February 3-5, 2006, Volcano in Southern Oregon
2/3/06
OR elsewhere
2546
2
The trip started Thursday night. Aaron and Andy met me at my apartment in Tigard at 9:25pm and we departed south to Diamond Lake Resort arriving in the wee hours of the morning. The next morning after a hardy breakfast fit for Slednecks at Diamond Lake Resort, we headed to a nearby snowpark and departed for a cabin at the base of a wonderful shield volcano that seems to have been designed for skiers (aren't most PNW volcanoes?). The volcano boosts a variety of excellent and varied ski terrain, including its signature steep east bowl which gives way to an astounding avalanche path that runs 1.5 miles. The skin in is 3.3 miles, most of which is on snow-covered groomed roads.
We arrived at the cabin Friday afternoon. We ate lunch, dropped our gear and headed for turns. Although it had snowed significantly in the preceding week, the temps on Friday had warmed above freezing and it had rained slightly that morning creating suboptimal skiing. We skinned up the SE ridge for about ~1200' then headed back to the cabin. That evening we shared the cabin with two snowshoers who lived locally and worked as forest service firefighters. Later that night friends of Aaron's, Mark and Eric, also joined us.
During the night the temp dropped and it started snowing. In the morning we woke to about 5-6"s of new. This was quite a relief given yesterday's conditions. The snow continued falling thru the day and along with it came poor visibility. We headed up the SE ridge with discussion of possibly skiing the South Bowl. Andy scouted the S Bowl entrances from its top but he didn't see an entrance that looked reasonable given lack of familiarity, vis and the storm going on, so we stuck to the glades on the SE ridge. We skied 4 laps on the ridge finding a number of good pitches. The fresh snow yielded excellent skiing.
A group of 7 from Bend joined us that evening. They did not have reservations and were planning to camp outside the cabin, but since we did not have a full group we were happy to let them stay inside.
The next morning was Superbowl Sunday. We had agreed to depart early today to make it back for the Superbowl and so that I could finish some work. Andy is from Pittsburg and is an avid Steelers fan. He claimed that if he missed the Superbowl his family would disown him. We kissed the volcano goodbye and glided out to the snowpark. We made it back to Portland around 2, leaving plenty of time for the Superbowl.
For those planning to visit this same area be aware that the cabin is out of firewood and that reservations are required. In both of our trips to this area we shared the cabin with those w/o reservations. Although we were fine doing this, had we had a larger groups this may have been difficult. If you want reservations you will need to make them early -- it fills up fast.
Scenic shots of volcanoes taken Sunday:
Assuming you mean 2006, that's some impressive coverage along side the highway. That's the way I remember it as a kid growing up in Roseburg. I got some big plans for spring/summer trips to the area this year. Might even be able to work in a brief visit with my folks down in Rosebutt. ;)
Which volcano in Southern Oregon? ???
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