Hoodoo

I arrived at Hoodoo as a passenger, and very much enjoyed the relaxation of not being the driver. My father was kind enough to volunteer, and we made the trip to Hoodoo together again. Although the initial hope had been to get dad onto a snowboard, and see if he could learn some skills before the trip to Idaho, he was injured, and couldn't snowboard today. Thankfully the tubing hill was open today, so we supplemented my lift ticket by each getting an all-day pass for the tubing hill.

The tubing hill was where we started the day, and we had a very good morning with short lines and fast lanes. After a few laps we were inspired, and grabbed a double-tube to go for a ride - but we were told we could not share a tube, due to my advanced age/size. Instead, we found we could ride the double-tube solo, and it allowed for a much more comfortable ride than the standard round tube. This would be our weapon of choice for the remainder of our tubing all day. Eventually, we decided we should take a break, and headed back to the lodge for lunch.

You might think I was being silly not to be snowboarding, but I was very much enjoying the tubing, and after three straight days of powder turns in Washington, I needed a little rest (I also was developing a cold/flu). Of course, even then I would normally have been working hard to get my dollar worth out of the lift ticket - but in this case, the ticket cost me only $15, thanks to a member of Mt. High snowsports club, so getting my dollar worth meant about ten runs in the afternoon, and then back to tubing until we were beat.

It was a very nice day at Hoodoo, and there was such a small crowd that the powder was in good shape all day, even without the Hodag lift running. I did miss riding the back side of Hoodoo, as it has some great runs for powder days, but I contented myself with the deep powder to skiers right of Ed's chair, where I found many fresh lines even at 2pm. All-in-all, another great day on the slopes - and we even saw Santa at the tubing hill. Merry Christmas!

Skibowl

After work, I nabbed the husband of a co-worker, and spirited him to Skibowl for some night boarding. We arrived at the mountain around 6pm, and found the snow coming down, and plenty on the ground. It was lighter and drier snow than Skibowl usually receives, making for an ideal day to visit. After a few laps on the lower bowl, we crossed over to spend the remainder of the evening at Multorpor. Over the course of the evening, I saw him go from tentative turns to confident cruising, and even captured a bit of the action via helmet cam. It was my first chance to try using the helmet cam as a chase cam, and I thought I did okay. I'll make sure to add the video when I have some time for editing.

Anthony Lakes

I spent today at beautiful Anthony Lakes, where I found stashes of light, dry powder, as well as a wonderful terrain park for turning - the natural result of small trees buried to hear their tops. I started the day on the groomed runs, cruising the smooth corduroy until I felt comfortable with conditions - once I had established that the snow was in very good shape, I ventured off the sides of the trails, and eventually began to hunt for snow in the trees as well. On either side of the ridge, there are ample fields of powder with your choice of foliage, moguls, steepness and snow depth. I tended toward the deeper snow and along the fringes of the foliage myself. Although I would have liked some fresh powder during the day, the conditions were very good until the afternoon, when high winds began to cause stoppages of the sole chair lift.

Overall, I can highly recommend Anthony Lakes for the lack of lift lines, quality of snow, and variety of terrain. I would say this hill has something for just about everybody.

Spout Springs

Today was an adventure, or more correctly, both an adventure and a misadventure. I started the day with a rather silly mistake. After spending the night in the car, upon waking up and removing myself from the vehicle, I promptly locked my keys inside. Needless to say, not how I wanted to greet the morning.

It was just after 7:30am, and although my wallet and keys were securely locked inside the car, I was thankfully wearing my coat, which included gloves and a cell phone in the pockets. I made a call for roadside assistance, but was disconnected due to a low battery. My next call was to mom and dad, knowing they would be able to contact the insurance company for roadside assistance, and would be happy to do so at 7:40am. I was waiting for assistance to arrive, but the call of confirmation did not come, so I walked from the car to the highway (exactly 2 miles), hoping I might find a friendly driver with more battery life than I, and make another call to my insurance company. I sat by the intersection, and soon a friendly passerby offered me the use of their phone. I made the call, and right when I connected to an agent, a state trooper pulled up to offer further help.

He asked me to give the good samaritans their phone back, which I did. He then proceeded to radio dispatch to have another locksmith sent out, since I had been waiting over an hour for the first one. About twenty five minutes later, the first locksmith arrived, and I hopped into his truck to ride back to my car. RIght as the first started to work, the second locksmith arrived, rather annoyed to have been called as a duplicate. Long story made short, I was on the road about 9:15am, and made it in time to start snowboarding Spout Springs at 10:30am.

It was nothing less than an ideal opening day from my perspective - all the trails track-free, and four to ten inches of light dry powder on top. I overheard that the main lift was not running until 10:15, and judging by the lack of tracks on the main run, that was true. I started by doing laps under the chair, just making the happiest powder turns, a great reward for the trials of the earlier morning. Eventually, as the groomed run was becoming tracked, I made my way off piste and enjoyed fresh tracks for the entire remainder of the day.

There is a wonderful gully on the main face that nobody else had attempted, so I made three laps through the area myself, cruising between bushes and trees, before I saw another snowboarder spoon my tracks. After that, I made my way along the ridge, toward the outer runs, where there were only the tracks of the ski patrol. I found entire runs with no evidence of traffic, and carved with wild abandon, on the groomed runs, and then deeper into powder on the sides. It truly was a great day to have first tracks, and they were there to be had for the whole day. I even snapped a photo of a run with only my tracks defacing the otherwise pristine slope.



I finally decided I had better get on my way around 3:30, and packed into the car for the drive back to Pendleton, and on to La Grande. Tomorrow I will need all my energy for Anthony Lakes, another single lift ridge, where I hope to find more powder to poach.

Cooper Spur

Thanks to some early season powder, Cooper Spur was my destination of choice for today. I brought along Boringfish, a good friend of mine who is still mastering the basics of snowboarding. It was an amazing powder day, and the snow came down all afternoon. We got a late start, enjoying a leisurely breakfast, and got to the hill a little after noon. From the snowy drive up, we could tell there would be plenty of fresh powder - but I was actually surprised by the accumulation. It made for a somewhat difficult day for Boringfish, as getting up in such deep snow poses challenges, and I found some spots where the drifts were deeper than the length of my arm. Overall, it made for a memorable day of snowboarding, and a nice mellow afternoon after the long drive up and back to Mount Baker.