The White Room

Kris and I got into the mountains again on Sunday. We spent about two and a half hours cross country skiing. Since we had just had over a foot of fresh snow we got to explore a lot more of the trails. It was beautiful out there. The snow was still falling and everything was covered with a foot of powder! Only problem we can see is that our xc area shares space with a lot of snowmobiles. I'm not too fond of the machines, they make too much noise and the people who ride them are normally dangerous as hell! We came across one sitting in the trail, flipped over with nobody around it...strange. Tony and I went out to Bachelor yesterday to hike the cone again. Another foot plus of fresh. As we started boot packing up through the trail we noticed just exactly how much snow we have. We both plunged up to our waists in powder numerous times. The first hike up must have taken around 45 minutes. It was snowy and cold (10 degrees, maybe less) at the top. We pulled our snowboards off and strapped in.
Tony went first and I followed a ways behind him. My first turns were met with light and fluffy powder that seemed to have no bottom. On the third turn I cranked the board hard over on my heel side and a plume of snow went up and over my head. I couldn't see. I was still moving fast but had no idea where to. I dug another turn, this time toe side and launched out of the powder cloud. Amazing, I just had my first face shot. At this point I was hooping and hollering as loud as I could as I slashed turns down the face of the dome. Before we shot down into the trees we stopped to catch our breath and laugh our faces off. I stopped and accidentally sat down. The snow was far too deep to touch the ground with my arms, I didn't make that mistake again.

The trees were filled in nicely so Tony and I put our mark in the fresh snow there as well. We got to the bottom and shouldered our boards for another lap. The second time was even better than the first. We both sped down the mountain throwing fountains of snow in all directions. This time we picked a longer route through the trees and came out lower on the mountain. At the bottom we quickly decided on a third run. My legs had all they could do to carry me back up to the top. More and more people had shown up as well.

We let everyone drop in first to make sure we had the dome all to ourselves. As we started charging big turns down the mountain we noticed a head and shoulders sticking out of the snow. Farther down the hill three skiers were stationary and peering in our direction. Apparently their friend had fallen and basically buried himself in snow. Tony and I swept past the buried man, carved huge turns uphill of the other three and then dropped into the woods without so much as slowing.

At the bottom of the mountain we congratulated each other with a fist bump and headed off to see Tony's girlfriend Kaitlin at the rental department. I picked up my pass paperwork and found out that Kristen, as my wife, can get a half off pass this winter as well (great news). Opening day is today, but we can't get our passes until both of us can head up there. Tomorrow perhaps, I'm dying to get more vertical in!

Total snowfall for this season is 96"!

Bend And Beyond

Well at this point we've been in Bend for around three weeks. We did finally get into our own apartment on the 2nd of November and it has been great. Getting back into a routine has been really nice. Bend is a neat "little" town and we've met quite a few new friends. Here's a pic of our Halloween celebration for those who haven't yet seen them on Kristen's facebook. Bunch of weirdos eh?

The day after Halloween Kris and I headed up to the Great Pumpkin Factory north of Bend to see some good old fall stuff. It was cool as hell. They had a corn maze, all kinds of weird pumpkins, and a air cannon that shot pumpkins at like 90mph. All in all it was a good afternoon, just wished they had more apple cider to sell me... Below you'll see my lovely wife in her fall finest.

We've been exploring the mountains lately too. There was a big snowstorm that hit the week we arrived in Bend. The pic below is from Tumalo Mt. after that first snow. It was around 50 degrees and sunny that day. Enough snow that we couldn't find the trail since we were not familiar with it. Was fun to just hike around in the snow though. Quite a few people were skinning up, or hiking up to ski / snowboard down. It's obvious to me that I'm going to need some new equipment to access the terrain all the locals hit. You can see Bachelor in the background looking dominant!

Tony (our roomate) finally arrived and he and I got out into the mountains with our equipment last week. The pic below is what we hiked (red lines) and skied (blue lines). We started up to the dome, a local favorite, which is attached to the mountain but not accessible by the lift. It was around a 45 minute hike up in our boots. The weather that day (not pictured) was great. Sunny and in the mid 50s. At points when I was going up I was in a t-shirt. The first run down was good, but Tony and I hit a few rocks, sticks and other stuff due to the lack of equipment. Once we were done our first run we were on our way back up when we met a local who knew the mountain. He was on his way up the mountain higher so we tagged along and hiked up to the mid-mountain area and then skied down. This was a nicer run due to the lack of traffic on the runs. All in all it was a sick day and I can't wait to get out again.

Yesterday I was by myself so I decided to hike Tumalo again. These last two pics are from yesterday. It was slightly overcast, cold and windy. Once I got above treeline I was astounded at the wind here. Tumalo stands at 7,775 ft so it's getting up there. On top the wind was howling and rime ice was blowing around like snow. I was there to inspect the backside bowl which the locals have been telling me about. I was excited by what I found. The pic below doesn't do it justice but it's a snowfield that must be around 45 degrees (maybe more?) and extends the entire width of Tumalo. It ends in an area with no exposure that is dotted with scrubby, little pines. Can't wait until it fills in, this is going to be a sick stash!

I had to get out of there after I grabbed the pics since the snow was like ice and I was in danger of being blown down the slope. The walk down was a lot warmer and the sun even started coming out.

So there you have it. As I sit here it's snowing in town which means it's more than likely dumping in the mountains. Bachelor is scheduled to open up next wednesday. I've got a free pass lined up for working at the mountain (rentals, not glamorous but we just want to ski!) and we will get Kris a mid-week pass to save a bunch of money. Now we just need to get fatter skis!

Hope everyone is doing well, drop me a line next time you get a chance. Scott I have your trail map, but I don't have an address. I'll get it from Cheryl or Nan. Talk to you soon!