Mt Hood, OR. Summer Ski Camps, June 9, 2013
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Mt Hood, OR. Summer Ski Camps, June 9, 2013
 
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Mt Hood, Or has been on my unwritten "bucket list" for about 10 yrs. This summer, I checked the box. As you read on, you will see why I will likely continuing to check that same box for a few more years to come. We had a blast! I have been to Washington several times, but never made it down to Or. Mistake. I now believe it is the better State to visit if going to the Pac NW area. People, weather, scenery, prices, people, people, people. Some of the friendliest people in the country, and I have been to many States to compare. We flew into Portland and while Hood was only 90 minutes away, we wanted to go to Mt St Helen's first. (1.5 hrs North in Washington). NOTE: We lucked out by asking a local which way would be best to approach the mountain, thank God. The GPS directed us on the roads to the east first then north. Locals advised go north, then east. No roads connect the two routes. Johnson's ridge view and tourist center (where the name sake geologist was stationed) along with the two other visitor centers enroute, are located on this trek. No formal such centers that I know of on the alternative trek. If you come...this is a must.
 On the way to Hood Camp, we stopped by several waterfalls...some extended over 700 feet. No photos because the boy left the cell phone in the car, at each one. There are likely 4-5 nice falls that can be easily hiked within a mile or two of the main highway. Each is awesome on it's own and if anywhere else would be worth climing to see every one. But as there were so many in a row, once you have hiked and seen two...you have seen them all, so to speak. The highway runs along the Columbia River. Lots of signs talking about the "Columbia River Gorge", so we planned to spend the night in the Dalles (pronounced DALZ) Never found a "gorge" per se. Locals say.....the gorge is the river valley, not like what us easterner's might think of a gorge. Just a wide bank river that was cut between two mountains. There used to be rapids in Dalles, but a dam took care of that. The towns of "Hood River" and Dalles are known for windsurfing in the gorge. The parking lots and river were packed on the weekend. Kite surfers are a blast to watch, I will have to try this. These towns are on the North East side of Hood...so they have a desert climate. When there was daily rain at Hood's base, it was sunny and warm here. Orchards, farms, wineries (more than 100) mark this region. SKI CAMP. So we arrive at our advance camp meeting Sunday night. Mt Hood Ski Camps. We meet our trainers in a very informal session. You can switch focus at any time. I signed up for moguls and jumps. My son, Lange, was racing. He was officially too young for camp so we stayed at the Best Western in a town called Goverment Camp--"Govy" as the locals call it, about 5 miles from Timberline Ski base lodge. There are 4 independent ski areas on Mt Hood. Timberline is the only one that operates year round. I meet Darren, my coach and fellow skiers; a 10 and 14 yr old. Nice small group! I am relieved as I thought I would be holding the group back being out of ski shape for about 4 weeks. I then meet Lange's coach, Jackie. She too is cool and has a small group of 4, Lange newly 8, a 10 and two 12 yr olds. I am asked to ski with her for the morning session just in case Lange can't hang or meld with the group. I get it. Camp manager Mike gives the requisite speech. Three important things to remember. Water, drink lots of it. Rocks--don't ski over them, they are attached to much bigger rocks underneath, they don't move and you will stop. Sunscreen--apply lots and often, even in your nose. Reflecting sun at 10k elevation burns. Oh yeah, have fun. We will! Camp has training tramps....awesome.  5:30am alarm rings. We get lift tickets at 6:50, lift opens at 7. Blue bird day, about 25 degrees. Coaches advise to take a few free runs and meet the group in certain lanes at the top which is two lift rides up, both HS Quads, nice. First is call the mile, because it's that long. From what I understand the origional mile lift was the 3rd in North America. It and the the Timberline Lodge were built in the depression era by the WPA. Timberline Lodge sits at the base of the mile lift. An awesome hotel used in the flyover scenes for the Jack Nickolson movie The Shining. Hotel tour, a must do; all natural materials found on the mountain by local untrained craftsmen who went on to craftsman style careers. Feels good to be on snow again, however this is my first time on hard pack, open groomers, with center mounted, twin tips. Very odd to say the least. I used these skis at Kmart on Superstar bumps to practice for this trip believing I would be in soft mushy bumps. This turns out to be a mistake. Not complaining, but most of our bump skiing was on bullet proof where a stiff carver would have been the better tool. Two evenings had 100% humidity with 22 degree nights, can you say porcelain? It did get soft around 11 those days, but we were off snow by 1:00, mountain closed at 2:00. You could likely ski the top runs until 2:00pm but not the bottom. It was the stickiest snow I have ever been on. Darren advised its this way because of the accumulated dirt (its a glacier) over the years and the huge amounts of salt that are spread. I would describe the snow for the week as....Rock hard until 10, perfect butter from 10-11:30 then soft from 11:30 to 12:30. 12:30 on...dangerous because your tired and on equipment designed for hard snow. I think you would need pontoons (which I saw lots of in the park training group) and great daily wax to have fun after 1pm, especially if you go past July 1st.  Coach Jackie released me to my coach after she saw Lange hanging with his new friends and naturally click into his skis. This is a trick I use to assess students I don't know. You can easily tell someone with 100s of ski days under their belt. My group gathered at 8am, the groomer had just cut the bumps (you can see the run kind of in the center of the above photo, terrain park is at the bottom right) so we tried scraping the edges to start forming our run for the week. Not much success as the day stayed cool and the groomer (who sucked) left major snow clods all over the run, which were frozen in place. We worked on the flats, also not well groomed. Guess the racers don't mind as their gates are set tight and they slip the course. Day 2 had a cloud ceiling at 9000 feet. Made for great photos. Skiing was very good, bumps were forming nice. Day 3, non-stop shear winds at 9,500 to top; maybe 40mph. Lange and I dressed for it. Full face mask (balacava) was required, small hail or light rain hit and froze to your face. Almost did not pack the balacava's, how much space do they take fool? "Pack them", I thought and was glad I did. The lodge store made a killing that day. We hung with our respective coaches all morning. Most kids dropped out one-by-one. Glad I took hand and feet warmers for Lange and made him wear them; I almost did not pack them thinking I was crazy for taking valuable space. Then I remembered, this is a mountain pack it fool! Over the course of the week, there were lots of climbers who started at the Timberline lodge. Several parties began to hike, all returned to base on this day. They never opened the Palmer lift (named for the Palmer Glacier, which we were skiing on) this day as there was zero visibility. By 11:00am, it began to spit and snow. Day 4 found blue skies and deep windblown in our troughs. NICE, we skied bumps till there was nothing left of our legs. Lost the 10 yr old at 10:30 as he was beat. He rocked bumps as a member of the Park City bump team, I think being alone at camp with no direction kept him up late, he was not eating (the right foods) and after all, it was day 4. The 14 yo just rocked, he is training to be a big mountain, extreem skier and lives at the base of Alyeska. Wow, this kid skis! Lange hung all day, some kids dropped out of his group. Racers normally left at 12:00 or earlier as the snow softened. Lange and his coach, Jackie, joined our group, yes! We were training on jumps at this time. I had a few nice side grabs, Lange perfected his 360s. This camp is really on your own as far as your desire to ski and be coached. The coaches are there to coach, not babysit or coerce you to ski. Each day we were videotaped at least 3 runs. Each day Lange asked to take a nap which lasted 90 or so minutes. I tried to time it to occur before our afternoon adventures or while driving. After skiing, we would have a video review session from 1:30-2pm. Members of the camp would then have a planned afternoon activity. Lange and I found our own fun. NOTE: While the weather is cooler in early June (good), the local fun spots are not open weekdays until the 3rd week of June. These include lift served mountain biking, zip lines, alpine slides, hampster balls, etc. If you go, consider this. Fortunately, we got to do these things Sunday before skiing started, a good accident in my trip planning. On weekdays, we went hiking close by, bowling, and shopping for twin tips...which Lange wanted to perfect his jumps... Govy is a good place to stay. Plenty of resturants, ski equipment stores (3) that ONLY sell race skis, LOL. Its about the size of main street North Creek. Best place to eat..Ratskeller, NOTE: If you like fresh brewed beer, Oregon is the place for you! Its very hard to get a domestic beer; many places only serve "their" beer, which I am not a fan of.  Day5--EPIC ski day, one for the memories. 4 inches of 22 degree powder at the top. Cloudless, as day 1 when Darren advised me it rarely snows in June....Stick with me! After a few bump runs, Darren asks sheepishly if we want to stop training and traverse over to the zig-zag glacier. " It snowed, we can get freshies!" Racers and their coaches (95% of the people skiing at this camp) don't think this way! YES. I think he was chomping at the bit. Combined YES! It is always fun skiing out of bounds...but the scenery here was awesome, new views of the caldera, hikers going for summit, deep, steep, snow filled canyons with rock ledges, 200 foot cliffs. The kind of area where you know you will be lost if you dont follow your guide. Amazing experience on my senses, all of them. This is the day I dont charge my phone! No photos, but views engrained in my brain. After a 10 minute fast moving traverse skier's right of the Palmer area, we arrive at a 400+- yard snow field. We were first! About 25 degree pitch. Darren goes first to direct our group, I volunteer to clean up. Fast open turns in ankle deep wipped cream! A slight right and we arrive at a wind lipped canyon..from 3 to 15 feet drop into a 40 degree slope. Darren goes first to check the lip and landing. I clean up again. The 14 yr old goes big and does a nice two leg side grab. The 10 yr old held his own around 5 feet. I take it skiing and drop off around 10 feet. We then hike and travere to another wind lip, slighly smaller. Then a 300 yd snow field and high traverse back to the base of the Palmer. After a few more mogul runs, I ask about round 2. Its so much more fun the second time around, my drop off nerves were gone knowing the landing was safe and deep. By then the snow was slower which made traversing hard if not impossible for our tired 10 yo. I sat to wait on him, as I was thinking how awesome it would be for Lange to have been with us--yet aprehensive that he would not be able to drop over the wind lip, WHO passes me? Lange and his coach! Smiling ear to ear, I ask, did you just drop the wind lips? "Yes, that was our third lap!" I ask Jackie where he dropped in...."the biggest air, she says, and he did his grab". She said when the other 3 kids in her group drop out because they were tired early, she opted to make the trek. Naps paid off! It then hit me that my son now skis better than me. I won't tell him, but I know it. He joins our group for 2 hours of bump and jump training. At 1:00pm our coaches call it a day and my group heads home. Lange and I stay at the top, taking in the sun, enjoy a relaxing lunch discussing how lucky we are in life and make plans to come back next year. We had a gatoraide toast to our birthdays (June 16 and 19th) as well as Father's day, I poured a bit into the snow pack for my daugter Grace who will hopefully join us in a few years. We then packed our sacs and headed down. Sucessful and fun ski trip at Mt Hood.  Must do's Stay at "Edgefield" hotel sometime. We believe we may stay there (1 hour drive) if/when we go next time. The drive is easy in the after noon, but an extra hour may be tough in the morning. That said, the 7:00am start time is flexible. Remember, its up to you when you want to start your day skiing. Darren advised me to not even come up until 9am, unless I wanted--due to hard snow. Racers want to start at 7:00. This place has 4 resturants, a winery, brewery, par 3, 18 hole golf course, 75 yard long , 105 degree hot tub that snakes around perfectly landscaped grounds. Bands, fire pits, and outdoor concerts, it was cheaper than Best Western which gave a discount to skiers (BW had an indoor hot tub) It's is an old assylum also built by the WPA. The owners paid $7000 to to federal goverment for labor to build it in 1928....The place is huge. Lange loved the hot tub but was upset that there were no TVs or AC in the rooms.No bathrooms either. "Dad, what is a lavatory" "That's where we pee and shower" Located at the end of the hall. Really, all good. Most guests are walking around with mugs of beer or wine in white comfy robes or shorts without shoes. Each room is painted in a fresh design, some with historical stories, others telling funny stories depicting the "former resident's" flavor, such as "crazy cat lady" Or "lucky Joe" shown in a wheel chair with pretty nurses in his lap. It's located near Portand, in Sandy OR...you must stay!  Take an iron and wax. Base cleaner. OMG the dirt! Wash skis at home, post trip. Darren advised the salt will kill bindings. Take deep winter and summer ski clothes, we took "late winter" clothes (thinking 30s) and were ok, but cold two days, unless you go in July or August. Sunscreen--I used clear zinc. Lange argued with me one morning and pulled his neck back so I missed two small spots the size of a nickles. He never did that again! lesson was learned when his neck hit the hot water, think I may have seen tears. All the guides simply wore neck covers that went up to their chin, that with goggles only required sunscreen on their nose, lips and cheeks. Lips sunburn easily....dont forget spf 45 lip balm, PS...as you may know, it tastes like crap. So mints or gum are nice. If you take kid(s), set your alarm for night too! I poured a glass of the local pinot noir nightly and set it by the night stand, thinking I would let Lange fall asleep by 9:00pm (I closed the curtains as it was still light) and peacefully enjoy my wine, read email, work, (ha, lol) or watch some TV. Each morning, I poured my full glass of wine down the sink, because I never woke up; I may have been asleep before him. Guess that means I had a great trip! Again, I think it was the mandatory sleep that I made Lange get that kept him going beyond his young peers, staying at camp. That said, am sure the "camp experience" would also be just as cool for the kids..... If you send your kids alone, think color coded patches, marker etc. The rooms had about 8 kids in each bunk room. I peaked in a few rooms....can you say A-bomb? Its hard, and mandatory for us skiers to have 1) all of our, 2) dry clothes packed and ready to wear. The bus leaves camp at 630am. Kids must be very responsible to unpack wet clothes, get them dry and repacked. No one is going to help them, or remind them. This is another reason I think a few kids dropped out on the cold days. They may have been unprepared with missing or wet clothes. Lastly, be prepared to learn or be amazed at the level of commitment some parents have to see their kids succed in sport. WOW. Mt Hood camp is for serious skiers/boarders. But they still focus on having fun. Definitely recommend them. There are other camps where the kids really did not look happy. I think they were there because they were afraid to say "mom, dad, I dont like racing anymore" The one bad weather day (Day 3, normal for east coasters) the kids cheered like they won a million dollars when the coach said they were heading back to the lodge, never having put their boots on. All I thought was...I hope their parents dont find out they did not ski today....YIKES, God forbid. Initially worried about ski/equipment theft. Then realized while my stuff is all newer, their stuff is brand new, state of the art, performance wear. These kids have rich parents! If your considering going alone or with kids, or sending your kids alone. I would be happy to answer any questions. EMail me. Yes, I was the oldest person there, at 50. However there was a guy in his 30s and one in his 40s. Both stayed at camp and were in race. Seeing camp, I would stay in a hotel if I was going alone as an adult. Its likely cheaper and do you really want to play soccer or hang with kids you just skied with all morning? That said, both men, said they had a very nice time, one got his own room. Please know, while young, the kids at this camp generally are at the top of the game, they have been around adults, are fun, well behaived, and you will have fun, even if you are the only adult in your group. The instructors are monster professional and know how to handle diverse groups while keeping everyone happy and engaged. They also don't take crap and know how to handle situations. If your sending your kids alone, they will be safe and have fun. I promise. |
Re: Mt Hood, OR. Summer Ski Camps, June 9, 2013
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Re: Mt Hood, OR. Summer Ski Camps, June 9, 2013
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Re: Mt Hood, OR. Summer Ski Camps, June 9, 2013
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Re: Mt Hood, OR. Summer Ski Camps, June 9, 2013
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Re: Mt Hood, OR. Summer Ski Camps, June 9, 2013
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