After the low and icy snowpack in early 2012 the snow soon returned, heavily at times. The snowpack dramatically recovered. Linda and I enthusiastically resumed skiing the local backcountry ski trails.

This can be seen in the following graph of “snow water equivalent” in the snowpack at Three Creeks Meadow. Within a week the snow water equivalent tripled from 3 to 9 inches. The snow water equivalent then plateaued until March. Then it started a steady increase until it met and surpassed the 30-year average.

This pattern of alternating local winter drought and storm is not uncommon. Often one is tempted to extrapolate from late autumn conditions to the rest of the ski season. But this has proven to be unreliable.

When the snowpack recovered Linda and I returned with friends to ski the local backcountry trails. In the photo above Linda prepares for a fun and challenging descent on powder through forest off the Vista Butte summit as snow from the next storm begins to fall.

We skied many times through the winter, backcountry skiing on local trails and skating at the Mount Bachelor Nordic Center. This winter was cooler than average and seemed cloudier than most. We are now eager to resume bicycling and hiking in sunnier and warmer conditions.