Home > Trip Reports > September 3, 2012, - Zigzag Glacier, Hood

September 3, 2012, - Zigzag Glacier, Hood

9/3/12
OR Mt Hood
3721
7
Posted by stoudema on 9/6/12 11:16am
Skied Hood on Labor Day with a buddy and found decent conditions on the Zigzag Glacier.  Had a hard time believing how much the snow had melted out in the three weeks since I was there last.  Headed up the trail around 9:00 under sunny skies.....



Hiked over to the Little Zigzag and found snow conditions pretty cupped out.  It looked like several people had skied the canyon in the previous weeks/days, and most of the cuppage was due to old ski tracks.  Headed up the Zigzag from there and reached Illumination Saddle around noon.  As usual the views down onto the Reid Glacier were scenic.  After a quick lunch, we headed down from saddle.  The snow directly below the saddle was pretty hideous, but fortunately that only lasted for a few hundred feet.  Here's a shot of Dan coming off the saddle....



Lower down on the Zigzag, conditions got a bit better and we were able to open it up a bit....





Continuous snow ended about 1700 vertical feet below the saddle.  After all that fun, it was time for a little break and a frosty beverage before hiking back up to hit the east lobe of the snowfield......



We chose to boot back up to about 8700 feet and made a few turns from there down the east side of the snowfield for a few hundred feet....





At this point we made the decision to hike up and over to the Palmer, since it was about 3:00 and the lifts were closed.  Plus, we could enjoy a continuous ski of nearly 2500 feet back to the lodge, rather than head down the snowfield further and into the nastiness of the Little Zigzag.  It proved to be a good decision.  The Palmer was in really good shape, and skied about as good as I've ever seen it, with the added bonus of us having it all to ourselves.  We made sweet turns all the way down, through the Mile canyon.



The snow in the Mile canyon extended down to a few hundred yards from the parking lot, and was good the whole way down.  Overall, it was a really nice day, with 4500 vertical feet of good turns to kick off the month!
Sold! I'm driving down tonight. If I get there at two in the morning, would I be able to car camp in the parking lot? Or is it gated off? If so do you know of any car camping options around there? I have a northwest forest pass. Any info would be appreciated, thanks!

Don't know about car camping at T-line having never done it, but would think there are a few places in Govy that you could easily make work.....

Car camp respectfully in the back of the Timberline lot or at empty sno-parks on rt. 26 or 35.  Sno-parks often have toilets. 

Those suncups look like double d's at least!

looking good on hood

Yeah the parking guy said it was ok, they would prefer if you parked against the back wall. People were having full scale loud music parties! Saturday and all. I tucked myself behind a parked trailer in the overflow lot and found some peace. Great conditions, TR to come!

- some gnarly lookin blank at the top.  looks like great turns below *

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september-3-2012-zigzag-glacier-hood
stoudema
2012-09-06 18:16:37