I made it through my first day skiing without incident! Actually a couple of days…ha ha. Last year at this time I was down and out with a dislocated shoulder – suffered at the hands of a 13 year old snowboarder when I was pushing off to start my first run!
So Friday Alex and I headed up to Mount Hood Ski Bowl. Alex showed up with a brand new setup of K2 Rictor skis and Tecnica boots! He went to Hillcrest Ski Shop poking around for goggles and wound up going for a whole new ski package.
Alex got himself a new technology ski – with “all terrain rocker,” meaning the tip has more upturn/softer than the tail section. Here is a video with a so-so explanation… Anyway they should be easier in powder!
Friday was a sunny day in the Cascades and we got a number of photos, what a nice view of Mt. Hood! The high school race team showed up in the afternoon and we checked out the girls team running gates. It was exciting and educational watching their technique!
I’ve been skiing all my life. One of the golden rules of the sport is get boots that are right for you – boots that have good performance, fit and comfort. Once you’ve got ’em dialed in, you can use them for years, well past skis that wear out.
Such is the case with my past two pairs – Lange Tii and Tecnica Explosion8. Each I loved, each delivered and each I owned for years. The Explosion 8 was still going strong this season. But I’ve learned the newer boots are designed with a new flex pattern specific to the latest generation of shaped skis.
That flex pattern is softer forward but just as stiff as before laterally (side to side). Older straight skis and earlier generation shaped skis were thinner and longer. The skier used forward pressure over the front of the skis to initiate turns. But today’s skis have deeper sidecuts and are all shorter and wider. This requires a different skiing style and therefore different boots have been developed.
Today’s boots are designed for a more upright stance with softer forward flex. Turns are initiated by “rolling” the skis on their edges.
With that knowledge I figured I’d try to take my chances and see what kind of after-season deals I could find at Hillcrest Ski and Sport in Gresham, Oregon. Greg Coulter, who’s been there for years, is a master boot fitter so he’s the man.
Rossi sans style
I tried three boots, one, Nordica, was too big, and another, a Dalbello, had a strange three-buckle/cable system. The last was a Rossignol, which thanks-a-lot was all white. It’s the SAS Pro 120. This boot’s a freeskier boot. I remember my friend Ed was all embarrassed this spring when the “right” boot was an all-white Salomon! They didn’t have any others in my size. The Dalbello and Rossignol fit pretty much the same. Regardless of part of me trying to say “it’s OK to try new things,” the wise part said, “don’t buy those Dalbellos. You have been preaching for years about sticking with a 4-buckle boot!” So I wound up picking the all-white boots!
Now, the question is, what to do with the blank slate?
Mount Hood is a mere 60 miles east of Portland, Oregon. It’s literally in the city’s backyard. It receives hundreds of inches of snowfall in the winter, and has several ski areas. Portland is populated with a lot of powder hounds willing to brave wind, ice and state police to get a chance at enjoying fresh snow. On Mount Hood, where it can be wet snow, the days of sweet dry fluff are in extremely high demand.
At Mount Hood Meadows, the largest ski resort, crowds gather before the lifts open anxiously awaiting. Heather Canyon doesn’t open until 9:30 and similarly there will be dozens standing at the gates waiting for the ski patrol to let them in. The upshot is that around here, the exhilaration of floating in fresh powder doesn’t last long. And you have to get up real early to get it.
Mount Hood viewed from the top of Ski Bowl
But there are some who know they can sleep in. Or work a half day – and still get fresh tracks. Because they know there is a little secret on the other side of the Mountain. The true diehards get fresh tracks at Meadows, then pack up and then do it all over again at this secret spot. When low snow levels bestow powder on Mount Hood Ski Bowl on a Tuesday night/Wednesday, these people head to Mount Hood Ski Bowl to catch the 1:00 Wednesday opening. It’s guaranteed you can get run after run of trackless on these days.
1:00 time for freshies!
I was around for one such day late in winter 2009-2010 and it was super sweet, I took in one trackless run after another!
So if you just happen to notice the right conditions and have some time on a Wednesday, now you know you don’t have to set the alarm for 5:00 a.m. and rush out the door.
Winter 2009 – 2010 at Mount Hood Ski Bowl was a joke. I bought a pass in November 2009, when we had four feet of early season snow. Then things happened. Accident, injury and El Nino.
Before this season began I made a commitment to boycott Mount Hood Meadows. Year after year of corporate marketing and boring terrain finally made me say good bye. I craved the low key Mount Hood Ski Bowl atmosphere – plus I loved the terrain in the upper bowl, and the warming sanctuary of the mid mountain hut. Many seasons, Ski Bowl’s lower elevation meant inferior snow. But the past several years it’d racked up some serious numbers, like a 130″ base by early March. I bought my pass gambling that it would happen again. I lost. But not quite in the way I imagined.
Just before Thanksgiving 2009, on my very first run, fate took an unfortunate turn. Standing in the middle of the widest slope on lower bowl, I was hockey check-blasted by a kid on a snowboard. Did not hear him, did not see him. I don’t know what he saw. But my shoulder was dislocated, and with that, most of the 2009 – 2010 season. But Planet Earth also conspired against my gamble. El Nino threw warm, and dry weather at the Pacific NW. My heating bill hit all time lows, as did the mid-season snow pack at Mount Hood Ski Bowl. The base was less than three feet in mid February.
By that time, after diligently following a physical therapy regimen, I was released to go at the hill. Base depths at Ski Bowl didn’t please. So, I headed to Utah for a wonderful week. Returning, El Nino’s grip started to relax. And winter made a late season comeback. Late in March, Oregon’s Cascades received over four feet of fluff.
Easter Bunny Brings Powder
And I took advantage. On Easter Sunday I headed up there, and was rewarded with feathery fluff – a serious bounty. Uncrowded and free of hype, Mount Hood’s Upper Bowl was a treasure. Well worth waiting for.
Here’s a view from upper bowl lift…
Upper Bowl Cliffs from the Lift
No way to describe how good the snow was this Easter Sunday! It was truly dry – a major rarity in Oregon. And deep. My ski poles labored to find bottom. And soft. No ice anywhere. And not crowded nor windy. All just right for me!
Some just weren’t prepared, for I witnessed some serious carnage from the lift. In some ways, I wait all year to see such carnage. You could tell this guy was going to bite it hundreds of feet before he actually did. When it happened is was a beautiful thing, yard sale, skis, poles, goggles, and a 100-ft face first slide…man one has to feel for the guy.
Well, once that guy did his yard sale I figured it was time to take a break. And true to form, the mid mountain hut was full of Easter Sunday merry makers. Folks of all stripes were enjoying the fire and swapping stories of the feather snow we all experienced this day!
Friday was a sunny day in the Cascades and we got a number of photos, what a nice view of Mt. Hood! The high school race team showed up in the afternoon and we checked out the girls team running gates. It was exciting and educational watching their technique!
Gresham, Oregon. Greg Coulter, who’s been there for years, is a master boot fitter so he’s the man.
Cabin Fever Chronicles - Getting Outdoors with Rod 