Mt Bachelor 11/30/11

schubwa

schubwa

New member
Day 8: Yesterday was my first day riding the lifts, since I was gone last week for a Thanksgiving Week trip to the Florida Keys. The day I flew out, and subsequent days were face-shot material, but I was kiteboarding in 80 degree sunshine so I guess you can't be in two places at once. I have put in some days before and after my trip and this morning a nice little 2-3" shot came through to freshen up a sun weathered snow surface. Time to use my pass...

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Looking at the upper mountain from the top of Pine Martin. Once again, we're all wondering why if this were any other ski area in the west, this terrain would be open!

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I shot this from the Skyliner Chair with a view down Dentists. We have a very impressive 34" pack, no rocks, wall-to-wall coverage after starting from scratch with some white concrete storms that went cold and dry at the end.

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Cirque bowl has 5-6' over last season's leftovers. I have a feeling we won't be seeing much sun after mid-month…

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Typical ridge and bowl terrain at mid-mountain with typical coverage for this time of year in the Cascades. With cool sunny weather for another week it should stay really fun.
 
That impressive snowpack is indeed about average for Bachelor on Dec. 1. Unfortunately Summit being closed despite all that coverage is also typical. Is that weather or management? Farther north in the PNW the season is off to an even better start. 114 inches at Crystal and 123 at Whistler for November.
 
Looks like I might have picked the right place for Xmas..The weather looks dry for the next couple of weeks..
Do they typically have the summit and outback lifts open for the holidays?
 
jasoncapecod":2wctn0qa said:
Do they typically have the summit and outback lifts open for the holidays?
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The holidays are peak times for any ski area. Thus all lifts/terrain can be expected open, weather and coverage permitting. As noted, coverage is already there at Bachelor. Weather for the Summit lift typically means about a 50% closure rate during core winter months December-March. The top of Northwest has some weather exposure also, Outback not so much.

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas is a quiet time in ski areas. Given Powdr Corp's track record, these lifts/terrain being closed now may be a cheap management call.
 
Schubwa, FYI it looks like I'll be visiting you on a press trip sometime in the late Feb./early Mar. timeframe.
 
Admin":2q722wft said:
Schubwa, FYI it looks like I'll be visiting you on a press trip sometime in the late Feb./early Mar. timeframe.
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Hey Admin,

Sounds great, I'm looking forward to making some turns with you. I'll order up some freshies and cool off some local brew...
 
schubwa":24y8wl66 said:
Admin":24y8wl66 said:
Schubwa, FYI it looks like I'll be visiting you on a press trip sometime in the late Feb./early Mar. timeframe.
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Hey Admin,

Sounds great, I'm looking forward to making some turns with you. I'll order up some freshies and cool off some local brew...
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That's a plan!


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Watch out, schwubwa. Every fifth turn, he'll be calling the mothership to make sure that everything's ok at GMD or the Watson Shelter. :lol:
 
I'll be in Oregon in less than 2 weeks..It hasn't snowed in weeks and the prospects don't look encouraging. I can feel myself starting to panic..Talk about a real crap start..
 
At least it's covered. Perhaps Schubwa can tell us when Powdr Corp will actually get around to opening more lifts/terrain. Be glad you chose Bachelor, not someplace in Tahoe or Colorado where it's really bad.
 
jasoncapecod":2sf7x69i said:
I'll be in Oregon in less than 2 weeks..It hasn't snowed in weeks and the prospects don't look encouraging. I can feel myself starting to panic..Talk about a real crap start..
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Today was my Day 15 here in Central Oregon, and was my third day riding the lifts at Bachelor. Admittedly I've been concentrating on my skate skiing this season, no doubt due to little powder since my return from Florida over Thanksgiving. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous with the skiing surfaces at the Nordic Center just about perfect. It's directly across the street from Bachelor, sharing the same parking lot. We have superior snow preservation here and this dry spell couldn't have come at a better time as it's been cool and the sun is very low in the sky.
Today on the lifts things aren't as good as a week ago but there are really no rocks, bushes and bare spots showing like you see in photos from other areas in the West this weekend. We have a chance for snow later in the week and it doesn't take much to improve things around here, so keep the faith!
All the long range forecasts called for a "slow start" with a "strong finish", so you may be our good luck charm to bring on the onset of true winter.
 
Tony Crocker":1evs07f5 said:
So why not open more terrain???????
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Rainbow and Carrousel are scheduled to open this weekend for the Holidays and Outback is on the schedule to open for the season as well on Friday. NWX and Summit will have to wait for more snow, both having top stations that are exposed to the wind. I'm feeling we'll have to be happy with this unless something dramatic happens...

Hey, it snowed last night! Reporting an inch of new, a rather big deal this season.
 
Schubwa":149oyq54 said:
NWX and Summit will have to wait for more snow, both having top stations that are exposed to the wind.
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You're saying they will keep over 50% of the mountain closed because they can't move some snow around at 2 unloading stations? They could get another 4 feet of snow with enough wind to keep those stations bare.
 
Tony Crocker":19gvxc4m said:
You're saying they will keep over 50% of the mountain closed because they can't move some snow around at 2 unloading stations? They could get another 4 feet of snow with enough wind to keep those stations bare.
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Umm, I do agree but even though our 32" base is solid, as you know this is a very rocky mountain of clinkery lava outcroppings that truly needs about 5' of snow to prevent Santa's helpers from tumbling through a just-covered lava reef. Many of the upper areas on NWX are especially exposed to the prevailing wind, so I still think we're feet away from the uppers opening. A inch today and four inches on Thursday ain't gonna do it.
 
Compared to what is going on at other western resorts, Bachelor is still the best choice..I keeping the faith that the persistent ridge over the west coast will finally start to brake down.
 
My first visit to Mt. Bachelor was during Christmas week of 1985-86. Reported base was in the 4 foot range and nearly everything was open. NWX didn't exist and I agree its upper terrain is in the face of the prevailing west wind. But Summit's unloading is on the leeward side and I find it very hard to believe that Beverly Hills, Healy Heights, Cow's Face are not well covered now and could be made accessible with a modest amount of effort.
 
Christmas week planning is about avoiding the wipeout scenario and holiday price gouging. Bachelor rates high year in and year out on both counts.
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we got a wonderful deal on lodging and lift tickets..50% cheaper than many of the major resorts..
 
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