Snow Reportage

Rather than my usual season of weekend warrior exploits, this year I am spending the entire season on the hill. My job this winter: snow reporter at Mt Hood Meadows, M-F. I will be at the mountain each and every weekday - so as usual, the challenge will be to travel on the weekends, with the additional difficulty of having to ride every weekday as well. Now things are really getting tough! I expect to ride at about ten ski areas in the northwest, and probably more than 120 days for the season. It should be a good one!

Meadows Opens Early!

The 2009-2010 season started off with a fantastic day at Meadows. The base of 32" was super solid under about 6 inches of fresh snow. Starting the new year on the mountain with Shooting Star open was a very nice surprise, and those first few turns, floating through the freshies - well, just like I dreamed. Laps on Columbia and I'm in heaven. I spent about 90 minutes tearing up the off-piste on SS before circling back around to middle fork and then over to the parks on easy rider and buttercup. I'm not much for riding rails, but the snow was sparsely tracked and the rollers were good for some gentle airs to start the season.

Not bad for the first half of November.