Group Members: Rod Jacobson, Sue McGlynn, David Gratke, Glenn Troullier, Mike Casey and Dave Slavensky.
This outing was for those who wanted to brush up on their skills or try winter camping for the first time. We met at the Mt. Bachelor Park & Ride at 8:00 Saturday morning to carpool up to Dutchman Flat where we left the vehicles.
The group was made up of Rod Jacobson, Sue McGlynn, David Gratke, Glenn Troullier, Mike Casey and I. We combined gear to reduce our pack weights (Sue & Rod were only up for the day) so that we had two tents and three stoves between us.
We were lucky enough to find parking spots at the trailhead and started out around 10:00 am heading for the summit of Tumalo Mountain. Snow conditions were great with about 4” of fresh snow on top of a hard pack and the light clouds created a ceiling that provided wonderful views.
As we neared the summit, the snow shoe people (Rod, Mike & Sue) went up the East ridge while the skiers skirted the top and went along the West ridge. We met on the other side of the mountain and worked our way down to a tree protected meadow near the base of the north side of Tumalo.
Since we had plenty of daylight, we set up our tents and then proceeded to create a “kitchen” area complete with sitting and cooking areas. At the same time, Sue started digging a snow cave and eventually we all pitched in to finish it up. It turned out to be roomy and quiet inside the well constructed cave.
Now with still more daylight, the skiers (Glenn, David & Dave) decided to take a run on Tumalo. As we worked our way up, we found the bowl to be really wind blown as the wind was blowing about 35 mph. So, we ended up skiing the ridge back down to our camp and found some nice glades where the snow was perfect. We made a couple of laps on these lower slopes and then headed back to our camp. The camp area was in the trees and you could hardly tell the wind was blowing.
Sue & Rod put their packs together and headed out as the rest of us were putting dinner together. We started a fire to add to the camping pleasure and melted snow for the next day. We sat around the fire sipping whisky and telling stories until the chill drove us to retire for the evening.
David decided to sleep in the snow cave while the rest of us made our way to our tents for a comfortable night of sleep. In the morning, we were up around 7:00 to about 8” of fresh snow and more falling as we made breakfast. We broke camp after eating and loaded our packs.
We decided to make a loop around Tumalo back to the snow park and found some nice runs down through the trees. With the accurate GPS guidance from David, we ended up coming out almost on top of the parking area. Everyone had a great time and learned a few lessons.