Zack Jessel carving turns high above Oregon.
Pacific Northwest is seeing little of its characteristic early season snow this fall (a far cry from last fall). Over the past few weekends I’ve tried skiing Washington backcountry a few times with minimal success. First I found a sub 1 foot snowpack at Twin Lakes, and then attempted to ski on a windblown ice skating rink at Heliotrope Ridge.
Someone smarter than me would opt to rock climb until we got a good dump. I’ve got faith in early season pow so when Adam asked me if I wanted to head down to Mt. Hood, where a storm recently dropped some snow, I readily agreed.
The storm dumped lots of snow but also came in with wind, so we didn’t find the fluffy face-shots of our dreams. What we got was soft(ish) snow combined with a bunch of new friends and excellent views in a new place which made for a stellar weekend trip. Check out the photos below:
Dod heading down good snow on our first run of the trip.
The Posse — 10 skiers escaped cold-dry Washington to steal some of Oregon’s pow.
Ten dollars, 2,000 calories, and 1 pound of incredible snickery goodness. All other trail snacks are now irrelevant.
There are few things better than hanging out with new friends after a day skiing.
Morning in the encampment. 3 tents, 2 cars, 1 tricked-out Sprinter, and 1 truck-bed mounted tiny house.
Hiking up with Mt. Jefferson and the Three Sisters in the background.
Zack skiing decent snow (over some gritty, hard ice)
Dod slaying the last run of the day.
Louie Dawson earned his Bachelor Degree in Industrial Design from Western Washington University in 2014. When he’s not skiing Mount Baker or somewhere equally as snowy, he’s thinking about new products to make ski mountaineering more fun and safe.