Skiing Palmer

I was up at 615am. And like I'd done the past two mornings, I pulled back the drapes enough to reveal the weather. Much to my liking, it was clear with dappled sunlight bouncing off the mountain peaks. That added an extra bounce to my step as I headed downstairs for exercise and ultimately my run. Just like home, I started some coffee then completed my sit-ups. Next, I turned on the TV catching the morning news, something we never do at home. There I caught the weather forecast which was far better than what they predicted for us just the night before. instead of clouds and snow, we were expecting partly cloudy skies with periods of sunshine. Cool! I completed my push-ups then made a cup of coffee and took to the internet via Mindy's laptop. I wrote part of my Friday blog before heading out on a run. I was very excited about a run through the village of Government Camp in the early morning sunshine. Last second I grabbed my camera hoping for some good mountain shots. The clear skies left cooler than expected temps. There was a thin coating of black ice on the asphalt. I had to be extra careful for the run's duration. As hoped, the view of Hood was as clear as it could ever be. I had goose bumps while snapping the first few photos. It looks enormous from the village. Mindy & Glenn were up near 9am, both as happy as I to see the brilliant sunshine. We already knew that we'd be skiing Timberline again today. We were hoping to ski Palmer, the highest point on the mountain - some 8540' that's only opened on clear days with relatively calm winds. According to their webpage, today was one of those days. Aside from that, we were nearly certain that we'd be skiing for free since our Friday lift tickets were never validated. We headed up the road to Timberline at roughly 11am. As we neared the crest, we found cars parking along the roads edge, perhaps an indication that the parking lot was full. Uh-oh! Yep, it was. We circled two or three times, twice asking lot attendants where we might park. Both times the same response - an uncaring shoulder shrug. Not one of us thought that was customer friendly - until then, something totally uncharacteristic of Oregonians. On our third pass, we found a loophole parking slot (perhaps the very last) close to the groomers and parallel to the road down. The downside was that it left us one hell of a hike up to the day lodge, but given the alternatives that others behind us were facing (no parking), we were more than willing to accept our fate. We geared up Escape-side then started out trek up. I asked Glenn why we couldn't simply step up onto the Molly's run and ski down. We opted to try. As we climbed over the small bank of snow with relative ease, we found others doing the exact same thing. We all already had our lift tickets - why not? Worked perfectly! We skied down cutting across to the Pucci lift. The groomed trails were much nicer than the day prior, and at least for the time being, fast. Our goal from the outset was to ski Palmer. We road Pucci up then cut over to the Magic Mile lift. On our way up we could see that the Palmer lift was moving, something we hadn't anticipated. Instead, I expected to compete for the Snow Cat ride up (ten per run). Very cool! The mountain was out in all of her glory. The sunshine on our backs was very warm even though the air temp chilly. Atop the mile we skied over to the Palmer lift - our first time ever. You have to peg up a snow covered wooden ramp to get to the lift house, but it was worth it. Finally, we were riding up Palmer. Excited, I had Mindy phone Bob I. to tell him where we were. He answered but we quickly lost the signal. Try again later. Atop Palmer, the peak of the mountain looked as if one could reach out and touch it. We could see a few hardy hikers making their way to Hogs Back. The air was noticeably thinner making catching one's breath a bit of a challenge. We took a handful of photos then anxiously started our trek down. The run looked almost flat from the Mile and even from the lift. But the terrain was actually anything but flat. Instead, it was a wide, long stretch of soft moguls. The snow was absolutely incredible - loose powder but not too deep. We blasted down but stopped frequently for air. The altitude took some getting used to. It's a lot longer than it looks from below too. Finally down to Silcox Hut we kept going skiing down Magic Mile, which was groomed much smoother than Palmer. We flew down the Mile, an absolute treat! At the bottom of the Mile we decided to keep going all the way down the mountain to the Jeff Flood lift taking the Kruiser trail. And that my friends kicks some ass! I tore it up. As we neared the very bottom, the snow was getting gooshey - no doubt a product of the brilliant sunshine and warming temps. It was expected to approach 36 degrees. All three of us agreed to do the same run over again - Palmer, the Mile, and then Kruiser - nearly 4000' vertical feet and according to a few locals, somewhere between 3 and 4 miles long. This time, however, clouds moved in as we ascended Palmer. We couldn't see 50' in front of us after disembarking the lift. It made Glenn nauseous. We decided to wait for some clearing before skiing down. It didn't take that long to burn off enough to see. Plus, the lower we got down the mountain, the clearer it got. The cloud cover was high and thin. By the time we made it to the top of the Mile it was clear sailing again. Once again, we skied it with reckless abandon all the way to the foot of Jeff Flood. By then the snow was really getting soft. We decided to take a break. In the lodge, we managed to find a table. We ordered a pitcher of beer and a plate of nachos. Our break lasted just over an hour, best guess. We headed down Pucci and back to the Mile. Palmer was closed - still socked in under cloud cover. We skied the Mile twice in a hurry just beating the lift-closed sign on our second ride up. We skied to the bottom of Flood one more time - very soft down there. Felt like a pencil eraser on the bottom of my skis. We moved from the Mile to Molly's for a couple invigorating black diamond runs. We begged off for our second break afterwards - our legs now weary. We found a table easily this time. Lots of people/families leave the mountain after 3pm. The skies cleared again leaving just scattered colorful clouds. As the evening set in, the mountain was as picturesque as ever. I took a number of photos from the lodge bar's elevated deck. Included in those photos were a few of the full moon rising in the east - awesome! We befriended a table of youngsters immediately south of us. One of the girls was a nurse, the other I can't readily recall. They were all four snow boarders. One of the guys was from Germany. After finishing our second pitcher of beer for the day, we headed to the gift shop to buy the kids souvenirs. We bought a couple t-shirts, some stickers, pins, pictures, and a bottle of Advil. We headed back out for night skiing but under the light of a full moon. The mountain was again visible, but lit up only by moon light. Very lovely! Before heading down the first run, we skied over to our car and dropped the souvenirs. After one or two runs, Mindy declared herself unfit for more skiing. Glenn and I skied on. Only later did we learn that Mindy headed off to the mountain's first aid building citing a racing pulse, escalating blood pressure and blurred vision. She immediately removed the Transderm motion sickness patch she'd been wearing for three days. Among other things, they recommended no air travel for at least 24 hours. We decided it was time to head home (back to our condo). Our slope-side parking spot again served us well. We were back at the condo in no time. Given Mindy's medical scare, I quickly scoured Southwest's website for help moving our flight home heeding the mountain nurse's recommendation. Actually, it was easy. Just like that, we'd be flying home early Monday morning in lieu of Sunday afternoon. Mindy was still a little off her mark. Because of that, she headed to an early bed. Glenn and I stayed up watching some Olympic coverage then the DVD, Inglorious Basterds. I fell asleep for a few winks throughout the movie but managed to see the end. I woke on the sofa around 1am.