07-14-08 Zig Zag, Mt. Hood

Started out of the Timberline parking lot at the leisurely hour of 9 AM under clear skies and light winds.  Skinned up to 9500 feet following the traditional route east of the ski area.  Climbed up the moraine to a bivouac site, took off the boots  and had some lunch.  A climber descending stopped to talk and  told me he endured 40 mph winds earlier that morning (score one for the leisurely start) .  With all the sunshine and lack of wind, I was not exactly motivated to throw the boots back on and begin  booting up.  However, I eventually was inspired by two skiers desending  from the Hogsback and ripping down White River Glacier.  Threw the skis on the pack and booted up to 10000 feet just under Crater Rock where significant rock fall helped me make the decision to descend.

The first turn started off inauspiciously when my right ski punched through the mashed potatoes and  ejected, hurling me 20 feet down the mountain.  Of course this is the one day in the past 5 years that I decide wearing a short sleeve shirt would be a really good idea.  After all I thought,  "It's impossible to fall on such a beautiful day."



After cleaning up my bloodied forearm and collecting my ski, things went much more smoothly (literally).  Skied smooth, clean snow (no sun cups or runnels) until I ran out of decent vertical at about 7500 feet.  I  then skinned back up an over to Palmer.  I even caught a few nice "hero bumps" on the way back down to Timberline.  There is still a healthy snow pack and the skiing should be good for some time.