The Cascade Kid

If you've never skied in the backcountry before, than be sure to learn about managing avalanche danger by taking a Level 1 avalanche course and making sure that you have appropriate gear. If you've already done that and were just wondering about Hood, then I can assure you, the best skiing on Hood is not in those sorry ski resorts.

Friends, after being approached by both a guidebook company and an app maker last year, both of whom wanted to recruit local expertise to create a paid guide to Mt Hood's backcountry terrain, I decided that it was in the public interest to make that information available for free. After significant personal investment, a free guide to Mt Hood Backcountry is now available: MtHoodSkiMap.com Of course there will be griping from some about giving up 'secret' spots or facilitating beginner access to the backcountry, but in this age of GPS and 4G, both of these things are inevitable. I would rather that users discover the backcountry as I did-- using moderately imperfect information from a trusted source as a basis for personal exploration and learning. All of the information that I've provided is available elsewhere, but it's inconvenient, poorly written, or hard to find. By compiling this guide, I'm hoping to follow in the tradition of similar websites, like Run the Volcanoes (RIP), that serve as a touchstone for those entering this sport and the Mt Hood Backcountry with fresh eyes. Features: The Map: Based on Caltopo and marked with common routes, features, and roads, so you can change layers, zoom, pan, print, and apply slope gradient maps. -The Short Guide: A primer to the peculiarities of skiing in the Hood. -Weather/Forecast Links: Easy access to NOAA, NWAC, and more. -Backcountry Ski Routes: A detailed guide to common Mt Hood backcountry routes with photos, printable maps, and notes from personal experience. Please share this guide with friends, email me through the Contact link if you have corrections/contributions, and get out there to enjoy the 2017-18 season, which is already off to a good start. -Patrick Fink

Trip: Mt Hood - Newton Clark Headwall Ski Descent Date: 5/29/2017 Trip Report: Finally tagged this one with Tom. Dropped in at 730 for perfect conditions, 3:14 car to car. Lots of folks starting up at 815 were gonna be in for a slop fest. Highly recommended for the steep skiing crowd. http://mountainlessons.com/skiing/newton-clark-headwall [img:center]https://scontent-lax3-2.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/e35/18723133_264480994027653_7281330006200942592_n.jpg[/img] Gear Notes: Crampons on the Wy'East face, and race skis on the way down. Approach Notes: Snow to the lot at meadows still. Barely enought to skin the whole way on vista ridge.

Down white river? It depends on the year. Most likely into May if you know where you're going, but it's more likely that you'll ski bulletproof/frozen avy debris at the top and slop down low.I skied it last year april 11, but we had much less snow last season.

Trip: Mt Hood - Pearly Gates w/White River Ski Descent Date: 2/11/2017 Trip Report: My girl and I needed a nature break before our wedding in a couple of weeks so we headed up to Hood to take advantage of the weather. Where were the rest of you on Saturday?? We were the only folks on top Saturday via the Pearly gates. Met some nice german/austrian folks on the hogsback (sorry if that's the wrong nationality) who bailed with snow safety concerns. We found largely safe snow conditions and easily avoided the new wind-transported snow by hugging the rime towers on the descent. The hordes tested the snow safety directly on saturday. On Sunday, we skied white river from the headwall to the highway. There's a fine 6000' descent for you, provided that you know the way down. Again, pretty good conditions and great weather. Congratulations to the couple who were married at I-Rock on saturday. PM me for more photos of your wedding party. More photos and complete TR on the blog. + Reid headwall/leuthold's are looking good, with consolidated snow. + I-rock is thoroughly rimed, though some was falling sunday in the sun. Gear Notes: Two tools nice but not mandatory. No screws. Used a 30m rope per partner preference, but not needed if comfortable on steep snow/rime. Approach Notes: Skins to below crater rock, crampons thereafter.

What are you carrying in those things? ;-)

Trip: Mt Baker - Easton Glacier Date: 6/22/2016 Trip Report: Taylor and I enjoyed an awesome ski in a tight but gorgeous weather window last week. Volcano season is in FULL SWING right now, so go get the goods before all the snow bridges get droopy. TR: http://mountainlessons.com/skiing/mt-baker-easton-glacier-ski-descent Gear Notes: Skis. You'd have to be crazy to want to walk both up and down this thing. Atomic Ultimate 78s with mohair race skins. No ski crampons. Real crampons optional for skiers depending on time of day. Approach Notes: A bit of snow on the trail yields to dry hiking up the railroad grade. Higher camps weren't melted out so we camped in the highest trees and were happy for it.

When I read that line about dropping a big gala apple, I immediately thought that was some clever way of saying that someone took a dump in the bootpack. Then you ate it, and I felt differently about my initial impression.

there's dirt walking only for about a half a mile of trail. There's some sun-cupping and melt lines in the lower elevation band around treeline, but not much above the crescent glacier.

Trip: Mt Adams - SW Chutes speedski Date: 6/6/2016 Trip Report: The weather is so good right now! Slid out of Portland last night and made it up to the Cold Springs TH around 10:30 pm. A 7:20 am start and easy skinning/booting had me on top in 2:57. Quick video edit . The entrance to the SW chutes was ripe and the bottom was over-ripe by 10:30 am. The low traverse out required some shennanigans/scrambling/booting/skinning, but the travel was still quick and I made it back to the car in 4:23. TR: Mt Adams Speed Ski I met a bunch of nice folks up there. Hope y'all had a good ski as well! Gear Notes: Light is right. Atomic Ultimate 65 with Plum race bindings. 1L H2O and 2 tubes of shot blocks. Approach Notes: Standard. Dirt trail becomes continuous snow after about 15 min walk.

Were you able to drive to the trailhead?

Trip: Talkeetna Mountains AK - Bomber Traverse Date: 4/22/2016 Trip Report: From April 16th to the 21st of this year, my now-fiance Taylor and I made a circuit of the classic Talkeetnas ski loop, the Bomber Traverse. The loop itself is no huge effort, with 20-some miles and 6000' of gain interrupted by three huts. It's been skied in a day by plenty of folks, but going a bit heavier we spent 6 days in the range skiing great snow under blue skies. I've written up our trip, including a pdf with beta to complement Joe Stock's guidebook, and an annotated caltopo map. There are a lot more photos than I can possibly share here. The post is in two parts: Skiing the Bomber Traverse: Part 1 Skiing the Bomber Traverse: Part 2 Skinning up the little susitna on the first day. Taylor climbing backdoor gap between the Mint and Bomber huts. Taylor skins below the Snowbird glacier Nunataq. The Bomber hut at moonrise. Harvesting the Alaska-grown. Gear Notes: Lightweight gear means more room for beer. Purposely brought the Free Range Big Medicine pack for some detailed testing. Short review: awesome. Approach Notes: If you can see it, you can ski it.

Trip: Mt Hood - Ski Circumnavigation Date: 5/7/2016 Trip Report: Taylor had a big birthday to celebrate and wanted to do something epic. I've been around mt hood on skis many years ago, but this time was a bit different. In later season, the route was a bit more complicated, with some open cracks requiring navigation, and sagging bridges on the Eliot called for roped skiing. FULL TRIP REPORT (more photos/beta) Still, with good weather and a pretty casual pace, we finished it up in 8 hours and 40 minutes in pretty good style. It's a good way to earn yourself a big pizza dinner. Tight Whips Seracs on the Ladd/Coe Faint ski tracks across and down the Eliot Final traverse across the White River. Gear Notes: Atomic Ultimate 78s with speed superlight bindings, race skins. 25m 7mm rope, light crevasse rescue kit. Race packs. Alu spikes and axes. Approach Notes: 1:45 from Timberline lodge to Irock Saddle

Nice work. Looks windy as nuts in your video. Why so early?

Trip: Mt Adams - South Side, SW Chutes Attempt Date: 4/2/2016 Trip Report: Inspired by the snow coverage described in a recent TR here, tschef and I decided to take a two-day trip up Mt Adams to try to ski the SW Chutes Our trip report is here, with many more details (w/video/photos): bit.ly/mtadamsCC We started from Pine Side snow park on barely snow covered road, ascending equally thin snowpack through the trees into the burn area, where coverage improved. We made camp ~1/2 mi above the south climb trailhead, near timberline. Weather was favorable on the first day, but high clouds and surprise wind kept the snow cool on the second, preventing a thaw in the SW chutes that we came to ski. There were still good turns to be had below 8500'. Gear Notes: Atomic Ultimate 78s w/race skins and superlight bindings. Ski crampons briefly useful on the crescent glacier. Alu crampons for the upper S. side. Camped with a BD betamid and tarp, totally adequate. Approach Notes: I recommend no longer approaching from Pine Side this year. Per another TR on TAY, the south climb road is snowed in about 8 mi out, but this will shrink and will be a much better approach than using Pine Side any further (unless you like dirt and brush).

How was getting down from cooper's spur onto the Eliot?

I can see how if you skied in the wrong spot, it'd be a short run. The skiing back to the car was indeed "less than thrilling", but it's at least downhill and didn't require any skinning, which is a rarity round those parts it seems. It's a long drive from Portland. We'd planned on maybe going to Mt Washington the following day (even longer approach), but the weather forecast kept getting worse.

Trip: Three Fingered Jack - South Ridge Ski Date: 3/26/2016 Trip Report: With an iffy forecast up and down the West Coast tschef and I decided to take a jaunt out to Three Fingered Jack for some Central Oregon backcountry fun. Our trip report is here (w/video/photos): bit.ly/casclimbTFJ Most of the info out on the web suggests that skiers (and climbers) should wait until May when the road to Jack lake trailhead opens up. I suggest that the 3 mile approach from Santiam pass is pretty darn easy, and you should go whenever you want to. While the weather didn't exactly pan out for us, the skiing did. The east aspect of the south ridge of TFJ offers 20-40 degree skiing down to the three lakes which lie below the ridge. They're not super-long runs, but skiing through a burned out pine forest is worth the trip. Gear Notes: Atomic Ultimate 78s with race skins. Beer at the car. Approach Notes: From Santiam pass travel N/NE through the burn area until you connect with the S. ridge. This is a good place to go skiing. If you want to access the upper mountain, pass to the East of the ridge and travel the lower terrain until reaching the upper bowls. The ridge itself is significantly wind-effected and corniced.

what, then, was the point of digging the pit?

learn to ski!

Trip: Dalvík, Northern Iceland - Mult. Ski Descents Date: 6/7/2015 Trip Report: There's just enough snow out there to really put some holes in your rock skis. Still, some parts of the world have been under snow (and without sun) for some time now. In the interest of kindling some stoke, here's some goods from our trip to Northern Iceland this June. Day 1: Surfing the North Atlantic, near Reykjavik Day 2-3: Snaefelsness Peninsula, ski descent from Snaefaelljokul volcano Day 4: Middle of nowhere, western iceland. Days 5: Travel to the North Coast Days 6-7: Ski mountaineering in Dalvik Day 8: Skiing Olafsfjordur Day 9: Back to Dalvik! Day 10: Roll out! Trip Report Part I Trip Report Part II I highly recommend Iceland as a wild country with many mountains and few people. It's super-friendly to the english-speaking traveler, and there wild here is more wild than we've got anywhere out west. Imagine a spring where the mountains are universally suited to skiing in shape and access, and the sun never sets. It's a corn farm to rival Iowa. If you find yourself going there and want some beta, email me! Gear Notes: Garden variety modern gear... skis around 90-95mm at the waist with a hair of rocker suited all conditions that we found Approach Notes: Flights run direct from Portland and Seattle to Iceland via Iceland Air. Cheaper than going to Asia, more expensive than Alaska.

It's unethical support.

That's Peter's highly functional but less-than-pretty ultra vest without a shirt tactic.

Trip: Mt St Helens - Worm Flows Speed Attempt (1:36 up, 2:49 c2c) Date: 9/21/2015 Trip Report: Peter and I gave the worm flows route a speed jab today with a mix of running and power hiking under mostly sunny skies. We went parking lot to summit 1:35:47. Car to Car 2:49:58. 10.4 mi, 5600′. I can't find any information on a St Helens climb FKT. Any information appreciated. http://mountainlessons.com/running/mt-st-helens-worm-flows-speed-attempt It would be hard to find this much steep gravel anywhere closer to Portland. Recommended for the fast and the stupid. Gear Notes: S-Labs and ultra vests to look as fast as possible. Approach Notes: The road signs are currently covered with tarps.