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Mt. Bachelor 4/4 - 4/6 - I'm in love!!!

C-Rex

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Let me just start off by saying, WOW! Three years ago I went to Tahoe for the first time and thought I had found the place I wanted to end up. The beautiful town/city of Bend, Oregon has changed that completely. I have never been to a place more beautiful and inviting. But more on that later. First, the skiing/snowboarding.

We shuttled to Mt. Bachelor just before the lifts opened on Friday morning. It was snowing lightly and the clouds had a solid grip on the mountain. While the rest of my group was getting their demo skis, I did a couple of warm up runs. Visibility was terrible. I had to stick to the edges of the trail or in the trees just to have some definition of what I was riding. However, once we linked up with the ambassadors they took us to the east side where conditions were much better. As the morning went on the skies cleared and we were treated to several inches of untracked powder and many much deeper stashes off piste. The terrain on the lower mountain (we weren't able to get to the summit due to the weather) reminded me of Kirkwood, with lots of rolling mounds and twisty gullies. Super fun and playful stuff. After lunch we hit the north west side where the terrain is steeper and the trails are much tighter. Again, fun and playful, with some nice challenge thrown in. My initail impression was very good. The ambassadors did a great job showing us around and letting us in on some secret stashes of what I like to call "The Goods".

The next day we set out on our own and explored more of the lower mountain. It's very easy to explore Mt. Bachelor since it is very well interconnected. You can take off through the woods and somehow always end up where you wanted to be. Again, the weather kept us off the peak, but I was having so much fun I didn't really care.

We ended up scrapping the 3rd day because an ice storm had slammed most of the mountain over night, depositing up to 3 inches of ice on lifts and the northwest side. Instead we explored more of Bend, renting some bikes and getting a tour from, Troy, one of the guys working at the bike shop. He was off that day and just happened to see us trying to find our way around. He started off telling us some directions and then decided to just show us. He rode 3 or 4 miles with us, stopping to take group pics and tell us about certain sites. He did it all out of sheer kindness. And oddly enough for a New Englander, his kind of outgoing generosity was very common in Bend. The first friday of every month, Bend has what they call "First Friday Art Walk", where most of the shops, restaurants, bars, etc. have exhibits of local artists, bands playing, and beer/wine tastings set up. It was a blast, walking the streets in the approx 6 square block downtown area, beer in hand from one of the 24 local breweries, listening to great music and seeing the work of some very talented artists.

This is getting lengthy so I'll wrap it up by saying, GO TO BEND. You will not be disappointed. The skiing/riding is fantastic, the people are ultra friendly, and the town is wonderful. I definitely cannot wait to go back. I'm seriously considering putting a trip together for next season. Hopefully some of you will decide to come along. :)
 

jimk

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Thanks for the report. I only have three days at Mt. B myself. You got to see the town which I never did except a one block radius around my motel. Because of all the microbreweries it is a serious extra draw for a beer loving snowrider. I agree with you that there are some very good and long runs and glades in the NW section of the mtn. I was lucky to get good visibility and 100% open all three days of my visit. However, there was a one hour snow squall where we couldn't see squat and it gave us a feel for the exposure a 9000' standalone mtn/volcano has to the elements, especially the treeless upper mtn. If you schedule a trip next year I hope you can get to the summit and ride the huge backside of the mountain. It is a really wild and scenic experience and not so crazy steep that mere mortals cannot fully enjoy it.
 

JDMRoma

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Yes nice report, but where are the Freakin Pictures !!!! WTF !

Just kidding, glad you had a good time !
 

Savemeasammy

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Nice report. Glad you had a great time. I met someone last weekend who is from Portland, and she made it sound like the vibe is much like it is in Bend. Sounds like a pretty cool place.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

C-Rex

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Yes nice report, but where are the Freakin Pictures !!!! WTF !

Just kidding, glad you had a good time !


I'll try to get some posted when I get home. I didn't take many though, too busy having fun! I really can't wait to go back. My travel agent was telling me that we can do a week trip for a good deal cheaper than going to somewhere like CO or UT. He was say somethign like $1100 for airfare, lodging, and lift tickets.
 

amf

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Glad you liked it. One of my favorites, both the mountain and Bend. Not the best if you wanna huck cliffs, but I love their trees.
 

C-Rex

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I am strongly considering organizing a trip to Bachelor with my ski club next season. I will definitely open it up to AZers. I think a lot of us on this forum would have a great time out there.
 

emmaurice2

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Jan 31, 2011
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I lived in Oregon for a summer 20 years ago. I've been itching to move there ever since. Never got to ski because I was unaware of Summer skiing on Mt Hood or that Bachelor is usually open through late May. Glad you had a fun trip. The people in OR are so chill.
 
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