The Gorge is my Gym

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I slept in again today, as you can tell. And what a surprise to see frost all over the place.

It looks like we’re not going to see a lot of wind this week. Easterlies pick up to the 15-18 range this afternoon, and then there’s not that much headed this way. There’s also not that much snow headed this way. Maybe a few inches above 7000’ on Friday night. So again, zero chance of the mountain opening within two weeks.

However, pass photo day for Meadows is this coming Sunday from 9am-4pm at the Hood River Inn. Please come and entertain your forecaster, who dreads the notion of being stuck inside for an entire day.

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In more important news, Condit Dam gets a big hole blown in it tomorrow at noon. Wow. Here are your options for video feed: According to Wet Planet, this is the link for the live video feed. It’s not currently live. You can also see the breach live on the big screen at Andrew’s at 11:30 or as a replay at the Pint Shack at 6pm.

Please do not try and sneak in to the White Salmon drainage. Cops will be crawling all over the place, there will be aerial surveillance of the area, and if people sneak in, the blast will be delayed. In addition, Alt 141 will be closed from 10am-2pm, as will all the parking areas at the mouth of the White Salmon. I’m not sure if you can or want to be out in the water near the mouth. The flow will be 10,000cfs, 10x what it is right now, so perhaps sitting in front of that wall of water and washed-out logs would be a bad idea.

If you want to get in the mood for this historic event tonight, come have an evening with the author of “Recovering a Lost River” at Solstice tonight, starting at 6:30.

That’s the big event for the week. Coming up this weekend, there’s a trail work party on the 450 road. In the name of fun and environmental stewardship, there will be shuttle vans from Dirty Fingers to the work party. Meet at DF at 9am. This work party is also known as the “Jimmy T and me day.”
Have an awesome day today!

Temira

p.s. If you find this report useful, entertaining, or just want to recognize all the hard work that goes into it, please take the time to make a donation by clicking on the link below. For a suggested donation of $10, I’ll add you to the email version of this list ‘til August 2012, putting you in the running for cool prizes donated by the weekly sponsors. If you don’t PayPal, you can send a donation to PO Box 841 in Hood River, 97031.

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This is going to be a busy week in the Gorge, so plan on being available to do cool stuff.

First, the dirt is perfect everywhere from Gunsight down to Syncline, so if you enjoy mountain biking at all, this is your week to get on your bike.

Second, today is your best chance for wind. There’s high pressure off the coast, but it’s going to move inland as the day goes on, shutting off the wind. So, call it west 15-18 early near Hood River, fading in the afternoon. Tomorrow brings light east wind, and Wednesday brings east wind in the 15-18 range.

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The mountain probably saw a dusting of snow down to 4500’ last week, but won’t see any more snow until late Friday night. Even then, models are disagreeing on whether we’ll see moisture or not, but disagreement aside, the snow level will be around 7000’, so it doesn’t really matter. Chance of the mountain opening within two weeks: zero.

That said, you can get your mountain fix next Sunday at the Hood River Inn, where your friendly Meadows employees will be hanging out waiting to take your pass photo. I’ll be hanging out with them, so please come down and visit.

Between now and then, you’ve got the movie Gasland (an award-winning documentary about fracking) at Springhouse Cellars Monday night (that’s tonight), the Telemark flick “Loyalty” at Dog River tonight, a slideshow about kayaking and river stuff (in celebration of Condit Dam going away) at Solstice Tuesday night, Kayak Polo at the Hood River Pool Tuesday night, a zillion bye-bye Condit celebrations with live video feed on Wednesday (the expected destruction time is noon), and then on Saturday, there’s a work party on the 44 Road trails (I believe the meeting place is Little John, but check with Dirty Fingers for details). Finally, coming up November 5th, there’s some sort of Occupy Hood River activity going on. Whatever percent you are, it should be interesting.

Have an awesome day today!

Temira

p.s. If you find this report useful, entertaining, or just want to recognize all the hard work that goes into it, please take the time to make a donation by clicking on the link below. For a suggested donation of $10, I’ll add you to the email version of this list ‘til August 2012, putting you in the running for cool prizes donated by the weekly sponsors. If you don’t PayPal, you can send a donation to PO Box 841 in Hood River, 97031.