January 1, 2012, Santiam Pass
1/1/12
1770
4
We spent the weekend with a few friends around Santiam Pass and were plenty happy with the fresh snow and good vibes. After spending Saturday skiing the lifts at Hoodoo, which is a great little ski area, and inebriating some celebratory spirits New Year's eve at the cabin, we toured up from Santiam sno-park towards Three Fingered Jack on Sunday. The terrain around the PCT trail is pretty mellow and might be more efficiently traveled w/ metal-edged x-country skis, but there are some fun glades to ski down through the burn area North of the pass. New snow amounts from the Friday storm were about 10 inches at pass level, and over a foot once we got above 6,000 feet. Great views from up higher, and we put a skin track in to the south ridge of 3-Fingered Jack in case anyone is heading up there during the next couple of days.
Nice - that's a fun area. We hit Jack a few weeks back in 50 degree temps. Hopefully the weather stays snowy from here on out!
Cool - I bet it skied a lot differently in springy December, but seems like that area has some good spring time touring potential. But let's hope that is many months distant!
Always thought that would be a good area. Thanks for sharing. What mile post is that snowpark? Maps? GPS tracks?
Edgesport,
If you're driving in from the west, the snopark (unsigned as near as we could tell) is the plowed entry to the left shortly after you pass the Benson snopark/Hoodoo entrance on the right. No GPS track - I just use the 1:24k scale USGS quad maps. We followed the general direction of the PCT trail, skinning up in a N/NE direction through the burn area to the ridgeline, and then followed that, with a bit of up and down, towards the south ridge of 3-Finger Jack. You could probably stay low and take a more northerly track, but then would have a steeper climb to the ridge and maybe some gully crossings along the way.
If you're driving in from the west, the snopark (unsigned as near as we could tell) is the plowed entry to the left shortly after you pass the Benson snopark/Hoodoo entrance on the right. No GPS track - I just use the 1:24k scale USGS quad maps. We followed the general direction of the PCT trail, skinning up in a N/NE direction through the burn area to the ridgeline, and then followed that, with a bit of up and down, towards the south ridge of 3-Finger Jack. You could probably stay low and take a more northerly track, but then would have a steeper climb to the ridge and maybe some gully crossings along the way.
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