Crazy weather

We had two weeks of snow and cold. Now we have really really wet and warm. Thank god it is not a true Pineapple express. The snow will stay in the mountains, want good turns this weekend for two days at Crystal Ski Resort. Fingers are crossed.

Sicknesssssssss Jan 2-4

Plans were set. We were skiing for three days in Oregon. But as always a trip with me is an adventure in an adventure. Team Double D (DD) was off to Batchelor for a half day of lift turns. But highway 26 was closed for 10 miles. We were detoured on to a very small curvey, icey, creek running over the road 40 minute tour around the what we found out later to be a land slide. Finally made it to Batchelor and it was flat light and clowdy. But the snow was great. Not blower but light and fun. 5 runs later Team DD was feeling a lot better on two planks and were off to meet up with friends and beer.

Day 2
Get up early, load up and head for breakfast borritos and coffee. Headed to the snow park loaded up the sleds. Cort and Jlag on one with her skis attached to her backpack and me with my skis on another sled. It was cold. My face mask froze up but it was Blue Bird and the snow was looking really good as we headed to the top. Jlag dropped to show us the way through the cliff bands for the first run. The turns were a bit rough on the wind effected top but quickly turned to buttery goodness in the trees and down to the open slopes below. Just steep enough to make it great but not too steep to get freaky. Cort did great and shredded a great line. We put in a skin track back to the top for another lap. This time Jlag dropped a sweet line while we spotted from below just incase it slid. As usual is killed it. Back to the top and now it was my time to drop. Problem, bent my pole getting to the line when I was going too fast on a wind lip and had to land sideways to avoid taking the top off a tree. Thanks again Chris for the great tune job on the planks and for the added graffics :) I rolled up to the top of the line and dropped it was a bit freaky having to deal with lots of sluff but blundered my way through till I decided to turn back into my sluff and fell. As I was sliding I figured I was not going to stop so I better get up and ski out before I hit a tree that was fast approaching. Pole bent further, guess we were going to stop off at a ski shop for another pair. We did another lap to ensure we tracked out the entire bowl for everybody else. What good citizens we are:) The amazing thing was that NO one else showed up. We later found out the reason was that they were planning on hitting it the following day. Early bird gets the shreddage.

After much beer off to bed to dream of the days sickness. Sweet dreams.

Just so you can dream too, the pics.

Day 3
This time Timmy, Schralper and Mlag signed up for some goodness. The crew was large and in charge. Team'z DD and Lag'z ready to tag team. At another snowpark got the sleds loaded and warmed up. At our first fork in the road we looked at little blue and decided the sled was not up to the task of making it the rest of the way. What to do....I know..Let tow Will off one of the sleds. That is a great idea. Ok it was not that bad, but it was not easy. At least it was mostly up hill to where we had to go. At the base of the slope we skinned up geared up and laid first tracks. Everybody thought the snow was going to be heavly wind effected but turned out to be quite good, some would say great. It was :) What littel wind there was kept it really cold. I only ski in so much gear at the resorts. Think I got a little case of frost nip on my nose. Need a nose warmer. Got in a couple of more laps before legs started to give out. Back to the sleds for possibly the best turns of the day. Guess we should have been lapping that slop. Lesson for next time. On the way out I forwent the harness tow system for a loop at the end of a rope. Much easier and I could get turns on the way out. I was actually having fun minus the whoopie-doos. Though were though to keep from crashing into the back of the sled. At one point there was so much downhill I let go of the rope and skied past my tow sled and past the second slep with Schralper and Cort and almost past the Lag's. That was fun till I hit a flat spot. I grabbed the back of Schalper's sled ala Back to the Future style and made my way down the trail. Finally it got really flat and I ditched Schalper and waited for Timmy to pick me up. A short while later we were back a little blue and off to the cars.

Man if every trip was like this. Pics for you.

The adventure continued as we were to find out that it was snowing in Portland AGAIN!!!! The drive from govie home sucked. The price for goodness.

Rain, Rain

It is raining like crazy here. Don't think it stopped all day. Freezing level is high so not good for the snow pack. All packed up and ready to head to bend for 3 days of fun. Half day at bachelor if the lifts are running then BC for two days. Not sure where we are heading, but Cort is going along for a full meal deal this trip. It will be fun to see what she thinks of sleding in for turns. Will have the camera so pics will be posted when get back. Want to take the good one if there is enough room in my pack. I need to start looking for a good camera bag so I can pack it along with out worring about breaking it.

Govie turns

Had not partners for today so I played it safe and skied the Alpine trail from Government Camp to the top of Blossom or is it stormin norman now. The snow is great right now, deep and soft. Came out of the skis today, so it looks like I will need to up the DIN and double check the boot clearence in the bindings. Good workout and got some good turns. After the poor ski form today I am going to hit the ski resort as soon as Cort gets back from Lakeview. Practice, Practice.

Well, well

X-mas was great. Made out like a bindit as usuall. The kids were great. They are at the age where christmas is perfect. I could almost pass on the whole thing if it were not for them. Off for some turns tomorrow not exciting, just a workout basically, Government camp to lord knows were. Maybe top of palme if I am lucky. we will see.

Newton creek last saturday

Well the storm was still raging in oregon, what to do.....go skiing. What else. We decided to hit up Newton Creek and test out the access. Snow bridges were not put in by the snow cat so we had to hunt around for one. We were lucky to find one that was just large enough to cross with the skis still on. Once across we were on our way. Breaking trail was really tough. Knee deep powder with the skis on and your pole would hit no bottom. Doing kick turns was a crux but looking ahead for turning spots really payed off. We stopped short of the open bowl I usually go, everybody in the party was tired after the slog up. We dropped for one lap of turns that turned out to be not that good. Snow is still not quite deep enough to cover all the small trees so you had to be carefull not to clip one.

This link has pics of the trip. At some point I will get the photos off my camera and add to the collection. What to do for this weekend??? Options are opening up.

First Turns

Last sunday the snow was falling and there was just enough base to make a trip up to the mountain worth while. The big debate was where to go. After a conditions report from a friend that headed up saturday the decision was made. Meadows ski resort. A quick look reveled that we could ski the main area safely since the lifts that were running would not allow access to the #1,2,3 bowls. The snow was just deep enough that hitting the ground was a non-issue. Yes we did have powder and turns were good. It was Cort's first trip on her new gear. Figured out a couple of kinks that will be take care of before she heads out next time. She did great and both her and I had some problems on the first lap. Had to remember how to ski. But the second one went much smoother. With the cold weather and the next dump expected wed and thurs this following weekend is looking good for turns. The additional snow fall will open up the terrain we can ski. Thank god. It was fun to get laps in at the resort.

Glad I did not go

Well the weather really heated up. I was planning on heading up hood for fun and bivi on the summit. After finding out it was going to be 98 deg in portland and mt. hood was going to be really warm I bailed on that plan. Really glad I did. Check out this report. I could have been caught in that slide.

http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/798141#Post798141

Wow my life

Well thought I would post this just incase people were wondering. I have been up to absolutly nothing. I went up hood once and had some good turns, and went to smith once. but other than that this spring has been really slow on the adventure front. This weekend I am going to get out and do something and next month is looking good. I have plans finally :) Hope everybodies sping has been better than mine.

Red Rocks pics

here are some choice pics from the First trip to Red Rocks.

The Drama

Went to the Wallowas for a backcountry hut tour. Spilled boiling water on my right hand and right foot. Killed the trip. When the photos come in I will put them with full story on the weekend. The burn ended up not too bad. Second degree, and should be good in a couple of weeks.

Hogs Back Jan 13th 2008

Rare weather window was forcasted for sunday. Emails were sent and plans confirmed. Left the parking lot at 8 am. Idea was to go slow and cruse, no hurry. Well that idea went out the window when we arrived at silcox hut a half our later. We were hoping for a summit bid via the south side route. But that desision was going be made once we were on the Hogs Back. The weather was perfect. Clear, cold and basically no wind. Joel, and Marsha were crusing, Jon was starting to slow as we got closer to Crater rock. We were going to pop his alpine cherry this trip :) Skinning also was getting trickier as we gained elevation. One slope Jon had to take off his split board and boot it. The same idea was crossing my mind but I made it up the slope. But soon I was booting it with Jon. Just as fast and way easier than skinning at that point. Jon and I were just below crater rock and he was hinting that we was getting really tired. Not having that I told him we was going to make it to the hogs bag so get use to that idea. He was really great about it, I have been in the same possition so many times. We got to the hogs back and decided going any higher was not a good idea so stapped in I dropped first. First turns were steep and good, I wished that slope had lasted for a 1,000 ft. So much goodness. The rest of the turns back to the car were GREAT. The snow was fast and wind buffed, took turns like nothing. Fun fun was had by all. Now for the porn.... I mean pics :)

Skinning Palmer, look at her she looks great with all that snow

"Sofa" break, thanks Marsha and Joel for digging that out
Boot packing up the Hogs Back. Steeper than it looks. It rolls over to a nice steep slope, be it a short slope.

Now the fun. Joel skied down to a shorter slope and the next three photos tell the story :) Wish I had my camera on high speed. Love the go for it attitude Joel, keep on it. Now if you would just do a resort day.

Joel almost falling

Joel falling #1
Joel Falling #2... For the record he did better the more turns he got.
Marsha dropping in
Marsha looking good
Nice Jon, best pic right there!!!
Looking good on the traverse.

No more pics, but the turns were perfect.

Lame PBR pic, but manditory :) Great day with great people. Jon we will have to do that again and make it to the summit next time. This trip is the highest Jon has been on hood. Good work, I told you it would be worth it.

Newton Creek 12/30/07

Took saturday off and geared up for a larger goup heading to Newton Creek. It had dumped feet of snow between Friday and Sunday. I recieved more than one phone call about avalanch danger and I said lets at least check it out, there is always a place to ski no matter what. We will have turns, good safe terrain even in high avalanch conditions. It was dumping hard right in the parking lot and it was cold. Good news for us :) Seems like every trip Cort goes on it is some kind of bad weather. Middle Sister snow camping, Colchuck snow caming, and now this trip. What a trooper or maybe I should not take her any more and I will have more good weather trips, food for thought..... On the way up I cut some cornices off to see how things would slide and just as I suspected things were looking good in the trees. We quickly made time up the hill and the weather rolled in or we were more in the wind. Getting cold we decided to make some turns. Joel, and Chris were quick, Cort need some help but doing fine, but dang it leave it to the splitboarder Jon to slowing things down. Geesh you would think these guys would get a clue and learn to ski. Joking, wish I had a split board for that day, snowboarding on big powder days is the best hands down.

Would have taken more photos but it was too cold for camera. Need to a better job keeping it warm. Needless to say blower turns were had by all. Joel was getting the hang of things sort of, first time on skis in many years. Thanks guys for heading out, worth it?? I think so :)

Cooper spur ski 12/28/30

After putting the call out Jen took my up on my offer for some BC turns. Snow had been dumping for the lasts three days and it was set for some sweet turns. We skied through the Cooper Spur resort and headed for the Tilly Jane trail. The weather was looking good, so good I was in shorts and a think long sleeve. Thought we might make it up to the Stone shelter. Well after an hour and half we were up at the A-frame (smoken). Weather had turned for the worse, major wind and snow transport. Jen made the mistake of taking me for my word that I knew where we were going we back tracked a bit and broke out the map and compass. She guided us perfectly up to I figure 100 vertical feet short of
the stone shelter. At this point from the blowing snow it was hard to see
and it was getting cold. We strapped up for the decent and made some

sweet turns on the way down

High five at turn around point. Good job Jen

Jen falling. Was starting to wonder if she could ski.

Finally some turns, yes she can ski... :)
Great day. Thanks Jen for the good time.

First real trip of the season

The weather was looking good, it was Friday. Man it was hard but I decided to get some turns. Driving up the clouds did not look good so instead of summiting I figured I would at least make it to the top of the Mile or Palmer. I got a late start of 9 am. But soon I was greeted with this view








And this view. It was really cold in the clouds but as soon as I broke out of them it was as pleasant temperature. Mt. Hood is looking real good for climbing now. I made really good time to Silcox Hut in 35 min, then 45 to the top of Palmer. Then I really slowed down. It seemed like forever to get to just below the hogs back. I decided to turn around because I was getting tired, my feet felt like wooden blocks and time was running out for day light.

Altitude really kicked my butt. Well this is the first trip of the season. Check out the avi crown around the crater.


The ski down was one of the best trips down ever! The snow was not very powdery but a good hard pack the took edges like a dream. Wish I could have done laps up high. Once down I drove over to Cooper Spur Ski area and found a place for the tent. woke up the next moring to sleet. After getting a very late start of 10 am in warm temps I stripped down to my thinest pants and shirt with glove liners. Needless to say the sleet quickly turned to rain and the snow it the trees was melting off to further get me wet. The snow was sticking to my skins adding at least 10 extra pounts, ok well it seemed like it :) Since the ski was going to suck and I was not going to make it up to the stone shelter I decided to check out the Polallie Ridge trail. Other than breaking trail for 2.5 miles to the Tilly Jane Hut I really like that trail for heading up. However skiing down would not be that great, lot of flat spots and very tight trees. So up on Polallie and down Tilly Jane.

Powerthirst

Funny videos....too funny

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-3qncy5Qfk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRuNxHqwazs

last weekend

Well I headed up friday afternoon to hood. Got to timbeline and set up the condo (3 man dome tent) just off the timberline parking lot. Took some work but I made a sweet tent platform. It was cold and very light snow showers off and on. Things were looking good for the next day. Woke up around 7 am and made breakfast before heading off. My bladder hose froze in the night but figuring it would melt by the time I hit the top of the mile I payed no mind. Man it was cold. Afte several layer adjustments I ended with rain pants and fleese top. That worked for a while. ANy way it was windy and Cooold, I need to figure a better glove set up, my hands are very sensitive to the cold after last years chair peak debockle. got some turns on good snow. I am ready to start getting some alpine and in better shape.

time to get some

Well my back went out two weeks ago, not 100% but I am going stir crazy sitting around town on the weekends. So the plan is to head up to timberline for two days of fun :) Hope the high winds we had with the crazy storm earlier this week did not blast the mountain bare of snow. Weather is looking good up there so I should not be the only one up there. I am ready to start the winter season!!!!!!!!!

Snow

When will it snow. Ok it has but not enough for me to get my skis out on the Mnt. It is cold now but we have no precip. This is sucking. To top it all off I threw out my back last weekend. Some much for some holiday fun. Oh well next weekend I will be back and ready to get the lungs hurting.

Smith Rocks 11-4-2007

After heading to XC championships at Lane Community College on sat I drove over the crest to Bend for a day of climbing with Josh and Chris. Little worried about keeping up with those two. They sound like they are climbing strong. Weather was great. Felt like 70 deg, and it was sunny. Headed to testament slab, we started on revelations 5.9 for a warm up. Then irreverance 5.10 a. My turn to lead I headed up a 5.10b route (don't know the name). I am suprised to see that it is rated 5.10b thought it was a 5.9. Things were getting crowded so we headed over the pass to the back side and the Mesa Verde wall. Chris fired off Reason To Be and old school 5.10d. Man on top rope that route is HARD. Leading it is crazy! Realy fun route, pumpy and teckie footing. I was "told" I had to lead Sundown a 5.9 four star gear lead. This route is a bit intimidating. The first piece is about 15 ft off the deck. Easy climbing but if you fell..... Got my first two pieces in and felt much better. At this point you climb inside the detached dihedral with a great crack for hands. I was about half way up and my head started to go bad. I asked for a take and both Chris and Josh said NO. After hearing this I bucked up and finished the route. I cheated a bit and used the face to the left. Thank god for good friends and the no take. To finish things off for the day Chris lead Bad Moon Rising 5.11a. This route is fun but getting to the point of crazy hard for me. He took twice and fell once pulling the roof. It looked like a giant was above the ledge and blew him off the rock, he just flew off. It was rather entertaining. The start is so thin and powerfull. It was a great day, good weather and good friends to share the day. Can't wait till the next free weekend to head back down for a throw down :)