For the Love of Snow: Bob's Local Mountain Guide

I've been skiing at Willamette Pass ever since we moved to Eugene in 1987. I can't remember the first time I went up there, but it was a pleasant surprise to find that such a small mountain had such challenging terrain. It's like a mini Mary Jane only with better trees. Of course, you have to accept the fact that the steep part of Eagle Peak is about 800 vertical feet, or about 1/3 (one good pitch) of the Challenger lift at Mary Jane.

Nonetheless, it is by far (IMHO) our best local option. Hoodoo is for families, and the 1000 vert is 50% less than Willamette. Bachelor is a 3.5 hour drive...each way...on a good day. Hood is overrun by those people from Portland.

Back to the topic...local mountains. Right. Lots of people have their local mountain and are hard core supporters even though they are never ideal (unless you live at a major resort...which is in a different class). I thought I would list some of the advantages of being a regular at your local mountain. Here's a provisional list:

1. It doesn't cost an arm and a leg and your first-born

2. You are supporting your local economy

3. You can leave at 10am and still bag 20,000 vert and be home before dark

4. You never have to go solo, even if you drive up alone. There's always another regular around to ride with, or a work acquittance, or the crew you just rode up the lift with

5. You get to know the lifties

6. You are familiar with every square inch of the mountain...both in- and out-of-bounds

7. Related to #6, you can get freshies all day, if not three days after a storm

8. You don't have to put up with the big resort posers, or wanna be pros

9. You always know where to find your wife

10. If you have a beef, you can take it up with the owner (not that you'll get anything other than the satisfaction of telling him what's on your mind)

There's more, but I'm going to stop here for now. I'm sure I'll get comments like "Bob, you can get that at any mountain." There is, however, is certain ambiance you get from your local mountain that resorts can't offer. Like the fact that regular people that did not participate in the robbing of America can actually enjoy the snow. Like the fact that you can grab freshies hours or days later that you can't at a major resort.

Case in point: December 25th, 2007. Kayla had just moved to Steamboat Springs. My lovely wife purchased me a ticket to visit my daughter and my family (my parents and my two sisters) in Steamboat. It snowed 16" on Christmas eve. The line at the gondola was extensive at 8 am. By 11 am, the entire mountain was ravaged. A great powder morning, but at major resorts it doesn't last very long. Enough ranting for now.

Maybe in a future post I'll make suggestions about how to make the best of your local mountain. Maybe not.

On to today.

Snow conditions are a repeat of yesterday, but with a little less fresh. I would estimate that it snowed about 4" overnight. The ski report was generous at 10". They counted some of yesterday's epic dump.

SDN is lookin' snowy.

Related to item #4 in the list above, sometimes you bump into work acquaintances on the mountain. Today it was Steve, a colleage at the UO.

Steve did a heroic job of keeping up the pace. Those who have skied with me, know that things can move pretty fast in the right conditions. I sure could not keep up with my alpine self on tele skis.