March 11-12, Bachelor/Tumalo, OR
3/15/06
OR elsewhere
1953
0
My lovely wife Lisa and I had 2 great days near Bend.
Sat 11th: lift-skied at Bachelor, where they had 48" fresh last week. the summit lift was open and it was clear for a while, with heavy/icy conditions but worth the experience. Then the snow resumed (5" fresh that day), temps dropped, and we found lots of good tracks in the woods off the Outback chair. After lunch we hit the run under Red Chair (usually closed, so skied by fewer people) and (The BC part) I booted the Cinder Cone twice: once on skier's R to the Red Chair, and once on L down to the parking lot. Batch is an amazing mountain when the snow and visibility are good---which is not always.
Sunday: Great short BC tour across the Cascade Lakes Road to Tumalo Butte, aka Tumalo Mountain. Start from the Dutchman Flat Sno-Park. Very sunny w/ temps about 20 deg. to keep the stuff in the fluff. 1500'vert. up the SE shoulder, with about 6" light new, then a barely noticable crust and another 6", then the ski pole never hit bottom. Lots of skiers and quite a few boarders. The Butte summit is flat and open w/ great views of Batch, S. Sister, & Broken Top. I took a run down the E bowl, along with everyone else, and found deep crud that was cut up but sweet. Seemed very stable, and someone said a piit dug Sat. had no signs of sliding layers. Alarge chunk of cornice had fallen Sat. but caused no slide. Saw some high-marking bilers; obnoxious.
From the skin track I met Lisa on top for a swig or 2, then we skied the W side of the Butte on 10" drt stuff down into the trees and back to the road skier's R of the skin tracks. Old -growth tress made for plenty of turn space and protected snow.
Great short trip! Easy half day, or take all day doing shots in all directions. Note: We used the WA sno-park pass but don't know if it was legal.
Sat 11th: lift-skied at Bachelor, where they had 48" fresh last week. the summit lift was open and it was clear for a while, with heavy/icy conditions but worth the experience. Then the snow resumed (5" fresh that day), temps dropped, and we found lots of good tracks in the woods off the Outback chair. After lunch we hit the run under Red Chair (usually closed, so skied by fewer people) and (The BC part) I booted the Cinder Cone twice: once on skier's R to the Red Chair, and once on L down to the parking lot. Batch is an amazing mountain when the snow and visibility are good---which is not always.
Sunday: Great short BC tour across the Cascade Lakes Road to Tumalo Butte, aka Tumalo Mountain. Start from the Dutchman Flat Sno-Park. Very sunny w/ temps about 20 deg. to keep the stuff in the fluff. 1500'vert. up the SE shoulder, with about 6" light new, then a barely noticable crust and another 6", then the ski pole never hit bottom. Lots of skiers and quite a few boarders. The Butte summit is flat and open w/ great views of Batch, S. Sister, & Broken Top. I took a run down the E bowl, along with everyone else, and found deep crud that was cut up but sweet. Seemed very stable, and someone said a piit dug Sat. had no signs of sliding layers. Alarge chunk of cornice had fallen Sat. but caused no slide. Saw some high-marking bilers; obnoxious.
From the skin track I met Lisa on top for a swig or 2, then we skied the W side of the Butte on 10" drt stuff down into the trees and back to the road skier's R of the skin tracks. Old -growth tress made for plenty of turn space and protected snow.
Great short trip! Easy half day, or take all day doing shots in all directions. Note: We used the WA sno-park pass but don't know if it was legal.
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