Ringing in 2017

Sunday, January 1 2017
Willamette Pass

We made it to midnight last night.  Happy new year and all that.

I woke up at 5:30 to use the restroom and checked the snow report. Five inches and snowing hard.  It met the minimum criteria so went back to bend and then got up at 6:45 to get ready.  There was some snow on the ground at our house -- a promising start to 2017.

Snow in the foothills over the Dexter Covered Bridge.

The drive was a bit slow - got stuck behind a snowplow before I got to Oakridge and then some slow cars near the top of the pass.  Otherwise, the drive was very snowy, but uneventful.

It was snowing hard on the ride up.

Snow stick says 76".  That's up from 51" a week ago.  Not bad.

I spent a lot of time in the trees today.  The frontside was a bit crusty - it must have been warm the past few days.  There wasn't quite enough fresh snow to completely cover it, but it was definitely working on it.  There was a good 3"-4" of fresh on the car when I threw in the towel around 1:15.

The forecast is calling for more overnight.  I'm going up with ski buddy Karl tomorrow.

Snow on!