Touring close to Bend, OR

My wife and I are thinking about taking a trip to Bend in February. We like to ski a variety of terrain. Everything from groomed to relatively easy and safe touring. This would include stuff like Paradise or Artist Point. She hasn't done that much of that sort of thing, so the easier the touring the better (rolling hills are great). We also both like to ski roads like Amabalis or Kendall. I have a book on cross country skiing in Oregon (Best Groomed Cross Country Ski Trails in Oregon) and it mentions several skiing opportunities in the area. As you might guess from the title, it emphasizes groomed runs over non-groomed (it has several non-groomed runs, but not nearly the same amount of touring/backcountry runs that the Kirdendall/Spring book about Washington has).

So, anyone have any tips about skiing in the area? Anything else you want to pass along? Thanks.

There are only a handful of spots to BC ski close to Bend that don't require a very long and flat approach best done with a snowmobile assist. The few near roadside options there are sound like they will be right up your alley though. Here are a few short tours with good slopes to yoyo.

Tumalo Mtn: Park at Dutchman snowpark. Snowpark pass required. Fills up with snomo trailers pretty quick on the weekend. If you can't park there, park at the resort and ski across the flats to access (but if that's the case you might as well ski Todd Lake, see below). Ski up the south side of Tumalo, you'll get to an obvious ridge at the top @7800'. The north bowl is great skiing but only about 500-600' vert. Prime skiing area here is closed to snomo. Skiing the south side back to the car is incredibly mellow but can be fun if you figure out where the steeper pitches and big beautiful trees are.

Todd Lake: Park at resort nordic center. Get free pass for "common corridor" in nordic center. Flat ~2km approach, follow groomed XC common corridor to closed Cascade Lakes highway. Turn left onto highway/snowmo track. Follow snomo/hwy to foot of obvious ridge to the north. Skin up relatively steep treed slope to gain ridge running north above the west edge of Todd Lake. Travel north along ridge. Ski east facing runs down to lake, or follow ridge all the way north for north facing slopes. All the runs are fairly short.

You can also skin the resort to the summit when the summit lift is operating, if only for the novelty of it. Any time of day and regardless of resort ops you can skin up "the cone" at the resort. A 600'-700' quickie that almost always gets some tracks before the lifts start loading.

If you are up for some more adventurous skiing + a long approach & deproach slog or can get a lift on a snowmo, look into Ball Butte, Broken Top, Tam MacArthur Rim (access via Sisters) & Paulina (to southeast).

If you like XC skiing, it might be fun for you guys to rent a cabin at Elk lake for a night or two and ski the closed highway out there from Bachelor. You can also get a snowcat ride to or from via Elk Lake Resort. Also suggest xc skiing out to the xc shelters at Swede Ridge or Meissner in the evening to enjoy a good fire and picnic dinner. Meissner for groomed xc. Wanoga if with dogs.

Also depends if you don't mind driving a little way.

If you drive a little north of Bend to Santiam pass there are a few nice options. my favourite while I lived in Or was 3 fingered jack.. Fairly straightforward gentle tour following the PCT trail through a recent burn area. the burn area means you have easy wide open terrain. Towards the end the ridge steepens  and you have to look a little more carefully for a good path. All along the ridge line there are nice lines to drop down from, steeper to the east face  gentler to the west.  The only thing to be careful of is coming down from the summit ridge it is easy to go on a slightly different bearing and follow the fall line rather than maintaining a slight traverse, so keep an eye on the GPs/old tracks.

EDIT: 3 Fingered Jack approximate path:
www.hillmap.com/m/ag1zfmhpbGxtYXAtaGRych...lZE1hcBiAgICg5o2jCQw


In the same area the Potato Hill snow park gives easy quick access to  tours through the nearby burn area.


If instead you head south to the willamette pass there are several good tours with easy road access.
Odell Butte gives a quick and easy 2000ft climb u a perfect cone. I always found snow limited in the bottom with heavy bushwhacking but the forest roads worked well. Very similar is Malaks mountain  closer to Odell lake.
Something a little bigger is Maiden peak, I normally did this by ascending edge of the Willamette pass ski area and dropping down into the back of the ski area. There are varients, e.g. following the PCT until you get to the col, which makes for an easy way home wiht more flat pushing instead of re-ascent on skins. It is quite a long trudge from the trail head with the lower slopes sometimes too gentle with wet snow to be much fun but the upper part is fantastic. Plus Point of all of these is no snow park pass required (road side parking or park in the ski area. The maiden peak tour has the advantage of hot food/drink when you are finished. A gentle mellow, more xc-skiing trip is to simply ascend the PCT to the rosary lakes and perhaps onto the saddle point of th PCT - very beautiful. Several XC trails arund here.

EDIT: here is my maiden peak standard ascent with the easy return via PCT:
www.hillmap.com/m/ag1zfmhpbGxtYXAtaGRych...lZE1hcBiAgICgyPiJCQw

Malaks Mount route (there ares some small old burn areas that are fun to aim for):
www.hillmap.com/m/ag1zfmhpbGxtYXAtaGRych...lZE1hcBiAgIDAgdP9Cgw

Mt Fuji is also a good if long tour. There is a snowpark along highway 58 just below the ski area/pass towards Eugene. It is filled with snowmobiles but you can ascend through a steep forest (no real path, sometimes better to bootpack because it is steep) to a plataue in the area of Fuji hut, then work your way towards Fuji summit. In winter you can ascend directly up the east side, you don;t need to follow the summer path which wiggles around to the west slope. The route to the summit gets a little steep. The north side of the summit is a sheer cliff that affords some of the best views in Oregon.  Good skiing on the top half, but the plataeu gets very flat and undulating. You then have the steep drop back to the snowpark/TH. There is an alternative approach that starts at the Salt Creek falls TH and follows a forest road up to the Fuji Shelter. You add a few hundred feet and a some distance in exchaneg for an easy forest road. there is more XC trails around the Fuji plateau.

EDIT: here is Mt Fuji route that I did. Lines are very approximate - you need touse your own path find abailities.
www.hillmap.com/m/ag1zfmhpbGxtYXAtaGRych...lZE1hcBiAgIDA0uDwCQw



That is about it for winter really. Everything else requires a sled. 

let me know if any of these tours interest you- I can provide detailed GOS/route descriptions, photos etc.

Great resource!!! Even though I didn't ask the question thanks for taking the time to respond - it's very helpful. My wife and I enjoy the same kind of touring as RossB.

Yeah, thanks very much. That is great information. I'm still trying to get my head around the general area (I've never been to Bend, or even near it). I need to spend some time with some maps and then the specific destinations you mention should make a lot more sense. I'm also going to expand my book collection, even though there will be a bit of overlap, and I will only use a small part of it (still fun to have books). I'll add more comments as I get a little more knowledge.

Thanks,
Ross