The Gorge is my Gym

Good morning!

Believe it or not, it’s snowing again in the mountains this morning.. If you like lift-serve skiing, Meadows is closed til Saturday, so you’re headed to Timberline, where it’s 28 degrees with 1 inch of new snow and 10-20 mph wind. They should get a few more inches of snow today, making for good skiing by afternoon. I was hoping we were going to end up with 6-8” of new, but now it’s looking like we’ll get 3-4 instead. Awwwww…..

On the river today, it was blowing in the upper twenties at 5am at Arlington as a front moved east, but that will be short-lived. Winds die quickly, dropping to the 10-15 range through the entire Gorge until mid-afternoon, when an upper low crosses Oregon. At that point, winds pick up to 23-27 from Doug’s to Arlington, with gusty 16-19 under the clouds from Stevenson to Mosier. If you haven’t heard, the E.coli advisory has been lifted, so you can sail at Rowena, Doug’s, and Lyle with no more danger than the usual pollution dangers of the Columbia River.

Tomorrow sees high pressure rebuild at the coast for stronger, steadier wind in our neck of the woods. Gvien the amount of clouds today, the steadiest wind will probably be at Doug’s, Rowena and Lyle tomorrow, but that’s just a guess at this point. I think we’ll see low twenties early, (yes, that’s Dawn Patrol), picking up to 26-30, possibly 30+, by midday. If we get lucky, winds will back up to the Hathcery and Corridor tomorrow. I say “lucky” because I like sailing the Corridor best. =) If you’re headed to the
hatch, one lane is open on SR14 between the bridge and the Hatch today and tomorrow.

In bike land, it’s muddy out there again, due to last night’s rain. If the rain backs off, you can join the Alternative Ride out of Mountain View cycles. No spandex, no clipless pedals. Bring lights, a helmet, and your appetite, because you’re headed to the Thirsty Woman for dinner.

That’s it for today. Have an awesome day today. I’m going to paint the bathroom today… I swear… unless I can find other projects to do instead….

Temira

Good morning gorge sports fanatics and happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there!

Judging by the number of people at Meadows yesterday (the main parking lot was nearly full), everyone’s still into skiing and snowboarding, even though it’s May! So, here’s your ski report: Skies are clear on Mt. Hood this morning. At Meadows, it’s 29 degrees with no new snow and 120” on the ground. At Timberline, it’s 30 degrees with no new snow and 165” on the ground.

If you’d like to windsurf or kite today, you best pick an alternate sport, because today’s going to be very light, with a slight chance of westerlies in the evening. Tomorrow looks windier as a weak front and marine push combine for 21-24 in the near east. Tuesday looks stronger yet as high pressure rebuilds at the coast and the corridor fires up for what could be a big day at the Hatchery.

If you’re thinking of hitting the coast for some surf, you’ll have a 4 foot sw swell at 14 seconds. The webcams didn’t show much yesterday (and it’s dark right now), but if you’re not after big surf, you’ll find small, clean surfing out there today.

In biking world, everything’s great and tacky and wonderful, and there’s not much more to say than that: Your open choices are Dog River, Nestor, Post, Syncline, Bear Springs and Lower Surveyor’s. If I were able to ride today, I’d ride Post Canyon, because it’s downright awesome right now. Yesterday I rode Seven Streams to lower GP to Charley’s trail to Toilet Bowl and back home. Thank you to everyone who did work on the new sections of trail in there. That’s an amazing loop!

Boaters, the Hood’s at 4.1 feet, the White Salmon’s at 3.52 ft, the Wind River’s at 628 cfs, and the Little White’s at 616 cfs. If you’d like to run the Wind River on a raft, Wet Planet is running trips right now. I’m thinking I might have to go….

Have a great day today!

Temira

P.S. Several people have asked me for information about a memorial fund for Jeff Young’s daughter Hannah. If you don’t know the story, Hannah’s mom died suddenly, with no advance warning, a few years ago. Hannah is 16, and although I’m sure she has plenty of support in the community, she is an orphan and could use what you can spare. Those interested in donating to the fund can visit an U.S. Bank branch and make a donation to the Jeff Young Memorial Fund or they can mail a check to the address below. Thank you for your generosity. Every bit helps.

Jeff Young Memorial Fund
c/o US Bank
1309 12th St
Hood River, OR 97031

Have a great day today.

Temira