We took our best shot at clear weather to come here this week. Next week looks unsettled and May 4 is the last day Cloudchaser and Northwest lifts will be open. Forecasts were in general correct for overnight freezes in the mid-20s and high temps in the mid-30s.
After the long two day drive we did not get on the mountain particularly early. We are staying at Riverhouse, a nice place but we didn’t notice their breakfast did not open until 8AM.
So it was after 10AM when we got over to east facing Cloudchaser after a Pine Marten warmup run. Wanoga Way was already in prime corn mode. So we rode Summit and I pushed out to direct east facing Cow’s Face.
Snow was soft from the top but quite choppy. We cut back to hit Wanoga Way again. Riding Cloudchaser and Summit again, we tried Healy Heights after 11:30. It was not as irregular as Cow’s Face and so skied better even though the top part was slightly firm. Clouds rolled in starting about 11:15, so any further softening of snow would be gradual.
We are constrained on this trip by Mt. Bachelor’s closing hour of 1:30 starting this Monday. There is the further constraint that you can’t ski off the backside or down to Northwest after 12:45 because that chair closes 1PM.
So I skied off the back at noon, trying to get as much of a SE fall line to stay in soft snow. The snow was not smooth as in 2000 and 2021 but Upper Plains had fully softened. View SE of cinder cone and a controlled burn:
Liz zoomed that burn from the east side of Summit.
I continued SE into Surfer Bowl. View at tree line of Cascade Lakes, some of them still frozen with snow cover.
The open section narrowed and it was best to stay in skier packed turns to the 3+ miles West Catchline exit road.
I got in two Northwest runs before the lift closed. Atkeson’s Zoom had nearly untouched corn on its lower half, probably because the top was still hardpacked. At least the Snapshot Bowl entry was groomed. My second run on Devil’s East was teeth-rattling until I reached the 21 Road bailout. Sparks Lake view from top of Northwest with Liz riding closest chair:
After Northwest closed I had smooth groomed runs on DSQ and Old Skyliner, finishing the day with 21,100 vertical.
Wednesday we had breakfast at McKay’s Cottage, which opens at 7AM, so we got to Mt. Bachelor 45 minutes earlier than Tuesday. We headed to Cloudchaser immediately and found that even Wanoga Way (the most east facing lower run) was not fully softened. A second run on Flying Dutchman was solidly frozen.
So we relocated to Skyliner, which had better grooming and wider runs. The clear skies, which lasted all day, had probably created a harder freeze than on Tuesday.
The widest blue groomer, Cliffhanger, had absolutely perfect corn from 10:30-11:00AM.
Skyliner was probably the busiest lift, a new 6-pack going up about 2/3 full on average. Nonetheless skier density is overall quite low. Most of the groomers with smooth corn snow don’t get chewed up with traffic, and there are several that are still in prime form at the 1:30 closing.
We tried Summit at 11:15. Healy Heights was still firm at the top, softened skier packed on its lower half. We continued to Cloudchaser via smooth corn on Carnival. Since Cloudchaser was all softened we skied Jetstream and Hemlock, ungroomed on their upper halves.
With the slower softening Wednesday I waited until 12:30 to ski off the backside. This time, looking down Upper Plains, I saw one other skier, a tiny dot just below center here.
Heading his way directly south, the snow remained soft and was getting smoother. There was only crunch if you turned SW, and I could see open gaps continuing south. The snow in those gaps was butter smooth like 3 years ago so a much nicer run than the one on Tuesday. View east to the cinder cone and another burn:
There was only a short distance of route finding through scattered trees to reach the West Catchline.
I reached Northwest at 12:55 so no extra runs there. View from top of Northwest to South and Middle Sisters and Broken Top:
The varied views from Bachelor rate high for North American ski scenery IMHO, including several lakes which could be included in that other thread.
I was able to get 3 more corn groomers in before the 1:30 close, two on Leeway and one on Old Skyliner. Total vertical was 24,400. Despite some time constraints we were able to ski most of the day in optimal corn snow.
We have one more day here tomorrow. Adverse weather is on the way but supposedly not until late afternoon.
After the long two day drive we did not get on the mountain particularly early. We are staying at Riverhouse, a nice place but we didn’t notice their breakfast did not open until 8AM.
So it was after 10AM when we got over to east facing Cloudchaser after a Pine Marten warmup run. Wanoga Way was already in prime corn mode. So we rode Summit and I pushed out to direct east facing Cow’s Face.
Snow was soft from the top but quite choppy. We cut back to hit Wanoga Way again. Riding Cloudchaser and Summit again, we tried Healy Heights after 11:30. It was not as irregular as Cow’s Face and so skied better even though the top part was slightly firm. Clouds rolled in starting about 11:15, so any further softening of snow would be gradual.
We are constrained on this trip by Mt. Bachelor’s closing hour of 1:30 starting this Monday. There is the further constraint that you can’t ski off the backside or down to Northwest after 12:45 because that chair closes 1PM.
So I skied off the back at noon, trying to get as much of a SE fall line to stay in soft snow. The snow was not smooth as in 2000 and 2021 but Upper Plains had fully softened. View SE of cinder cone and a controlled burn:
Liz zoomed that burn from the east side of Summit.
I continued SE into Surfer Bowl. View at tree line of Cascade Lakes, some of them still frozen with snow cover.
The open section narrowed and it was best to stay in skier packed turns to the 3+ miles West Catchline exit road.
I got in two Northwest runs before the lift closed. Atkeson’s Zoom had nearly untouched corn on its lower half, probably because the top was still hardpacked. At least the Snapshot Bowl entry was groomed. My second run on Devil’s East was teeth-rattling until I reached the 21 Road bailout. Sparks Lake view from top of Northwest with Liz riding closest chair:
After Northwest closed I had smooth groomed runs on DSQ and Old Skyliner, finishing the day with 21,100 vertical.
Wednesday we had breakfast at McKay’s Cottage, which opens at 7AM, so we got to Mt. Bachelor 45 minutes earlier than Tuesday. We headed to Cloudchaser immediately and found that even Wanoga Way (the most east facing lower run) was not fully softened. A second run on Flying Dutchman was solidly frozen.
So we relocated to Skyliner, which had better grooming and wider runs. The clear skies, which lasted all day, had probably created a harder freeze than on Tuesday.
The widest blue groomer, Cliffhanger, had absolutely perfect corn from 10:30-11:00AM.
Skyliner was probably the busiest lift, a new 6-pack going up about 2/3 full on average. Nonetheless skier density is overall quite low. Most of the groomers with smooth corn snow don’t get chewed up with traffic, and there are several that are still in prime form at the 1:30 closing.
We tried Summit at 11:15. Healy Heights was still firm at the top, softened skier packed on its lower half. We continued to Cloudchaser via smooth corn on Carnival. Since Cloudchaser was all softened we skied Jetstream and Hemlock, ungroomed on their upper halves.
With the slower softening Wednesday I waited until 12:30 to ski off the backside. This time, looking down Upper Plains, I saw one other skier, a tiny dot just below center here.
Heading his way directly south, the snow remained soft and was getting smoother. There was only crunch if you turned SW, and I could see open gaps continuing south. The snow in those gaps was butter smooth like 3 years ago so a much nicer run than the one on Tuesday. View east to the cinder cone and another burn:
There was only a short distance of route finding through scattered trees to reach the West Catchline.
I reached Northwest at 12:55 so no extra runs there. View from top of Northwest to South and Middle Sisters and Broken Top:
The varied views from Bachelor rate high for North American ski scenery IMHO, including several lakes which could be included in that other thread.
I was able to get 3 more corn groomers in before the 1:30 close, two on Leeway and one on Old Skyliner. Total vertical was 24,400. Despite some time constraints we were able to ski most of the day in optimal corn snow.
We have one more day here tomorrow. Adverse weather is on the way but supposedly not until late afternoon.
