July 23 and 24, Mount Hood (a very wet Palmer...)
7/23/14
OR Mt Hood
2741
1
Went out to my car in the morning at the Trout Lake Valley Inn and ... no rain!
Went out again ... rain.
Back inside, thunder.
Thought of the three camping parties we had seen heading up the prior afternoon on Adams:
- Five or so adults = utter misery.
- Young guy with chipper and nicely made-up lady = will she break up with him on the mountain or wait until back in civilization?
- About eight teenage girls and an adult male leader = will the negligence bring only civil lawsuits or also criminal charges?
Instead of Adams, checked out Hood:
Yes, the Palmer will be mine, all mine!
Or is that so good after all:
Arriving in the parking lot, I decided to refrain from the usual depressing windshield picture.
So I took one out the side window instead:
After two full laps plus one to just a little past the [today-not-so-] Magic Mile, Id had my fill of over 6,000' vertical of very nice groomed untouched corn ... and my boots were filled with water!
Time for the hot tub (although I did remove my lycra race suit first):
Once I finally built up the courage to go back out to my car to retrieve various wet items, I was greeted by ... brilliant sunshine?
Fortunately the Timberline webcam still looked horrible so I wasnt tempted to go back up for more laps:
After an early bedtime, I had planned to start skinning the next morning at civil daylight, but checked the radar map and went back to sleep, hoping for some more clearing.
And sure enough, when I woke again at civil daylight, the radar map was clear everywhere ... except at Mount Hood:
Lifts were posted as delayed when I started up, then shortly after they pulled the plug entirely for the third day in a row:
Snow surface conditions were:
- very nice wind-softened freshly regroomed corn down on the Magic Mile (sure burned lots of diesel fuel just for me!);
- bonus fresh snow from there up to the Palmer mid-station; and,
- mix of firm groomed and pockets of windblown fresh up above.
Meanwhile, weather conditions were . . . various combinations of bad.
I made it up to the top of the Palmer only because I knew from the prior day that the gate rental shack (now covered in rime) forms a perfect windbreak for the skin>ski transition:
Went up for another partial lap to the top of the freshies.
Then called it an outing (at 4,310' vertical), a four-day (sort of) trip (at 24,750'), and a season (at 534,800').
Hopped in the car still wearing all my wet clothes and even pack, heading down for:
- hot french toast (which I usually dont like at all, but any hot food sure felt great now);
- hot laundry dryer (stripping down to my underwear in the laundry room, fortunately otherwise deserted);
- hot tub (interesting conversation with a father & son taking a weather day off from thru hiking the PCT);
- hot shower (such a better form of liquid H20 than on the Palmer); and,
- hot air boot dryer (for my water-logged ski boots).
And finally, back at the airport, I knew this was coming up, but still, I couldnt resist looking:
Went out again ... rain.
Back inside, thunder.
Thought of the three camping parties we had seen heading up the prior afternoon on Adams:
- Five or so adults = utter misery.
- Young guy with chipper and nicely made-up lady = will she break up with him on the mountain or wait until back in civilization?
- About eight teenage girls and an adult male leader = will the negligence bring only civil lawsuits or also criminal charges?
Instead of Adams, checked out Hood:
Yes, the Palmer will be mine, all mine!
Or is that so good after all:
Arriving in the parking lot, I decided to refrain from the usual depressing windshield picture.
So I took one out the side window instead:
After two full laps plus one to just a little past the [today-not-so-] Magic Mile, Id had my fill of over 6,000' vertical of very nice groomed untouched corn ... and my boots were filled with water!
Time for the hot tub (although I did remove my lycra race suit first):
Once I finally built up the courage to go back out to my car to retrieve various wet items, I was greeted by ... brilliant sunshine?
Fortunately the Timberline webcam still looked horrible so I wasnt tempted to go back up for more laps:
After an early bedtime, I had planned to start skinning the next morning at civil daylight, but checked the radar map and went back to sleep, hoping for some more clearing.
And sure enough, when I woke again at civil daylight, the radar map was clear everywhere ... except at Mount Hood:
Lifts were posted as delayed when I started up, then shortly after they pulled the plug entirely for the third day in a row:
Snow surface conditions were:
- very nice wind-softened freshly regroomed corn down on the Magic Mile (sure burned lots of diesel fuel just for me!);
- bonus fresh snow from there up to the Palmer mid-station; and,
- mix of firm groomed and pockets of windblown fresh up above.
Meanwhile, weather conditions were . . . various combinations of bad.
I made it up to the top of the Palmer only because I knew from the prior day that the gate rental shack (now covered in rime) forms a perfect windbreak for the skin>ski transition:
Went up for another partial lap to the top of the freshies.
Then called it an outing (at 4,310' vertical), a four-day (sort of) trip (at 24,750'), and a season (at 534,800').
Hopped in the car still wearing all my wet clothes and even pack, heading down for:
- hot french toast (which I usually dont like at all, but any hot food sure felt great now);
- hot laundry dryer (stripping down to my underwear in the laundry room, fortunately otherwise deserted);
- hot tub (interesting conversation with a father & son taking a weather day off from thru hiking the PCT);
- hot shower (such a better form of liquid H20 than on the Palmer); and,
- hot air boot dryer (for my water-logged ski boots).
And finally, back at the airport, I knew this was coming up, but still, I couldnt resist looking:
534,800'. That's a pretty impressive season.
Reply to this TR
Please login first: