Summer skiing in North America

[Powderqueen]

Mt Hood: August 30th, 2007

Skiing in August on a volcano is one of the most surreal experiences.

We arrived at the Timberline Lodge on a Wednesday afternoon. We checked in and explored the lodge and the grounds. We checked out the museum and watched the video of the building of the Timberline Lodge. It was still pretty warm out, in the 80s, so we walked up to the first patch of snow that was in a rocky gully. A distance difficult to judge with about 1000 vertical feet in elevation gain (we knew that from the trail maps) there was a patch of snow with brown streaks that was the Palmer snowfield. We were not impressed. Above timberline on a volcano is a very barren moonscape. It was difficult to imagine that the skiing was going to be very good. The snow looked quite dirty, there were a lot of rocks, the pitch did not seem very steep and there didn’t seem to be much terrain to ski. That was our first impression.

The views from the Timberline Lodge were stunning, snow capped Mt Jefferson and the Sisters looming on the horizon.

Our room was not all that impressive. $105 gets you a teeny room with a bunkbed. We learned later on that we had the tiniest of rooms. Don’t stay in rooms 3 or 5. All the other rooms on the floor were 2 to 3 times the size and still cost only $105. For $210 a night you can have a double bed on another floor. We were on a tight budget and managed with the bunkbeds quite well. They were actually pretty comfy, though I would have been claustrophobic and would have bumped my head on the top bunk had I been on the bottom bunk. Bubba who has experience sleeping in tight spaces happily took the bottom bunk. Next time we will camp at the nearby campground for $10/night.

We spent the rest of the daylight hours in the pool and hot tub where we picnicked and drank a bottle of wine before we retired to our bunkbeds. We brought our own cooler of food and beverages from Trader Joes to cut our expenses. We were still on east coast time, so getting to bed early was not a problem. There isn’t any nightlife, so we weren’t missing out on anything but spending money on food and drinks in the bar which closes at 11pm anyway.

Up early as expected, we were the first ones out to the lift. We carried our skis on the Timberline lift, which shuttled us over a barren and rocky landscape. We walked down to the snow that had been moved by snow cats to keep it skiable and put on our skis to slide down to the Palmer lift. Up we went to the top of the Palmer snowfield.

This snowfield looks like a postage stamp on the side of the volcano from Timberline, but once on the snowfield, its actual size becomes apparent. It is approximately 150 acres. The snowfield has about 500’ +/- vertical to the Palmer mid-station, but there are another 500 or so vertical feet of white ribbon down to the bottom of the Palmer lift. Another ribbon leads out to the base, but by late August it has shrunken enough that skiers must climb out of the gully and hike down to the lodge about 1000’ (maybe 100’ vertical).

They salt the snowfield, so conditions were variable yet carveable. Where it was salted it was firm. Where it was unsalted is was much softer. The lower ribbon offered the smoothest and creamiest of corn snow.

The ski camps and race teams spent the first hour or so shoveling snow at lift near the top of the snowfield. There were a lot of rocks to cover up. No one wanted to scratch up their skis. It took a bit of careful stepping to avoid those pieces of basalt until the teams had finished the job.

Gates were set up and all kinds of race training were in progress. There was a mogul field with a pretty good size air that the freestyle team trained on. In the morning it was dirty and firm, but they worked it up nicely and I got to enjoy a few mogul runs. I turned out of the zipper line just before the jump. They were still working on it and I really had no desire to go over it, especially with the freestyle team watching. I am not an air person anyway. During our brunch break, we watched the team do all sorts of inverted aerials.

We thought initially that we wouldn’t make it past 10am, but before we knew it, it was nearly noon. My lips were starting to burn in the mid day sun and I had left my chapstick back at the lodge. Bubba’s legs were done, so I took it as a sign that I should probably call it a day as well, or else ski alone for a few more runs and burn my lips and legs. Four hours of skiing sweet corn on August 30th in 70 degree weather far exceeded our expectations. I felt like I definitely got my $45 worth that morning. I think the snow quality and terrain was far better than Greek Peak just about any day. If I lived there, I probably would have a year 'round season's pass.

We did a soak and swim at the lodge, packed up a picnic and headed down to that little blue lake that we saw from the mountain. It was over 85 degrees off the mountain and a dip in a cool mountain lake really topped off the afternoon.

The next day we decided not to ski again, but to find a hot spring at the end of a beautiful hike.

Here’s a link to the pictures:

http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=826...=SYE/otsi=SALB

or

http://tinyurl.com/2x6bqy

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Nice report....I know you from the Ski Vermont list...

[bvibert]

Nice, detailed report. Thanks for the summer stoke!

[ComeBackMudPuddles]

Awesome. Thanks.

[marcski]

Nice report and super pics. Thanks.

Oh, and I must say.....Bubba, is the waifiest Bubba I've ever seen......