June 27, 2010, Bachelor Butte
6/27/10
OR elsewhere
1823
1
We traveled over Santiam and Willamette Passes to see if there was any low hanging fruit to ski -- no luck. We spent the night near Bachelor and woke during the early morning to put on more blankets and turn on the furnace. Hopefully the snow pack firmed up overnight. The heat of the past couple of days has opened all the TH parking areas along the Cascade Lakes highway. The approach to Broken Top and South Sister required a lot of hiking on dirt. So I looked across the road -- and there was continuous snow within 100 of the road on Bachelor Butte, low hanging fruit. ;D
It was a pleasant tour along the tree line of a ski trail which kept me in the shade until the top of the Skyliner chair. Then there was the the ditch/road which is at the top of all the lift shacks. It appears that they plowed a road down to dirt which connects all of the top lift shacks except the Summit chair. The snow banks are 3-6 high along the ditch. A big surprise if you were descending in the fog.
I climbed to the summit entrance for The Cirque, and while I was eating lunch Doug, from Snowbasin, UT, arrived with his four-legged, fury ski buddy. Doug will be working in the Bend area until August. Hes new to the area so if you need a partner for a snow adventure I can validate hes an excellent skier, plus a PT patroller at Snowbasin. There appeared to be a healthy snow pack above Green Lake on Broken Top and South Sister. The snow in The Cirque was cooking, so we descended the northwest aspect. Our skis penetrated about 2, and the sun cups on the upper slopes were shallow and soft. As we neared the Northwest lifts, we traversed skiers right back to the Pine Marten lift. The lower slopes have very good coverage to the base of the lifts and there are soft shallow sun cups. Its interesting to note that the various trail heads had numerous vehicles while the ski area only had a couple of vehicles. Other than Doug, I didnt see any other skiers or any recent tracks. Were still heading to the sunny south Cascades.
It was a pleasant tour along the tree line of a ski trail which kept me in the shade until the top of the Skyliner chair. Then there was the the ditch/road which is at the top of all the lift shacks. It appears that they plowed a road down to dirt which connects all of the top lift shacks except the Summit chair. The snow banks are 3-6 high along the ditch. A big surprise if you were descending in the fog.
I climbed to the summit entrance for The Cirque, and while I was eating lunch Doug, from Snowbasin, UT, arrived with his four-legged, fury ski buddy. Doug will be working in the Bend area until August. Hes new to the area so if you need a partner for a snow adventure I can validate hes an excellent skier, plus a PT patroller at Snowbasin. There appeared to be a healthy snow pack above Green Lake on Broken Top and South Sister. The snow in The Cirque was cooking, so we descended the northwest aspect. Our skis penetrated about 2, and the sun cups on the upper slopes were shallow and soft. As we neared the Northwest lifts, we traversed skiers right back to the Pine Marten lift. The lower slopes have very good coverage to the base of the lifts and there are soft shallow sun cups. Its interesting to note that the various trail heads had numerous vehicles while the ski area only had a couple of vehicles. Other than Doug, I didnt see any other skiers or any recent tracks. Were still heading to the sunny south Cascades.
What do you mean you didn't find any cups?
Nice report, Zap!! Good to see you're out having fun. The photos are nice, too.
I haven't yet acquired the taste for low hanging fruit ;). The approach to Broken Top and South Sister is mouth-watering! But I might have to wait a little longer for it to ripen.
Nice report, Zap!! Good to see you're out having fun. The photos are nice, too.
I haven't yet acquired the taste for low hanging fruit ;). The approach to Broken Top and South Sister is mouth-watering! But I might have to wait a little longer for it to ripen.
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