Choppy & Sloppy

We've been waiting for winter to release it's icy grip and give us a sunny spring day. Today was sort of that day.

Sort of.

We intentionally got a late start because it was in the 30's when I got up and 19 at the mountain. It was warm earlier in the week which means ice or hard pack. We arrived around noon and things were shaping up pretty well. The sun was out, but the low clouds were a little threatening on Diamond Peak.

It was pretty choppy at the beginning--lots of chatter on the snow as it was beginning to soften. It got better as the day went on.

Choppin' down High Lead.

Dylan bonks the Terrain Park sign.

Tearing down High Lead again.

The locals are looking forward to spring.

Conditions are great for early April and we're probably looking at two or three more weekends as long as people keep on coming up.

Totally 80s

Just another powder day at The Pass.

Today was the Totally 80's bash. It is common for ski resorts to have events at the end of the season--which is getting pretty close now. In typical Willamette fashion, the event was pretty low-key.

We pretty much skipped all the festivities to partake in the powder party in the trees. The weather report didn't call for much snow, and the DOT said a couple of inches, but it had really piled up over the week in the woods.

Dylan shoots the cannon.

After a few runs on the south face, we headed to the stash. The one place that nobody else seems to go on a powder day at The Pass. We got easily 10 shots through the trees that we're all untouched lines.

Outrageous fun!

Racing through the grotto on SDN.

SDN lives up to it's name, at least the Steep and Deep part.

Dylan took time out to photograph me.

I'm also enjoying the fact SDN is living up to it's name. Gotta love waist deep turns and face shots.

The S3's float!

Shreddin' the woods.

Overall, a great day. We did 20 runs and quit shortly after 2pm. We'd tracked out everything worth anything, and worn ourselves out. We didn't stick around for the Totally 80's Bash; something I would have definitely done 30 years ago.

Reflections of wonder.

After Hours

You would never know it by reading this blog, but The Pass offers night skiing. We've gone a few times in the past. The experience has largely been cold. Very cold.

Another reason we don't go that much is that night skiing only includes the lower trails served by the Twilight lift. On the other hand, it does include the park on By George. Despite that, Dylan hasn't pressed particularly hard for night skiing.

We got an early start.

First ride at 2:15. Dylan shows his typical level of stokage.

Diane started on the snowboard, but changed to skiing after she bruised her knee on one of those dangerous wrecks that seem to happen all the time when you snowboard.

Hanging out in the Timburr Glades.

After hours today was 4:00-5:30 pm. We didn't stay long enough for the Friday night festivities.

It was snowing hard when we left. Winter is still pushing back against spring and La Nina has been delivering the goods for the past five weeks.

500,000

500,000.

That is a rough approximation of the number of vertical feet I've bagged this year. That's a lot of lift rides and equates to about 95 miles of vert. This is a pretty big number for me, but I've met regulars and Willamette that bag a million or more a year. Of course, they get a lot more days in than me.

Getting another 1500' on Eagles Flight.

I.

II.

Dylan rips the pow in the woods. We didn't get a lot today--maybe 3"--but there is a lot that has accumulated over the past week or so. It was a little funky in the woods; it got kind of warm yesterday on our day off and there were at least two distinct layers of snow. Depending on how hard you weighted on a turn, you might break through one or both layers.

Diane is committed to learning to board. She spent the entire day boarding. Fortunately, the conditions were more forgiving than Saturday--that 3" made it a lot softer.

Dylan gives some professional advice.

Near the bottom of By George.

Turn left...

then right.

The snow continues to pile up as winter turns to spring. Either way, spring break is looking fine even though it's back to work for me tomorrow.

Boards of Terror

Against my better judgment, I strapped on the snowboard for the first trip down. Terrifying. That is the best term to summarize the status of my current snowboarding skills.

Diane puts on her babushka in preparation for the boards of terror adventure.

Diane doesn't trust me on the lift, so I rode up alone. The guy in front of me lost his ski when he got on. I ended up taking it up. I was terrified about getting off with the ski. I had visions of crashing as I got off the lift in the best style of a Warren Miller film.

Somehow, I made it off. Only to face the terror of having to make it back down the hill. I've now concluded a few things about snowboarding. First, I'm not sure I'll ever be comfortable on a snowboard. I'm not sure I want to put the effort in to get to that point. Which leads to the second conclusion: crashing on a snowboard hurts. A lot. Dylan says it's because I don't know how to fall. I say it's because falling is painful. I rarely crash on skis, but when I do, it's usually painful. I remember one crash on Success back in the early 90's when I still had gigantically long, narrow boards. I was shredding through the bumps and hit a hole. My ski stuck and I went face first into the tip. I was spitting out blood and my teeth were a little loose. But that was on skis and I kind of know what to do when I'm going down on skis.

My biggest fear on a snowboard is the "helmet check." That's my term for the way I've fallen nearly every time I've been out on a snowboard (see March 12, 2011 entry). It involves standing on your toeside and catching the back edge and being thrown backwards in a fashion that hyper-extends your neck and whacks the back of your head. Helmet check. Check, the helmet works. Check, it's good to have a helmet.

The other humbling thing is that my helmet checks always occur on the flats. I've yet to figure out how to go straight on the flats. As far as the helmet check maneuver, I've done it enough times now that it's always in the back of my mind (so to speak) and that it affects the fun factor. I don't think I'm cut out for snowboard.

The obvious summary conclusion is that snowboard is harder than it looks. I've gained appreciation of Kayla and Dylan's mad boarding skills. Like skiing, it requires subtle moves and a certain balance.

Diane tackles Duck Soup on her Board of Terror. She's picking it up pretty fast at this point.

Looking back up the hill.

Dylan on the other hand is terrorizing the mountain on his Board of Terror.

Happy day. It's snowing yet again!

I.

II.

III.

The Raven is bigger than it looks in this picture. Willamette Pass has the biggest Ravens I've seen anywhere. Today there were several of them hanging around the parking lot.

I'm hanging up the Board of Terror for the season and going back to what I know: skiing.

Just another powder day...

It snowed some more last night, as it did Wednesday night. The past four Thursday's have been powder days. I only made one of them. Seems like we've had quite a few powder days this year, but who's counting?

Oh, yea...I am! Today was day 23; going back through the postings, 8 of those were powder days. That's a little more than 1/3. Pretty awesome. I'm certain that we get more powder days here than when I was skiing in Colorado. That said, we didn't have the tools to track the weather and snow conditions back than that we do now. We could probably do pretty well in Colorado... except for the part where all the pow is plundered by 11 am. We were still hitting freshies when we left at 3 today.

Cherokee Ridge was in fine shape. Dylan shreds the Grotto.

I.

II.

Method Man.

Diane went out and got herself a new board and new boots. I think she's serious about this snowboarding stuff. She's also getting better.

Me? I was also enjoying the day. Spring break starts next week, but I figured I would play hookey again and get an early start. Good call.

Surfin' the Rossi's.

It's turning out to be a pretty decent season. Started early, a little lull in the middle, and now La Nina is delivering the goods again. It was snowing hard when we left, so I better get rested up for an early start tomorrow.

The Amazing Sleepy Hollow Board Session

Today I strapped on a snowboard for the first time in six years. I swore that I would never do that again after The Injury. I also make Kayla and Dylan swear that they would not allow me on one of those dangerous devices called a snowboard ever again. Some good that did.

An omen?

Diane, for reasons she has not fully yet articulated, has decided to take up snowboarding. Despite my warnings.

I decided it might be fun spending the day together struggling to keep our feet. So, we loaded up the boards and headed over to Sleepy Hollow for the amazing board session. I was hoping we would not get run down by the headless snowboarding horseman.

It all looks innocent enough.

Diane refused to sit on the same chair as me for the 870' ride that gives you an amazing 100 feet of vertical.

Diane gets advice from the expert. I think he's warning her of the grave danger that lies ahead and to sell the board and go back to skiing.

Diane makes another trip up.

OMG, Dylan, this is hard!

My first run down Sleepy Hollow was pretty shaky. Of course, I crashed a few times. After several runs, it started coming back and I was linking my turns again. Despite that success, I still do not have a high level of comfort on a snowboard.

Today reminded my of two key axioms of snowboarding: (1) it's harder than it looks; and (2) it really hurts when you fall. Which we both did. A lot.

I finally got bored with Sleepy Hollow and headed over to Twilight to have a little more adventure. I started with a trip down Peek-A-Boo, a green run. That went fine--I only crashed once and was starting to feel a little more comfortable and gain some confidence. My second run was done Swoosh. That was going fine until I hit the road at the very bottom.

The road is my nemesis. The road and me on a snowboard always seems to end badly. When I first started snowboarding back in the 2004-05 season, I had my first run-in with the road. I was going down Peek-A-Boo which has a long run out on the road at the bottom. Going straight on a snowboard is harder than it looks--if you keep a flat edge, it's probably going to catch and throw you. You can either stand facing the mountain on your toe edge, or ass-end to the mountain on your heel edge.

So, I'm going down the road (this is back in 04-05) and making feeble attempts to link my turns. I'm on my toe edge and catch my back edge. That threw me backwards down the hill where I smacked my head on the snow and hyper-extended my neck. I was a mess for two weeks. I went out and bought a helmet the next day and have been wearing it ever since.

Today I just had to do another helmet check. It definitely works, but it was a hard painful fall on the road. I went down a little further and banged me knees on the next fall. At that point I was reminded of my conclusion six years ago: snowboarding is a dangerous activity for middle-aged people. I don't know if I'll try it again or not. Warren Miller once said "there's four things you can do with a pair of skis: turn right, turn left, go straight, or sell them." Sage advice from the guru. I'm pretty sure the same applies to snowboards.

I went down to the lot and changed into my alpine gear. It seemed safer to go with something I know.

The Ass Family showed up today. They were probably snowboarding.

I caught up with Dylan after a few runs. He was up to the same old tricks.

Remember, ski time is fun time!