Searching for Snow

Searching for Snow: The Start of the '05-'06 Boarding Season.

Oregon: The land of rain

I had such high expectations for this year as far as the amount of snow that would fall and the amount of time I was going to spend on my board after the record snowfall last year. The Fall snows came a little late and would lightly dust the ground only to have the sun come out for a couple of weeks and melt it all away. I was in the Pacific Northwest for Christmas and had planned to spend a couple of days at two different mountains. My Christmas vacation was one long painful road trip that involved logistical planning that would have impressed George S. Patton. I had to ship presents to two different locations, there were multiple rental cars and flights and I knew that dealing with a board would be daunting, but the plan was to be in Oregon for a week and a couple of days at two different mountains would be an opportunity that I just couldn’t pass up – regardless of the hassle. Besides, it always snows in the Cascades during the Holidays…

Mt. Hood just after we landed and just FULL of snow.	Laurel in Oregon ready to board right after we got to Eugene.

At lower elevations, the temperatures were in the 40’s when we arrived in Portland. I got excited at the prospect of powder up higher and took the boards to a local shop to have them tuned and waxed. I was giddy until the weather started to warm our third day there. My first attempt at a boarding day was a bust as there was nothing but ice and slush at Willamette Pass. Laurel and I decided that it would have been miserable conditions and there was no reason to suffer unduly. We had brought her gear and board as well, but she only had one day free and had plans for the other day that I wanted to board. I was bummed that we wouldn’t get to ride together, but her brother agreed to go to Mount Bachelor with me a couple of days later, which softened the blow. The weather report for the passes leading to Bachelor called for ice and tire chains were recommended. I had a crappy Chevy Cobalt rental car and when I called and asked Avis about chains for the thing, the woman on the phone sounded as if she almost swallowed her teeth and very quickly informed me that Avis does NOT allow tire chains on their vehicles. I hung up quickly when she asked for my name and rental number… What was I to do, let a little RULE stop me from rolling around in white fluffy stuff?! Hell, no! I went right to a hardware store and bought a set just in case the roads were really bad (I returned them before we left Oregon since I didn’t have to use them). Laurel’s brother, Leif, and I left the house around 5:00am for a three hour drive to the mountain. We made one pit stop for food and Starbucks, as good coffee was a necessity that early in the morning. I had checked the snow report and there was supposed to be good coverage and things looked promising in the high passes – big fat flakes just kept colliding with the window. By the time we got to the Bachelor, things had changed. The temperature was up at the base of the mountain and resort employees were passing out plastic bags for people to wear over their jackets because the rain was coming down in sheets. There was no way in hell that I was going to lower my cool quotient (it is a very small number, but at least it exists) by wearing a garbage bag on the mountain. All the water from the rain and snow-melt made what snow was available stick to the bottom of our boards like peanut butter. There were thoughts about going home, but we had come that far… I had on a Gortex parka and I had been wetter and colder so, what the hell… About a quarter of the way up the first lift we hit a cloud, the temperature and visibility dropped and as if by magic the sheets of rain turned to blowing snow.

Trash bag over ski-suit: not cool.	Boarders with trash bags: all I could do was shake my head.

Bachelor is Laurel’s brother’s home mountain and he knows every run and valley, so I followed him down. Whether it was because of an unfamiliar mountain, the first ride of the season, wet snow, limited visibility, or something else, I rode timidly all day and didn’t hit any real jumps or go balls out on the steep runs. I was somewhat disappointed in myself, but her brother rode like a rock star. Around lunch we got separated and I went up as high as I could on the mountain (the upper runs weren’t open yet so I think it was some sort of crossover road/trail) and bombed down a chute that was steep, trackless and full of powder. I went back up to hit it again and by the time I was at the lip of the run my track from the last run had been completely filled in with fresh wet snow. I made the run a few more times before grabbing a bite to eat and meeting back up with Leif. We left the mountain around 3:00 and headed down to Bend for a snack and some more coffee. Leif christened the rental car the “Starbucks Edition” for the way it just seemed to find one on auto pilot. It was a long drive back, but we had a great time on the mountain and I got a chance to board some Oregon snow. The season could only get better from here…

What does one do in Oregon after boarding? Sit by a fire, drink beer, laugh and smile.

Big Bear: Sharing runs with mountain bikers

In January, right after a small storm, I started thinking about boarding close to home. Steve, a friend from work, and I decided to do a day trip to Big Bear one Saturday. We loaded up at my house, took my truck up and were on the snow by 9:00. We were greeted by clear skies, temperatures in the forties, and little wind. Half the mountain was either closed for the day or hadn’t been opened at all yet due to the lack of snow. The snow base was around twelve inches of ice and man-made snow and we dodged rocks all morning. Around 11:00 the icy slope surface started to melt just enough to offer a smooth ride and shortly after that four more runs were opened up.

Steve, just happy to get to ride his new board.	Lacing up my boots on the tailgate of Wink

I had really hoped for just a little more real snow. It is almost sad to see runs with so much potential for fun sparsely covered with a dusting of white while rocks, dirt, limbs, and stumps jutted out every which way. We ran every trail with snow coverage that the mountain had to offer us that day. I stayed off the jumps for the most part because of the icy landings. We had a good time that day even if the snow base of the mountain was far lees than optimum. The weather allowed for almost spring-like boarding conditions and not much more than a long-john top and a t-shirt was needed to stay warm and comfy. Steve accented his ensemble with a Bluetooth wireless cell phone ear piece. He wore the damn thing all day… Know that I made fun of him for it!

No the fvck it is not!! REAL snow falls from heaven and is fluffly!	Steve + wireless ear bud + Snowboarding = laughs and snickering from the other side of the chair lift.

We left the mountain before 2:00 and were back in Orange County by 6:00. My only real regret about the trip was that I would have rather had a little more snow and not have had to share one of the runs with a mountain biker who was sailing down on a dirt path between the snow and the tree line.

Look at that run: Full of trees and rocks and bare spots of dirt... Such a shame.

Mt. Baldy: ...still no snow...

I have a bug for backcountry ascents and thought I might check out a local peak that was covered with the white stuff last year for a possible snowboard descent. Mt. San Antonio, called locally Mt. Baldy, is a sometimes snow-capped peak that one can see from Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, and if the wind is blowing inland, if the temperature is cool, and if there is no smog - the peak can be seen from the Hollywood Hills in L.A. The stars don’t line like that very often though… Anyway, I gathered my gear up late one night, got three hours of sleep and headed to the base trail one Saturday morning loaded down with an ice axe and crampons. It was cool down low, but not cold. I worked up a sweat getting to the Sierra Club Ski Hut located near the bottom of the bowl in an hour and a half. I was afraid that I would get cold but the sun was up and it was getting hotter. There had been no snow patches all the way up until I was in site of the hut. There was just a small drift in the shade just before a small spring crossing. From the hut I could see the bowl and there was not one bit of white stuff on the slope. I was more than a little disheartened. I really wanted to see some snow up there. I had vision of coming back the next weekend, strapping my board to my pack, chopping steps with my axe all the way up to the top, finally boarding down almost to the truck on untracked snow. Dreams can be a wonderful thing – Until you are hit in the face with them by reality. It was February and there was no snow! I cussed my luck and made my way uphill utterly convinced that I wouldn’t be using my crampons and axe at all – just dead weight to tote up the hill. I was about twenty minutes up from the hut when I encountered a group of climbers from a Korean mountaineering club and the base of a gentle slope covered in ice. They were carefully picking their way up because the majority of them didn’t bring crampons. Hot Damn!! I whipped mine out, strapped them on and headed up right past all of them. I had to take them off twenty minutes later, but I did get to use them once more for a bit in an ice field just down from the summit.

The name is fitting this year: Mt. Baldy was pretty damn barren of snow - justa patch here and there.

I topped out in 3.5 hours and found that the summit was bare and wind blown. The only snow to be seen was on the opposite side of the mountain than the bowl. It is a gentle, tree filled slope and had twice frozen over ski tracks weaving in and out of the trees as if to mock me. Any peak is a good peak, but I had really hoped to see more snow. Nope. It is now almost March and while there is snow in Mammoth and in Tahoe, it never made it down south. Hopefully we get dumped on in the late spring or maybe next fall…