This Crazy Life

Willamette Pass Resort
Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Got up at 6am again and checked the snow report.  The DOT reported 8" so it seemed prudent to go check it out, even if I'm feeling borderline irresponsible at this point.  What I do know is that if I don't ski now, it won't happen later.  Carpe Diem!

Lot's of snow on the drive up--very encouraging.  I arrived around 8:20 and bought a 3-hour ticket.  Willamette is the only place I've ever been that sells skiing by the hour.  A lot of people do 2-hour passes.  I knew I had to be back by 2 or so and three hours seemed sufficient for today.

Dashboard still life.

Oddly, it's the same crew as last Saturday...and all the other days.  I applaud the level of commitment. 

Got on third chair today.  The snow was easily 12" and very playful.  The first several runs (two on the runs and then into the trees) were amazing.  Continuing my policy of chatting people up on the lift, I skied a few runs with a guy named Jack.  I showed Jack a few cool places.  Turns out we have worked in similar circles - river conservation - and share some common acquaintances. 

The backside didn't open today, so I decided to explore some lines on SDN that I don't normally ski by myself due to their exposure.  The one below is off the saddle between Eagle Peak and Peak II.  You ski down to the saddle past the cliffs, and then take a hard left at the saddle.  There were some 4' deep spines that I had to work through.  I let Jack have the first crack in this slot.  The picture doesn't do any justice to how steep this is - it's easily 45 degrees.  Super fun!

II

At least 3' before hitting the consolidated base from three weeks ago.

The crowd was pretty sparse.

Got to work around 2pm. Campus was like being in a completely different universe--a parallel reality with no snow and lots of kids walking around.  I had some phone calls I had to attend to.  As always, work is getting in the way of life...or is life getting in the way of work.  Whatever, I'd rather be skiing.

We have our weekly Wednesday band session this evening.  We've been working on a new song Brent wrote called "Stain."  It's about the stain the current administration has left all over all of us.  I love it.

Work is definitely crazy.  Here's my calendar for tomorrow:

8:30 - arrive at work, check email
9:00 - call with City of Newberg on two housing studies we're doing for them.  Newberg, like every city in the state, is facing a housing affordable housing crisis.  They also have a deficit of land for housing which in Oregon is a big expensive problem.
10:00 - call with City of John Day on an economic development project we're doing.  They have an incredibly dynamic city manager who is doing some very innovative things - hydroponic greenhouses, tourism strategies, etc.
11:30 - call about a technical project we're doing for Pierce County Washington.  This is a continuation of work I've been doing on the state Growth Management Act.  We're doing technical analysis on redevelopment forecasting.
12:00 - catch up on everything
1:00 - call with Ski Oregon to pitch doing a new skier profile/economic impact study.  I started doing these studies in the late 80s when I first came to Oregon. I'm proposing a new twist this time--field work.  My big idea is to do field work at all the ski areas next winter.  Sounds like fun!
2:00 - call with McMinnville on housing and economic studies we're doing.
4:00 - drive to Keizer for meetings.
5:30 - project advisory committee for Keizer housing study
7:00 - public meeting for Keizer housing study
8:30 - drive back to Eugene
10:00 - collapse due to exhaustion

This is kind of what I've done for the past 30 years.  I'm looking forward to retiring from the University next year and contemplating a schedule that is a little (a lot?) less crazy.

And last, but not least, the hits just keep coming!  The forecast for the weekend looks promising.  I'm not sure I have the stamina to keep up with the weather this year.  It's kind of beating me up.  Oh, how I suffer!

Detailed Forecast

Today

Mostly sunny, with a high near 26. East northeast wind 5 to 8 mph.

Tonight

Partly cloudy, with a low around 8. Light and variable wind.

Friday

A 20 percent chance of snow after 10am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 28. Calm wind becoming west 5 to 8 mph in the morning.

Friday Night

Snow. Low around 22. West southwest wind 8 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible.

Saturday

Snow. High near 28. West southwest wind 11 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 3 to 5 inches possible.

Saturday Night

Snow. Low around 22. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 5 to 9 inches possible.

Sunday

Snow. High near 29. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of 7 to 11 inches possible.

When it snows...go!

Willamette Pass Resort
Saturday, February 16th, 2019

It was a long week.  I attended a surprise retirement party for my mentor, boss, and friend Terry Moore.  Terry was one of the founders of ECONorthwest--the consulting firm that I've worked for over the past 20+ years.  After 40 years of work he certainly earned his retirement.  The party was fun--the Moore siblings have a tradition of practical jokes, or punking, in the current vernacular.  Terry thought he was coming to do a talk to the urban systems team about his reflections on the past, present and future of the firm.  He got more than he expected.

The planners of the event were particularly clever - Terry is scheduled to go visit his brother in Tucson in a couple of weeks and the last thing he thought would happen was his siblings would be in the office.  He arrived with his wife Cheryl and John Topogna, the ECO president, said a few words.  John then had Terry open a very large gift.  After he cut the ribbon, his siblings jumped out of the box. Terry's reaction was priceless.

I owe Terry a huge debt.  He tirelessly worked with me, coached me, and encouraged me in the early portion of my career.  I first met Terry shortly after we moved to Eugene for grad school.  I was immediately impressed by Terry - his depth of knowledge and understanding of policy and planning was incredible. He's one of the smartest people I've had the fortune to know--and I've known a lot of smart people. It's one of major turning points of my life that I met Terry and had the presence of mind to figure out how to work with him. I've had the good fortune of following my feet at key points to take advantages of opportunities that were presented.  Thirty years later and I'm closing in on the end of my career and trying to figure out what comes next.  In this instance next was skiing again.

I wasn't really too motivated to get up at six.  I did anyway.  The snow report was 7" which wasn't all that exciting.  What sealed the deal was that the forecast was for another 4-8" today.  That seemed promising to me.

So, I got up and got ready.  I was out the door at 7:00.  Snow started not far past Oakridge.

And got with it after the tunnel.

 Oddly it was the same crew waiting for rope drop as last week.

I was on chair #2. I was really happy that I made the effort as I carved big GS turns and got rewarded with face shots on every turn.  It got to the point where breathing was a little dicey.  I wasn't complaining.  The next few runs were just as good.

Now we're talking...

The back side was amazing.  The first run down the Northern Exposure trees was a full on point-em-down-the-hill-knee-deep-face-shot fest.  Amazing!

I took a short break around 1.  It had snowed a bit in the morning.

Dropping the cliff.

Hard to tell, but it's snowing really hard.

The road home.

What an amazing day.  It was the best day of the season so far.  So much snow and so many good runs.  The weather report is promising--more snow on the way.

Hookey Again...

Willamette Pass Resort
Wednesday, February 13, 2019

I was at the Oregon Wine Symposium in Portland yesterday tabling for our research project on the size and impact of wineries and vineyards in Oregon.  I was supposed to stay and table on Wednesday--which was disappointing given the forecast. As it turned out, I screwed up my hotel reservation and the rate they wanted for the hotel room was more than I could get reimbursed for.  So, I decided my colleague could cover and drove home.

That meant I had a pretty blank schedule today.  I got up at 6 and checked the snow conditions - they reported 14".  I was conspiring with ski buddy Ethan and on of our grad assistants Andrew to go up.  I met Ethan at the appointed location (LCC parking lot) at 7am.  He said he had a meeting in the afternoon and had to leave at 11.  That wasn't going to work for me.  Andrew arrived a few minutes later and caught a ride up with me.

Jeff Sessions made the management post new rules. No drugs.  No drug? At a ski area? ha!  We'll see how well that works. 

We got stuck in the ticket line and ended up on about the 10th chair.  The crowd was much larger today than last Wednesday.  Word is clearly getting out.

The first few runs were very fun - the snow was consolidated underneath so it skied lighter than it should have. The trees were amazing.

I had a business call at 10 that I needed to be on so I went back to the car and dialed in.  The call went well and I got to watch the parking lot hounds while I worked.

That finished and I went back out.  I broke trail on Cherokee Ridge.  Conditions were great in there.  I followed a guy in on the second run down, making me first and third.  It was still amazing.

 Hours later, and we're still hitting untracked lines.  Most of the rest of the area was tracked out, but I've got the stashes that last all day.

Andrew makes tracks in the pristine woods.

The snow started quickly consolidating just after 2.  It was amazing how much a 2 degree temperature increase affected conditions.  We did a couple more laps and called it quits around 3.

Overall, a great day.  We're back into winter conditions and more snow is on the way.

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.

Skiing is Being

Willamette Pass Resort
Wednesday, February 6, 2019

"I'm one thought away from being."

-Unknown

I've been spending a fair amount of time meditating lately. I started meditating a little more than a year ago for a number of reasons.  Mostly I wanted to find out what it was about since it seemed kind of mysterious.  What a learned was that there's lots of people that have lots of different takes on meditation, but general agreement that the practice has tangible benefits.

What I also found out was that it's hard in a way that's not obvious.  I mean, you just sit and close your eyes.  How hard is that?  Well, any hack can do that, but to focus your attention on breathing for more than 15 seconds is way harder that it should be.

The idea is to get to "one-pointedness of mind;" that is to focus your entire being on one thing.  That gets to one of my personal motivations: better attention control.  It becomes clear after a few minutes that one's mind is a factory of random thoughts that proceed associatively and for the most part have little value (unless you think stress and anxiety have value). It's a like a river - it keeps flowing ceaselessly with no end, but it constantly changes. So, the idea is to clear one's mind -- or at least get to the point where you don't identify with the thoughts and can watch them drift by like leaves on a stream.  Hence the aphorism, "I'm one thought away from being."

For me, there has always been a zen of skiing.  There's something about it that I don't get from other activities.  Sure, it has something to do with speed and all that, but there's something more to it.  I've noticed that skiing (at least the way I do it) requires my complete attention.  To do otherwise is to risk hitting a tree at high speed--something that never ends well.  It's hard to explain what it's like to ski through a grove of trees in a foot of fresh snow, other than there's nothing else like it.  It turns the river of thoughts right off.  In that sense, it's a like meditation. Therefore,

Skiing is being... 

There's walking meditations, perhaps there should be a skiing meditation.  Sounds like a new age vocation just waiting for me to exploit.

Back to the present topic at hand.  It got pretty cold and snowed in town on Monday and Tuesday.  That's always a good sign for the mountains.  Willamette is closed Monday and Tuesday, so anyone that wanted to get the fresh had to work for it.  I set the alarm for 6am Wednesday morning to see what it was all about.  The resort said they had 12" which seemed a little excessive given the road report, but plausible.  It was enough to get me out of bed.

I made coffee and went online and bought a five-day pass.  I was feeling optimistic at 6am that we might continue to have some more powder days.

I arrived at 8:25 and was the fifth car in the lot.  That should provide plenty of time to get my pass and gear up. As always I wandered into the lodge to secure my pass first.  I handed my receipt to the lady at the desk.  She asked me if I had my waiver that I should have got an email about.  I said, "what email." "Your pass and the waiver.  Plus, you're supposed to allow three days."  I tried to keep my head, but it felt like another Willamette moment.  Alas, all was good - she told me to bring the waiver in next time.

They were still plowing the lot as I geared up.

I.

II.

POW!
























They operate with a skeleton crew - still putting up the fence while the masses (all five of us) waited for rope drop.
























Not only was there 8"+ of new snow, but it was cold (20 degrees) and sunny.  Very un-Oregon like conditions.  No complaints here.

Where's Waldo?

Diamond Peak

I.

 II.

 Maiden Peak

I got 10 runs in by 10:45 when I had to go back to the car to participate in a conference call interview for a project in Snohomish County Washington. The connection was not so good as I expected, but the interview seemed to go ok.  I don't regret not going to the office to work and do the interview--I've got more work than I want right now and it's getting a little challenging to balance it all.

Parking lot pup.  

The forecast is for continued cold weather and snow. It's great we're having winter again in the mountains.  Regardless of what happens, I'll be back at least four more times this season.

Willy's back!

Willamette Pass
Sunday, January 20, 2019
8:15am

The forecast called for snow overnight so I got up at 6:15 am and checked the snow report and road conditions.  The ski area reported 8".  That was a big change from yesterday when it was 45 degrees and raining. And a big change from Friday when they got 4" which wasn't quite enough to get me to play hookey.

Anyway, the strategy of the day was to get there early so I could obtain a pass and be in line by rope drop. I arrived at 8:15 figuring 45 minutes was plenty of time.  I was about the 10th car in the lot. I walked over to the lodge to get my pass before I geared up only to be informed that the till wasn't up yet.  Typical Willamette. So, I walked out and took a picture.  Looks reasonably wintery.
























Given that I couldn't obtain a pass just then I went back to the car and geared up and shared some stories with the guys next to me, who shared some stories back.  Seems like everyone has had some type of Willamette experience. Somehow it adds to the charm of the place.  The till was up when I went back in the lodge so I got a pass and hung out for a few minutes until 8:45 and then got in line.  Lots of patrol doing laps, but only one crew of three in front of me.  Stokage was pretty high.

First run down Timburr; first powder run of the year.  It was a little heavy; typical Cascade mashed potatoes, but lots of fun as long as it's steep enough and you keep your momentum and weight in the right place.

New chairs on the backside, which was a big surprise.  I figured they didn't have any money to invest in the place since they weren't open last year and have had a string of five or so pretty bad snow years.  The investments are encouraging.

Got seven or eight runs in before I hit the trees proper. All of them were smooth, untouched powder lines that only Willamette provides.  Such a contrast to Colorado where the entire mountain is ravaged by 11.  Not to mention that most of those resorts have 5x or more as many skiable acres.  A true old school skiing experience.

The powder depth was definitely adequate in the trees.  It was a little scrappy--heavy on top of Thursday night's snow.  My only regret was that I'm not in better shape.  I do fine in the low angle trees, but need to build up confidence on the 45 degree runs.  That's not to say that I didn't shred them, but that I'm getting a little tentative in my old age.

My legs were getting cooked so I went to the car around 12:30 to warm up and have a snack.  I was back out by 1.  Hit the Eagle trees (nice) and then started doing front side/back side laps - Cherokee and then over to the Peak 2/West Peak saddle in into the deep woods. That had the best snow of the day.  It was deeper (16" in places)  and felt lighter than anywhere else.

Off the saddle.

By 2:45 I had 18 runs in and was pretty toast.  I figured that I would quit before I got hurt.  All in all a great return to form--the snow should be enough to last through the season.  I'll wait for the next storm cycle to get up again.  I sometimes forget how sweet we have it here.  The big mountains in Colorado are fun, but for a powder day, I'll take Willy over any of those resorts.