Welcome to winter 2010-2011!  With the recent weather pattern change, snow is in the air in the mountains… and the skiing/boarding season is not far off.  My “Powder Alert” e-mails are soon to resume!

You’ve probably heard that this is expected to be a “La Niña” winter.   La Niña (the opposite of El Niño) is a semi-regular phenomenon characterized by colder-than-usual water and stronger-than-usual winds in/over the Pacific Ocean near the equator.   These ocean temperature and wind pattern changes affect weather patterns throughout the United States and the world.  And this season’s developing La Niña looks to be a strong one, as the transition from last winter’s El Niño to the current La Niña has been incredibly swift.  (The suddenness and intensity is nearly unprecedented.)

In the Pacific Northwest, La Niña historically delivers the snow goods!  The Pacific storm track is often directly aimed at Oregon during La Niña winters, meaning that the mountains get blasted with frequent and significant snow storms.  Above-average snowfall and a lower-than-average freezing level are typical results.  In fact, of the nine strong La Nina winters on record since 1952, not a single one featured below-average snowfall! 

To predict how snowy this winter might be, we must look to the past to find seasons where the atmospheric/oceanic conditions & trends were similar to what we’re seeing right now.  Here are four of these similar-looking La Niña years and the resulting snow situation at Government Camp in the Oregon Cascades:

1970-1971 Huge snow-winter… 57% more than average.  Strong start in November, and it just kept going…
1973-1974 Biggest snow-winter on record… 79% more than average.  Huge November, and it just kept going…
1988-1989 Big snow-winter… 22% more than average.  Big in November and January, average otherwise
2007-2008 Huge snow winter… 55% more than average.  Normal November, then huge in December/January

(Thanks to George Taylor, former Oregon state climatologist and current CEO of Applied Climate Services LLC, for researching and identifying the similar-looking La Niña years.)

Several of the winters identified above are among the snowiest winters on record.  So… it’s a good bet that mother nature will deliver LOTS OF POWDER THIS WINTER to the mountains of Oregon!  But does this mean the skiing/boarding season will begin early and soon?  That’s hard to say, but the recent weather pattern change is a really good sign.

As we wait for the lifts to start turning, I encourage you to check out the newly-upgraded www.skioregon.org website for the latest news about Oregon’s ski areas and their opening dates.   In the meantime, wax your boards, get your gear organized, and keep checking your e-mail.  My first “Powder Alert” could hit your inbox anytime now!

Keep thinking snow,

Drew Jackson
Ski Oregon Meteorologist
www.skioregon.org

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Mount Bachelor
Monday, December 28, 2009

Mount Bachelor and I go way back. I’ve skied there dozens of times dating back to the 1980s, a time before there were high-speed quads and when the old summit triple chair was brand new. While not a bona fide “local”, I know my way around Mount Bachelor quite well.

The weather was nice during my most recent visit. With the sky staying partly cloudy and temperatures in the 20s, it was a comfortable day for “fair weather” skiers. Being a holiday week, and with decent weather, Mount Bachelor did big business this day. But one of the many things I like about Mount Bachelor is that, even on its busiest days, there are numerous places on the mountain where one can escape the masses.

I was ready to board the Pine Marten lift right at the 9:00am opening. I really like the groomed runs in the Pine Marten lift pod – Thunderbird, Coffee and West Boundary are pitched just right for smooth and fast cruising. On busy days, I suggest carving down these cruisers either early or not at all, as they tend to get skied-out quickly. Furthermore, with the Pine Marten liftline maize getting jammed by 10:00am, you’ll want to be elsewhere on the mountain within an hour of the mountain’s opening.

Throughout the morning, I gradually moved west into the Outback and Northwest territories. I primarily skied the groomed runs, as the perfect corduroy wasn’t going to last much longer. (Off the groomed, the variable snow ranged from pleasant packed powder to small moguls and scattered slippery spots. It could wait until later to be skied, as it wasn’t going to change much during the day.) I was delighted to see that one of my all-time favorite cruisers – Snapshot Alley to Atkeson’s Zoom off of the Northwest Express lift – was groomed top to bottom. It starts steep, so sharp edges are a must. After the initial plunge, the run dips, drops, meanders and gradually shallows through the forest for nearly two miles. Even with the smoothest snow, it’s a challenge to ski it top-to-bottom without pause. Other fun cruisers included Osprey Way (after an initial mogul-dotted plunge) and Boomerang, a run that drops beneath the Outback lift. I should note that, while the Outback Express quad developed some minor crowding later in the morning, I never once waited to board the Northwest Express lift. And this was one of the busiest days of the season.

After lunch, it was time to experience the Mount Bachelor summit. Grooming machines weren’t yet able to reach the summit due to the still-shallow early-seasons snow base, so the terrain in all directions off the top was left to nature and skiers/boarders to shape. The normally-groomed front-side summit runs were the best… Beverly Hills and Healy Heights featured pleasant packed powder with only a few icy patches. There was plenty of snow; I never hit bottom. One of my other favorite Mount Bachelor runs – Cow’s Face down into the Rainbow bowls – was variable. I encountered small moguls, packed powder, icy patches and even some untracked powder on my way down to the catchline that leads back to the Sunrise & Rainbow lifts. Each day I ski, I typically make at least one poor choice of descents… and on this day, it was skiing from the Bachelor summit down the West Ridge towards the top of the Northwest quad. For 1,000 vertical-feet, it was an even mix of ice and wind-packed chop. Not pleasant. But then I hit my favorite Snapshot-to-Zoom screamer down to the bottom of the Northwest quad, so all was well.

By 2:00pm, my legs were failing me. Not ready to quit just yet, I decided it was best to stick with some groomed runs for the rest of the day. Fortunately for me, the masses’ legs must’ve failed them as well. The crowd thinned considerably in the afternoon. Some of the shallower groomed cruisers (Flying Dutchman & I-5) off of the Rainbow chair were still in good shape – I’ve found that those runs are usually good late-day options as they are don’t receive that many guests.

After 25 runs and probably 40,000 vertical-feet skied, I called it a day at 3:30pm. Add this day to my list of great days at Mount Bachelor. In hindsight, I am surprised at how easy it was to avoid the crowds on this very busy day. The secret is to realize that the Pine Marten and Sunrise quads are going to be jammed between 10:00am and 2:00pm. But the Red & Rainbow chairs, respectively, provide no-wait alternatives. And if Outback gets busy, the Northwest lift almost never has a line… and it accesses all of Outback’s terrain. The only spot on the mountain where crowds are unavoidable during the busiest midday hours is the Skyliner Express lift, as there’s no alternative way up in that pod. Avoid that area during the busy midday period if you’re uncomfortable with a wait to board the lift. Otherwise, with smart decision-making, it’s easy to experience Mount Bachelor without waiting in liftlines, even on the busiest days.

Lastly, a note about the way Mount Bachelor prices its lift tickets. The ski area is drawing national attention for its innovative daily lift ticket pricing model introduced this season. Instead of a fixed daily price, Bachelor management personnel determine the rate each afternoon (for the next day) depending on the expected weather and snow conditions. The price can be $49, $59 or $69. At the $69 rate, it’s the most expensive lift ticket in Oregon. But considering that the ski area is the 6th largest in the USA, and resorts of comparable and lesser size in California, Colorado, Vermont and Utah now charge more than $80 for a daily lift ticket for what might be a lesser product, Mount Bachelor is still a relative bargain. You get what you pay for at Mount Bachelor… it’s worth the price.

Living in the Portland area, the Mount Hood resorts are conveniently close. Not surprisingly, that’s where I ski the most. Each area has its own character, and there is so much variety amongst all the open terrain. But at least once a season, I try to get away from the Portland area so that I can experience what some of the other Oregon ski areas have to offer. Recently, I traveled to Central Oregon… and I was able to sample Hoodoo, Mount Bachelor and, for the first time, Willamette Pass.

Willamette Pass
Sunday, December 27, 2009

My “base camp” for this central Oregon ski trip was my parents’ home in Bend. From there, Willamette Pass is an easy 1-hour and 15-minute drive. The base of the ski area is right at the summit of Highway 58, and at 5,100 feet, Willamette Pass is one of the higher Cascade passes.

Being the Sunday after Christmas, I was prepared to battle the holiday crowd. My concern was unfounded – I skied nearly 20 runs, and on all but two of them, I skied right up to the chair and boarded as a single. Lift-line mazes weren’t even set up. If this is what it was like during the Christmas holiday “peak” period, I can’t imagine how quiet the place must be on a regular midweek day!

Willamette Pass is much larger ski area than it appears to be when initially looking up the mountain from the base. Only the wide Success and By George top-to-bottom run is easily-seen from the parking lot. The other 500 acres of terrain you can’t easily see – and that terrain can be divided into three zones: The lower front side, the upper front side, and the backside.

Served by the Twilight triple chair, the lower front side is where the most of the beginner and intermediate runs are clustered. Aside from the wide-open cruiser By George, most of the runs are narrow and tree-lined. This is helpful, because this area is south-facing and can suffer from excessive sun exposure. The snow doesn’t get particularly deep here, but it doesn’t need to get deep. Even with the meager 15-20” base when I was there, these runs were well-covered with groomed corduroy snow (thanks in part to the snowmaking machines scattered around this pod). The intermediate runs have a perfect blue-square pitch – steep enough to allow for some speed, yet not steep enough to be intimidating to the average immediate rider. For beginners and novices, there are several green-circle trails here that round the western edge of the ski area. These runs are a natural next-step from the Sleep Hollow first-timer area, a well-placed & isolated learn-to-ski/board zone near the lodge.

The upper front side is accessed by the Eagle Peak Accelerator, Oregon’s only high-speed six-passenger chairlift. It climbs 1,500 vertical-feet from the base to the 6,666-foot summit of Eagle Peak in just a little more than 5-minutes. The final push to the top is one of the steepest climbs of any chair in the state. In fact, a run (named “RTS”) that drops off the west side of the Eagle Peak summit is the steepest in-bounds run in Oregon. Other drops from the summit aren’t quite as steep, but their black-diamond label is well-deserved. Unfortunately, most of these steep runs are south-facing – which means that they can be excellent when the snow is new, but rotten with just a minimum amount of sun exposure. Intermediates can drop from the top to the bottom along the Rosary and Perseverance trails. But unlike the nicely-pitched blue-square cruisers on the lower front side, these long summit-to-base trails are narrow cat-tracks for most of the route. They serve their purpose of providing an intermediate route to the base, but they’re not ideal for lapping or cruising.

From the top of Eagle Peak, straight off the back side is the trail network of Peak 2. This north-facing pod is like a different ski area. The day I visited, the difference was especially noticeable. While the front side featured partial sun and hard-packed snow, fog & low clouds socked in the north side and light snow intermittently fell. The snowpack was much deeper, and the powder & packed-powder was light & fluffy in the absence of any sun exposure. The Peak 2 lift, a triple chair rising 800 vertical-feet, accesses the seven blue-square and black-diamond runs in this area. I spent nearly two hours back there, having fun on the cut trails and in the trees. Whereas the snow base at the front-side was less than two feet deep, the snow depth on the Peak 2 back-side was easily double that.

My ski day lasted nearly five hours at Willamette Pass. Having never skied there before, I didn’t know exactly what to expect upon arrival. (One can only learn so much about an area from looking at the trail map!) With no lift lines even on peak days, a speedy base-to-summit express lift, a wide variety of terrain for all ability levels (including some of the steepest runs in Oregon), a spacious yet cozy base lodge, and very reasonable lift ticket & food/beverage prices, Willamette Pass rocks! I highly recommend that you give it a try sometime. I doubt you’ll be disappointed. Those of you who are regulars there – you know what the others are missing. And now I know too!