The trustfunders are currently posting reports from South America, with headlines like “Patrollers Reporting 7-10 Feet Of New Snow In Las Leñas.” That sure sounds mighty attractive for people that are craving some August skiing and riding. Unfortunately, some of us have to work for a living. In most years, there’s still snow for skiing along the crest of the Sierra for summer skiing. Not this year, even the usual “go to” August spots are already completely dry.
Those of us without a trust fund need a cheaper option for summer skiing and riding. Fortunately the Timberline Resort at Mount Hood operates nearly year round. Mount Hood is a short 9 hour drive from Tahoe. I know what you’re saying, “Nine hours is hardly a short drive!” But the fact is, many of you have spent 9 hours doing the slow crawl from the Bay Area to Tahoe on a stormy holiday weekend. Some have claimed to have spent 9 hours in line at Safeway or the KT-22 line on a powder morning. Truth be told, the drive includes some very straight and tedious sections where you may find yourself exceeding the posted speed limit, shortening the trip substantially.
Timberline operates two lifts in the summer season. In general, the Magic Mile lift only operates as an access lift to get to the Palmer Chair. The Palmer chair serves the Palmer Snowfield (think glacier that doesn’t move). The lifts operate from 7 am until 2 pm daily. Here’s what’s available:
• There’s about 30 private racing lanes used by summer camps, taking about 90% of the main snowfield.
• There is one extra wide groomed public lane, which is often shared with teams that have not reserved a private lane.
• Below the race lanes are the private terrain parks used by summer camps, such as Windell’s and High Cascade.
• To the skier’s right of the chair, there’s an ever changing set of small snowfields and snow filled gullies that are generally not groomed. Occasionally, some of this space is used for overflow race lanes. Early in the season, a public park is also located in this area.
• Later in the season, the public park is located just below the base of the Palmer Chair. Unfortunately, if you ride the park, you are left with the choice of hiking back to the top of the park, or riding until the snow ends about 300 yards from the Magic Mile chair, hiking to the chair and riding back up.
As with any summer skiing, the snow is firm or downright icy in the mornings, becoming progressively softer as the day wears on. The race crowd is on hill early until the snow gets soft, leaving just as the park rats arrive. Most of the public skiers are there mid-day and often only ski a couple of hours for the sake of novelty.
We chose a different tactic – skiing from bell to bell each day. Days start in the well groomed but firm public lane. As the snow softens, the “wild snow” to the skiers right of the chair softens rapidly in areas that are not groomed and salted. When the racers leave around 11:30, the Palmer race lanes become fair game. This snow is heavily salted and therefore remains in a perfect corn state until closing. Here you can make wide arcing turns at mach looney speeds to your hearts content. We figured that we covered somewhere north of 50,000 feet of vertical each day as the laps go by quickly. There’s no on the hill services like restrooms or restaurants to distract you from sliding on the snow. Bring a pack with snacks and beverages!
The Timberline Lodge, familiar as the exterior set for “The Shining”, offers a pretty cool setting for lodging and meals. It’s also pretty pricey. We choose to stay in Government Camp, about six miles away. There’s really only two hotels in town – the Huckleberry Inn and the Best Western. There’s a huge number of vacation rentals on VRBO. There’s a ton of choices for dining in town. My favorites are Charlie’s Mountain View and the Ice Axe Grill. The Huckleberry Inn used to have the best huckleberry pies and shakes, along with maple bars the size of a bread loaf – but things have gone downhill there.
It’s not Las Leñas, Portillo or any other exotic southern hemisphere location. It’s a great opportunity to score some summer ski or board turns with a like-minded crowd, even if you don’t have a trust fund. It was a fun way for me to get in ski turns for my 35th month in a row. Timberline will remain open for the summer season until September 2.
