Outside

The future of backcountry skiing.By Nov. 30, I had not yet made one alpine turn. I scratched and scraped
around on nordic skis in November, but I was holding out before
subjecting my freshly stone ground skis to the light dusting of snow
covering the Central Oregon lava rock. Finally, I could no longer hold
back. Jonas phoned and reported thin, but good skiing from the summit
of Bachelor. Chris and I set out from the parking lot and were treated
to another stellar Central Oregon sunrise. A clear, cold cell separated
low lying clouds in the valley from higher, wispy clouds capping the
peaks. There's nothing like hiking up a mountain while catching the
first rays of the day. The skiing was better than expected, with 8
inches of fresh over the top of a base ranging from 0 to 14 inches. The
turns were sweet and well worth the minor rock hits taken by my
perfectly tuned edges and bases.

We are in the middle of La Niña
and, as expected, had a slower than average start to the ski season. La
Niña, preceded by the 2006-07 El Niño season, results from a 0.50C
lower than average sea surface temperature in the Pacific Ocean. La
Niña pushes the polar jet stream further south, causing below average
temperatures and above average precipitation in the northwestern and
midwestern states from December through March. All very important
things to consider and understand for Central Oregon powder lovers.

Too often a local sports program will go virtually unnoticed or unheralded because it’s so good, leading people to forget about or be totally unaware of the program’s long and illustrious history.

Where’s Walton?
Does anyone else have the sense that most of stories about the outdoors in the local media focus too often on well-trodden territory prettied up to make it sound, well, almost too good to be true? For example, a story about the overrun/overused Todd Lake area might carry a title like: "Still An Unspoiled Gem."

Evel Sold
That fabulous Evel Kneivel road bike that was the highlight of a silent auction to raise money as part of the Tour des Chutes eventually sold for $425. The bike’s new owner remains unknown at this time, but one suspects he or she is planning to soon use the bike for a spectacular jump across the Deschutes River.

For seasoned sea kayakers, paddling the Inside Passage, from Bellingham, Wash. to Muir Glacier in the East Arm of Glacier Bay, Alaska, holds the same mystique as backpacking the Appalachian or Pacific Crest Trail for backpackers. And it takes about just as long. For those who can’t miss three or four months of work at […]