September 7, 2009 - Timberline Fresh

Left home this morning at 5:30 hoping to get some fresh snow and cooperative weather. I got a little of both. The lifts weren't running, but since I hiked under them, I posted the report here.

I left the parking lot about 8:30 and it was sprinkling rain. Turned to snow at about 7000 feet. There wasn't anyone around, and the hike up went very nice. Weather was cold and winter like - definitely a nice change from the heat of the summer.



I met one hiker at the top of the Mile, and after some chit-chat, headed up to the top of the Palmer. The weather was nice for my hike up the Palmer.



Of course when I got to the top (about 1.5 hours from the lodge) some thick clouds blew in and then a snowcat delivered 4 ski employees about 15 feet from where I sat. Nobody was around up until this point. At least the skiers were Tele skiers After a PBJ, I headed down, toying with my camera along the way. Nice fresh snow up top, turned a little sloppy down low, complete with somewhat thick fog. Here's a still I pulled from a video of a pow spray....not as easy to get the shot as I thought ???



The snow on the Palmer is definitely thin, but should hold up into October for Oregonians looking for early turns. I'm glad I went today.