ptavv Posted October 27, 2006 Share Posted October 27, 2006 Figured I'd post this here since I'm bored at work and lurking. Mt Hood got about an an inch of precip in water equivalent between Tuesday afternoon and about 2 AM on Wednesday. That normally translates to about 10 inches of snow or so. With high hopes plans were made to hike up to the Palmer snow field (and higher to the Hogsback field if it had filled in some) this morning with my buddy Andy. Given that Andy is a notorious flake and that it's still October I wasn't suprised this morning when he bailed on me at 5 AM. I was up, the gear was ready so I made it a solo trip. Trip stats: Total vertical gain: 4.5k vertical Total distance travelled on ascent: ~3.5 miles Beginning elevation: 5,500 ft Top elevation: 8,600 ft Yes those don't add up. The top 1,500 feet are the Palmer snowfield, which I skied once, skinned up again, and skied a second time (also why the total distance is longer) Avg wind speed at 6,000 ft: 20 mph (it was significantly higher on the snowfield) Some pictures: The rest area in Govt Camp looks promising (this is at ~4k ft) Weird picture that I took which for some reason shows a great white orb that didn't exist Cool shadow of me (or not, whatever) The lower canyon, looking very filled in. Being sheltered from the wind made it the best skiing to be had (it was actually quite good, except for one thing [Read on!]) Purple skins, neon green skis, and orange bindings, quite the fasion (you can't see my baby blue boots that bring it all together). Your hero (or not, whatever -- Yes I forgot chapstick) The goods from the top of the Palmer Snowfield (didn't go higher because it was just rotten ice above it, completely wind scoured) The cat they sent up to plow access to the top of the Palmer Express completely obliterated the nice fresh snow in the center of the aforementioned "best skiing of the day." Awesome. Still plenty of good snow to be had in here though. At the bottom I asked some nice old dude to take a picture of me before I took my skis and shit off. He managed to somehow capture me with my eyes closed (not really sure how that happened). More pictures here: http://www.vanillawinter.com/Timberline1025/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ptavv Posted October 27, 2006 Author Share Posted October 27, 2006 Oh yah, some beta that I forgot to add. Everything high up is super windswept. The Palmer field is intermittent wind buff and rotten ice that has no snow on top of it. The wind buff predominates making the snow pretty good, but there is plenty of crap there. The "ribbon of death" would have been fantastic if the cat hadn't messed it up. As it was it was good, there was plenty of space. It's more filled in than its been since July, and I was able to ski all the way to the bottom aside from having to cross ~3 dirt patches to avoid rocks or rot ice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad_A Posted October 27, 2006 Share Posted October 27, 2006 Thanks very much for the post. Very informative; I was wondering what it was doing up there. Didn't get a chance to look at the webcams at the time, but now I know. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arc Posted October 27, 2006 Share Posted October 27, 2006 TR= Shakka! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra_Commander Posted October 27, 2006 Share Posted October 27, 2006 Rockin'! Welcome to the board. Way tamer over here than TGR but not as entertaining. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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