Skiing Reports

Travel using skis, whether on backcountry slopes or trails or groomed alpine or Nordic trails.

More Snow – More Backcountry Skiing 2012

April 25, 2012 by Paul McClellan Leave a Comment

As I noted as a comment to my previous post about the low and icy snowpack it resumed snowing a few days after that post. It continued snowing, heavily at times, and the snowpack dramatically recovered.

This can be seen in the following graph of “snow water equivalent” in the snowpack at Three Creeks Meadow, not far from my home. Within a week the snow water equivalent tripled from 3 to 9 inches. The snow water equivalent then plateaued until March when it started a steady increase until it met and surpassed the 30-year average.

Snow Water Equivalent, Three Creeks Meadows (April 2012)

This pattern of alternating local winter drought and storm is not uncommon. Often one is tempted to extrapolate from late autumn conditions to the rest of the ski season, but this has proven to be unreliable.

Low Snowpack – More Skating

January 11, 2012 by Paul McClellan 1 Comment

So far this winter the Oregon Cascades have received little snow and what snowpack exists is getting thin and icy. We have skied on backcountry trails out of the Swampy Lakes SnoPark once, but the snow conditions continue to deteriorate as we wait for new snow. However, Linda and I were fortunate to have purchased Mount Bachelor Nordic season passes when they went on sale last fall and we have enjoyed skiing the groomed trails there many times already this season.

Over past years Linda and I have taken “skate skiing” lessons at Mount Bachelor. Lessons were essential for me to succeed at this activity, and even so I found skating to be exhausting and sometimes frustrating. But last season and this season we have been skating regularly with Nordic skiing friends, some of whom are quite experienced and even instructors, and I have gradually picked up some good tips from them that has made me a more efficient skate skier and the activity more fun for me.

Mount Bachelor Nordic Common Corridor

Typically the Mount Bachelor Nordic Center grooms its trails nightly, which keeps the trails from becoming too icy in our current weather pattern, and sometimes the area gets a dusting of new snow which also helps keep the trails in shape.

Swampy Lakes Skiing

July 15, 2011 by Paul McClellan Leave a Comment

Living in Bend, I have a lot of options for local backcountry skiing. Several Sno-Parks are nearby with a network of ski trails leading out from each.

My local favorite this past winter/spring was the Swampy Lakes Area. The Swampy Lakes Sno-Park located at 5800 feet in elevation and is just north of the Cascade Lakes Highway (Highway 46) about 16 miles from Bend. The higher elevation of the Swampy Lakes Area typically offers better snow conditions than Virginia Meissner Area, yet is better protected in stormy weather than areas higher and nearer Mount Bachelor. During weekends and holidays the Mount Bachelor highway traffic can be very heavy and it is helpful to get out of the traffic sooner than driving in traffic all the way to the Bachelor Nordic Center.

The only disadvantage of the Swampy Lakes Area is that it is closed to dogs. But Linda and I often take our dogs Joey and Chico with us to the nearby Wanoga Snow Play Area and ski with the dogs around a groomed ski trail.

Linda skiing up Vista Butte

My favorite trail combinations in the Swampy Lakes Area this past ski season were the Swede Ridge Loop, the Swampy-Flagline-Flagline Tie-Butte-Ridge-Beginner trail loop, and the out and back up Vista Butte via the Ridge and Butte trails. The Nordeen Loop was also fun, but that route can experience more traffic. One can combine some of these to make longer ski outings, as well.

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