April 21-23,2009 Timberline & Mt. Bachelor

We are heading for the Eastern Sierra to do some touring. Enroute we spent a couple of days riding the lifts at Timberline and Mt. Bachelor.

Timberline has their $99 Spring Pass which is valid through May 25, so that seemed like a good deal seeing a daily lift ticket is $52. The area plans to operate 3 express lifts daily and the lifts will vary with the weather conditions. While we were there they operated Still Creek, Stormin Norman and Magic Mile. It was sunny with spring conditions and we spent the day cruising high speed groomers. The coverage is excellent. The Mt. Hood group trip in early May should have excellent coverage for the White River Glacier descent.

Mt. Bachelor just started offering their Spring Pass for $89 which is valid through May 17, so that seemed like another good deal seeing a daily lift ticket is $45. The area also plans to operate 3 express lifts daily depending on weather conditions. On the 22nd we had a warm, sunny day and the Summit chair operated. We spent the day cruising and there were so many groomers that we just cycled around the mountain. Finally our quads reminded us that we were on a month-long skiing road trip and needed to pace ourselves. Overnight the winds picked up and the temperature dropped into the 20’s. The lifts open at 8am and we decided to sleep-in and wait until it warmed and the slopes softened. At 9am we made a run on a groomed icy trail; back to the camper and more hot chocolate and caffeine. At 11:30am we went back out and again skied the sun exposed terrain and had another icy groomer; things did not seem to be softening up at all. Time to head for The Sierra. It was amazing to see how the mountain could change from beautiful corn conditions to an ice skating rink.

I’ve posted a couple of photos for those interested in what the coverage looks like at Timberline and from Mt. Bachelor looking towards the Three Sisters area. The Cascade Lakes road is still closed.

Zap ,Thanks for the report . Those spring passes are really good deals. Being as Timberline is Laurie's favorite place we are plannning our whole retirement around there and Batchelor. Really, Timberline is really a little too bougie for me but I do like to keep harmony in our relationship.It's a small sacrifice on my part.

Zap, it's great to live vicariously through all your travel reports!   I'm scheming how to retire early and follow suite, but it's a long haul away, maybe will have to be a dirtbag retirement fueled by top ramen...

Timberline is not the steepest place to ski, but it's been great having a season pass there this year (+combined with Skibowl, which can be a lot of fun) for the longevity of the season and the different options.  I started skiing on Palmer snowfield in October and am still using the pass through May - the Palmer lift offers some great spring sidecountry access as well, eliminating that first 2,500 feet of climbing from the lodge to get to the good stuff.