Mt. Bachelor
Did I say that it snowed a lot this year? At least it did at the higher elevations. Bachelor ended up with over 500" on the season - over 40' of snow. When I heard that Bachelor would be opening July 4th I was intrigued. Diane was in Florida, so I didn't really have an agenda for the day. It was a toss up between running the Butte-to-Butte (yet again) and going skiing.
I've run the Butte-to-Butte many times on the 4th, but I've never been skiing. It was a pretty easy choice.
Lifts were scheduled to spin from 8am - 2pm. Typically Bachelor is a 3+ hour drive, but this time of year the Cascade Lakes Highway is open which cuts off at least 20 miles. Plus, Cascade Lakes Highway is pretty much a straight shot and it's remote enough to not have heavy patrols. The only downside was getting up at 4:30.
I left Eugene a little after 5 am and get there in 2 hours and 20 minutes. A new land speed record.
Mt. Bachelor from Sparks Lake.
The parking lot at 7:30. I was a few cars from the lodge, but it was filling up quick. Apparently lots of other people thought it would be fun to ski on the 4th.
The view up Red Chair from the parking lot. The base looks a bit thin at the bottom and a little inconsistent up top.
One day only!
I met my friend, Nick, in the parking lot. It was good motivation to get up and go knowing I would have a ski buddy. Nick works for the City of Bend and his brother lives in Steamboat.
I was brave enough to go to short sleeves, but not to ski in shorts. Corn snow will grind you up fast.
Skiing was pretty pedestrian. Typical late spring conditions, or early summer as it was. The snow was pretty heavy and thick. Not so much you couldn't push it around though.
Festivity ensues. Apparently Bend has an unsanctioned event called the "Freedom Festival" where people dress up in costumes and ride their bikes around downtown. Sounds like an anarchic version of the Tour de Fat in FoCo. Locals kept referring to it as the 'shit show.' While it seemed amusing, it wasn't amusing enough to get me to drive down to Bend after skiing.
Nick and a couple of his friends. One thing about being a local is you seem to know everyone.
The run back to the lift wasn't much more than a snocat wide strip of snow they pushed down. Better than downloading!
My ticket came with a lift ride in the Mountain Bike park. I brought my bike so I could check it out. There was still snow up higher, so they only had a small portion of it open.
That was all for the better. It turned out like I expected--set up for people that have downhill bikes with 12" of travel and full body armor. In other words, not me. The first set of curves were reinforced with concrete blocks and required full commitment to go through the banks. I didn't have that level of commitment and feared for my health.
I did one run and decided that I best limit my mountain biking adventures to cross-country riding.
All in all it was a great day. I can check off skiing on the 4th as something I've now done. I would not hesitate to do it again!
