Timberline, Mt. Hood, OR - 6/23/06

[Admin]

Day 62: The best damned summer snow I've ever skied. Period.

I was in Oregon today preparing for an upcoming FTO feature on the summer scene on Hood. Before that's ready, though, here's a little user forum ditty on what I found.

• One amazing scene -- it was joegm's worst nightmare: race kids everywhere. I kid you not, there must've been two dozen camp groups there, from Franconia Ski Club to Team Summit. The vibe was amazing.
• Concrete corduroy at 7 am that blossomed into pure corn-fed bliss by late morning. And thanks to the thermal mass of a permanent snowfield, plus a bit of salt used here and there, it stayed primo right up to the 1:30 pm closing time.
• Crystal-clear cloudless skies (this is Oregon?! :shock: )
• Skiing clear back to the lodge via Magic Mile, plus of course the Palmer chair.
• Acres and acres of out-of-bounds corn.
• Snowboard camps like Windells and High Cascade that took over from the racers around 10:30.
• The biggest collection of trauma park hits that I've ever seen. Anywhere.
• Few free-skiing general public.

I'd go back again in a heartbeat.

And that will surely do it for me this year. At least I've ended on a high note.

 

[tirolerpeter]

Im SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO... Jealous!

 

[Patrick]

Happy to see that this wasn't boring. :wink:

Was that first picture taken from your plane before it landed in Portland (or after take off)?

Amazing, looks exactely like...Google Earth!!! #-o

 

[Admin]

Was that first picture taken from your plane before it landed in Portland (or after take off)?

That picture was taken this afternoon on the way out. I unfortunately was sitting on the wrong side of the plane on the way in. I say "unfortunately" because we were amazingly close to Hood on our approach -- perhaps 5 miles or so away -- and actually lower than the summit, such that you were looking out the plane right at the side of the mountain. You could see individual lift towers without even trying hard to do so. It was also less hazy that day.

Anyway, here's that same photo with the two lifts that ran today drawn in:

 

[Tony Crocker]

How much of that OB corn can you actually get at and make it back to an open lift? It looks very constrained to me vs. Bachelor. But of course Bachelor is no longer in this game after Memorial Day.

Note to Patrick: For Labor Day Magic Mile will be just for transport so you will only have what's accessible to Palmer. But I'll still be interested in the report.

 

[Frankontour]

Interesting, although it's a little bit sad that when we'll be at the mountain (if everything works out), we will only have the Palmer to ski, without the out of bounds and magic mile...

But anyway, it will still be very very nice ! Thanks for the report & pics !

 

[Admin]

How much of that OB corn can you actually get at and make it back to an open lift?

Much more than you'd think.

 

[lookn4powder]

How much of that OB corn can you actually get at and make it back to an open lift?

Admin: Much more than you'd think.

And...Timberline gets a lot of powder too. They have the only gift shop I've seen that carries chains for nearly every car & light truck.

We were snowed in for a day in February and skied Zen-style. We couldn't see a thing all day. But when we got up the next morning, WOW! What views! Here is a small selection.

Jeff

 

[Jonny D]

I love that tunnel to get out of the lodge!

all work an no snow makes jack a dull boy...
all work an no snow makes jack a dull boy...
all work an no snow makes jack a dull boy...
all work an no snow makes jack a dull boy...
all work an no snow makes jack a dull boy...
all work an no snow makes jack a dull boy...
all work an no snow makes jack a dull boy...
all work an no snow makes jack a dull boy...
all work an no snow makes jack a dull boy...
all work an no snow makes jack a dull boy...

 

[Frankontour]

I love that tunnel to get out of the lodge!

all work an no snow makes jack a dull boy...
all work an no snow makes jack a dull boy...
all work an no snow makes jack a dull boy...
all work an no snow makes jack a dull boy...
all work an no snow makes jack a dull boy...
all work an no snow makes jack a dull boy...
all work an no snow makes jack a dull boy...
all work an no snow makes jack a dull boy...
all work an no snow makes jack a dull boy...
all work an no snow makes jack a dull boy...

I'm getting crazy me too... don't you worry Jonny !

 

[ChrisC]

I hate to be a dark cloud, but I think Timberline is a bit over-rated. I've done the summer thing there twice while living in the Northwest - once in a big year, once limited. Both in mid July.

From my understanding, Timberline does more business in the summer season than winter. Why? The terrain. It faces almost due south and is quite flat. Almost any Northwest mountain has better skiing in the winter (Baker, Stevens, Crystal, Mission Ridge, Bachelor). But it is the only game in town besides Whistler in the summer.

Why do I dislike it? You are skiing on a snowfireld vs. a glacier. What is the difference? Snowfields do not have crevasses (holes to swallow skiers) -- primarily because the terrain is quite flat. Instead of a moving sea of ice, it's stationary. That should tell you something. Not steep enough to flow.

[*] One amazing scene -- it was joegm's worst nightmare: race kids everywhere. I kid you not, there must've been two dozen camp groups there, from Franconia Ski Club to Team Summit. The vibe was amazing.

I loved watching some of the kids ski. However, they are cocky, snotty and not too fun in liftlines. I would rather ski with a bunch of chain-smoking French than the Timberline teen skiers. Less rude and offensive.

[*] Concrete corduroy at 7 am that blossomed into pure corn-fed bliss by late morning. And thanks to the thermal mass of a permanent snowfield, plus a bit of salt used here and there, it stayed primo right up to the 1:30 pm closing time.

This is so true. However, the good skiing is Palmer Mid-Station to Summit. And there is only one narrow groomed skiway open to the public
until late in the morning/noontime.

[*]Crystal-clear cloudless skies (this is Oregon?! :shock: )

The Northwest is the best in the summer. It is so cloudless that new homes in Seattle are built with lawn sprinkler systems because it is so cloudless/rainless. Got to have that grass green! Temps are perfect 55-80. Skies are Cali like from June to September.

[*]Skiing clear back to the lodge via Magic Mile, plus of course the Palmer chair.

I call that sleeping not skiing. It is so flat. Albion Basin Alta is steeper. Maybe.

[*]Acres and acres of out-of-bounds corn.

Yeas, But. You can only go skier's right from Palmer. And sometimes you need to ski all the way down to Magic Mountain. And that is a lot of flats.

[*]Snowboard camps like Windells and High Cascade that took over from the racers around 10:30.

Is this positive? More camps keeping you off the best stuff??

[*]The biggest collection of trauma park hits that I've ever seen. Anywhere.

True. Kids going HUGE!!

[*]Few free-skiing general public.

When only a 20-ft wide groomed trail is avialable to the hard-cores that would ski here.....thank god there are not more!

I'd go back again in a heartbeat.

And that will surely do it for me this year. At least I've ended on a high note.

It's fun to ski in the summer. But I would rather be doing Mammoth from a pure steepness point-of-view. Love snowfields. But they are flat. I think the flatness and closures make this experience less than par.

 

[ChrisC]

How much of that OB corn can you actually get at and make it back to an open lift? It looks very constrained to me vs. Bachelor. But of course Bachelor is no longer in this game after Memorial Day

Timberline is no Bachelor!!!

Bachelor has a Backside to almost rival Vail. With a lot less skier density! And you are skiing the highest, steepest and best of Bachelor.

Timberline is not in the same league. It loses its steepness after 700-900 vertical and is quite boring after that. You might be high, but you are not getting a 360 volcano experience. The problem is if you cannot make it back to the lift from skier's right after the hole length of Palmer.

I would categorize Bachelor as way under-rated. A true 360 mountain unlike any others. With all high-speed lifts. It rocks!

 

[Tony Crocker]

I agree with Chris that Mt. Bachelor is probably the most underrated big mountain in North America. In one of my Inside Tracks articles back in 2001 I described the backside of Bachelor as "Vail's original back bowl with 5% of the skier traffic."

Unfortunately that backside is not accessible unless the Northwest lift is open, and new management closes that lift in late April now. Not to mention closing the whole area Memorial Day even though the full 3,100 vertical would be skiable to July 4 at least half the time.

From Marc's aerial shot it did look like you could traverse out a ways from Palmer at Timberline and get back to Magic Mile with judicious navigation. Had Bachelor still been open I would have strongly advised admin to go down there despite the extra 2+ hours drive.

Bachelor is often critiqued (like Vail) for not enough steeps. Bachelor has Mammoth volcanic topography with not as many steeps at the top, but with a longer and more consistent Sun Valley type fall line. The unique experience is the 360 degree corn skiing in the spring, which is unfortunately restricted to just April now, plus 180 degrees of it in May.

 

[Admin]

Most of what ChrisC says I agree with 100%. I'd be bored to tears there in the winter. However, that said, I do disagree on one point: Magic Mile. I had a blast down there carving big, huge, sweeping arcs in the summer sun. Yeah, it's low angle, but not so much so that you can't get up a head of steam and really lay into those arcs.

Well, make that two points, actually: we were able to get in most of our runs not in the public lanes, but in lanes not in use by campers or in between lanes where we were in no danger of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. My biggest joy, however, was OOB in the sun-cupped corn.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Timberline's OB corn is a tiny fraction of Bachelor's.

And as far as carving the groomed arcs goes, Mammoth 3 weeks ago had multiple runs of varying pitch for that. Unfortunately Wednesday's rain has supposedly degraded the lower mountain snow quite a bit. I'll know more tomorrow.

 

[Frankontour]

We reserved some airplane places + lodging + rental car, today, so we should be there for the end of july and early august. It's too bad I was not able to ski in june this year (ended on may 27th), because I would have skied during 11 months in a row !

 

[Admin]

We reserved some airplane places + lodging + rental car, today, so we should be there for the end of july and early august.

Well, then I guess it's official. I hope for your wallet's sake you booked a carrier like Southwest out of Albany, for I can't imagine what it must cost to fly out of MTL. When I used to have to fly my kid out here from MTL we used to have him ride in a car to Burlington and catch JetBlue, as the price to fly him from MTL was basically double.

 

[Frankontour]

Actually, I've not see the hotel yet (supposed to be *** (3 stars)) and I still wonder if there is a mistake, but the deal we got was extremely interesting. Christophe was beginning to think that we would not be able to get some decent rates, but finally, today, after weeks of searching, he found the deal. 872$ CAD including taxes, for flights with correct scales and hours AND including lodging at Portland for the whole week.

I read the confirmation of the traveler 3 times before to understand that this was not a joke ! It's almost the half of what we were expected to pay for the flights and lodging.

OK, we'll lodge at Portland, but with the 3 hours of difference with the eastern time, it will be easy for us to wake up early to be at 7h at the mountain and with the closing hours at 1h PM or something like that, we will have a lot of possibilities of things to do in the Portland area...

I'm eager !

 

[Admin]

872$ CAD including taxes, for flights with correct scales and hours AND including lodging at Portland for the whole week.

That doesn't seem too bad. I would've expected the airfare alone to cost that. At today's Interbank rate that's US$784. Figure $80/night for the hotel, reduced to $40 as I'm figuring that you're calculating based on double occupancy, and that's $280 for the hotel and roughly $500 for the air. However, you could've saved some money by flying from Albany, for Southwest is offering $163 each way ALB-PDX around that time frame. After taxes and airport fees, though, you would've only saved around $100 pp, not enough in my opinion to go through the inconvenience of going by car to Albany to catch your flight.

Of course, if you each have your own room, that's a really good deal you got for that drops the airfare portion to a remarkable $224. What area of town is it in? If you're lucky it's on the east side somewhere near the airport or south of it.

and with the closing hours at 1h PM or something like that, we will have a lot of possibilities of things to do in the Portland area...

Well, there are lots of natural things to enjoy out near Hood, including the town of Hood River (the windsurfing [planche a voile] capital of North America on the Columbia River at the Gorge -- lots of funky brew pubs and stuff there, too), whitewater rafting, etc., but it would be pretty sleepy near the mountain once the sun went down. Portland will offer more to do after dark, but then again if you're getting up at 5:30 a.m. each day you'll be hitting the pillows pretty early anyway.

 

[Frankontour]

Interesting, for the 163$ from Albany... but as you say, it's just a difference of 100$ which is not a real problem for us to pay, considering we leave from Montreal...

We will share one room (with 2 beds of course), way less expensive !

I hope the hotel is correct, it was looking OK at first, but we booked the travel very fastly when we saw the deal. It's the Red Lion Hotel on the River. Not sure it's correctly placed to avoid the traffic, but I guess that in july/august, the traffic jam should be less big than during the rest of the year and leaving the hotel at 5h30 should help us to avoid a maximum of traffic !!