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Standing Strong
Trad climber
the secret life of T*R
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Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 9, 2008 - 03:12pm PT
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hey i was just what wondering if anyone has been to timberline lodge in summer... cool place to be? how's the scene out there in summer?
thanks
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Kartch
climber
belgrade, mt
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there's a lot of little jibbers out there for the ski and board camps but you should be able to get away from them with a little hike.
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pissed
Trad climber
Lake Placid NY
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Hood in the summer is so much fun. I spent 10 summers there when I was racing. Great mtb in the area, Hood River is a short drive away. We used to do Smith Rock as a day trip for rest day. The climbers on Hood are a bit strange though - they seem to take everything waaaay overboard. Anyway, I love Govie Junction in the summer - its just a fun place to hang around. We always skied early in the morning when the snow was hard then rode bikes, climbed, field sports, hike, whatever in the afternoon. The whole area has so much to offer in terms of activities, its a special place. I get teary - eyed thinking about the great times I have had there.
Like Kartch said, there is so much exploring there too. I always wanted to ski over near Zig Zag glacier but never got over there....someday when I move to Oregon...
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couchmaster
climber
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I can add a little bit, but sorry to say I'm too old to know about the "scene" there or pretty damn near any "Scene" (except my house) anywhere else for that matter as I became a bit of a Hobbit as I aged. IMO it is the best place in the world to ski/board, Mt and Rock climb all on the same day if you have the sac for it from July-September or possibly October.
For the ski/board runs you get up there early am, as soon as they start, I think it use to be 8 am. Usually by 11am-noon it's damn hot and almost too slushy to run. They call the Palmer lift above Timberline there a Black Diamond: but it's wide, flat, steep and groomed, so not really, fairly easy and screamingly fast to get down. Sometimes in summer, it's 90 degrees in the valley and you're up there in cutoffs skiing corn snow that had frozen overnight. If you're feeling rich, grab lunch and a microbrew in the Blue Ox inside scenic Timberline Lodge and you can stare at a real sweet scene as you gaze on the Mountain as you stuff your mouth, and then if your legs are not yet crying and begging for mercy, head for some apres ski rock climbing at several locations (trad and bolt clipping both available) or some sweet glacial ice climbing via both Toprope and lead on the Eliot Glacier crevasses on the North side of Mt Hood. There's some world class hiking, I can't say about Mt Biking as I don't do it, but it can't be far away. Good (but moderate) rafting on the Deschutes if it's real hot weather too. World class kite boarding and wind surfing out of Hood River too.
It's something you almost need to work up too it's so tiring. I've done this and gotten home in PDX by 3pm before, totally worked and Pwn'ed - and immediately collapsed into a deep sleep for an afternoon nap on a down comforter right after a quick shower, much to my wifes amusement.
For the discount dog version of this, sleep in the Timberline parking lot in the back of your truck (this is OK), get up at 10-11pm, run up to the top of the Mt at 11,000+ feet via one of several technical routes (need axe and crampons and the skill to use both -Confession, at 53 years old now I suspect that an up and down now time for me would be in excess of 8 exhausting hours): get back B4 sunrise and catch a quick nap or just head over and burn some laps on the ski runs, then head out for some climbing. Pete's is 15 min away for some great easy crack climbing in 70 degree weather while its over 90 degrees in the valleys (usually single pitch 5.8-5.10 finger crack routes, couple of longer 2 pitch climbs), or Beacon @ 40 min away for some harder, longer cracks. Smith is like 2 hours away? like Pissed says. Do it again the next day. Insane.
Yeah, it rules.
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Shack
Big Wall climber
Reno NV
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I did a speed run down from the Palmer Lift...
I just got into a tuck and went for it.
Before I knew it I was going too fast.
I figure I was going about 80 after about 15-20 seconds.
Scary fast.
It took everything I had to stop.
I've done the same thing from the top of Mammoth mt. before too.
Tucked straight down Cornice once. Probably did 60.
At least at Mammoth, the run is only a few hundred yards before the angle eases dramatically.
On Hood, the angle is constant and just keeps going and going.
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Standing Strong
Trad climber
the secret life of T*R
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 9, 2008 - 07:53pm PT
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confidential to self:
*helmet*
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pissed
Trad climber
Lake Placid NY
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Ever see a salt bag take a run down one of the lanes? Those snowboard camps must be paranoid - a collision with an 80 pound salt bag after travelling down a lane would be very ugly.
SS- Long sleeves even if its hot out. The road rash from crashing has a great course- first red and bleeding, then green, then blue and purple. Takes a long time to heal and hurts a lot. The public lane isn't salted but the lanes I trained on were and we were forced to cover everything in case of a crash. I think the salt made the lacerations worse.
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ground_up
Trad climber
mt. hood /baja
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Apr 10, 2008 - 12:43am PT
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I work at T-line ....feel free to e-mail me with any questions, or stop in and say hi.
BTW...We are offering an Instructors College throughout this spring and summer season the cost is free and ya get a free lift ticket ta boot. We are looking for new snowboard instructors and this is a great time for experienced or new instructors to check out Mt. Hood. The Palmer in the summer is not to be missed.
Shawn Darris
503-231-5402
Timberline Ski and Snowboard School
Timberline/Atomic Summer Race Camps
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couchmaster
climber
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Apr 10, 2008 - 11:44am PT
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What Shack and Pissed say is spot on. In early summer you can ride all the way to the lodge and it's a damn fast run if you got the skis to just tuck and run. It's edging skillz or hospital bills too if you have your shirt off. Worst road rash I I've ever had wasn't the tumbling header I took off my motorcycle at 60MPG on a paved road corner while wearing Levis, it was grinding on the snow at Timberline sans shirt.
As summer goes on, and the snow melts, there starts to exist interesting rock hazards and mud holes lower down that get higher up on the Mt as time goes on. (the main run is a glacier and so thats always on Glacier ice which gets salted at night so it freezes, I'm talking the seasonal snow below that). One day, I,m popping my planks off at the end of the day and glance up to see 2 young pups on snowboards come screaming down full speed with no apparent intention on stopping before the mud hole that stopped me. They go flying right past me within seconds of each other and launch right over the mud hazard without slowing down a whit, which was about a spectacular 15-20 feet long gap at it's narrowist point. In later examination of the take off point, I noted that as they jumped, their boards pushed down into what looked like snow and hit the underlying mud base totally slowing them down in the microsecond before they launched: the end result was that one of them made it most of the way across but touched ground nosedown face first just before the mud ended and smacked a big rock head on while the other one did a glorious and impressively spectacular superman imitation, hands straight out in front of him, flying head first though the air he had everything but the Superdog and a cape. He totally cleared the mud and smacked facedown then skidded face first on the snow on the other side of the mud. I though that the rock thumping pup would be drooling on himself after that hit, but he just picks himself up and after a bit of complaining and moaning, they pop off their boards and start to walk down.
Impressive.
Helmets aren't a bad idea, I never used one up there for like 25 years, then 2 years ago, I was coming off a black diamond at another place, had finished the steep upper face taht had been in full on sunshine and was just starting to tuck and run on the lower angle part as there was no one on the run when I hit a shade spot that was iced right at a turn. Skis went out and I slid down the hill right under the chairlift to much cheering and amusement. I've had many many mountain climbing years, and am an expert at self arrest. I had both hands on a single ski pole scraping as I slid headfirst, my skis still acting as an anchor, and all I could think about was that THIS was most likely the way Sonny Bono bit it. Had a tree existed in that @1000 foot slide that just seemed to go on and on and on, it would have been a massive header. The Palmer has no trees, but if someone were to hit you.....
If you want to hook up with some local color for some climbing while your out, either up to the Summit, Ice climbing on the North Side or just cragging on some rock, check www.Cascadeclimbers.com - someone should be out or available. Have fun!
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