June 16, 2007, Mt Bachelor

At first, I didn't want to post about this secret area for fear they may turn it into a ski area.  After thinking about it though, I thought others should be aware of the great conditions we encountered on Saturday. 

Loofus and I left the Sunrise parking area (at the gate) around 8:30 and skinned up to the Rainbow chair and then up East Healy's to the summit.  The ride down was perfect corn for the 1st 1500 feet (it had frozen the night before).  Skiable snow can still be found all the way down to about 300 feet from the parking area (~6600ft), but it's going fast.  The upper pitches (Cow's face and the Cirque Bowl) should be good for several more weeks.  We were able to skin up to the top in an hour and a half.  Good views of Broken Top and South Sister from near the top.  Crater Bowl on Broken Top looks mostly done (but some good lines were still visible).  Suprisingly, there was still good snow on the South Sister along the south route.  There were about 10 cars at the trailhead at Devils Lake when we passed at 8:00am.