Finally feeling Springy at Mt Bachelor

Spring is a fickle visitor at Mt Bachelor. Anything can happen in April, and much of it did this mid-April weekend. A Friday night storm extended into early Saturday, bringing a good 5 inches of new snow. Following our usual reverse-psychology tactics, while the ‘crowds’ waited for the Summit to open, we shredded the dreamy pow in the trees off Outback and Northwest Express. After lunch, Summit-served volcano circumnavigations revealed the usual crazy mix of conditions on the backside of the mountain, from glacial ice to wind slab, pow filled gullies and sink-y slush, all in one run. More consistent was some excellent untracked windblown off Cow’s Face on the eastside. It was a fine day.

Sunday brought warmer weather, clear skies a good wind up high to constantly reload the eastside terrain. Like Toomies Thai in Bend, it was too good to resist. From superb windblown snow up high, to our own private groomer down to the lower Rainbow chair terrain, it was 900m vertical of pure pleasure. In the afternoon, we said adios to the west side of the mountain for the season, carving cream cheese groomers at high speed with 11 or so of our favorite hardcore friends.

We’ll be back in May for real Spring skiing.

2 days: 10,000m, 10,800m vert

Season Totals: 57 days, 474,800m vert, 28 powder days

Easter Weekend (and closing) at Schweitzer

Closing with a base of over 200 inches in early April? It’s a little crazy really. But that’s how it is at Schweitzer this year. Amazing conditions have prevailed all season, and the base has just kept growing. We even had several more inches on Saturday, during a day on which the weather fluctuated as wildly as emotions on The View. We skied steep, soft groomers, chutes filled with wind-blown fresh, bumpy, creamy tree lines and even some corn-like slush on the sunny Sunday afternoon.

No lift lines and fabulous conditions meant big vert each day. Luckily we discovered fantastic energy replenishment at La Rosa Club each evening. We needed it.

This has been one of Schweitzer’s best ever seasons. Our paltry 7 days up there is a little shameful, but that’s how the proverbial crumbles sometimes.They were 7 good ‘uns though. Two of them especially. Until next winter …

2 days: 12,300m, 10000m vert

Season Totals: 55 days, 454,000m vert, 27 powder days

Spring … er mid-Winter Skiing at Mt Hood Meadows

The calendar may have shown early April, but at Mt Hood Meadows, winter’s grip resembled the hold that blonde female Fox News talking heads have on their audience. The forecast huge snowfalls and slightly-too-warm temperatures didn’t quite eventuate, but they were enough to keep the crowds down all weekend. This was a particular blessing on Sunday, when temperatures dropped and many inches of powdery delight accumulated during the day.

Saturday was more chunder than powder. But much chunder there was, and if you were judicious, some fine wind-blown chundery turns were to be had. The wind blew most of the weekend, but never as ferociously as is common on Mt Hood. Still, it was enough to close Cascade and Heather Canyon for the weekend, leaving limited terrain to play on. With so few people and constant snowfalls, it mattered little. There were untracked lines all Sunday afternoon. A deep April powder day.  You didn’t hear that on Fox News, so it must be true!

And this is what we get up to at lunch times, when sober …

2 days: 7800m, 7800m

Season Totals: 53 days, 431,700m vert, 27 powder days