Question about Harts Mountain NWR OR

Soooo I have a six day "hall pass" in a couple of weeks and with my two partners having bailed on another trip I was mulling over a solo to someplace I had not been to.

Harts Mountain Antelope Refuge in southern/eastern OR

wondering if anybody has skied there, I have looked into it pretty well. Rolling mountain top rangeland with seemingly adequate snow coverage, Hot springs on top! and road access per the range manager I spoke to.........just casting my net out here

cheers
cw

Never skied Hart Mtn but used to hike and hunt chukars on the west face.  I always figured Hart Mtn did not receive enough snow for decent skiing, even though it's pretty tall but so dry.

If there isn't enough snow, head down to Steens Mountain to the south.  It's higher and people ski that.  A few years ago, we had a ski trip for Steens planned but it was foiled by sickness.

Eastern Oregon is awesome: lots of open space, wildlife, wilderness, not many people.  And, a lot of good backcountry skiing if you're creative, know what to look for and are willing to hoof it. And then there's Nevada...

If you ski Harts Mtn please post a TR.  Sounds interesting!

yes a touch on the dry side but the range manager states there is fair amount of snow on top.......not sure what that means as she does not ski,

just curious, if I go it will be for more than just the skiing

cw

I drove through Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge in Sept 2003, on my way from Crater Lake to Steens Mtn. I remember over 60+ miles of gravel/dirt road between Plush and Frenchglen, it would be hard to find that much in a single stretch between any two other towns in OR.

Looking SE as the road crossed the plateau, I noticed the spectacular conical mountain shown below, which sure looks like a volcano. I'm pretty certain that it is 7918 ft Beatys Butte, which is located just east of the Refuge on the Lake/Harney county line. My large geologic map of WA/OR volcanic centers shows it to be 10 million year old rhyolite, and a quick google search revealed that it is a source of obsidian (as many rhyolitic volcanoes are).

Here's a Topozone Map , which shows that the road on the plains below is at about 5300 ft. So there should be 2600+ vertical ft of nice open cruising if the snow is deep enough.

While you are serching that area. Look into the Strawberries. My buddy has done several ski trips into there. After reviewing his photos there looks to be one grand feature 'bowl thing" and fairly alpine looing.

good luck.

Pin

Mmmm.....Strawberries. I'd imagine that with all this precip in the past weeks that Strawberry Mtn is pretty ripe for the picking right now. At just over 9000 feet, it's got a lot of vert, but access could a little lengthy. I'd love to see any pictures of this area in the winter if anybody has made this tour.