Mt Hood (non BC) TR plus good news!

Not exactly a backcountry trip, but I decided to go for the all-year streak this year after 3 years of 9-10 months.  I've had fun doing the summer lift thing on the Palmer snowfield once a year for the last few years, and the calender this year set the Labor day weekend so that Sunday-Monday would be both August and  September in one fell swoop.  Expensive, but I decided to go for it, since I could also visit a friend in Oregon, and I really needed a nice distraction from the horrible reality of my car having been stolen from right by my home Wednesday night.  So I stayed up a few hours after getting off work at 3:30 am Fri night/Sat morning and when Stephanie (my gal) woke up we took off in her car and she drove while I slept.  By the time I woke up, we were almost at Breitenbush, where my friend Cyril lives/works (It's an intentional community/business on a piece of private land - former homestead where there happen to be a number of natural hot springs).<br><br>Sunday morning Cyril and I got up and took off up the cool forest road back-way (using roads 46 & 42) that lets you get from Breitenbush to Hood in about an hour (closed in winter unfortunately).  The Palmer snowfield was looking pretty thin and coverage on the South side in general was pretty low, at least as low as I've ever seen it.  But the skiing on the groomed snowfield was a lot of fun, even though I had a minor incident.  Somehow I just didn't see the rope.  I don't know how to explain it.  I was cranking turns, having fun, and I thought I'd check out the other skiing lane, which looked like it might have a smooth surface, and I even saw a 6 inch little nub that I could "catch air" from.  So I went at it full speed, and it was in the split second that my body was in the air that I realized my folly and the harshness of the impending reality.  And then...  Thwap! I was violently clotheslined and spat out on the other slope sliding.  Since I was wearing short sleeves I managed to give my left arm the worst raspberry I have ever had.  Comments from other skiers ranged from  "wow" to "that was outstanding".  One person told me he had seen 4 people do it in the last few days, which made me feel a little better.  Anyways,  I still had a blast the rest of the day.  At the end of the day Cyril left to go back to work and Stephanie drove up and met me at Timberline.  We camped in the woods behind the parking lot, had a leisurely breakfast and managed a nice day of skiing, great weather and good views.<br><br>And finally, yesterday (Tues) I get a call from someone saying that do I own the Jeep that is parked outside his house?  As it turns out, it had a flat so they probably ditched it in a hurry.  I'm going to need a new steering column which is going to co$t, but they didn't smash it up or even take my stereo (they took my CD's but left my WA, OR, and N. CA Gazeteers as well as some treking poles and my Volken Snoq. Pass guide - obviously not a backcountry skier).  They left me a bunch of random crap - clothes, backpacks, a purse, glasses, a hair straightener, two left women's running shoes, a pair of flip flops, some socks & underwear, a (thankfully unused) condom, some shampoo, and a 50 cent CD.  Great, just what I need, more crap for my already messy car!  Oh well, like I said it could've been much worse.<br><br>Now I get to focus on funner and more important things like planning for Pico de Orizaba in early October (bought my ticket yesterday)!

Hey Corey that's too bad that your jeep got ransacked. Be happy they left your ski stuff or yet maybe those dumb f__cks should have taken it and tryed to get rid of it via ebay. Very easy to catch thieves on ebay. Anyway I was at Hood last weekend. Boy wuz it awesome. I saw plenty of people falling all over. Mid station at palmer got tricky if you treversed the dirt patch to other stashes cause of the some what narrow traverse back. Oh the rocks that got exposed made it fun. That is where I saw people eating sh_t.

Hey Corey - I was also at Hood on Sunday and Monday (to get my 12 months done) and was actually right next to you when you aired it out into the clothesline... I hope my first reaction was "are you okay" -- but it was quite a spectacular spill.<br><br>Anyway, agree about the thin but good conditions on Palmer. After about 9 or 10 laps on Palmer I put the skis on my pack and hiked over to the snowfields I had seen driving in on the more western face and up to a little steeper section. Snow was actually relatively smooth and had a really nice long run.<br>

While walking around I also noticed those western (or maybe W-SW?) snowfields over by illumination rock. That's great that you checked them out. To me, that looked like the only (non-groomed) skiing possibility at all on the S side, at least the only possibility of a reasonably enjoyable turn. I didn't have a camera, but I wish I would have taken a picture to compare with the (still excellent coverage) one I have from June 1. <br><br>Wy'east could use a few good dumps.

Forty dollars for 1000' of lame-o groomer? Two days in a row? I though I knew you better than that. I'm callin' you out, buster!

Well, first things first it's 1500' so that alone should shoot down that argument. <br><br>As always, it's a matter of perspective. It could be easily argued that at this moment that 1500' patch has the best snow surface for sliding in all the Cascades. If we are assuming a hedonistic model of always seeking the best possible snow conditions, paying for the best is much much cheaper in Aug/Sept than it would be in say Jan/Feb, when you'd be paying more than 10 times as much for something like a Heli-ski trip, a Lodge/Hut trip, or even a classic-style ski vacation.<br><br>In fact, I probably saved so much I should look for a new pair of skis. Or maybe that's how I'll pay for my trip to Mexico, which I am getting really excited about. I imagine the rainy season (which is probably still going on now) bringing in fat storms hopefully coating everything above 14,000', planting the seeds for the Maize that I hope to harvest. It would be harsh to travel so far to ski ice but I'm pretty optimistic.