Monday, March 24, 2014

Mt. Hood - Illumination Saddle and Triangle Moraine




Spring has arrived in Oregon (at least for the moment). And with it have come clear skies and warming temperatures. However, corn season is not yet upon us. Who knows...maybe we'll get a 100 inch April? We can only hope.

Anyway, I spent the past two weekends touring around Mt. Hood, exploring terrain I have often looked  at, but never skied. On 3/15 I toured over to Illumination Saddle with David and Jake. On 3/22 I skied the Triangle Moraine with Bob. Following are a trip reports for each hike.

In sum, skiing conditions on the upper mountain have not been optimal, especially for this time of year. However, were not far away from a corn cycle...but I wouldn't mind a few more powder days before putting the summers wax on my powder boards.



3/15/14--Illumination Saddle 



It was dark when we got to the Timberline parking lot and despite forecasts for clear skies, it was cloudy. We were on the snow by around 6:30 a.m., and at the top of Palmer by around 8:00. We expected variable snow, and that's what we found. There was a West wind howling. We traversed across the Zig Zag Glacier toward Illumination Rock. We were initially concerned about ice fall, given the forecasted warming temperatures. However, the wind, persistent cloud cover, and cold snow, creates a small possibility of ice fall. We hung out on Illumination Saddle for, enjoying views of Mt. St. Helens to the North. After a snack we headed back towards Palmer. The off-piste  terrain was wind swept and icy, with less-than-optimal riding conditions. Sastrugi formations covered much of the snow surface. Where there was no sastrugi, sheet ice, likely the result of recent upper elevation rains, was the predominant snow surface. However, where they had groomed on the Palmer snowfield had filled in with windblown snow, and it skied almost like powder. We enjoyed some surprisingly soft turns on the way down. 

3/22 - Zig Zag Glacier and Triangle Moraine 



This past weekend, forecasts were calling for spring skiing conditions. And this time the forecasters delivered. Bob and I got on the snow a little before 7, and we were greated by sunny skies, and a very gentle breeze. This was Bob's first time on a split board, and despite the natural learning curve, he was able to move well on the snow. Bob is one of the only snowboarders I know who can keep up with me on the downhill, so I have been pressuring him for a long time to get a split board setup. I think our tour out to Zig Zag Glacier got him well on his way.


We hiked out to the top of Palmer along the standard climber's route. It become obvious as we were hiking that despite some recent snowfall there would be little soft snow until the snow warmed up. We stopped a couple hundred feet above Palmer, and dug a bench to wait for the sun to do its work. Eventually the snow softened, and we stepped into our skis/boards for a descent to the mouth of Zig Zag canyon, and then a traverse back into the Timberline ski area. Overall the snow was surprising good. While the snow surface remained hard packed and icy overall, there were pockets of wind deposited snow that mad for some great turns.

Currently the snow on the upper mountain is in a weird transition area. No longer mid-winter powder, but not yet on a corn cycle. I don't know what the snow is like on the lower mountain, but I would guess at this point, it's probable gone through a few freeze-thaw cycles of its own. I'm not quite ready to ski corn in March, but I do hope the mountain makes up its mind and gives us some reliable skiing conditions...this winter has been a total crap-shoot so far.

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