Firsts

Sunday, May 29, 2016

I more or less figured that the 2015-16 season was over.  At least until Dylan said he wanted to come visit after classes ended at CSU.  He finished up year one of his PhD program in biochemistry and was looking to unwind and hang with family and friends. 

At any rate, I made the suggestion that maybe we could go hit the mountain.  My original intent was to go up to Mount Hood Meadows, but they closed on May 14 and Dylan got in on the 19th.  The good thing was that Mt. Bachelor was scheduled to be open until May 29.  Our original plan was to go up on the 21st or 22nd, but the weather didn't cooperate. I didn't have any desire to ski in cloudy and potentially rainy conditions--this time of your (or any time of year for that matter).

Despite crummy weather conditions most of the week, Memorial Day weekend was looking promising. I have a theory, now partially disproven, that it always rains on Memorial Day weekend in Oregon.  As I write this, the clouds are gathering in Eugene...so I may still be partially right.

At any rate, we made it happen and it was a pretty cool adventure.  At this point in my life I've done a lot of the stuff I'm going to get to do, but we stitched together a program unlike any I've done in my entire skiing career.  So...here goes.

Friday, May 27, 2106
Part I: Camping on the Deschutes

First first: combining camping and skiing

I had to work Friday -- class and a thesis defense in the morning, so there was not getting out early.  I was initially thinking we would just get up at 4:30 am to get to the mountain by 8am (operating hours this time of year are 8am - 1pm). Diane suggested we just spend the night up near the mountain.  I did a little poking around on the web to confirm what I thought would be the case--everything was booked up for the weekend.  The cheap places that were left were $200 or more.  I'm not willing to spend that kind of money to go to Bend.

Change of plan: camp out Friday night and then ski Saturday.  There was some risk that we might not find a place - campgrounds fill up as fast as hotels. But, it's a big forest and we were confident that we could find something.  We left around 5pm and headed out Highway 58 towards Willamette Pass, up to the Crescent Cutoff and onto the Cascade Lakes Loop.  That loop is one of the most beautiful in the state--and one of the few places in Oregon where you really feel like you are in an alpine area.  Unlike the Rockies, we have lots of volcanos that aren't quite as dense.

Anyway, after verifying that the campgrounds were full by looping through a few, we detoured off a dirt road that had an angler sign on it. Those signs are a dead giveaway that there is river access. We hoped to find a place by the river.  After passing a few sites that were taken, we found a nice unoccupied one near Little Lava Lake and decided it would do--in part because searching more might not lead to a better place.

This one was nicely tucked in the woods.


Not far from the headwaters of the Deschutes River.


We cooked dinner, chatted a while, and then went to bed.  It was pretty cold - below freezing -- but not at all unbearable.  We got up around 7:20am, broke camp, and hit the road.  Batchelor awaited and we wanted to maximize our ski day.


Part II: Mount Bachelor
Saturday, May 28, 2106. 7:45am

Second first: skiing on Memorial Day weekend.

Mount Bachelor from Sparks Lake.
 

We rolled into the parking lot just before 8 and got ready.  We were on the lift by about 8:15am.  Conditions were perfect for a late spring day of skiing. The crowd in the parking lot was pretty rowdy so we knew it was going to be a fun day.

Pine Martin lift from the west base.



We headed straight for the summit.  It's been a very long time since I've been to the summit of Bachelor--probably 20 years or more.  I don't get up there very often, and when I've gone, the weather has been really crappy.  Bachelor has a reputation for nasty weather -- some call it Mt. Badweather.  That wasn't the case today.

Dylan on the summit looking south.



I've been working on a consulting team on a big project for the City of Bend helping them to sort out their growth boundary and refine their growth management strategies.  I made a few friends on the City staff along the way.  Not surprisingly, they ski.

Nick Arnis
  

Interesting thing about Nick - Kayla worked with his brother for a period of time in Steamboat.  When I first met him he was always wearing a Steamboat cap, so I started chatting with him about that since we apparently had something in common.

Third first: summiting Mount Bachelor.

A few quick facts about Bachelor.

Mount Bachelor, formerly named Bachelor Butte, is a stratovolcano atop a shield volcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the Cascade Range of central Oregon. The Mount Bachelor ski area has operated on the mountain since 1958.

• Elevation:
  • 9,068′
• Last eruption:
  • 6051 BC

Last eruption 8000 years ago; nothing like dancing on a volcano.

We hiked up to the summit on the second run. Nieghter Dylan nor I have ever been to the summit so we immediately agreed with Nick's suggest to hike up there.  It's a pretty easy 10-minute walk from the summit chair - and the bowls off the top look amazing.

Fourth first: skiing the chutes at Bachelor

Honestly, I've always had a pretty low opinion of Mt. Bachelor.  Most of the lower runs are fun, but not very challenging and...well, the weather is always crappy.  I will confess that today significantly changed my view.  The three chutes off the summit are sustained 50 degree pitches for about 1000 vertical feet and all drop into the cirque.

Dylan gets his stoke on at the summit.



Nick.



Prepping to drop in to Chute 2.


The view from the summit is stunning.

I.



II.



Dylan shredding Chute 3.  Note the avalanche sluff at the bottom.  A chunk of the cornice broke off and slid at some point in the recent past. It's much steeper than it looks.


Dylan skirts the palisades in Chute 2.


Around 11 a party broke out on the palisades.  We didn't join in, but it looked like fun. Not as much fun as skiing. The perspective gives a sense of the steepness, but it gets quite a bit steeper just below.



Chute 1.


Dylan up to his typical antics of hopping rocks.


Panorama from the Cirque.


Dylan tears up Diane's board.


Panorama looking south from the summit.
 

Beverly Hills...that's where I want to be.



We wrapped up right around 1.  It was getting pretty sticky and it was time for food.  We packed up and went down into Bend and grabbed some Thai food from a food cart. The crowds in town were substantial. 

Part III: Oregon Badlands Wilderness
Saturday, May 28, 2106. 3:00pm

Fifth first: hiking the Oregon Badlands

From snow to desert in less than an hour.

Since skiing ended early, we decided that a hike might be useful.  We talked about going out to the Crack in the Ground, but that was probably a good two-hour drive.  We also talked about Mirror Lake in the Sister's Wilderness, but ultimately decided on the Oregon Badlands.

The Badlands are about 20 miles east of Bend and were designated a wilderness area in 2009 - relatively recently and somewhat amazing given Congress' inability to do much of anything. The area is about 30,000 acres of desert. Our destination was Flatiron Rock and Badlands Rock.

The Oregon Badlands



Entrance from the trailhead.



It must be spring, flowers are blooming.  It's pretty amazing that 30 miles east of Bachelor, which got nearly 500" of snow last season, it turns into desert.

The trail wasn't very inspiring--just an old jeep track through the desert.


















It was a good four miles to the first destination - Flatiron Rock.  What we encountered was pretty amazing from a geologic perspective. Here's a summary of the geology of the area.

The wilderness is situated on high desert terrain and is associated with a volcanic rootless shield. This broad 10-to-12-kilometre (6.2 to 7.5 mi) volcanic shield issued lava from a rootless vent. The lava flow dates to about 80,000 years old and comes from a main vent further up the slopes of Newberry Volcano. This main vent was located near Lava Top Butte and the lava that came out of this vent traveled through the Arnold Lava Tube System to arrive at the current location of the Badlands. An irregularly-shaped pit crater at the top of the shield marks the site where lava flowed in all directions to create the Badlands. Lava tubes acted as conduits for the lava in some instances and are evidenced on the surface by tumuli, also known as pressure ridges. Soils in the Badlands were largely formed from ash associated with the eruption of Mount Mazama some 7,700 years ago.

A bit of interpretation here.  Mount Mazama is more generally known as Crater Lake. Newberry and the Arnold Lava Tube are about 30 miles southwest of these formations.  We were wondering what the geologic processes were that formed these amazing rocks.  One of the most remarkable things is that they are continuous in a roughly triangular or rectangular shape.  Walking through the pressure ridges was amazing. 

The site is a little like Crack in the Ground down by Christmas Valley, but different in the sense that they are not linear and not as deep.

Aerial view of Flatiron Rock.


Flatiron Rock
 


The view looking east.


Three Sisters from the top of Flatiron Rock.  The formation on the left is Broken Top.
 

Mt. Hood


Victory is ours!
 

Lichen at Flatiron Rock


Arch formation
 

We then hit the trail towards Badlands Rock.


Badlands Rock was even cooler that Flatiron in some respects.  The ridges were deeper and there were lots of cracks to explore.


Dylan peeks through one of the cracks.
 

Things are looking up.


The ridges are a good 25-30' high.
 

It was getting late so we hoofed it back to the car.  Dylan pointed this out when we left.  I'm not sure what the exact explanation is, but am open to theories.


All in all, a very fun day of skiing and adventuring.  We got home around 8:30 and were beat.  What a great way to end the 2015-16 ski season!

Closing Day at The Pass

Sunday, April 10, 2016
Willamette Pass
Closing Day, 2015-16 Season

Well, then.  The end of the season snuck up faster than I had anticipated.  I've only used three of the five days on my five-day pass, so I need to get two days worth of skiing in one day since I neglected to read the fine print on my pass that says the tickets are non-transferrable and the chances of Willamette honoring a day next year approach zero.

I talked my friend and colleague Karl into coming up today. He's the Environmental Services Manager at the Eugene Water and Electric Board and has probably done more around land and water conservation for our area than anyone.  I've been working with Karl for seven years on source water protection activities and some very interesting strategies around incentives.  If that's of interest, you can find out more here. A bunch of my work is posted on the site.

Since the kids moved, I need to assemble a new ski crew.  All of my old crew are still in Colorado and I try to ski with them whenever I'm out there. I don't know that many people that ski here and the ones I do live a long way away. Karl is a great skier and was pretty much up for anything.

Back to skiing.  A perfect closing day--temps in the 50s and excellent spring snow conditions.  The crowd was thin, and as we would later learn, about half the people there were ski patrol.

Karl checks out Waldo Lake in the distance.

Where's Waldo? There it is!

Mt. Bachelor.

Karl creams the corn.

Diamond Peak.

Odell Lake.

There I am, pushing hard as ever.

All in all, an excellent closing day.  We mashed the corn until about 2pm when it started getting pretty sticky and then called it.  A great day of skiing with a good friend.  I'm hoping we'll get some powder days in next season.

I don't know if I'll get back out this season--it would have to be at Batchelor or Hood--all the other areas are closed.  We'll see!

Changes

Sunday, March 13, 2016

Willamette Pass 

I got a bit behind on the blog posts, so here I am on April 30th catching up and avoiding work on a spring Saturday.

We finally got another storm system in.  I probably should have gone up Saturday, but work issues make it difficult to take two days in a row off.  On that point, I might have had a total of four full days off this year so far.  Three of them I spend skiing--a far from satisfactory outcome.

I've mentioned before that I'm getting fussy these days.  Without Dylan or someone else to motivate me, getting up is more of a chore--not the getting up in the morning...well, that's a chore too, but getting up the motivation to get up to the mountain.  I must be getting old because the social aspect of skiing is more important to me than it was when I was 21. Plus, I really, really like to ski NW Pow.  It's the best...better than all the rest.

 I arrive at the mountain at 8:50 and it's snowing pretty hard.  The report indicated a foot or more overnight and a couple of feet in the past few days. My kind of conditions. I didn't quite get first chair, but it was close.

The snow was deep, as the photo below demonstrates.  It was also a bit heavy, but sometimes you have to accept what Ullr provides. 

It was pretty darn windy and at points approached white out conditions.  Skiing is always an adventure because you never know exactly what you are going to get.  What's the weather going to do? What will the snow conditions be like?  Will conditions be different on different parts of the mountain? Will there be a big crowd (Willamette is pretty predictable on that point--usually not--even if the lot is full you never wait in line)? Will the lift break and strand you (always a wildcard at The Pass)?

I'm not brave enough to attempt skiing in these conditions, so I took a photo and waited for the wind to calm down a bit.

Like the past few times, I spent most of the day in the trees exploring old and new lines.  I could spend the rest of my ski career exploring the trees at Willamette on a powder day and be completely content.

A lot of things are changing right now.  It's an interesting era on the planet.  We're collectively engaged in a science experiment that appears to be changing the climate and geology of the planet. We've got a political system that seems off the rails a bit.  Wars continue to rage on.  The U.S. continues it's imperialistic policies while most the population appears completely ignorant. Technology has fundamentally changed the way we do pretty much everything--from raising food, to commerce, to communication. It's also come at a significant loss of personal privacy.

What's the answer? I don't know, but I've been asking the questions for most of my life.  One thing I know for sure is that it's a privilege to be able to spend a day sliding down a hill on a pair of sticks in the snow.  I've often asked myself about the value of skiing and wrote in this blog a long time ago that I would write an essay on that.  I will someday, but not right now.  What I will say is that for me it is a type of freedom that I don't get from any other activity--including playing music.  My level of comfort on a pair of skis is unsurpassed by anything else I can do and it brings me into a mental and physical space of perfect harmony (at least when I'm in the flow).

In his book "Flow" Mihály Csíkszentmihály, a psychologist, elucidates a state where time and purpose merge. By definition, flow, also known as "the zone," is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does. Skiing is the definition of flow for me.

At any rate, if you haven't read "Flow" it's worth the effort.

The one constant in life is change. Physical change from getting older (mom and dad, I appreciate you not complaining about how much harder everything gets when you reach your mid-50s). Cultural change, technological change, family change.  I miss the ski excursions with Diane and the kids...but I won't ever forget them (especially since I starting writing about them in 2008). The other thing I thought was utter BS was older people (most notably politicians) using the excuse "I don't remember."  I reached a point in my early 40s where my memory card was full and started dumping random memories for whatever work-related nonsense was occupying my brain at that time.  It's super frustrating to be reminded by friends of family of some fun time you had in the past that completely went out of your memory.

Up to this point, I don't think it is anything unusual, but the statistics on dementia are sobering. One of the cool things about consulting is that people pay you to learn about stuff.  Great business model for the most part. Last year I finished up a project for a firm in California that does memory care facilities. They wanted to expand their operation in Newport.  We were successful, but the part that caught my attention is that one in seven people over 65 have memory issues. I hope that isn't me, but life is such that you take whatever comes at you.

People that influenced my life are passing away.  David Bowie died from cancer  a few weeks back at 69--too young in my view. I never quite latched on to Bowie like I did other artists, but he was always there through the decades. In 1971 Bowie released changes. The content is incredibly insightful for someone in their early 20s. Here's a little excerpt:

"Time may change me
But I can't trace time
I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream of warm impermanence
So the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations"


Here I am at 55 wondering where all that time went.  It went by and I was here the entire time.  It's hard to conceptualize that far into the future when you are young.  And perhaps that is all right and good. They say that youth is wasted on the young.  There's a lot packed into that, but you don't realize it until you're older.

The upside is that I'm going through what is probably the most creative period of my life.  For a lot of people, that happens in their 20s, but creativity doesn't end there.  I've written more music, participated in more significant policy issues, and done more academic publications in the past five years that I could have ever anticipated. I think it's a constant question of one's value and contributions in the grander scheme.  Does it have bigger value? I don't know, but it has value to me and that's what is important.

I'll keep skiing as long as I can and will hope for more days like today before I'm done.  Until then, I'll embrace the changes.

The New World

Saturday, February 20, 2016

It snowed again Thursday and Friday after a week of warm weather and rain.  It was time to head up and punch day two of my five day pass.  The resort hyped up the ski report:

It's going to be a great day. We've had 20" of new snow in the past 24 hours! Join us today for the best skiing and snowboarding around.

It was partially accurate - it was a great day, and in my view, was the best skiing around.  The 20" of new snow was a tall tale.  It was more like 8" with most of that coming early Friday.  According to the DOT, it snowed 3" Friday night.  The DOT report was credible.

Since it was likely a powder day I got up at 6:45 am and packed my stuff up and was on the road by 7:20. The benefit of leaving a little earlier is that traffic is lighter.  The drive was uneventful and unmarred by slow drivers even though the road surface turned to packed snow at about 3,500'.  I arrived at 8:45 got ready and went up to the lodge to collect my punch card and get a pass.  I didn't quite make first chair, but the line at guest services went remarkably fast. I've mentioned the lack of customer service in previous posts so I'll skip it here.

I didn't take many photos today--not much new to shoot.  Like last time, I spent most of the day in the deep woods seeking out fresh lines.



Did I mention that Willamette has the best tree skiing I've had the opportunity to experience?  Not yet in this posting, but I've spoke of it pretty extensively in the past.  I'll stand by the statement. Dylan and I spent years exploring the the woods at Willamette Pass and found many excellent lines.  I'm expanding that knowledge this year through a systematic exploration of the fringes of places that we skied many times in the past. In my two visits this year I've worked through new lines on Cherokee Ridge and off West Peak. 

Cherokee Ridge is located on the area of the map below that says "North Face Backside Trails." It's outside the ski area boundary and goes further north off the map.  Dylan and I explored this area on breakeven day in 2012 (see post Breakeven Day 2012). That day we went up to the top of the ridge on the Pacific Crest Trail and explored.  There was a lot we didn't find, but I'm working on it now.  There's a couple of clearings way out on the fringe that dump you into the clearing at the bottom of the lift (see the map below) that hold a lot of snow relative to everywhere else.  I've been getting boot deep uncut powder out there when there's only a few inches other places.  Moreover, going down to the clearing adds another couple hundred feet of vertical.  The only downside, if there is such a thing, is the short walk back to the lift.  They run the cat through there so it's packed and it's totally worth it.











































The other place I've been exploring is the area that says "proposed trails" on the map.  I propose they never cut the trees since I've already mapped out dozens of great lines in there.  I broadly call it the Bullseye trail since there's a bunch of red bullseyes painted on the trees at the bottom that guide you down to Duck Soup (the green trail on the lower left of the map). There's some excellent terrain in there--in one spot you literally bomb down a ridge to a 20' rise that takes you to a 200' vertical foot clearing that's probably about 35 or 40 degrees in slope. It's 10 of the best turns you'll get anywhere on the planet.

I'll be systematically exploring the "proposed trails" all season. Dylan and I hit some of the best terrain on our initial journey over to West Peak in March 2013 (see West Peak). It was amazing and we'd just scratched the surface when the season ended.  

Here's the view from the "proposed trails."


I'm hoping it snows some more so I can continue my explorations.  Dylan should move back here and give up the bumpy powder of Colorado that's always tracked up by 11am.

Nothing beats a Willamette Pass Powder Day!

Motivation...

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Motivation...is a little hard to come by this season.  Without Dylan here to ride with I haven't been super motivated to go up.  I'm definitely getting old because the family and social parts of skiing are getting more important. Skiing by myself doesn't get me that motivated. I did see my friend and colleague Joe today, but he's on Ski Patrol and they were training new people and he couldn't take off.  Maybe next time.

Plus, I've been waiting for a powder day.  We've had a few this year but they all seem to happen during the week.  It's not that I can't take a day off, but rescheduling a bunch of meetings is a pain.

Kris Nation, our local weather reporter at KMTR got it right...but it hasn't snowed in town yet.

Weekend: This weekend will be much cooler with highs only in the low 40s and mostly cloudy skies on Saturday We will also see a 70% chance of light showers off and on during the day with light accumulation. Sunday looks to be the better of the two days with mostly cloudy skies and only a 30% chance of spotty showers in the morning. The weekend will be much cooler because the double cold fronts from Thursday & Friday will push colder unsettled air into the region. There is a very small chance we could even see a dusting of Snow on the Valley floor by Monday morning as overnight lows Sunday night look to be below freezing.

Last night he said freezing levels would drop to 2,000 and there was a chance of 3"-5" in the Cascades.  Got up at 6:15 and they reported 4" so I figured I would try it.  The DOT said 5" by the time I left.

It was 65 degrees in town on Thursday so chances were that the crust factor would be high.  We needed at least 5" to cover that up.  It was raining really hard on the drive up until past Oakridge where the rain turned to snow.  I arrived in the parking lot at 8:45 hoping that there wouldn't be a huge line of kids at guest services where I needed to get my pass.  I picked up a 5-day pass to provide motivation to go some more.  $189 equates to $37.80 a day...far better than the $149 retail that Steamboat was charging.  The line wasn't too bad and I was on the lift before 9:10.



Action photos are a bit challenging where you're alone, so I did a selfie instead.  I'll need to dust off the GoPro. 
 

First run down Success wasn't too bad. There was a good 6" on top of the crust so it mostly covered it.  It's also great to be back in Oregon where the rain destroys any semblance of those mounds called moguls.  Powder on top of a smooth surface is wayyyyy more fun.

Looking down the Northern Exposure trees.  45 degrees of shred.  I'm totally going to rip this shit!


And I did.  Best run of the season hands down.  Untracked and at least a foot.  The aspect of that part of the mountain just captures snow.

It snowed pretty hard all day.  I stopped for some water and a breather around 11 and at least another inch had come down.  On the upside for Willamette Pass, the parking lot was full and people were in the overflow across the highway.  They need it since they never even opened in the 2014-15 season.

 

102" at the stick--the most they've had in the past three years.  This season might have potential after all.


Three years ago (?!) I bought a pair of Armada JJ's for the sole purpose of skiing pow.  Here's what EVO says about them:

So much jamtastic fun, Armada decided one J just wasn't going to cut it! Jack be nimble, but JJ be quick. Armada knew that you needed a powder ski that could make those tight turns fluently and move edge-to-edge, and thus the Armada JJ Skis were born. This is a big in yo' face powder ski that can give you all the powder action you need and leave you with energy to spare.

 Jamtastic in yo face indeed.  The dimensions are 136/115/133.  By comparison, my K2 Apaches are 102/78/100.  Diane called them snowboard when I brought them home.  I could tell the JJ's were happy to be in their element, that is pow.  Because they were happy, I was happy too.

 

 I'm pretty sure they love the trees.  I found some new lines off to the far right on Cherokee Ridge as well as off the Where's Waldo saddle.  They weren't long shots--maybe 10-15 turns, but the snow was probably closer to 16" in those holes--like the one in the photo below.


I finally packed up at 2--longer than I figured I would stay.  All in all, a pretty decent first day.  I love skiing at The Pass--fresh shots all day, no lines, and the best trees anywhere (or at least anywhere I've skied).  I'm a convert--I don't need the 4,000 vertical feet at the Colorado resorts.  They come with too many people at too high a prices.

Hopefully the snow gods will keep sending the storms on the weekend so I can get a few more great days in.