Mt Bachelor in April?

I'm looking for a place to hit out west Easter week which is mid April in 17

Snowbird is of course an option but we have done that SLC trip several times in the past few years and I feel like exploring.  I considered WB but flights to Vancouver are really expensive.  SW has some cheap fares to Portland.

I skied Bachelor about 20 years ago when and it was in June so the terrian was limited.  Has anyone been there in winter or in particular April?  Some interesting TRs on Epicski said it was best in spring. It is on the Max pass and my son has a Copper pass from his camp he attends with Nysef so I could get him the upgrade.  

Bend I recall being a really cool town that wil beat Dowmtown SLC for sure.  I read there are 28 craft breweries in that county.

Tony Crocker rates Bachelor as a 5 (5 best of 1-5) for spring skiing on his Family Skiing webpage.  Snowbird and Mammoth are the other U.S. places he rates that high.  Should be plenty of lodging around between Bend and Sunriver.

http://www.bestsnow.net/fam_ski.htm

Bachelor is adding a lift on the lower mountain this summer.  My impression is that is consider good, especially for days when there is low visibility on the upper mountain.

https://liftblog.com/2016/04/21/mt-bachelor-announces-expansion-and-cloudchaser-detachable-quad/

From looking at the trail map and recalling my visit long ago I think that new lift will shorten ski out from the backside and add some nice tree skiing.

That section has been hike out forever.  I know becuase I missed the traverse and skied the trees all the way to the road and had to hike back to the lifts.  

I have friends who live in southern Oregon.  One of these days I'll get out there.  There are timeshare options in Sunriver that I bet are easy to get during late season.

Should keep that in mind when I get a MAX Pass for Big Sky.  Hmmm . . .

Bachelor is one of my favorite mountains..There are no Snowbird steeps or any radical terrain..But who cares, the place is huge and the skiing is a total blast..
Also Bend ,OR is the best ski town I have ever been too..I would move there tomorrow...

April should be stellar!!!

Never done Bachelor, tops out at 9K and in late April that could be a slush bowl. Looks like the top 1/3 is all open snow field with no protection from the sun. The bottom 2/3 would be more protected but getting down below 6K - think the bottom of snowbird in the afternoon. All this with thick pacific coast snow - I could be all wrong. Maybe learn how to snowboard first.

This trip report from a friend of mine who lives in DC is one reason I've been curious about Bachelor.  Jim Kenney has skied all over North America in the last couple decades.  Mostly driving trips with his son, who became one of the youngest to achieve PSIA-E Level 3 partially because he got a chance to ski so many big mountains while he was still in school.  Managed to find a great job in SLC in 2015, so Vince had a great time on weekends at Snowbird last season.  Jim was happier skiing with me on deep powder runs in late March because he can't keep up with his son any more.

http://www.epicski.com/a/mt-bachelor-a-pictorial

Note Tony Crocker's comment in Aug 2013:
"I personally like April there for improved weather odds plus amazing corn skiing from all aspects of the Summit by time of day. I set my vertical foot record of 50,200 at bachelor on April 7, 2012.

Nonetheless Mt. Bachelor is IMHO the most underrated large ski area in North America. I have also been personally lucky there with Summit open 19 of my 23 ski days. I was there 3 separate trips during the 2011-12 season when my home areas in California were having a tough year."

Tony is a data nut about snowfall and exposure.  His home mountain is Mammoth.  Provides a lot of the data for Zrankings.com .

Here is a nice analysis of spring skiing I found - might be useful: http://www.bestsnow.net/late01.htm

PeeTex wrote

Never done Bachelor, tops out at 9K and in late April that could be a slush bowl. Looks like the top 1/3 is all open snow field with no protection from the sun. The bottom 2/3 would be more protected but getting down below 6K - think the bottom of snowbird in the afternoon. All this with thick pacific coast snow - I could be all wrong. Maybe learn how to snowboard first.

Bachelor is on the  Eastern side of the Cascades..Top Spring Skiing destination in the lower 48...

PeeTex wrote

Here is a nice analysis of spring skiing I found - might be useful: http://www.bestsnow.net/late01.htm

bestsnow.com is Tony Crocker's website. :-)

Thanks for the info
Looks like I picked a good one for spring corn skiing.  I really enjoy good corn snow almost as much as powder becuase it's effortless skiing where pow can be a bit more tiring especially after it cruds up.

I booked on HHonors points at the Doubletree in Bend which are usually really nice hotels and it's supposed to be walking distance to all the downtown restaurants.  

My plan is a day visiting wineries on the way there driving in from the west to Bend.  Skiing 5 days then a day exploring Hood River or Portland for a day before flying home.  

Coach Z wrote

Thanks for the info
Looks like I picked a good one for spring corn skiing.  I really enjoy good corn snow almost as much as powder becuase it's effortless skiing where pow can be a bit more tiring especially after it cruds up.

I booked on HHonors points at the Doubletree in Bend which are usually really nice hotels and it's supposed to be walking distance to all the downtown restaurants.  

My plan is a day visiting wineries on the way there driving in from the west to Bend.  Skiing 5 days then a day exploring Hood River or Portland for a day before flying home.

Sounds like a good plan.  Are you going to week before Easter or the week after?

Looking forward to a trip report.

Many years ago I attended Mt Bachelor masters xc ski camp in June.  Bend is a really nice town.  If the alpine is anything like the xc, you'll want to be on the trails early.  We started at 7:30 AM, by 11 the trails were mushy.  Enjoy.

I've skied there in June as well
Talking two months earlier than that
It's a 360 degree cone so you follow the sun for the best corn