March 25-27, 2005, A hut in the S. OR Cascades
3/25/05
4208
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On Friday morning Andy, Ann, Aaron and I headed south to a backcountry hut at the base of a shield volcano in Southern Oregon. The trip was loosely organized by Kristi, a friend of Aaron's who made the hut reservations and met up with us on Saturday afternoon. Skinning thru day-old snow we arrived at the hut, a 3.63 mile skin from the snopark, late Friday afternoon. The sky was overcast but we did get brief glimpses of the surrounding area.
The hut was more luxurious then I expected. It contained a good-sized wood stove, plenty of firewood, two lofts, an outhouse, a rodent proof container for food, benches, a small table, and--like all good backcountry huts at the base of PNW volcanoes--a well-used and tattered printout of a page from Amar Andalkar's website. The price was right too: free. The hut's elevation is 6035' with the snopark being at 5400'. I was concerned about their being sufficient snow coverage but this turned out to be a non-issue; my skis did not hit any objects the entire trip.
Staying at the hut was a party of 4 from Seattle who over the next few days emphatically requested that we didn't state the location of the hut in an internet trip report, specifically on turns-all-year.com. I'm reluctant to oblige this request but I will, since they requested multiple times, were friendly, put in the skin track and gave us useful information about conditions. It is my hope that readers who are familiar with the area will know from the report exactly where we went, and that readers not familiar with still be able to get useful information about conditions in Southern Oregon.
The gem of the peak we were at the base of is a prominent steep bowl which drops 1500vft from the summit ridge. The steepest sections of this bowl allegedly reach close to 50 degrees and there is massive avalanche path that runs 1.5 mile out of it. The Seattle party had skied this on Friday, and reported excellent skiing but sketchy avy conditions.
Saturday morning we woke to rain which briefly changed to snow only long enough to galvanize us to get ready to ski. The snowlevel seemed roughly to be at 7000' though it teased us several times by going both lower and higher. We headed up the SE ridge to around 7600'. The winds here were quite strong creating horizontal rain/snow, the visibility was poor and we were utterly soaked. Given how warm it was the steep bowl was out, and we descended the glades on the SE ridge and south bowl back to the hut. The best snow was still fairly heavy but in general it wasn't as bad I expected.
Andy:
Back at the hut, Kristi and her party had arrived. We socialized, dried our clothing and drank hot chocolate. A few hours later we headed out for more skiing disregarding that it now seemed to be raining harder then in the morning. This time we went higher, and when we finally stopped to descend it seemed much colder then the first lap. We again descended the glades on the ridge going further east this time. On this lap the snow lower down seemed more rain saturated.
The rain continued all night. It was still raining Sunday morning so we packed and headed back to the car, arriving completely soaked but in good spirits. Although the skiing was not optimal this was still a very fun trip with great company and provided excellent reconnaissance. The hut's location is perfect for accessing mid-winter skiing that would normally require a substantial approach. There is no question we will be back.
More photos (note my camera lens fogged up a bit in some of these):
] ]
The hut was more luxurious then I expected. It contained a good-sized wood stove, plenty of firewood, two lofts, an outhouse, a rodent proof container for food, benches, a small table, and--like all good backcountry huts at the base of PNW volcanoes--a well-used and tattered printout of a page from Amar Andalkar's website. The price was right too: free. The hut's elevation is 6035' with the snopark being at 5400'. I was concerned about their being sufficient snow coverage but this turned out to be a non-issue; my skis did not hit any objects the entire trip.
Staying at the hut was a party of 4 from Seattle who over the next few days emphatically requested that we didn't state the location of the hut in an internet trip report, specifically on turns-all-year.com. I'm reluctant to oblige this request but I will, since they requested multiple times, were friendly, put in the skin track and gave us useful information about conditions. It is my hope that readers who are familiar with the area will know from the report exactly where we went, and that readers not familiar with still be able to get useful information about conditions in Southern Oregon.
The gem of the peak we were at the base of is a prominent steep bowl which drops 1500vft from the summit ridge. The steepest sections of this bowl allegedly reach close to 50 degrees and there is massive avalanche path that runs 1.5 mile out of it. The Seattle party had skied this on Friday, and reported excellent skiing but sketchy avy conditions.
Saturday morning we woke to rain which briefly changed to snow only long enough to galvanize us to get ready to ski. The snowlevel seemed roughly to be at 7000' though it teased us several times by going both lower and higher. We headed up the SE ridge to around 7600'. The winds here were quite strong creating horizontal rain/snow, the visibility was poor and we were utterly soaked. Given how warm it was the steep bowl was out, and we descended the glades on the SE ridge and south bowl back to the hut. The best snow was still fairly heavy but in general it wasn't as bad I expected.
Andy:
Back at the hut, Kristi and her party had arrived. We socialized, dried our clothing and drank hot chocolate. A few hours later we headed out for more skiing disregarding that it now seemed to be raining harder then in the morning. This time we went higher, and when we finally stopped to descend it seemed much colder then the first lap. We again descended the glades on the ridge going further east this time. On this lap the snow lower down seemed more rain saturated.
The rain continued all night. It was still raining Sunday morning so we packed and headed back to the car, arriving completely soaked but in good spirits. Although the skiing was not optimal this was still a very fun trip with great company and provided excellent reconnaissance. The hut's location is perfect for accessing mid-winter skiing that would normally require a substantial approach. There is no question we will be back.
More photos (note my camera lens fogged up a bit in some of these):
] ]
As always, great trip and report Jeff. I'd have to say that this was some of the wettest backcountry skiing I've ever done. Can't wait for next year.
Thanks for sharing! Sounds like a great trip, nice and far from anywhere. Huts can make for quite a fun outing.
and--like all good backcountry huts at the base of PNW volcanoes--a well-used and tattered printout of a page from Amar Andalkar's website.
That's really funny. I've only been to one hut on a PNW volcano, which was missing the printout.
Nice report, Jeff, especially given the restrictions on content. Too bad the snow conditions weren't better for you over the weekend, but the southern OR Cascades have gotten over 30" of powder the past two days, and more keeps falling. Bachelor was reporting 28" new as of this morning, 35" in two days. Crater Lake had 13" new, with 30" in two days. Looks like there might actually be some good spring skiing in OR this year!
As always, great trip and report Jeff. I'd have to say that this was some of the wettest backcountry skiing I've ever done. Can't wait for next year.
"Wet" does not even begin to express how mother nature treated us on this trip. But it was still fun to get out.
Aaron
thanks Jeff , good report
Yes , 38' fresh snow at Bachelor ,tuesday morning and it was snowing. I skied both day at Bachelor it is too deep you really need a powder skies , powder cord and steep hill.
Yes , 38' fresh snow at Bachelor ,tuesday morning and it was snowing. I skied both day at Bachelor it is too deep you really need a powder skies , powder cord and steep hill.
First cavers keeping secrets, then skiers! What next, rock climbers? Ha! That will be the day!
I was thereabouts in Jan? I had skiable crust for the main part in the general area.
So, do you need to bring a pad? What about pots? Anything other than food and sleeping bag needed for this hut?
I was thereabouts in Jan? I had skiable crust for the main part in the general area.
So, do you need to bring a pad? What about pots? Anything other than food and sleeping bag needed for this hut?
So, do you need to bring a pad? What about pots? Anything other than food and sleeping bag needed for this hut?
You'll need to bring a pad and sleeping bag. There are not any bunks, you sleep on the floor. We also broght a stove to cook with. You could probably cook on the wood stove in the hut but I wouldn't recomend counting on there being any fire wood, we just used it for melting snow for water. A water filter would be a useful item to also have, we didn't bring one and had to boil water.
The cabin was pretty comfortable, even with 14 people and two big dogs. It did get crowded at times especially when everyone was cooking and trying to get in and out of the cabin.
Aaron
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