May 7, 2005, Superbowl, Mt Hood (photos fixed!)
5/7/05
OR Mt Hood
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We had low expectations for today, but surprisingly it turned out to be excellent. The suddenly came into full view against a bright blue sky. Was I having a car nap dream, or were we really going to have a bluebird day? Luckily the latter. We set our destination as Superbowl, the large apron and series of bowls that runs from the base of the WyEast face to Heather canyon.
It was a bit chilly and windy as we left the car but after about 30 minutes the wind stopped. Layers of clouds were of the WyEast face. The thin clouds were intermittently surrounding us, and when we reached our high point we were in a cloud. We waited for it to break, then we headed down. Despite it seeming pretty warm, the snow was in great shape consisting of highly quality, intuitive spring snow; I wouldn't classify it as perfect corn but it was close. We skied pitch-by-pitch all the way to the floor of Heather canyon, with the snow remaining surprisingly good for this entire 3500vft descent.
An overview of our route to the canyon floor. The red dot is where we started the descent, and a below the red arrow, out of view of the photo, is where we started skinning back up.
We skinned out of Heather by making a long traverse over perfect snow, planning to head back to the cars once we reached the ski area. Yeah right! The snow we had just skinned was perfect w/ no tracks in it, and soon we found ourselves descending back into Heather. The snow for this pitch was excellent.
Not familiar with Mt Hood?
It was a bit chilly and windy as we left the car but after about 30 minutes the wind stopped. Layers of clouds were of the WyEast face. The thin clouds were intermittently surrounding us, and when we reached our high point we were in a cloud. We waited for it to break, then we headed down. Despite it seeming pretty warm, the snow was in great shape consisting of highly quality, intuitive spring snow; I wouldn't classify it as perfect corn but it was close. We skied pitch-by-pitch all the way to the floor of Heather canyon, with the snow remaining surprisingly good for this entire 3500vft descent.
An overview of our route to the canyon floor. The red dot is where we started the descent, and a below the red arrow, out of view of the photo, is where we started skinning back up.
We skinned out of Heather by making a long traverse over perfect snow, planning to head back to the cars once we reached the ski area. Yeah right! The snow we had just skinned was perfect w/ no tracks in it, and soon we found ourselves descending back into Heather. The snow for this pitch was excellent.
<br /><br />Action photos:<br /><a href=){kind=link}
Not familiar with Mt Hood?
Hey - We ran into you leaving the Meadows parking lot (red Subaru). Good TR; I forgot my camera anyway. Way better day than we had dared to hope for either. We didn't go to the bottom of Heather, though wished we had. I think another week and there will be a lot more mud to walk through from MHM base, i.e. the whole buttermilk lift. Cloudcap road should hopefully open soon though. --L
Hi Lou. Nice to meet your group Saturday.
Great pictures and trip report Jeff. Finally a day of good ski weather!
Great pictures and trip report Jeff. Finally a day of good ski weather!
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