October 23, 2004, Mt Hood Meadows (closed)

Off-and-on snow squalls started in Government Camp with about an inch accumulated on the road. I parked next to the MHM Closed Gate though other parties were opening the gate and parking inside. There were just a few inches of snow at the base area but the bottom few inches were well consolidated. With skins I zigzagged thru the lower shrubbery up to the base of the Bowls, then up Two Bowl and to the top of Hood Express. The pattern of intermittent snow squalls continued with temps in the mid to upper 20s (per telemetry) and fairly light winds. I descended into Two Bowl were I found the snow excellent for October, a few inches of really light snow on-top of a supportive base. I did two laps in Two Bowl then descended thru the shrubbery to the base area. In the shrubbery coverage was quite shallow, making things interesting. From there I skinned over to Vista Express, MHM's new quad. Vista is convolutedly placed in-between three existing lifts, which some may interpret as a testament to the limited lift-skiing terrain available in northwest Oregon. From here I skied back to the car. I only ended up really scratching my basses once, which was when I skied over the maintenance road being used to work on the new lift.

My tracks in lower Two Bowl:


Based on this week's forecast, I suspect this will be the last weekend MHM will be closed. This is good for me as I have a pass here.