Cabin Fever Chronicles – Getting Outdoors with Rod

Mike, Lisa and Myself. Fluffy snow!

I have a friend, Lisa, who lives a 4-hour drive east in La Grande. La Grande is blessed to be a 40-minute drive from Oregon’s best powder ski resort, Anthony Lakes. I try to make a pilgrimage out there from my home in Portland, OR, at least once a winter. The Grande Ronde Valley surrounds La Grande, and the mountains which ring the area have plenty of year round opportunities for outdoor enthusiasts.

In winter, the Elkhorn Mountains, which rise above 9,000ft, offer Alpine skiing at Anthony Lakes as well as countless Nordic trails. You won’t find Portland area crowds. In fact this past weekend, which was Super Bowl Sunday, we did not have a line at the ski area. We pretty much had the slopes to ourselves.

Anthony Lakes is like skiing way back when. When fixed-grip chairlifts rules the resorts. When a $40 lift pass was the norm. And there was no hyper rush to get the best parking spot. Today, Anthony Lakes is still like that. Only you can get a weekend pass cheaper if you buy online early. And, tickets are $20 on Thursdays. It’s mostly advanced terrain. But, there are green-rated slopes from the top. BTW, there is excellent Nordic skiing from the lodge around the lakes, and your alpine pass is valid for the Nordic runs, too.

The plan was to start skiing early and then host a Super Bowl party at Lisa’s house. It was to be a perfect day! While it was stormy and icy Saturday, it snowed 6″ of dry fluff overnight. The weather on the hill was blizzard–>sun–>blizzard–>repeat. So we had filled-in tracks snow most of the time we were there.

Well, I didn’t bring my GoPro. So, in this video, I was holding ski poles, gloves, and bare-handing the cell phone. At least you can see how nice the snow was!

We departed in time to get back to town and make preparations for the Super Bowl. Friends arrived, we munched, and watched the best Super Bowl in years. Both teams, the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs were peaking in the weeks prior. I like both teams, but the Chiefs had a 50 year drought and I favored them. The 4th quarter did not disappoint. The chiefs came from behind with a spectacular defensive effort and three touchdowns!