Skiing Reports

Travel using skis, whether on backcountry slopes or trails or groomed alpine or Nordic trails.

Backcountry Skiing, Oregon, April 2012

April 25, 2012 by Paul McClellan Leave a Comment

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.

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Low Snow Skate Skiing, Oregon, January 2012

January 11, 2012 by Paul McClellan 1 Comment

So far this winter the Oregon Cascades have received little snow and what snowpack exists is getting thin and icy. We have skied on backcountry trails out of the Swampy Lakes SnoPark once. But the snow conditions continue to deteriorate as we wait for new snow.

Linda and I were fortunate to have purchased Mount Bachelor Nordic season passes when they went on sale last fall. We have enjoyed skiing the groomed trails there many times already this season.

Over past years Linda and I have taken “skate skiing” lessons at Mount Bachelor. Lessons were essential for me to succeed at this activity. Even so I found skating to be exhausting and sometimes frustrating.

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Swampy Lakes Nordic Trails

July 15, 2011 by Paul McClellan Leave a Comment

My local favorite backcountry ski area this past winter and spring was along and between the Swampy Lakes Nordic ski trails. The Swampy Lakes Sno-Park/Trailhead is located at 5800 feet in elevation. It is just north of the Cascade Lakes Highway (Highway 46) about 16 miles west from Bend.

Living in Bend, I have a lot of options for local backcountry skiing. Several Sno-Parks are nearby with a network of Nordic ski trails leading out from each. At higher elevation Swampy Lakes typically offers better skiing conditions than those at the lower elevation Virginia Meissner trail system.

Yet Swampy Lakes is better protected in stormy weather than areas higher and nearer Mount Bachelor. During weekends and holidays the Mount Bachelor highway traffic can be very heavy. It is helpful to get out of highway traffic lower than higher towards the Bachelor Nordic Center.

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