By Ken Kruger
We finally had the right combination of weather and availability; between my sons’ ski lessons and daughters’ soccer I’ve had a tough time getting weekends free. But the wait paid off as the weather forecast called for clear skies, no wind and a 10,000 ft. freezing level.
Sam Carpenter, James Childre and I met at the Bachelor Park & Ride at 1:00 am Saturday morning. We wanted to get an early start to avoid both the weekend crowds and soft, potentially hazardous snow on the descent. We would all be trying our first ski descent and were looking forward to a good climb and fast ride down.
We left the Wy’East lodge at 3:30 am after registering and found that there were already many, many parties on the hill. I guess they all had the same idea as us.
Although James was lugging his alpine gear (he can do that because he’s still a young buck!) it seemed he was always out in front of the older guys carrying AT skis as we made it to the top of Palmer at about 5:30 am. As predicted, the weather was perfect and the snow was firm; we witnessed a beautiful sunrise which James captured with his digital camera that was used frequently (see photos below). From the top of Palmer we veered to the east a bit and headed up the snowfield above Palmer to a point approximately equal in height to the top of Illumination Rock, about 9,500 ft., where I decided to ditch my skis. With the snow being so hard and choppy I figured I’d have a tough time using 167cm light-weight skis but James was bound and determined to carry his gear to the top and ski off the summit.
We donned crampons and ascended the stairway to the base of Crater Rock then traversed and ascended to the Hogsback where Sam ditched his skis. We were making good time as it was about 8:00 am so we were already planning where we were going to have lunch on our way back to Bend.
The conditions up to and through the Pearly Gates were great, certainly not requiring us to rope up (which is good because we opted not to carry one), the snow was quite firm and the steps were relatively well-defined.
We summited a little before 9:00 am, took the requisite summit photos, snacked a bit and headed back down. The views from the top were spectacular and the shadow of Mt. Hood loomed large across the countryside! Sam and I booked on down to the Hogsback so we could watch James ski off the top which he did in fine form. (Our warnings of imminent danger should he fall in the Gates were dismissed outright – oh to be young again!).
I continued down to my skis while Sam retrieved his and James whooped it up. The skiing was a bit rough and I’m not sure if it was age, thigh fatigue or actually the conditions; regardless, I was happy to get down to the groomed slopes of Palmer where the ski to the lodge was excellent! We made it down in about 1 ˝ hours and vowed never again to descend on foot!
Click here for photos from the day.