Feb 21-25, Camp Norway, Wallowa Mts.

Sidnie and I headed back to the Wallowas after a previous trip in late 2006 with the telemack and Scotsman families had ended badly for me with a blown out shoulder, surgery, a lost season and a lot of rehab.  This time we headed to the south side of the range and the Norway basin camp run by Wallowa Alpine Huts. 

Arriving in the town of Halfway Saturday evening under clear skies, we were greeted by a town full of snowmobilers and ate dinner in a bar full of drunken and jovial sledheads.  After dinner we met the rest of our group consisting of three splitboarders and one skier from Bend, a snowboarder turned skier from New Zealand,  and our guides Joel, Brian, and Mike (aka Zobott).  We were later joined by Matt, a splitboarder guide working on his AMGA certification.  The four from Bend were doing a photo shoot for a story they were planning in an online magazine. 

The next morning we were briefed on the plans for getting into the camp. This involved a 6 mile tow, in two shifts, up a snowed in highway behind a snowmobile, followed by a 2 mile skin gaining the 2,000ft. to the camp at 7,000 ft on the edge of the Eagle Cap Wilderness. The tow in was fun and fast with only one near head on with other snowmobilers leaving the Cornucopia lodge. We arrived at the two story yurt in good time to unpack, take in the incredible views of the peaks in the wilderness area, and sample some of the nearby slopes.  With no significant snowfall for almost two weeks the sun exposed slopes were breakable crust but the shady north facing treed slopes still held nice reconstituted powder in a steep 40 degree forested drainage directly below the yurt. 

The good news was that stability was high and the green light avy conditions and clear skies gave us a shot at some of the major peaks in the wilderness. The next day we headed for 9550 ft Red Mountain, the largest peak in view from the yurt with beautiful NE facing lines off a broad summit.

We started with a 500 ft descent from the yurt and then it was skins on for a four and a half hour climb to the summit.  The last 700 ft involved a boot pack followed by a short skin across the summit block and incredible views of Hells Canyon and surrounding ranges.  The photographers set up and Sidnie dropped the first line off the aesthetic, steep east shoulder in perfect high alpine powder.  I followed, setting off some major slough requiring evasive moves out onto the apron and high speed arcs over the wind textured plains to the landing zone where, one by one we re grouped.  Then, it was skins back on for the climb back to the saddle separating Red and Norway peaks and a 900 ft drop in a north facing bowl in soft  hero snow followed by a climb out to another saddle and a long, fast descending traverse in breakable crust, which the snowboards handled much better than the skiers, back to drainage below the yurt and a final 500 ft climb back to a warm bed and good dinner. This was just the first of four full days.

The next day would be a more €œmellow€ tour back to the Blue Creek area and a descent of the west facing bowl with a climb out to a steep north facing cirque at the head of Blue Creek. The cirque was topped by a knife edge ridge with two entry points.  One required a rappel on skis and the other was a ski width chute guarded by a good size cornice.  To add to the drama the wind had picked up from the south and high cirrus clouds were moving in ahead of an approaching front.  Two of the guides cut the cornice and sent it down the chute with no snow release and the first snowboarder slid in to the ditch left by the cornice. 


One by one we skied the cirque and grouped up in the basin before continuing the descent to Blue Creek through low angled trees harboring powder for another 1,000 ft. A long climb through the forest back to the pass and a total survival ski through un-skiable breakable crust complete with downhill kick turns got us back to Bob€™s hole and the climb out to the yurt.  Again the snowboards proved their superiority in the worst snow condition.  After dinner it began to snow. 

We woke to 8 inches of fresh snow and skied meadows and trees all day.  With the stability in question due to near surface faceting and a weak crust the alpine areas we had skied the past few days were worlds away. This was just plain old backcountry, low angle powder skiing at its finest.  The boarders built a kicker and launched through tree branches while we lapped 900ft tree lines all day. Despite shooting cracks and whumphing, the next morning we were able to lap some fall line powder slopes through a burn area under blue skies on our way back to the sled track.  The six mile skate ski out was a lot of work in the softening snow. The snowboarders switched to split mode and skated along with us. 


This was an incredible trip covering almost 20,000 vertical feet in stunning terrain with great guiding and, as expected, the Wallowas delivered the goods.