The Gorge is my Gym

Good morning!

Top news of the day is, as you’ve probably heard, the likely opening of Mount Hood Meadows on Wednesday! There’s approximately 25 inches of snow on the ground with 12 inches in the last 24 hours. It’s worth noting that there are 1.3 inches of moisture in that foot of new, making for good, wet, heavy base snow.

Don’t freak out, but it looks like we’re going to get a little rain on top of all that snow tomorrow before snow levels drop again. Rain at this point is a good thing, helping Cascade Concrete become Cascade base snow. Anyway, after that little bit of rain, snow returns, setting up a happy, happy, happy opening day on Wednesday!

This is a 100% awesome start to an El Nino year. Maybe we’re going to get lucky with an outlier, cold and wet, El Nino. I would be 100% okay with that.

If you’re still set on chasing wind, you can take at least the next couple of days off. At the coast, strong southerlies hit overnight on Monday, making for a restless night for speed sailors.

I’m going up to play in the snow. We’ll see if I remember to put on chains.

Have an awesome day today!

Good morning!

Timberline wins the snow battle today, opening two lifts from 9am to 3:30pm with a $39 lift ticket. Check out the snowstorm at http://www.timberlinelodge.com/conditions . Meadows is looking good to open soon, with 17” on the ground, with 10” of new and another foot on the way. The Meadows webcam shows very low visibility due to … falling snow!

No word yet on Cooper Spur, and sadly, no word yet on Skibowl. I say sadly, because I’m ready to eat some delicious Skibowl nachos. Skibowl may not get the best snow, but they have the best nachos. Sorry Meadows, and T-Line, but nothing compares to Skibowl nachos. They’re the best and biggest on the planet, and I would ride my bike all the way over there to eat them. Seriously… how can you say “no” to a foot-high, $9, dripping-with-goodness, pile of nachos. The HR tacqueria has good nachos, but they’re a quarter of the size. Eliot Glacier has good nachos, but they’re a third the size.

On the wind front, not much is happening here in the Gorge. If you’re desperate for wind, head east to Roosevelt this afternoon for 17-20 to get your kite or slalom on.

17-20 might not be that exciting, but Derek Nielson’s speed run on November 5th takes the top speed spot in North America this year. That’s exciting. He maxed out at 46 knots: http://bit.ly/4eI6rH Congratulations also to 2nd Wind shop grom Alex, for clocking over 38 knots on the same windy day at Chinook, WA. And thanks to Bill Kline for that info.

Stop by 2nd Wind to give Alex a high-five!

And have an awesome day today. Pray for more snow!