The Gorge is my Gym

Good morning!

Due to mostly boring weather caused by this winter’s strong El Nino, the forecast has been on vacation. There are a few things of note happening right now, so the forecast decided to get up early with me this morning.

First, I’d like to wish a happy birthday to Garrison (aka Koop) and Rich Castaneda. May you both have many more great days on the water ahead of you!

Second, it’s pledge drive time at OPB. That means it’s time to call in a tell them you won’t give them any more money until they can keep 94.3 on the air for more than a day at a time.

Third, and the real reason for this forecast, is that Mt. Hood Meadows is having a haiku contest to give away three spring passes (thanks to Drew for the idea for the contest). I know a lot of you were holding out for spring passes this year, and this contest is your chance to score the pass for free. You know how I love free stuff, and free spring passes are good free stuff. One pass goes to the funniest haiku, one goes to the “best” haiku, and one pass will be drawn randomly from all entries. You can submit your haiku by writing it on the Meadows Facebook wall. I can’t tell you what to write to win, but I can tell you to keep it clean and positive for the best chance.

On to the weather (this is a forecast, after all)…

There’s just about zero going on for wind right now. Easterlies pick up a little this morning as an upper level low swings by the coast. 12-26 is about the best we’ll get today, and today’s wind is about all we’ll get for the next few days.

Up on the mountain, we’ll see 2-3″ today, 3-5″ tomorrow, and another inch or so on Sunday, with snow levels low enough to keep all that precipitation opaque. Transparent precipitation sucks.

In mountain biking land, Syncline was great on Tuesday, but it’s likely muddy again after the rain on Tuesday night. The back side of Hospital Hill was great yesterday. There was one short stretch of mud on the Evergreen Highway, but other than that, the trail was tacky and good. And on the road riding front, I rode Eastside last week, and the Country roadsweeper was just ahead of me. That loop is in fabulous shape.

Have a great day today!

Temira

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