Tag: mountain biking

Good morning!

I woke up late this morning, so please accept my apology for the late Friday forecast. That wouldn’t be much of an issue, except there are a few important things going on today.

First, the 8am gradient was at a surprising .06 from Portland to The Dalles. With clouds and very high pressure over Portland and the coast, there’s a good chance we’ll see 16-20 from the Hatchery down to the Sandbar today. Combine that with sunshine and getting on the water seems like a pretty good idea. Tomorrow doesn’t look windy, but it looks like we’ll see a pretty good chance of west winds on Sunday.

In kayaking news, the White Salmon was at 1.98 feet yesterday, and tomorrow is the PDX Kayaker film festival in Portland. You’ll get to see cool movies, meet super sexy boater guys and gals, drink beer (yuck), and win prizes. Next chance for the rivers to come up is tomorrow and Sunday, as .25-.5” of warm rain (8k+ freezing level) falls on the mountains and low elevation snow. Tomorrow’s rainstorm will start off with a bit of an inversion, so isolated pockets of snowfall in the upper valley wouldn’t surprise me.

If you don’t have your skis yet, don’t panic. The HRVHS ski swap starts tonight at the High School. Check out the swap Facebook page for more information.

Coming up tomorrow, there are two work parties in Post Canyon. CGORA is working on the #160 trail and mountain bikers are working on Family Man and GP. If I can manage to get up and get your forecast to you by 9am, I’ll be there. Join me!

Finally, for the extended forecast. Models are swinging back and forth a bit, but it looks like we’re in for a big change by next weekend. The high pressure system that’s been directing the jet stream mostly away from us moves north, opening the door for La Nina. Depending on where low pressure ends up, we could see cold Canadian air along with this (snowstorm) or just moderately cold, wet weather. Stay tuned. The implication of the forecast, in case you didn’t get it, is that the ski areas should be open within 2-3 weeks.

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 button at the bottom of the page. For a suggested donation of $10, I’ll add you to the email version of this list ‘til November 2011, putting you in the running for cool prizes donated by the weekly sponsors.

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This week’s forecast is brought to you by Pacific Standard Time, bringing darkness to you every evening until the second Sunday in March. Now that it’s dark after work, it’s time to get up early (like me) and get your workout in early (like I say I will but usually don’t). You have limited choices in the Gorge Gym this time of year. Unless you own a $600 bike light system, you’re going to be spending some serious time on the stairs, running the lighted streets, or making up silly workouts at the high school track. If you’re bored of training alone and desperate for an entertaining workout, call me. I am too! (I’m Temira, and I approved this message)

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Good morning!

At the request of a friend of mine, I am reminding all of you that Meadows has extended the season pass purchase deadline to Wednesday due to “issues”. That’s their word, not mine, but it gave me a chuckle. We all have issues, but apparently businesses can have them too now. I think that must be a side effect of the Citizens United decision. Anyway, my point is that you have until Wednesday to pick up a Meadows pass (no group of four required). Mt. Hood Meadows… where snow substitutes for daylight during PST.

(best Mt. Hood Meadows/Skibowl/T-Line/Cooper Spur slogan emailed to me before the pass purchase deadline gets a tray of brownies)

In other non-commercial news, it’s wet out there. If you’d like to find some drier precipitation, think about heading to the mountains tomorrow for sunshine and fresh tracks. 3” of cold snow fell yesterday, and we’ll see another 8-12” by tomorrow morning. If you are headed up, be prepared for poor coverage in sun-exposed areas. This is not going to be a repeat of the incredible hiking conditions we saw with the first storm this season, but there will be fresh tracks.

The wind report is unexciting. Gusty easterlies this morning accompany the arrival of an upper level low, but the wind won’t last long. There’s no other wind in the Gorge for the next couple of days.

If you’d like to go boating, the White Salmon is at a fun 2.5ft. The Hood is a little low at 3.6ft, but is predicted to come up to 4.4 feet tomorrow after tonight’s rain. The Klickitat is back into the fun-to-run range at 916 cfs. Don’t forget that Wednesday night is Kayak Polo at the Hood River pool. $8, 8-930pm, followed by drinks and dinner somewhere.

Finally, coming up this weekend there are a couple of work parties in Post Canyon. CGORA is working on the #160 trail, and mountain bikers are working at Family Man and GP. Both parties start at 9am. If you ride the trails, you beat up the trails, so please consider giving back with a few hours of work on Saturday.

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 button at the bottom of the page. For a suggested donation of $10, I’ll add you to the email version of this list ‘til November 2011, putting you in the running for cool prizes donated by the weekly sponsors.