The Gondola

Sunday, December 30, 2018
Winter Park

The crew informed me that we were going to WP again on Saturday. That sounded ok, as long as I could figure out a way to not pay $179 for a pass.  I texted Dan and he came through. 

We had to ride over to ski patrol/emergency room at the WP base to pick up the voucher.  The US Mogul team is practicing at WP this week.

Dan and I in front of the patrol shack at Sunspot. Dan is part of the old ski crew back from the late 70s.  We spent a lot of time at WP in those years.  Dan carried the torch and got on pro patrol in the 80s and never looked back. Sounds like an interesting job--one that I would be challenged to do since I'm a bit soft when it comes to dealing with broken people.

The crew at Sunspot (Catherine, Elizabeth, Heather and Garth)

Garth at the top of Hughes

 The ladies at the top of Hughes

A little closer, please

 

















Things not to do on The Gondola.  Dan said they started working on The Gondola back in April.  It was closed a few days back when we first skied WP.  It officially opened on Thursday.  

Back at the top

Garth and Catherine on Perry's Peek

The crew

Beach hounds in the parking lot. 


















 Dylan is gassed on the ride home
























We left by 1:30 to avoid the I-70 traffic.  We got enough skiing in for me.  All in all, it was a pretty fab day and a good week in Colorado.  Four days of skiing for $200 is reasonable in my book given that full retail would be $716.  It's nice to ski the big mountains once in a while, although I still have a preference for our little backwater area and the Oregon snow (when it happens).

Welcome to this cold, cold part of the world

December 27, 2018
Steamboat Springs, Colorado

Temperature: -2


It was a bit brisk this morning.  Said -2 at the house.  We had to jump Dylan's car -- the battery said no.  We got the sweet parking space again and then got our passes.  It was -3 at the gondola.  Dylan wanted to ride Christy and Thunderhead; I wanted to ride inside on the gondola.  I won.



















We skied the lower mountain on the first run hoping it would be warm.  It wasn't, plus Ted's run was in the shade.  We headed over to Sunshine where the sun was shining with the theory that it would be warmer there.  It wasn't.  We were in the lodge by 10 drinking beer. 

The view from Rendezvous.
























There were some moose hanging out under the Thunderhead - a cow and two calves.  You don't see that every day.  It was hard getting photos because it was so cold and the lift wasn't stopping.

We headed out around 1 to grab lunch with Kayla before we left.  We got at least 20,000 vert and had had enough of the cold.  Left town around 2:30 and were at Cameron Pass just after 3.

 The Nokhu Crags

So far a good few days of skiing in Colorado.  It's been snowing a little at Willy; maybe I'll get a few Oregon powder days in this season.  It's definitely time to get after it--I'm not getting any younger.

Steamboat...again

December 27, 2018
Steamboat Springs, Colorado

Got up at 6:30 today--a much more civilized hour than 3:30 (December 24) or 5:00 (December 26). It was pretty cold, but we got out early (a little after 8).  Dylan drove to the area.

The necessities of life at a ski area...googles and coffee

 It was a little grey heading down Highway 40 to the base.


















Kayla hooked us up with parking spot at The Lodge.  One of her side hustles is as a dispatcher.  We went inside and met her friend Mary and put our boots on.  Very civilized.  We then hopped the shuttle which took us directly to Gondola Square.

 Hopping the shuttle.

 Dylan up to his typical shenanigans.

It was pretty cold so we went into the Four Points lodge around 10:30. Kayla had a cheese bagel with butter. Dylan and I had a cheese bagel with jalapeno cream cheese spread and a beer.

The view from Four Points lodge.  Frosty.

The classic pose under the gondola at the top of Heavenly Daze.

We took another break and met up with long-time ski buddy Paul.  Kayla is amazed.

 Isn't that nice?

Paul hits it on 3 O'clock.

We went over and had dinner and drinks with Scott and Colleen.  Always fun to hang with the Whiteman's,  Kayla is buds with Mazzie.  Mazzie is a rescue dog from Mountain Pet Rescue.  Kayla found a video of Mazzie's pups.  Mazzie was quite concerned about them and instantly recognized their cries.

Another early night. This skiing is tiring!

Kicking off the 2018-19 Season

Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Winter Park, Colorado

Flew out to Colorado for a holiday surprise visit.  It was Diane's idea.  Christmas at the Parker's.  Had both our kiddies there.

Headed out for Winter Park at 5:30am on the 26th. One year ago today.  Spencer's Butte with Dylan and the girls.


















We arrived around 7:45 - plenty of time to get ready and purchase a ticket.  Conditions were early season, cold and cloudy. The lot at Challenger.

Beer me!
























The crew hits Mary Jane.

 Dylan floats on.

 The crew stops for cheezy fries.   From left: Quinn, Parker, Brooke, and Cathrine.

The crew left around 1; Dylan and I kept at it.  We met Dan Hedrick who showed us around a bit after he staked a "Slow" sign at the entrance to Dilly Dally Alley.  We cut over from Vasquez to Eagle Wind and did a run over there. Fun terrain, but the snow was thin.  We ventured beyond the rope for a bit, at least until I hit a big buried rock that flipped me.  We called it about 2:30 and headed for Steamboat.

Scott Whiteman had some $25 lift vouchers for us--a lifesaver since tickets at Steamboat retail for $179 a day this week.  Insane.  Scott and Colleen got a new pup named Mazzie.  She's a little sweetheart.

We then went home where Kayla cooked us pasta primavera which was very tasty.

Hoodoo, Again

March 24, 2018
Hoodoo

It snowed another 14" last night. Since powder days are so far and few between this year, I had to take another shot.  I got up a little after 6 and was on the road by 6:30.  I learned from my previous excursion to plan on a two hour drive.  The upside is the days are getting longer so the trip was mostly in daylight.

I arrived about 8:40am--plenty of time to get a pass and get ready.  Despite that, there were still more than 100 people in line in front of me.

The restless natives await the ceremonial rope drop.

Conditions look good on the ride up.

Hoodoo's got the views. Looking south towards Mt. Washington and the Three Sisters (to the right).

A little closer.  That's Big Lake in the foreground.

It was clear enough to see Three Fingered Jack (on the right) and the taller Mt. Jefferson (just to the left).

A bit closer.

Snow conditions were really good for the first few hours.  Hoodoo isn't very big so it was mostly skied out by 11 and by noon anything that wasn't skied off was getting really heavy.

I'm finishing up this blog post on April 8.  I had mostly given up hope after that day; I've abandoned it at this point.  Hoodoo isn't enough to get me excited about spring skiing.  Moreover, if I'm going to do that it's a lot more fun with a crew. That said, it snowed 10" at Hoodoo last night.  I didn't even bother since I've got work to do today.  To rationalize not going today, I'm going to just assume that the surface underneath that 10" is really crummy and it's not very good.

As I said at the end of last year, I'm not sure how many more years I'll be able to shred the pow.  It's disappointing to watch season after season go by with marginal conditions.  I shouldn't be surprised--as I've discussed here in the past, the climate models have been astonishingly accurate in predicting patterns here.  We're seeing more variability and the snow level is going up.

In the meantime, I'll hold onto hope for next season.

Hookey day at Hoodoo!

Thursday, March 1, 2018
Hoodoo Butte, home of the Hodag


It's been a pretty slow year.  I've been waiting for it to snow since we went to Bachelor back in December.  Willamette hasn't opened due to lack of snow, so it's Hoodoo, Bachelor or Hood.  Bachelor and Hood are too far for a day trip.

The good news is that it snowed 14" overnight and I cleared my schedule by emailing everone at 6am that I wasn't going to be able to meet today.  Hookey day at Hoodoo!

 The drive, as always, was beautiful.  Hoodoo is 30 minutes further each way.  I left around 7 and pulled into the parking lot right at 9.  Not quite early enough to get first run, but close enough.

I. First ride up in a long time

 II. Looking over towards Three Fingered Jack

 The sun started coming out, which was a bonus.

III. Black Butte

 IV. Due South from the summit of Hoodoo Butte

 V. The trees got flocked (sounds dangerous, no?)

 VI. Towards Mt. Washington

 VII. The broad view towards Black Butte

 VIII. Mt. Washington

IX. A better view of Mt. Washington

Got home and found out that Willamette threw in the towel on the season:

March 1, 2018
Tim Wiper, Owner
Contact:  snowinfo@willamettepass.com

Willamette Pass Resort operations remain suspended for 2017-18 season.

Regardless of the excellent new snow over the last week, it has turned out to be “too much too late” to save the 2017-18 season for our resort.  We have evaluated the Ski Area every day this season to assess the conditions and what can be offered.  As the owner and operator of the resort, I take the responsibility for the complete operations and offerings we can provide for our guests.  As of this date I no longer have the staff or resources available to provide the quality and safety expected.  It is not appropriate to offer an experience that would be substandard at this time.  It is with great disappointment that Hundreds of our staff were not able to provide their skills and service for the enjoyment of our skiing and snowboarding guests this season. For more information on your options if you purchased a product from our online store, please click here.

To everyone that calls Willamette Pass Resort home I want to thank you for your continued support.  I look forward to serving you in the 2018-2019 season.​​

SKI IT, RIDE IT, LIVE IT!

Not this year.  No skiing it, no riding it, no living it.  What a sad state of affairs. It is becoming increasingly evident that our low elevation resorts will become unviable due to the rise in snow elevation because of climate change. This is the second season in the past five Willamette was unable to operate.  Before that, it was 1976.  

Hoodoo, while only 30 miles north, and a full 500' lower, seems to be holding on.  

With any luck I'll get some more days in this year.  I'm not holding my breath.