Bluebirds Descend on Hood

 

I was up near 545am, and I am pretty I was the first up. My first priority was starting some coffee. Before that, however, I needed to figure out the lighting. Oops! Wrong switch. Instead of the kitchen sink light, I turned on the garbage disposal almost certainly waking, startling Tom S. who was asleep on the sleeper sofa in the adjoining livingroom. Finally figured out enough of the switches that I could see to get coffee started.

I enjoyed coffee and half a banana before setting out on my first Govy Camp run of ’14. Left the condo near 650am. Opted to run east first, which is an incline, though not as much as Park City. But even the trudge out of the condo complex to the road is uphill and completely winded me to the point that I had to stop at the entrance before heading onward. Ran to the Summit ski area/rest area then back down the incline all the way to the other end of Govy Camp at the Mt. Hood Brewing Company and Rt. 26.

Back uphill towards Collins Lake. I had to stop again at the Grand Lodge pool to take a few breaths. It was about 30 degrees, by the way with crystal clear skies. Hood was out in all her glory. Beautiful! Back at the condo, David and Tom were up and chatting all the while David was busy preparing breakfast – bacon and eggs.

I took Mindy a cup of coffee. She was up now too. Not too much later I headed up for a shower before getting into my ski attire. The others soon followed, including the kids. Everybody enjoyed coffee, bacon and eggs, though Jacob left most of his behind for not having any hot sauce. It’s a 6 mile drive up Timberline Rd to the ski lodge. I wanted to be on the road by 830am and was successful. Everyone was a cooperated. We wisely bought a parking pass from the Collins Lake office before heading up. We opted to buy our ski passes at the lodge rather than get the Collins Lake discount since we planned to buy the spring season pass for $99, which is good until the end of May.

Glenn and David warned that we’d have to wait in a bit of a line, but I didn’t mind. We got decent parking, but still already a half full lot. Only one other family in front of us at the spring pass line, which was somewhat of an ordeal, requiring a photo of each of us as well as the completion of a form. Had to wait a few minutes for our photo passes to be processed, too. We were still on the mountain by 905am.

No sign of Darwin and company. I think they were still trying to get the kids up and fed. From the lodge, we skied down and across to Jeff Flood. It was a chilly bluebird morning, the top ½” or so of the corduroy was crunchy from overnight freezing. It wouldn’t take long to soften up, however. Fun run down. Everybody did just fine.

From the bottom, we headed up Flood, then the Magic Mile, then up Palmer. This would be the 3rd time out in a row where we got to ski palmer via the lift. Sweet! Long, cold ride up. It’s hard to describe the feeling standing atop Palmer. Makes a day at otherwise tame Timberline well worth it. Perhaps best described as feeling as though you are on top of the world!

Palmer was spectacular. And a bit of a surprise, the snow was powdery. Guess it was so cold that it wasn’t going through the freeze and thaw like the lower mountain. First run down Bella KO’d Glenn while attempting to dust him near the bottom of Palmer. Got a chuckle out of everyone in the clan. Moments later, Jacob took a jump off a natural snow ramp and did a face and shoulder plant. Got it on my GoPro. Skied down to his aid. Aside from an aching shoulder, he was OK. Said he’d board it off. Great run all the way to the bottom of Flood.

Repeated the same run a few times in a row. And believe me, the three lift rides to the top eats up time, not to mention the long ski down. Bottom to top it’s a 3-4 mile ski. Jacob soon found Lane, and almost like magic, his shoulder was feeling better and his whining stopped. I joked that his voice went an octave deeper suddenly, too. He and Lane boarded off together while Bella and Mindy headed in for a quick break. Said they were cold and hungry.

I skied with David & Glenn for a while until we decided it was time to take a break. By then it had to be nearing 1pm. Mindy & Bella had been out again only briefly but still decided to break with us so we could all get on the same schedule. Word had it that Darwin, Brad, and Jordan were inside now too. Up to that point we hadn’t seen them except for a brief moment on the mountain.

It was so nice and sunny that we opted to beer and snack from the south facing patio at the Wy’east day lodge. I had a multiporter and shared nachos with the others. Soon joined by the entire gang, all totaled there were 11 of us (me, Mindy, Glenn, David, Jacob, Bella, Brad, Darwin, Jordan, Lane, &Tom). Quite the diverse contingent to be sure.

It was after our break that things soured. Jacob couldn’t locate his snow board anywhere. Walked the perimeter of the day lodge numerous times At first I was convinced that he simply misplaced it and could remember where he put it. Soon, however, it became apparent that it was gone. Looked in every nook and cranny. I was frustrated and pissed. After 20 minutes of searching, I knew the smartest thing I could do was go ski by myself. I skied Palmer to Flood a couple times eventually hooking up again with David & Darwin. David heard what happened and let me vent a little, I needed that. Thanks David.

After another 90 minutes of skiing my legs were fairly well spent. I headed back to the day lodge where I happened upon Jacob sitting all by his lonesome. Said Mindy & Bella headed out to ski. Said he looked everywhere, including at the main lodge for his board. Still no luck. Mindy, I guess, had already been to the office and gave them our number in case someone turned it in. Said they rarely have theft issues, and most times the skis/board show up the next day after being taken by accident.

Once Mindy showed up, she shared in some of the blame citing that she never thought to show or even tell Jacob where ski check was. Good point. Blaming him wasn’t going to do any good. More than anything, I simply needed to see him sweating it just as his mother and I were. Hell, I am the one that forked out $500 for the damn thing.

As the ski wound down, we loaded our gear into the vehicles while waiting on you know how, Glenn. He always skis to the very last minute. Watched for Jacob’s snow board too. Never did see it again. Back to the condo at 415pm. What a ski day! Great skiing, indeed. After a brief respite we headed for the hot tub, only this time to the giant hot tub, the one that holds like 30 people. Sits down and across the stream from the pool and regular hot tub. Before heading over, I poured two beers into a plastic tumbler – Bridgeport Hop Czar. – yum-yum!

As for dinner, we decided to do pizza at Ratskellers, just a hop, skip and jump from our condos. Darwin and crew said they were going to dine in but would likely join us there later for a beer. As for the Wright condo, most of us showered up before heading off to Ratskeller. Before we headed that way, Glenn reached out to his boss hoping to convince her to let him take Monday off work so that he could get in another family ski day. Said Sunday might’ve been his best ski day ever. No such luck. She apparently declined his request via text/email.

Must’ve been around 730pm when we walked over to Ratskeller’s. Well, most of us walked. Glenn, feeling no pain, skipped most of the way there. His juvenile gate caught the eye of Govy Camps finest, who just happened to sitting in his squad car directly across from Ratskeller. He kept a tight watch on Glenn until he saw the rest of us, including the children following close behind. Jacob and Bella weren’t too amused. Instead, they seemed embarrassed. The rest of us, however, were laughing hysterically.

Inside Ratskeller, Glenn’s antics continued. He bounced on the cushy both seats and then rolled around on the empty stage much to Jacob’s chagrin. He had the actions of a small child down pat – scary even. No doubt all the Jack Daniels he consumed throughout the evening aided his euphoric act.

We ordered a couple pitchers of beer and soda and then later four large pizzas. And by the time the pizza got there, Darwin and Brad were there now too. The pizza was even better than I remembered it being. Even still, there was far more pizza than appetite. We carried two full pizzas back to the condo for leftovers. Tom & Darwin, David & Glenn remained behind. Glenn & David came along within the next 15 minutes or just before Mindy and I settled into bed. Tom & Darwin were still out, though. Earlier that evening, Tom suggested that he would be heading back to Portland. Glenn had to work Monday too, but planned to spend the night and head to work from the condo early Monday morning. Never did hear Tom come in. Mindy & I slept well.