Nukin' and Pukin'

Willamette Pass Resort
Saturday, February 9, 2019

It's been going off this week so I was planning on checking the snow report at 6.  I woke up a little after five and checked the report - the DOT said 12" and the resort hadn't updated the snow report yet.  Definitely enough to get up early for.

There was snow outside the window and a little slush on the street as I loaded up.  Felt like it could be an adventurous drive. I left about 6:50 and dropped some boxes off at the post office (Kayla will be stoked!) and hit the road.  Traffic was pretty light and the road was covered with snow by Lookout Point (10 miles out of Eugene).  It's easier to drive on packed snow than slush so it didn't bother me.  The Camry has studs so it's pretty much a beast as long as you don't do stupid.

Lots of snow at the bottom of the pass.  Things got tricky for the last few miles - snow was melting on the windshield and the wipers were freezing up.  Visibility was getting real sketchy so I grabbed the wiper and snapped it against the windshield.  That worked pretty well the first time; the second snapped the wiper off. Decidedly unhelpful.  Fortunately it was the last mile so I stuck my head out the window and limped into the lot.

 Ice buildup on the ski rack.

I went into the lodge with my paperwork (signed waiver and receipt) so I could get my five day.  The lady asked if I had skied before - I told her yes so she punched my card.  I definitely got my $40 worth on Wednesday and want the resort to survive so I don't have to hike.

A few more people waiting for rope drop than on Wednesday, but surprisingly few were there at 9.  Walking over to the lift the snowfall seemed a lot more than the 10" they reported.  It looked more like 20" - 24" than 10.  Had a good conversation with part of the RV crowd about RVing.  I gotta get that dialed in.  Driving the rig in the snow is something I haven't tried beyond a little on my Bachelor adventure in 2017.  Makes me nervous.  I got a lot of other good pointers about how to keep stuff from freezing--particularly the air brakes.  I think I'll wait for a sunny day to test it out.

They were a little behind in getting the lift running.  We traded some good jokes and razzed the mountain host who reminded us he didn't get paid.  Patrol loaded on a little after 9 and the let us on at 9:10.  I was third chair up.

Looks like POW!  I took off down Timburr--was the second rider down.  It was probably a patrol ahead of me and they made nice tight turns on skier's left.  I love to charge when it's a wide open powder field so I was doing high speed turns and using lots of room.  The snow was DEEP!

Very DEEP.  Easily 2'.  On the steep runs, I would downweight and the snow would come up over my head.  It's been a few years since I've had face shots--it was fun to get reaquionted.

The runs got skied out within about 5 rides, but the trees were amazing.  The snow wasn't quite as deep (a benefit for me since I'm not as strong as I need to be).   Wide open, untracked trees all day long.

Some people I rode up with said that they got delayed by a downed tree.  Apparently if feel on a truck and blocked the entire road for about 30 minutes.  I was glad I missed that and even happier that the tree didn't fall on me.

I skied until I  got too tired to ski anymore.  It was about 2pm when I got back to the car. It had snowed a couple more inches in the five hours since I arrived.  I was happy the snow stopped since I had to switch the passenger side wiper to the drivers side and drive back with one wiper.  I know one thing that I'll be doing tomorrow.

 The forecast is for snow all week:

Detailed Forecast

Today

Snow, mainly after 5pm. High near 21. West wind 10 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.

Tonight

Snow. Temperature rising to around 23 by 3am. Breezy, with a west southwest wind 14 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 3 to 7 inches possible.

Monday

Snow. High near 27. Breezy, with a southwest wind 14 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 7 to 11 inches possible.

Monday Night

Snow. Low around 21. Breezy, with a west southwest wind 14 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 9 to 13 inches possible.

Tuesday

Snow. High near 27. West southwest wind 5 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 10 to 14 inches possible.

Tuesday Night

Snow before 11pm, then snow showers after 11pm. Low around 18. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New snow accumulation of 6 to 10 inches possible.

Wednesday

Snow showers likely. Cloudy, with a high near 26. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible.

Is there such a thing as too much snow?  Possibly.  I would love to find out... It's killing me that I can't come up Wednesday - I have to do hazard duty at the Oregon Wine Symposium. 

Once again work gets in the way of skiing.  I'm not complaining.  This season is going alright so far.