same
steepness, these were just skier's left of the previous shots,
but they didn't break loose and I had a couple great runs,
continuing on down through the chopped up powder and glades
down to the bottom. I took a thrasher down Pizazz, the chopped
up snow definitely heavier on the West side of the bowl. Took
a run down Accelerator, starting with some freshies at the top
in the trees and watched the ski patrol practice hauling people
down in their sled. With the heavy snow and my recovering from
being sick, I got thrashed pretty quickly, so at around 4 I
made my final run, all the way over to East Wall, down through
the trees - more fresh tracks. I never scraped bottom, pole
plants showed maybe 18 inches of fresh, but much heavier than
last week's snow. I traversed over past Scotty's Run and headed
down through the tight trees, again coming out skier's right
of the Lower Bowl chair. I had spied some lines through the
trees on my initial ride up, so I cut down through the trees
again, getting untracked powder almost all the way to the
bottom. Schedule is now Friday - Sunday 9 am to 10 pm. The
web site lists 17'7" mid moutain - WOW! I expect them to stay
open through most of May at this rate, hopefully people will
keep coming up so they can keep running. I'll be there!
TeleMurray
03/27/08 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
03/21/08 With a rehearsal on Saturday and an Easter gig on Sunday, my
only shot is Friday night up at SkiBowl. I got my skis on at
about 5 pm, parking lot maybe 1/4 to 1/3 full, a pretty good
crowd for SkiBowl on a weekday. It was hard pack at the lodge
so I headed up to the Upper Bowl to see what I could find. The
West Wall looked less tracked, so I headed down the bump run
next to the Outback entrance, finding some leftover freshies
in the trees along the edges. I headed out past the knob on
the top of West Wall (you have to side step a bit to get there)
hoping to find less tracks out there. This was the case, very
soft snow - maybe a foot - on top of a bumpy hardpack. The bumps
underneath threw me off a couple of times, but it was pillowy
soft heading down. I took another run there and then checked
out the East Wall. Someone had tracked the tree shots I found
last week so I headed down an even tighter line, finding decent
fresh tracks, but the trees were tighter than I like. A decent
run down, but I headed back over to West Wall for the next couple
of hours (until they roped it off when it started to get dark).
Very steep, soft and pillowy between the tracks, it was really
good. An Alpiner came over and joined me for a couple of runs -
Pete - he said he was looking for good snow and saw me take
run after run on West Wall so he thought he'd check it out. He
wasn't disappointed as the snow was excellent. I continued to
ski various lines, heading further out on the ridge for fresher
tracks, but the center line I skied initially was the best. I
was considering skiing further out and coming down through the
trees to the Lower Bowl, but was having so much fun I kept skiing
back to the Upper lift. Finally I headed down to hit the trees
down to the Lower Bowl, but they had just roped it off, so I
heaed out under the cliff on the Upper Bowl, finding some really
steep lines, which unfortunately were chewed up and too dark
for me to see well, took a nice slide about 20 feet or so. I was
getting pretty thrashed and being an early riser I didn't want
to stay late, so I was figuring I'd do another run and then
head out. I headed down and then up to Accelerator, finding
nice chewed up snow on this run. It was so nice I decided one
more run, I thought I'd hit the run skier's left of Accelerator,
but cruised past it so I headed down into the trees between the
runs, finding a short patch of deep freshies - outstanding!
More chewed up, soft powder, into another glade finding a
couple more fresh turns and then down, my quads burning with
the exertion, then down the Lower Bowl to the lot, getting
back to the car around 8:40 or so. Another excellent day
(evening) of skiing at the premier night ski area. Conditions
were really very good, the powder was a little heavy, but it's
late March - Spring already. Still right around 16 feet at
mid-mountain with probably 10 feet at the base. With more
low snow levels in the next week, Spring skiing is looking
really good at SkiBowl this year.
TeleMurray
03/16/08 Mt. Hood area resorts all were getting 7 or more inches of fresh
the last few days. I had intended to go up on Saturday, but sprained
my ankle playing basketball on Friday - I don't think I could've
got my boot on. We headed up Sunday. arriving at lunch time and
headed up the lift after lunch, the family heading over to Multorpor
lift - I headed up the Upper Bowl to try the cut up powder on my
gimpy ankle. I headed down the open glades skier's right of Pizazz
and quickly found that my ankle couldn't handle the uneven terrain,
so I jogged over to the smoother slopes on Pizazz and had no real
problems. I cruised down and then over to Multorpor to ski with my
family, figuring I'd probably have to content myself with skiing
groomers today. After a few runs, the very slow Multorpor lift was
really making my foot sore, so I headed over to Cascade lift, which
is shorter and steeper, this really seemed to help my foot and I was
able to ski "normally". I saw a ski patrol tele down some cut up powder
on the steeper run skier's right, so I headed over there and just
ripped it all the way down. I hit this one a couple more times and
then headed into the tight trees next to Stump Garden, finding deep,
fresh tracks down through the tight trees. I took another ripper down
the cut up with a nice face plant at the bottom, then headed up thinking
I'd take another tree run and head over to meet the family, but I saw
the ski patrol tele-guy at the top of the cut up run so I headed over
and talked to him for a few minutes and then we headed down the cut up
run, he ripping slightly better than me with his T-1s, and retrieving
my hat which I lost as I gained excessive speed near the bottom :-).
Another run down through the untracked trees - very tight, had my
hat snared by some branches, got my skis wedged, but still worth it
to get that knee deep powder. A couple of runs on Multorpor with
my wife and daughter, but that lift was still hurting my foot - all
that time dangling with no movement I guess. We then headed over
to the warming hut for snacks, coffee, hot chocolate and beer. They
then headed back over to Multorpor and I headed up the Upper Bowl
for some runs to see how I could handle the steeps now that I was
loosened up. I headed down a bump run off the entrance to the Outback
and headed for the top of West Wall. Looked awfully steep up top
by my lonesome, tracked, but not tracked out. I headed past the knob
and then headed down trying to hit the fresh spots. A steep, thrashing
run, but quite fun. I then headed over to the East Wall hoping to
get some freshies or at least less tracked shots in the trees over
there. While the wall was pretty tracked out, by heading down through
some tighter tree shots I found completely untracked snow - open
enough to make 2 or 3 turns then traverse slightly for a few more,
then down into slightly more tracked shots, finally coming out on
the lower part of Accelerator and down to the chair. I took another
run, again finding totally untracked lines (at 5 pm on a Sunday
no less). Now it's getting to be time to go home, so I took a last
run down on Pizazz - I should have traversed over to the East Wall
again - it was completely fogged in for a totally blind run. A couple
more runs down Multorpor with the family and we headed out around
6:30 for another excellent day of turns at SkiBowl. Conditions
were pretty excellent, lots of fresh on hardpack. Still 16 feet
of snow at mid-mountain. Given the low snow levels all week they
should end the month of March with 15 or 16 feet of snow - WOW!
TeleMurray
03/08/08 All the ski areas reported about an inch of new snow - in
looking at SkiBowl's web-site, we noted Spring passes for $88.
Rachel and I talked my wife into it and we headed up, arriving
a little after noon to sunny skies and around 40 degrees. After
getting our passes we headed up, they headed directly over to
Multorpor chair and I was allowed to take a run on the Upper
Bowl to start with. I headed down Pizazz, quickly learning why
no one was skiing off the groomed areas (they groom even the
steepest runs here). Conditions very similar to what Jay and
I found at Willamette Pass a couple of weeks ago, very firm with
some fluff on top. I skied down to Canyon and then over to the
ungroomed on the other side - it was actually pretty nice in a
small untracked shot - but SkiBowl tends to get tracked out
quickly. I met my family over at the top of Multorpor and we
took a few runs on the softer snow on the lower elevation runs
on that side of the mountain. We broke for lunch at about 2:30 -
I was allowed to take another Upper Bowl shot, I had hoped to
ski the East wall (I think they call it Scotty's Run now), but
it was roped off so I hit Accelerator, and had a nice run down
the steep and very firm runs coming down on that side of the
bowl. At lunch, my well aged IPA literally erupted out of the
bottle when I opened it (outside the car, thankfully :-)), but
I managed to consume most of it. When we headed back up I again
got permission to take some runs on the Upper Bowl - this time
I saw skiers heading out to the East Wall, so I headed on over.
The East Wall was getting full sun as the sun was sinking down
over the ridge. As hoped for I found soft conditions, maybe
softer than I would have liked, but it was steep and relatively
unchewed, so I had some nice runs here. I took 4 runs down here
I think, finding smoother lines as I progressed further to
skier's right. Soft and heavy, but very steep in open glades,
very fun, the best runs of the day easily. After that I decided
I better hook up with the family again, for some more cruisers
off of Multorpor. I noted Cascade Chair runs were still in the
sun as Multorpor was starting to ice up a bit - I saw the bump
run over there (Stump Garden?) in the sun, so I headed over
(you have to ride a little Poma to get over there). Unfortunately
the way over to Stump Garden was roped off, so I took a couple
of runs on the steeper and shorter Cascade chair and headed back
to cruise the now icy groomers with the family. We quit at about
6:30 as all the runs were now pretty icy. A good day at a fun
resort, lines, in general were not too long - a long wait when
we first boarded the Lower Bowl chair as they were having races
and the racers were getting priority, and a rarity, our first
ride up the Upper Bowl chair had about a 5 minute wait as well.
There were no lines on any of the chairs the rest of the day
though, even Multorpor was ski right on. There's more snow than
I've ever seen as a skier - I remember the wall of snow being
as high in the parking lot when I was in college - about 30 some
years ago. I think they're saying 16 feet mid-mountain - I'm
hoping they stay open through April, but we'll be ahead of the
game with just 2 more trips up.
TeleMurray
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