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| Hemlock Butte Cabin |
On this particular trip, snowpack was a significant concern. Southern Oregon has suffered a miserable winter, with many areas holding less than 50% of their regular snowpack. However, in the two weeks leading up to our trip, the weather patterns changed, dropping around 40 inches of snow in a very short period. The combination of significant snowfall, variable temperatures, and high winds lead us to be pretty nervous in our preparation for this trip. Avalanches are always a risk in the backcountry, but this weekend the risk seemed considerable. We developed a plan that focused on conservative route selection and low-angle skiing in order to mitigate the risks of what we expected to be an unstable snowpack.
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| The group, assembled in the cabin on the first night |
There were 11 of us who came together to make this trip happen, hailing from all parts of Oregon, including Portland, Eugene, Bend, and Medford. We traveled from our separate locations on Friday afternoon, eventually convening at the Hemlock Butte Cabin, three miles into the backcountry, and right at the base of the SE ridge of Mt. Bailey. We hauled in a total of four pulks worth of food, gear, and beer. All the makings for an epic weekend.
I arrived in the snowpark with David and Jake at around 6:00pm Friday evening. Jake and I had started up in Portland, and we picked up David in Eugene along the way. We arrived in the Three Lakes sno-park just as Alex, Ruby, and Kate were beginning their trudge out to the cabin. The air felt warm and humid in the sno-park, with temperatures hovering right around freezing.
David, Jake and I loaded our packs and the pulk, and began our own trudge to the cabin. As we hiked, a spring squall moved in, and began dropping warm snow in large, heavy flakes. It took us around two hours to reach the hut. But when we did, we were welcomed by the rest of our crew, and the smell of Sather's Chili Colorado simmering on the stove. We ate a lot, drank just enough, and passed out way too late. It was the great beginning to our weekend in the snow.
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| Sather taking stock of the East Bowl from the SE ridge |
We woke up the next morning, and after a breakfast of breakfast burritos and Folgers instant coffee, the group assembled to begin our ascent of Mt. Bailey. Air temperatures had remained below freezing throughout the night, an we awoke to three inches of new snow, with more snow falling as we ate. We struck out together, setting a skin track up Mt. Bailey's SE ridge. For the most part, the ridge is less than 30 degrees, and offers a safe and straightforward ascent to the upper mountain. As we ascended, the sun broke through the clouds, and we could feel the snow on the East facing slope begin to warm. Wanting to get a run in before the East face got too sun baked, the Jareds (we had two of them on this trip), Jake, Sather, and I made a quick lap from the treeline down to the skin track a few hundred feet below. The snow was heavy, and there was a sun crust buried around 6-8 inches below the surface. But overall, the skiing was quite good. After the short descent, we reapplied our skins and hustled to catch up with the rest of the group
As we reached the top of the ridge, the weather changed again, this time leaving us in a windy, cold whiteout. The group reassembled on the ridge above the South bowl, and there we contemplated our options. We decided to split up into two groups to facilitate more efficient communication, and to satisfy peoples terrain interests and tour lengths. I broke off with Jake, Gordy, and Sather, and we developed a plan to circumnavigate Mt. Bailey. Pete, David, and the Jareds opted to lap the low to moderate angle SW ridge.
As we descended the top of the SW ridge, visibility was terrible. We skied by brail for the first couple hundred vertical feet until we finally reached the tree line. The snow was stable beneath our skis, likely due to the warming trend that had a occurred shortly before our trip. As we reach tree line, we decided to traverse West, and drop into the lower slopes of the West Bowl. When we did, we found the coldest, driest snow we would find all day. We skied the steep upper portion of the bowl one at a time, regrouping in safe zones to plot our next move. Eventually, the terrain mellowed out, and we simo-skied the open trees at the base of Mt. Bailey's West Slope. When we reached around 6500 ft, the slope ran out, and we decided to begin our ascent of the NW face.
We started out our second climb feeling pretty good. However, the warm snow quickly began taking its toll. Despite our best efforts, our skins were glopping up worse than I had ever experienced before. At times I was hiking with nearly four inches of snow stuck to the bottoms of my skis...and estimated additional weight of 10 lbs per ski (even if it wasn't, it felt like it). Eventually, we emerged from the protection of the trees, and into the whiteout that veiled the top of the mountain. Snow and cloud blended together, leaving us with almost no concept of where we were, how fast we were moving, or how far we had to go. We relied heavily on GPS navigation to eventually find the North shoulder of the mountain.
We eventually reached the shoulder, more or less stumbling upon it. Our plan was to ski the NW ridge back into the East Bowl. However, as we stood on the shoulder preparing for the descent, we could see no landmarks to give us guidance. We began a slow traverse along the shoulder hoping to eventually find an indication that we were on the right ridge line. Eventually we traversed by an rocky outcropping that I vaguely remembered from the year before. I took an educated guess that we were above the ridge. I skied first, slowly picking my way through the whiteout conditions.
I reached tree line, found a safe spot, and waited for the rest of the group to find me. Visibility improved dramatically below tree line. We regrouped and skied down the ridge until we came to a good place to drop into the East bowl. We had followed conservative routes for most of the day, finding nothing but bomb-proof stability. As we assessed our entrance into the East Bowl, we felt comfortable dropping into some steeper terrain. We skied one at a time through the beautifully steep, loosely treed slope. Though the snow was heavy, the riding conditions were fantastic. We finally regrouped in the old slide path that sits at the bottom of the bowl, and slowly traversed across the lower flanks of the mountain toward the cabin.
We finally reached the cabin at around 5:00pm, wet, tired and ready for dinner. Luckily, by the time we arrived, dinner was not far away. The other group and made two excellent laps on the SW ridge, and returned to the cabin a few hours before we did. While the first night was a boisterous affair, the second night was silent as the group collectively struggled to wait until dark before crawling into our sleeping bags.
We awoke the next morning to a light, intermittent rain. Without much discussion, we agreed that the skiing conditions were probably not worth the effort. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and packed up our gear for the gradual descent back to our cars. Overall, a spectacular weekend with great people... and despite our initial concerns, we enjoyed a solid and safe snowpack.
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| A map of our route: Red = Up; Blue = Down |
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