[TR] Desperation stoke... Ski Bowl, Mt Hood- 11/11/2006

[Kevin_Matlock]

Climb: [TR] Desperation stoke... Ski Bowl, Mt Hood-

 

Date of Climb: 11/11/2006

 

Trip Report:

Due to a strictly anti-guy event (baby shower) held at my house, I had to toss the skis in the van and head up.

 

The conditions looked 'good enough' by the time I got to ski bowl so I just bailed off 26 and geared up. Passing by the pro shop the dude pops his head out and said "wow, your the first one I've seen so far this year".

That should have been my first clue. The second clue should have been that about 5 minutes into skinning the snow turned into sleet, then rain.

 

There is a range of up to a foot down low, to well over a foot up on the summit. Pretty heavy concrete even by Cascade standards. Would have been better with a consolitated layer underneath but none to be had. I pitty the next fool trying to follow my "line" down Reynolds!

 

Step, step, step... start sliding... FALL. Step, step, step, start sliding.... FALL. This got old pretty quick.

Finally found a few turns on lower Reynolds.

 

Be prepared for a lot of trudging until the base layer sets up. Might have been better with a warm wax or maybe a layer of crisco?

 

But... a "bad" day in the mountains still beats a good day eating pink cupcakes and looking at baby clothes.

 

Gear Notes:

Rock skis & skins... shoulda had an umbrella at times and a weed whacker for the shit poking through the blanket.

 

Approach Notes:

Just follow my tracks up the mt. bike trail if they aren't covered by all the new pow.

[Farrgo]

With snow levels as they were I'm not too suprised that Ski Bowl was wet. Timberline should have been good though. Of course, who wants to go cross country skiing.

[Winter]

Have patience. This current system should start to set thing up a bit better. Its not far away now.

[fheimerd]

was a t-line yesterday, lovely "cross country" conditions. Entertaining to see a bunch of snowboarding going up and down the same 100ft to launch off a kicker .

Best powder I've skied at t-line. Not much steep out there though. Pretty good base, didn't hit a single rock.

[ptavv]

I skied from the top of Palmer to the base of Timberline after skinning up yesterday.

 

Snow was hit or miss. Top half of Palmer (the actual snow field) was half exposed rot ice (east side of the field) and half drifted windpack (west side of the field).

 

Definitely got a few scratches on my bases (nothing some wax can't fix) down lower.

 

Once down past the midway into the gullies that are wind sheltered it was nice a buttery. At about 7k feet or so, the snow became much heavier and wetter than what was from 7-9k ft.

 

Good day to get out and stretch the legs though. I think things on the east side of the mountain would be better due to the significantly less severe winds. Most of that stuff is out of reach with the roads though (routes like the Spur are about all that are doable over there with White/Newton/Clark canyon access closed). Anyone have recent Cooper Spur beta?

Edited November 13, 2006 by ptavv

[johnebravo]

Nice. I had 3 feet of powder in commonwealth basin (I-90 Snoqualmie pass) on Sat. Snow was soft as butter all the way to the ground though. Wish I'd brought a rapid vertical decent device with me. But at least I discovered that a snow shovel can be used as an ass-sled in a pinch.