TR: Spring in Oregon

[vcrewpc06]

Hey,
I'm new here (yes, I am a JONG). I've been visiting this forum on occasion ever since I saw Soul Purpose at the Portland premier, and I am constantly amazed by all the stoke you guys share. This is what skiing is all about, and through this inspiration I know I am hooked for life. Next year, I will be moving to Bozeman to study Engineering at MSU, and I am so stoked for the adventures that await me. If any of you maggots are current or future students there let me know.

So, I joined the forum because I feel like I finally have something to contribute. I've been skiing for eight years now, and I have a good core of skiing buddies of similar skill level and experience. I ski at Mt. Hood mostly, because its closest to Portland and the terrain isn't all that bad. Although I live for big storms and powder days, I find that some of the best skiing in Oregon comes in March and April after a long cold winter leaves a solid (as in over 12 feet) base and the sun begins to come out (bluebird is not a common description of the weather here).

This was certainly the case last Friday. We got to Meadows to find a dusting of fresh, and feared the worst; dust on crust that is. The morning was dissappointing, however by noonish the sun started to chase off the clouds and things began to soften up. Because of the stable conditions and good weather, Upper Heather Canyon was open so we headed up there after lunch. Surprisingly, it was my first time skiing that part of the mountain (I've thouroughly explored Lower Heather but not Upper), due to the fact that I never seem to be there when good snow and weather combine (school doesn't help). It was tracked up, but not moguled out as I expected. After one lap down Heather, we decided to take a traverse over to Clark Canyon, and found that was where the goods were. After a short boot pack over some rocks, we found some of the best corn snow, and best terrain, I have ever skiied. We did a couple more laps down Clark until we were done for the day. Even though I have skiied deeper, lighter snow, and more technical terrain, I have never been more stoked after skiing a line than I was that day. When I got to the bottom of the face and started to bomb the runout to the lift, I looked back at my line and felt like I had accomplished something.

I also stopped to take some pictures.
Looking down Clark Canyon:


The headwall and Clark Glacier above. The summit is obscured by the clouds:


Mr. Fetus (don't ask me why we call him that) shredding some corn on the eastern face going into Clark Canyon:


Zoltan descending the second face:


Looking west from Clark Canyon, towards the ridge above Heather:


I've also put together a short video. Please excuse the crappy quality, all pictures and footage was taken on a clunky old HP Photosmart becasue its what I've got. Also, half of it is longboarding stuff because that's what we do when we can't go skiing. Besides, shredding the asphalt in suburbia is kind of like ripping pow (but not even close), I guess.
Here's the link: http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...69699903350104

I hope you enjoyed!

[orygun]

Hey there, I am also from Oregon (Medford) studying engineering at MSU. I too am new around here, but look me up if you are looking for anyone to ski with next year.

[powstash]

don't mind him, what a friggin' moron.

Great stoke and a $$ line. It's odd to see that the "resort" is bringing people that far over. I remember when Heather Canyon was "out there". That's a beautiful area out there to the east wrapping around to Cooper's Spur. God's country for sure.

Keep the stoke coming and chime in more than once in a few years.

[bio-smear]

Hey there, I am also from Oregon (Medford) studying engineering at MSU. I too am new around here, but look me up if you are looking for anyone to ski with next year.

A fellow Mt Ashland grom, right on.

[bossass]

Yes, I just found that this year at Meadows as well. I had no idea it was there and didn't imagine it could be. From where you drop into upper heather, that area you ended up in is obscured and it doesn't seem like there would be anything over there. Low traffic area for sure. Keep it to yourself.

[Platinum Pete]

Yes, I just found that this year at Meadows as well. I had no idea it was there and didn't imagine it could be. From where you drop into upper heather, that area you ended up in is obscured and it doesn't seem like there would be anything over there. Low traffic area for sure. Keep it to yourself.

Does patrol consider that area in-bounds? I hope so, because I'd like to ski there more without hiking to it or risking my pass. Right on.

[bdog]

Not a bad video. Really liked the opening sequence longboarding into fog/mist. Nice soundtrack. East of Meadows ... yes .... shhhhhsh ... don't tell many.

[Below Zero]

Solid first post!

[Vets]

Great first post and TR.
I want to go back to Mt. Hood and check those canyons out.

[vcrewpc06]

Does patrol consider that area in-bounds?

Technically it is part of the resort, so yes it is still inbounds, but you have to enter through designated gates, and they are really finicky about ducking ropes even when its all open. It's almost like skiing backcountry-like terrain that is controlled for avalanche danger and lift served. Luckily, it takes multiple (3 for Upper, 2 for Lower) lift rides to get back up, as no lift directly services that area, which I think helps keep the crowds more sparse.

Thanks for the comments.

[ptavv]

vcrewpc06, skiing Clark canyon is actually outside the bounds of Meadows terrain. Meadows terrain stops at the East ridge of Heather Canyon. While BC conditions this weekend were super stable and I'd be amazed if there were any danger for the rest of the season, be wary of patrollers if you're heading over that East ridge.

The only real danger to your lift ticket/season pass is when you reenter Meadows terrain, so try and do it somewhere inconspicuous. Or ski all the way down to Cooper Spur and hitch back up.

Another great run at Hood is to skin/hike up to the Wy'east face and ski down White River into the snow park at the bottom. It's usually pretty easy to hitch to the Meadows lot from the White River lot too... Be careful leaving the Meadows boundaries if you're going to do this after riding their lifts though. If you can make it appear that you skinned up from the bottom there's naught that they can do about it though (hint hint).

Newton Canyon is fun as well.

Hood has tons of goods, especially for spring/summer touring.

[vcrewpc06]

vcrewpc06, skiing Clark canyon is actually outside the bounds of Meadows terrain.

Hmmm...I think we may be misunderstanding each other here.
From what I can tell from the trail map and my USGS topo, the ridge you see in my first photograph marks the ski area boundary, which we did not cross. Besides, there were no ropes or signs indicating that we were leaving the ski area. I may be wrong, but I am calling what we skied Clark Canyon because it drains Newton Clark Glacier and the stream that runs down it and out to HRM is called Clark Creek. The next canyon to the east appears to be drained by Newton Creek, so I'm not sure where else Clark Canyon could be. Like bossass said, there is a small ridge that divides the two drainages and somewhat obscures the Clark side, and I know many people just refer to the whole area as Heather Canyon.

So you've skied White River Canyon? I've always looked over there and thought how great it would be to ski. There's some really beautiful terrain over there, but I've promised myself I need to get more backcountry and avalanche danger assessment experience first. I've heard of some nasty slides in that area.

Of course, this may just be one of my JONG moments...

[bossass]

The photos he took aren't in Clark. They're the furthest drainage out within Heather canyon.

[orygun]

A fellow Mt Ashland grom, right on.

Hey, I didn't know there were any others on here. How long ago did you ski Mt. A?

[cptncha0s]

ayyyeee i get half of my days at mt ash ash. That place is great.

[orygun]

Nice. Is there any news on the expansion?

[Suspicious Powder]

cptncha0s, where in Oregon are you? I'm in Ashland. Send me a I.M. if you want to make some turns.

[Suspicious Powder]

Nice. Is there any news on the expansion?

Not that I've heard.

Season passes for '06-'07 went up 100 bucks. Think they did it to pay for the expansion?

[bio-smear]

cptncha0s, where in Oregon are you? I'm in Ashland. Send me a I.M. if you want to make some turns.

Hey, I didn't know there were any others on here. How long ago did you ski Mt. A?

I'm from GP, but live in Reno. I've been wanting to hit Ashland all year. I'll PM you guys if I'm gonna be up soon. When does their season end? I had probably the best Ashland day of my life in Dec 2003...good pow day, the Bowl was nice. Trees off the top and around the backside behind Ado were great. I even tried my first 360 with some guys from Rogue Ski Shop who had had their passes clipped for skiing the back bowl.

[nutcase]

hahaha- Ashland. For how small that place is its actually ok. Used to ski it alot when I lived in Eureka.

[bio-smear]

hahaha- Ashland. For how small that place is its actually ok.

Truly. For such a small mountain, the terrain is actually pretty good. It was a good place to learn to ski. It made everywhere else seems easy and really wide open. My buddies and I would watch Blizzard of Ahhs and then skip school to go work on our jump turns in the Bowl. Good times.

[Suspicious Powder]

I'm from GP, but live in Reno. I've been wanting to hit Ashland all year. I'll PM you guys if I'm gonna be up soon. When does their season end? I had probably the best Ashland day of my life in Dec 2003...good pow day, the Bowl was nice. Trees off the top and around the backside behind Ado were great. I even tried my first 360 with some guys from Rogue Ski Shop who had had their passes clipped for skiing the back bowl.

The show ends next Sunday, April 16. Sucks because the snow keeps piling up. Today was the first day since early March that wasn't a powder day. I try and get up 3-4 times per week, so it's been a good run. Hit me up if you're going to make it for closing weekend.

[bio-smear]

Sounds good, but the thought of skiing with Ron Jeremy frightens me a little. Actually the lady and I are headed down to Yosemite next weekend. I will be up Apr 26 for a week though if you'd like to do skin laps on Circe/Bowl. I went rock climbing once on the granite that is in the bowl. THere were some patches of snow left too in like June. Did a fun snow lead climbing up one pitch in the Bowl with snow pickets. Ahhh...Hashland.