Portland to Crystal and back to Hood River - am I crazy?
- Thread starter 007
- Start date
You're preaching to the choir of nutcases here :wink: .
Here's my Feb. 5-8, 1993 trip:
Feb. 5 Hood Meadows, 22,900 vertical, drive 2.5 hours to Bend.
Feb. 6 Mt Bachelor, 31,000
Feb. 7 Mt. Bachelor, 30,300, then drive 3.5 hours to Portland
Feb. 8, hit the road at 5:30AM, drive 3.5 hours to Crystal, 21,400 there, then drive back to PDX for a late flight home. While at Crystal, my notes mention that at 11AM I took my longest slide in over a decade on Powder Bowl.
I do not recall rush hour issues in either direction (it was a Monday) from Portland to Crystal. Then, as now, I placed a priority on trying new areas, and as we know Crystal is an impressive mountain. But 1992-93 was a season for the southern areas: Bachelor had great snow including 6 inches fresh Saturday, but Crystal had heavy not-frozen-overnight spring conditions.
I think your plan is more sane than mine was. I'm not sure when you're planning this, but if it hasn't snowed in awhile (particularly in spring) I would go south to Bachelor instead of north to Crystal. They get similar snowfall but snow preservation is superb at Bachelor and mediocre at Crystal. Since you're driving hold off the decision to the last minute. No question about the quality of Crystal's steeps, but if it's April I would still go to Bachelor for the corn. With Mammoth likely to have a shorter than normal spring this year, I'm considering an April weekend at Bachelor myself.
Here's my Feb. 5-8, 1993 trip:
Feb. 5 Hood Meadows, 22,900 vertical, drive 2.5 hours to Bend.
Feb. 6 Mt Bachelor, 31,000
Feb. 7 Mt. Bachelor, 30,300, then drive 3.5 hours to Portland
Feb. 8, hit the road at 5:30AM, drive 3.5 hours to Crystal, 21,400 there, then drive back to PDX for a late flight home. While at Crystal, my notes mention that at 11AM I took my longest slide in over a decade on Powder Bowl.
I do not recall rush hour issues in either direction (it was a Monday) from Portland to Crystal. Then, as now, I placed a priority on trying new areas, and as we know Crystal is an impressive mountain. But 1992-93 was a season for the southern areas: Bachelor had great snow including 6 inches fresh Saturday, but Crystal had heavy not-frozen-overnight spring conditions.
I think your plan is more sane than mine was. I'm not sure when you're planning this, but if it hasn't snowed in awhile (particularly in spring) I would go south to Bachelor instead of north to Crystal. They get similar snowfall but snow preservation is superb at Bachelor and mediocre at Crystal. Since you're driving hold off the decision to the last minute. No question about the quality of Crystal's steeps, but if it's April I would still go to Bachelor for the corn. With Mammoth likely to have a shorter than normal spring this year, I'm considering an April weekend at Bachelor myself.
ChrisC
Well-known member
Tony Crocker":1i67fzmv said:
I strongly agree with this.
I kind of feel the Pac NW is best December till February/early March. (but exceptions are Whistler, Bachelor and to a lesser extent Stevens Pass).
My experience was skiing 6" fresh of sludge at Mt. Hood and 8" of higher quality powder the next day at Mt. Bachelor in April.
The problem is Crystal is a basin and not on a mountain pass. The passes allow cold air to flow from Eastern WA to the West. And this cooling does preserve snow. Crystal does not get this effect, nor does Baker. So spring is not powder time. It's a humid climate and you will feel it in the snow. But the snow is dependable. You will not hit rocks if you do not see them. Less likely to slide.
Traffic. My guess - you will hit some in Tacoma. That was my experience. There are few roads in the NW and they are not that wide. Hence traffic.
You can check out how bad things are for your time periods.
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/tacoma/
or Seattle
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/seattle/
I have to agree with Tony, nut cases!007":3bdhqiaa said:
We are skiers who are by definition after the thrill, rush, fun, escape. This brings me to my topic, sanity creeping in!I have recently learned a lot reentering the ski patrol after a long absence as a Junior National Patrol. However, it has become what skiing never was most of my life. Being in my 40's for a little bit longer, the 4 years of patrolling are not typical. At first to get to a snowy Mt. Baldy in a "fat" year was irrestible. Then, the drag of it in dry So. CA. Then the hot shots, as if my professional life is not full of them. Soon.....I found myself longing for the days when skiing was a "get away from it all" experience of serenity and excitement and strenuous exhillaration. Lately, skiing on rocks, with a sore knee, with rough around the edges folk, long hours with time lost from important duties.....has left me wanting...less of skiing as a task.
I have decided to hang it up on patrol this season. Once again I will take crazy trips. But I will leave the stress out. Running away from it all only builds the stress in my personal life. Never mind that I have to drive 3 hours to play volley ball at very some very good friends house tomorrow to get out of the mountians to escape! I am going city again to get stuff done I want to do! I am reserving the mountains for the unstressful and beautiful place to relax that they once were. It is too great a sorrow to make this wonder of snow and frolic a chore, a task and a duty. I have loved all of that. Now, I must get on with more time in my professional life before retirement! Ski on! My skiing changes just like my life. I am not a static, rigid entity. They say you can tell mental illness by how rigid, how predictable and how static on is! Go for it! You only ski in one lifetime, live once in this life!
I always wanted that funky hat that says mental with spikes to ski in! it is so me!