Home > Trip Reports > September 30-October 1, 2004, Mt Hood

September 30-October 1, 2004, Mt Hood

9/30/04
OR Mt Hood
9342
16
Posted by JMor on 10/1/04 8:17pm
Well, what can I say, but fun, fun, fun.  There were 12 of us that headed to Mt Hood to knock out our Sept, Oct skiing and what better place to do that than the Silcox Hut at Mt Hood.  Jerry, Ron, myself, Stefan and his lovely wife Julie, Denis, Paul, Eric, Jim, Lara, Mason, and Derek (Grant's clone) met at Timberline by 2:00 pm and then were driven up to the Silcox (7,000 feet) via 4X4 vehicles where we settled in, then skinned up to the top of the Palmer Glacier (8500) by 5:00 p.m. skied back in the sun to the Hut, on areas of the Palmer that hadn't been chewed up by the snow cats, on silky smooth corn. Since it was a full moon, we had talked about doing a moonlight ski later, but after a wonderful salmon dinner with roasted red potatoes, fresh asparagras, pasta salad, toss salad, rosemary bread and dessert, great wine, and lots of laughs suddenly the moonlight harvest was put off because of being completely satiated  :D.  Friday October 1, we leisurely awoke to the smell of fresh coffee, Belgin waffles, and warm syrup.  The groomers had done a great job during the night to perfectly groom the slopes (certainly it was just for us) since the chair lifts were running this weekend (of course we thought just for us).  Even though Mason was a little under the weather from a terrible cold, we all enjoyed lots of great skiing on perfect corn.  We skied our hearts out, even running into Gaper Jeffery and his friend Ben Shefftz. Steve our gracious Hut host was able to join in on all the fun, skiing with us for the afternoon and meeting everyone else too. We could not have asked for any better weather, perfect sunny skies, and an occasional slight breeze made for a great October harvest. Finishing up the day by 2:00 pm, we all converged on the Silcox Hut again to enjoy a quick refreshment before caravaning back to Timberline.  Thanks to everyone who participated in our 1st annual Sept/Oct back to back "Wild Hearts" ski fest.  It's always a pleasure to meet new people and enjoy one of lifes many pleasures.   ;D  8)  
We did take LOTS of pictures which should be up shortly.
What a fun day!  ;D Here's Maddog and Ron J making syncronized turns on the Palmer:


Sounds like a great time!! Thanks for the ski and the cusine reports. Maybe next time I won't be so busy?
To much work and not enough play!  >:(
I'm looking forward to those pictures.
JDB

Would have been great fun to get to know this group better, but I'm already pulling 2 days out of Oct for a hike around Mt Hood this coming weekend.  Anyway, not sure of how Muir was holding up, feeling lazy, and wanting to 'practice' some, I went to T-line on Sat.  

I did laps on the Palmer for a couple hours and ran into a guy I know doing  a PSIA training video.  (a plug:  he's starting a training/clinc business out of Crystal.  Gruops, 1:1, whatever.  Helped me a lot.  www.snowperformance.com) Anyway, we'd skiied the Zigzag in July and he thought it looked pretty good from the road.  I've decided for myself that only backcountry turns count towards 'the streak,' so I dragged myself over to Illumination Saddle for a nice solitary run of 1000+ down the Zigzag. Found a couple snow tongues that got me down close enough to the top of the Magic Mile to make it a relatively painless slog over for the ride down.  

Great trip , fun times as expected at the Silcox!
Here is a link to my short video, sorry if I didn't catch everyone.
Enjoy!   I'll see you soon 8)

Wow, Jer.  
Fantastic Viddy.  
Great pictures.  Very fine work.  
Thanks.  
You too, Jeff; nice pic.
It really is amazing how much fun you can have getting a handful of folks together with a common passion.
What a hoot.  
Thanks all for joining us.  



Great job with the video and photos Jerry!  It was certainly another fun time with everyone at the Silcox.   ;D

Looks like it was a great trip!!! Nice job with the video Jerry!  ;)
--Chris

Jerry,

Where can a man find that soundtrack?

big love,
-s

Thank you to every one that came.  This was a treat just what I needed.
Great video Jerry and awsome pics as usual.

We had a great time, I'm still smiling.
I got a few pics  you can see em at
http://community.webshots.com/album/195744176dqVxpR

Awesome pics and vid guys.  Sun, friends, turns, laughs, and a meal fit for a king.  I can hang my hat on that.

Quote: If we had 40 or 50 people up in here we would all have to be naked.

Any others?

Nice photos Stefan,thanks ;)  Skip, that song came out when you were just a little squirt. 1978,  Doobie Brothers, Minute by Minute, Steamer Lane Breakdown  8)  

Wow....it really was a wonderful gathering of new friends and fantastic skiing! I can't wait to go out again. Many thanks to our camera man, Jerry! I only have a few pics myself, but plan to get them posted soon (still have to do those from Muir 2 weeks ago!).  And for those of you who are interested, yep, I made it to Camp Muir on Saturday with some shaky knees and legs, but was rewarded with beautiful buttery corn snow!!! THere should be a TR posted soon by the youngest of our group, Katie age 8.

October 17th is my next day out with Greg Lange....always looking for company!

Smiles,
Lara

Just out of curiosity, on Portland Mountain Rescue's Website they describe a rescue on Thursday of a backcountry skier with a fractured leg below Crater Rock. This wasn't anyone from here was it?

http://www.pmru.org/pressroom/headlines/hoodskier093004.html

Jeff

PS: Having such a fun Thursday and Friday (with you guys!) has made it very difficult to be productive at work today!



no, it was not any one from our group, but I got a few pics and Jerry got some video of them coming down the palmer.

Hello Gang:

ahh, i'm jealous.  you all rode on lifts and the skiing looked like fun!  thanks for sharing the photos.

-kam

WooHoo, more photos!!   ;D

http://groups.msn.com/WildHeartsSkiing/04mthoodtayfallstreakers.msnw

Reply to this TR

1844
september-30-october-1-2004-mt-hood
JMor
2004-10-02 03:17:30