Mount Bachelor, OR 2/11-12/23

[tseeb]

Saturday 2/11/23

I left San Jose about 11:30 AM on Fri Don't drive to Tahoe on these 4 days in February (sfgate.com) and after only about 5 minutes of traffic on I-80 got into Bend a little after 8 PM in time to check-in to very nice and just under $50 motel and got to Crux before they closed (or at least stopped serving) at 9 PM.

Glenn, my friend who moved here in 2015 said you wanted to be through Century Drive roundabout leaving Bend by 7:15 on Saturday. I did it at 7 and had second row center parking when I arrived at 7:25.

Moon setting on the Cinder Cone where I've made tracks on previous trips. Require a high-speed approach then hiking to get to top.

They load slow Red chair for passholders at 8 AM on Sat. We got on about 8:30 and had one run before riding it again and skiing to Outback where we took a couple of runs before moving to Northwest. It was cool and breezy early with 1” new. It was cloudy in Bend, but clear on the mountain. Glenn thought early crowds were a little lighter than usual on Sat, but parking eventually seemed to fill.

Glenn noted some runs on both Northwest and Outback were groomed that usually weren’t. We alternated groomed cruisers with ungroomed runs with small bumps. If was my first day in over 5 weeks and also first day on an 18-day trip so I wasn’t looking for great challenge. We were both suffering a little from colds and took an early coffee/warmup break at mid-mountain Pine Marten lodge. I added a thin facemask as we moved to Summit which had at least a five minute line that did not go down until after 2 PM. We skied off the S/SW side going past the Wall of Voodoo that Glenn wanted to show me. The top half was good once off somewhat rocky

In front of Wall of Voodo above and South and North Sisters behind me below. Middle sister is hidden behind South.

traverse, but lower half was refrozen as it had gotten warm on Thurs. We did a similar route from Northwest chair with way too much suffering in the trees before getting back on Sparks Lake run not far above catchline. We did a couple of more Northwest groomers, then rode Summit. We looked at SE facing Cow’s Face before doing groomed Healy. Glenn left about 2 to have some work done on his camper shell while I rode Summit twice more skiing Beverly, another groomer on Summit, then a S-facing line off Summit where snow was very good,

Rimed trees and looking up and down Backside Bowl run I took solo which they recommend against.

reminding me some of the Southside chutes at Sunshine. I got a little further West than direct route, but still had a long catchline run to Northwest. I took one steepish groomer into Outback, then skied back to base, getting on road back to Bend at 3:25 with 29.3K. There was a little traffic approaching first roundabout and between it and the next one. Glenn says it's bad closer to 4. Fashion police needed.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Looks nice. Mammoth and Bachelor are high on my west-coast list but like many out there, it won't happen while I'm working given that they're a full travel day in each direction: a 6.5-hour flight and then 3+ hours of driving from the nearest decent-sized airport.

I'm fascinated by the volcanic aspect. U.S Geologic Survey says that the last eruption was 9,500 years ago.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I have never skied the direct south backside lines at Bachelor in winter. I've traversed across the top of them and skied into Northwest or Outback a couple of times. The direct south facing usually looked wind hammered.

it won't happen while I'm working given that they're a full travel day in each direction

I recommend you consider Memorial Day weekend in a season like this one. It will save a vacation day and Mammoth runs extra lifts to handle the crowds effectively. Patrick is likely to be out here this year as he's attending the same Rose Bowl music festival as in May last year.

 

[Sbooker]

@tseeb Some nice pics there. It's hard to believe I will be there in only two months. Obviously conditions will be vastly different though.
I know you're a beer afficionado. I'm looking forward to checking out the brew pubs and associated brew pubs almost as much as I am the skiing. Let me know of the 'must do' breweries. I'll probably be there 4 nights.

 

[q]

@tseeb Some nice pics there. It's hard to believe I will be there in only two months. Obviously conditions will be vastly different though.
I know you're a beer afficionado. I'm looking forward to checking out the brew pubs and associated brew pubs almost as much as I am the skiing. Let me know of the 'must do' breweries. I'll probably be there 4 nights.

Deschutes Brewery in Bend is well worth a visit. Love their Fresh Squeezed IPA.

 

[snowave]

Nice report. I have also never done the back side either, as tonyc says, it does indeed always look hammered.

We're hoping to head over next week, but both the wife and I got the Big C... recovering now, but will depend on energy levels.

As far as beer, hope you like IPA's, Sbooker! This is the heart of Cascade Hop country.

 

[Tony Crocker]

The backside of Bachelor in spring is perhaps the ultimate lift served corn snow in my experience, skied multiple times in 2000 and 2018. We'll be eyeing weather forecasts while in Montana at the end of March and will swing by Bachelor it it looks favorable. Just a reminder to q that we will likely be at Discovery March 27-28.

 

[Sbooker]

Deschutes Brewery in Bend is well worth a visit. Love their Fresh Squeezed IPA.

I am a Deschutes fan for certain but I will have a couple of nights in Portland and I believe there is a Deschutes brew pub there so might save it for when I'm in the big city. I'm sure there are plenty to check out in Bend.

Nice report. I have also never done the back side either, as tonyc says, it does indeed always look hammered.

We're hoping to head over next week, but both the wife and I got the Big C... recovering now, but will depend on energy levels.

As far as beer, hope you like IPA's, Sbooker! This is the heart of Cascade Hop country.

IPA's are a favourite but being short and about 160 pounds I have to be wary as they are often pretty strong. And I haven't tried a 'session' IPA that has not left me underwhelmed.

The backside of Bachelor in spring is perhaps the ultimate lift served corn snow in my experience, skied multiple times in 2000 and 2018. We'll be eyeing weather forecasts while in Montana at the end of March and will swing by Bachelor it it looks favorable. Just a reminder to q that we will likely be at Discovery March 27-28.

@tseeb mentions not skiing the backside alone. If conditions are good is my wife up to accompanying me in that area? I assume there is nothing really steep?

 

[Tony Crocker]

If conditions are good is my wife up to accompanying me in that area?

I do not want to speak for your wife as she refused to ski the Aiguille Rouge piste off the top of Les Arcs. In unfamiliar territory when Liz is unsure, sometimes I'll ski something by myself first to "curate it."

The back of Bachelor is 100% ungroomed and averages 2.000 vertical feet to the catchline road. The pitch is no steeper than the groomed Summit runs on the frontside. Timed right the snow is butter smooth but that means being there on the right day at the right time. Once you hit treeline there can be some navigation issues getting down to the catchline, but I've been out there many times solo. The back of Bachelor is inbounds but so vast with low skier density that it has a backcountry ambience. That's a big part of the attraction and also why the natural smooth corn surface forms in the first place.

 

[Sbooker]

I do not want to speak for your wife as she refused to ski the Aiguille Rouge piste off the top of Les Arcs. In unfamiliar territory when Liz is unsure, sometimes I'll ski something by myself first to "curate it."

She can be stubborn.
We skied from the top last March. It was well after the last snowfalls and there were some very icy patches. Kylie is no fan of skiing on ice.

The back of Bachelor is 100% ungroomed and averages 2.000 vertical feet to the catchline road. The pitch is no steeper than the groomed Summit runs on the frontside. Timed right the snow is butter smooth but that means being there on the right day at the right time. Once you hit treeline there can be some navigation issues getting down to the catchline, but I've been out there many times solo. The back of Bachelor is inbounds but so vast with low skier density that it has a backcountry ambience. That's a big part of the attraction and also why the natural smooth corn surface forms in the first place.

It doesn’t sound too daunting even by myself. If it’s bright and sunny and the snow is soft I’m sure she’ll be up for it.

 

[tseeb]

Four days and 30 breweries? See https://www.visitbend.com/food-drink/beer
It used to be the Deschutes Beer Factory on Colorado Ave on way back to Bend from Bachelor gave you 4 free tastes a day, but no more. They still have tours and sales. Looked closed on Super Bowl Sunday before 4 PM.

I really like Crux, even better in Summer as they have lawns and food trucks. When I asked why they closed so early, my beertender said owner thinks nothing good happens with places serving alcohol after 9 (10 in Summer).
Some others worth checking out:
10 Barrel (may have booth at Bachelor, also located on return from skiing)
Worthy
Bend Brewing Co. (Good food last time I was there)
Sunriver (They have a tap room in Bend)
On Tap (Where I went Sat. night)

 

[tseeb]

Super Bowl Sunday 2/12

Solid stream of cars going to Bachelor between 8 and 8:30, but no slowdowns and I had very good parking again. Short line for Pine Marten at 9 AM opening. I rode Summit and skied Healy into some ungroomed above top of Cloudchaser, then skied Wanoga to bottom. After riding Cloud, I skied over to Summit and met Glenn who had fallen asleep in hot tub previous night after a couple of beers at On Tap, a mostly patio tap house with a lot of food trucks. 8x8 pizza was great. The Warriors were not. We had table inside plastic walls as temps were in low 30s.

We skied the other Summit groomer Beverly then skied E-facing Cows Face twice, once going to bottom of Cloud where there was a 6-min line. The second time down Cows we cut to left in a very nice bowl where some of the 1” new from previous day was unskied and fun. Cows Face is huge area that is hard to catch in photo. The sky was really that blue.

Next time up Summit we hiked to the top and skied Hourglass, to right of rocks, one of the two steepest runs off top. Pinnacles is the other, between the rocks. Snow was very good packed powder.

For our second Summit hike, I removed my jacket and hung it on my skis while hiking to avoid overheating.

After pictures and a long break, we skied off the West Side, coming in to left of Northwest chair. While we were early for the W-facing, we found a lot of good snow on both shadier NW and sunnier SW facing areas between Serengeti Plans and West Bowls.

I bailed towards Sparks Lake higher than on previous day to avoid another sufferfest in the woods almost to catchline we had on previous day. Next picture is the photogenic rime on the Summit lift top station.

(Posted without all the pictures as I had trouble loading them. Updated via multiple edits)

After riding Northwest, which is running slow after going down a week or so ago, we skied a couple of lines Glenn has found in Outback. We finished our day about 3:20 after 4 runs on Pine Marten; Tippy Toes, which was groomed overnight, Grotto, Old Skyliner and what I think was Red Shuttle/Red Liftline. Ski Tracks had me at over 24K. After hitting 293K on my way to Bachelor Sunday AM, I drove into WA in PM on my way to ID where I hit 293,500 within a mile of parking at Schweitzer.

 

[tseeb]

A few more picture from new to me Canon point and shoot. I upgraded from 6 Mb with 3x zoom to 16 Mb with 5x zoom and thinner body for $40 and it came with 2-16 Gb cards. First is Glenn on Cows Face.

Next is guy we spotted for jumping into Hourglass off top of Summit. He backed way up to get some speed. I thought new camera worked like old one where it went into burst mode if you held down button, but this was all I got. We saw him do it again on our next time at top.

Looking W/NW from Summit. That is top of Northwest lift to left of center, Sparks Lake in at left of center and all Three Sisters at top right

Glenn skiing upper West Bowl

 

[EMSC]

A few more picture from new to me Canon point and shoot.

Interesting. I haven't used a P&S in quite a long time, though I do wish I had a ~10x optical zoom on my cell phone. I only have a 3x optical zoom lens on my ~3 year old S20 phone. Ironically my much older S7edge had an actually much better camera on it for standard non-zoom pics than the S20 that came out 4 years later. My guess being that I had an exceptionally good copy of the S7 and a worse than normal copy of the S20 camera - since every review site shows the S20 as reasonably better photos than the S7. So, despite our standardized manufacturing society, component variation is still very much a thing.

I also used to occasionally take an APS-c sized DSLR if conditions were going to be worth getting really good pics, but haven't done that in several years now either. Just too much usually going on with races, family, or etc... to add those kinds of additional things to the program the past few years.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I had P&S cameras from 2003 - 2013 or so. Then all of the companies removed viewfinders from the P&S compact cameras in favor of a larger screen. Since I have used a Canon G16, bulkier than the compacts but with viewfinder and still fits in a ski jacket pocket.

I do not understand why so many people use their phones for ski pictures. Yes the picture quality is very good now, but:
1) The viewfinder issue. It's often hard to see what you're shooting with alpine snow glare.
2) Fumbling with the screen to zoom or wide angle vs. the user friendly dials on a camera. Liz is always trying to take phone pics as a car passenger. It's really hard to get a good motion shot with a phone.
3) Wide angle/zoom. The G16 has a 5x Zoom vs. max 2.5x on Liz' iPhone12. That iPhone does have a wider angle but will have a fisheye effect unless the shot is long distance.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

1) The viewfinder issue. It's often hard to see what you're shooting with alpine snow glare.

+1. A smartphone is fine for scenic photos but the lack of a viewfinder is a real problem when you're trying to take action shots in the sun. I'm reconsidering bringing along my old Canon SD1300 on bright days given how small and lightweight it is.

Tony's G16 takes better pix than my point-and-shoot, I'm sure, but it looked a bit too bulky for me.

There have been many articles like this posted lately about how young people are discovering digital cameras from the 2000s to the point of it becoming a fad of sorts.

 

[EMSC]

I do not understand why so many people use their phones for ski pictures.

As many photographers have said for a very long time: "the camera that you have with you is much better than the one that you do not have with you".

the lack of a viewfinder is a real problem when you're trying to take action shots in the sun

As to your various points:
1) While occasional issues, it's fairly rare with the screen on my phone at least to not be able to frame it up quickly. Older phones not nearly so much of course.
2) At least with my Cell phone I have 3 cameras: super wide, normal wide and 3x zoom. Everything else you may do to 'zoom' on a cell phone screen is just software/digital manipulation of one of those 3, no change in optics. So I just take the picture on the desired optical camera and can 'zoom in' in the exact same manner as necessary in post on my computer. eg I don't bother with any of that nonsense in the moment since it really won't change anything or get me an actual better image anyway.
3) again current methodology is that there are multiple optics on phones. At least for mine all are rectilinear, no major distortions (neither barrel or pincushion).

I find P&S to have generally slow start up times, slow zoom motors (even more time), etc... So you are either slowing up and pausing people or groups for a minute or two to get shots, or missing the shot. With a phone it takes me maybe ~2-3seconds to have it out, started up, using the lens that I want and picture already taken. Only for static 'line-up' shots standing around with a specific background take virtually any time at all. Almost all the shots you see in my TR's are very in-the-moment.

That said, one of my pet peeves with cell phone companies is that they will only put the best of the best optical cameras on the largest phones. I don't want a tablet sized phone in my pocket - ever; even if it has a great camera. I prefer what are currently the smallest of the phones as to size, but would love for them to have or at least have the option of the best cell phone cameras on that size device as well.

I'd been hoping that Panasonic (or someone/something very similar) would update their Lumix ZS100 1" sensor, 10x zoom P&S to be even better... Then I might just give up the DSLR and use that for the 'good' pics. For now it's the decent cell camera pics or all the way up to DSLR for me though...

 

[Tony Crocker]

With a phone it takes me maybe ~2-3seconds to have it out, started up, using the lens that I want and picture already taken.

For me it's exactly the opposite. You have to get the phone out, sometimes press the thumbprint, press the camera icon, line up your view and press the shoot button. On a phone you can't do it by feel; you have to look at the icon you want to hit, a distraction from what you are shooting. Also, with breathable ski jackets there is sometimes condensation on the phone screen. Forget about using the phone in any way until you have wiped it off and probably entered your 6-digit pass code because the thumbprint doesn't work. Oh, and the newest phones use face recognition instead of the thumbprint. Good luck with that wearing goggles and a helmet.

 

[Sbooker]

I'll be on day tickets when I check out Mt Bachelor (and Mt Hood) in April. Are there any deals that I should know about? I guess it's just buying in advance and maybe checking out Liftopia?

 

[snowave]

I'll be on day tickets when I check out Mt Bachelor (and Mt Hood) in April. Are there any deals that I should know about? I guess it's just buying in advance and maybe checking out Liftopia

I think advance is the best bet... but even those are 103/127 right now for April. They have a spring pass for 319, that begins april 1... however, you obviously gotta ride more than a few days to make it worth it. I don't think they sell tickets on liftopia or any other discount sites when I did looked last year.