November 5, 2008, - Cinder Cone @ Mt Bachelor, OR

After watching the snow pile up on the webcam for a few days, and knowing rain and warm temps were coming, Todd and I were able get the day off work on short notice (thanks Ken).

We left Springfield about 6:30 and arrived at the Bachelor parking lot at 9:45, a little suprised to see about 20 other cars in the lot.  There appeared to be about 25 inches in the parking lot, which made my decision to grap the splitboard and ditch the snowshoes at the truck an easy one.  Was it really November 5th?

We skinned up to the Cone in short time, and were riding waist deep powder by 10:30.  There was some wind transport on the Cone, and the snow depth was close to 3 feet.



We ended up doing 5 laps for about 2500 vertical feet.  Even with all the traffic, there were fresh lines to be had all day long.  It snowed hard all day, and I was thoroughly soaked by the days end (mostly from inhaling so much pow!) 



After some coffee on the top, we dropped in for the last couple of runs, with face shots abundant.  On the way down to the parking lot, we passed some people sledding and other snowboarders riding a rail they had brought up to the hill.  I love this time of year when the snow starts to fall and the base starts to build.  Hopefully the rain this week doesn't wash away too much snow, and the season begins in earnest with next weeks snowfall.  Back at the truck, it was the obligatory IPA and then the 3-hour drive home.  I wouldn't have traded it for most anything, and the best part was this makes 36 months for me :)