The Gorge is my Gym

Good morning!

East winds continue their march through the Gorge this morning, with averages in the upper 20’s at Stevenson and Rooster Rock. If you want to sail or kite (all 6 of you who do so in the winter), today is your last chance for a few days, and you probably want to get out early. An upper level low off the coast is powering those east winds this morning, and as it shifts northward, the easterlies will die off. Go get some now … well, wait ‘til sunrise, but then go get it.

On the snow scene, everyone is panicking because this is supposedly a bad snow year. I did a little research this morning. Last year on January 15th, MHM had an 82” base. On February 1st, MHM had an 84” base. Meadows currently has 80” on the ground, meaning we have the same amount of snow right now that we had at this time last year. Crazy, isn’t it? The major snowfall didn’t start until March 1st. We went from 113” on March 1st to 141” on March 15th. You can view the historical data here: http://bit.ly/9bjPtL

Speaking of snow, it’s going to snow (or rain, but hopefully not rain… it’s borderline snow levels today) a little bit today, maybe a couple of inches max. Tomorrow looks better, with 3-5” falling between tonight and tomorrow, midday. A couple inches more will fall on Sunday. Seems like last year was the hare, and this year is the tortoise, as far as snowfall goes. Steady does it… not the best for powder days, but good if you want the snow to stay in good shape over all.

Aw, who am I kidding, we need some more 12” powder days! Start praying to the snow gods for deep pow! There are so many cool new skis I want to try, and I need powder!

Speaking of deep pow days, there’s a free avalanche awareness clinic at REI on 2/17: http://bit.ly/c3WZ3G Thanks to Ron Martin for the link.

And you mountain bikers, STAY OFF THE SYNCLINE. I’ve had way too many people telling me how trashed it is. And if you have to ride, STAY ON THE TRAIL. Stop making it wider. You’re ruining it for everyone with your selfish behavior.

Speaking of biking, I road the Eastside Loop yesterday. It appears that they swept the road, because there’s very little gravel. The Peggy’s Roost hill was terrible, though, mostly because of dust being kicked up by cars and trucks. If you want to ride that loop, I recommend going down, not up, PR hill.

Have a great day today!

Temira

Good morning,

It’s been a little slow on the weather front for the last couple of days, other than the big snow day on Monday. That doesn’t make for an interesting forecast email, but since the weekend is coming up, here you are:

Conditions on Mt. Hood are quite nice right now, mostly because the sun is out up there. I spent a couple of hours skiing yesterday, and the groom is in good riding shape. I wasn’t impressed with what I saw off the groom, but parts of Heather are still in great shape.

The next chance for new snow on the slopes is tomorrow, when a front moves into Oregon. We may see a few snowflakes during the day, but the bulk of the precipitation won’t hit until later. I think 3-6” is reasonable, assuming snow levels stay low enough at the beginning of the system. After the cold front passes, snow levels drop to about 4000 feet on Saturday. Another 3-5” falls Saturday, and another 1-3” on Sunday.

I have a couple of links to share today. First, the Greasebus is now offering Hood River pickup for shuttle service to Meadows. It’s $10 roundtrip. Unfortunately, the pickup isn’t until 9am, and dropoff isn’t until 5pm, but it’s better than no shuttle to Meadows, and it’s certainly cheap. Maybe if we all email them, they’ll change the pickup to powder time, 7:45am, and return us to Hood River by noon.

Here’s the Greasebus link: http://www.greasebus.com/portland/

Here’s another rideshare option to the mountain. Zimride/Clifbar/Save our Snow: http://www.zimride.com/clifbarsos/index/index

Or you could just park at China Gorge and hitchhike like I do.

Have a great day today!

Temira