I did a quick ski tour from Government Camp to the top of Magic Mile up and down on the Alpine Trail from Summit Ski Area today. Traffic was terrible through Sandy – there was construction right outside of Otto’s in Sandy and only one lane of traffic was getting through. Combined with a late start (left home at 10am) I wasn’t skinning until noon. There was a couple on skis with their dog going up and a snowboarder who had stopped to stretch his IT band(s). Those were the only people going up – but I got to make my ‘Crack of Noon’ joke twice. I was surprised how little wind there was – zero through the trees nearly to the top of Jeff Flood. I was a bit overdressed and was dripping sweat from my nose and getting sunblock sweat in my eyes. Once I got up to treeline the wind picked up and I literally felt my nipples freezing. I pushed a little bit further and then relented and put on a softshell that blocked the wind.

I have no idea what the uphill travel policy is at Timberline atm. The few times I’ve gone up this way I’ve been in for an early start and never see any skiers coming down. Today I stuck to the left side and scooted across to skiers left on a few sections where snowboarders were hucking off jumps near the ski area boundary. I didn’t want a snowboarder to land on my head.

Felt amazing on the way up . Time in the gym has really paid off. I don’t think I stopped until I got just below the Jeff Flood lift and was just super thirsty. I still subscribe to the idea that the only thing that makes climbing mountains easier is climbing mountains and lifting weights.

New pack was dope. It’s a Mountain Equipment Tupilak 37. The interior rolltop was surprisingly nice – I kept a soft flask and my helmet in the area between the lid flap and roll top, so I only needed to open the flap and reach under my helmet for my water. I also carried a 34 oz. vacuum bottle of green tea – totally overkill. I had a PbJ, apple and cheese at the top of Magic Mile and maybe drank 20oz.

Skiing out was a little rough. First day out and I over cranked my boots and had to stop a couple of times to adjust. I just forgot where I had them dialed in last season. I always worry I’m going to completely forget how to ski – it never happens and then I relax 🙂

Oftentimes on Hood there is a low cloud layer – today shit was out of control, the cloud layer was from maybe Govy elevation up to about 6K ? so a 2K + pillow of clouds that were stacked way, way up. There was even a rainbow coming through the clouds. I thought about taking a picture, but I’m a little anti-picture sharing lately. Someone else probably posted one on Insta – so find it there.