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.
