Last Ski Day of the Season is a Whipper

Slept a little bit later than all the other days, but was still the first one up at 610am. Lots of fresh snow covering Govy Camp. Looked to be at least 6" and it was still coming down. Exciting, yes, but I was a tad worried about the drive up the mountain to Meadows despite having chains if necessary. Made and enjoyed coffee before setting out on my run. David was up by the time I left.

That early, nothing had been plowed, not the Collins Lake parking lot or the even main drag through Govy Camp. I ran in a couple of tire ruts and had to stop twice briefly just to catch my breath. Completed the run then took a few pics. With all the fresh snow, it was breathtakingly beautiful.

Back at the condo in one piece near 730am. Our internet service had been down for the past few days once the snow storm hit. I used my phone to check the conditions at both Timberline and Meadows. No word about chains/traction devices required, though during my run I could see a sign flashing at the foot of Timberline Rd stating that they were required. Meadows was reporting 7" overnight with that much and more on the way. Moreover, calling for up to another 18" on Friday.

I poured Mindy some coffee then took it upstairs. While she sipped her coffee, I started the packing process since we planned on checking out of the condo before heading up the mountain to ski for the day. We devised a brilliant plan to leave all of our suitcases and ski bags in Darwin's garage since they were staying the night and heading to the airport Friday morning from Govy Camp. That would make our lives so much easier.

Mindy prepared a breakfast casserole Tuesday night, and we enjoyed it on Wednesday and now Thursday morning. I was packed and ready to roll before all the others. Packed up the food in the kitchen for transport back to Glenn's place. We'd be sending him home with lots of food and booze. Glenn, David, Jacob and I hauled all the suitcases down to Darwin's through what was then about 8" of fresh snow. About the same time (near 9am) Collins Lake was plowing their streets.

We stopped at the office to buy discounted lift tickets then we were off to Meadows, Glenn following behind us. Still snowing pretty good but the roads in fairly decent shape. Got a little dicey as we hit the Rt 35 curves just before the Meadows exit. Had a couple chain-up areas opened. I was a tad panicked having never installed them before, and no longer was Glenn behind me. Yes, I was white knuckling it! Heading up Meadows Rd. they had spread aggregate but traction was sill dicey. It felt as though if we came to a stop that we might not get traction again heading up. Must've been about halfway up the road we came upon another opportunity to chain up and many were pulled over doing so. Sliding a little, I took that as an omen. Don't be stupid. Use the chains! I pulled over to chain up, and just as Mindy began to read the instructions Glenn cam up from behind. He and David shouted just to keep going. Heading their advice, we bagged the chains idea and barreled onward. By then we couldn't have been but a mile from the parking lot. We made it. Boy was I relieved to see the Welcome to Meadows sign.

Meadows employees were out guiding cars into parking slots like always. On a gradual uphill, it took everything the minivan had to keep progressing forward. Just as we were heading to the line to take the final spot next to Glenn and David in a parking row another vehicle came speeding by trying to pass us. I was pissed and scared. Gave him the single finger salute.

Because we purchased our RFI passes at Collins Lake, we were free to go right to the lifts. Mindy and Jacob had to pee. Bella and I waited. The others, Glenn and David were already up at the lift base presumably waiting. Clicking into our skis near the ticket window, I spotted David in line at one of the windows, why I wasn't sure. He walked away looking a little incensed. Explained that he tried unsuccessfully to turn in his lift ticket for a refund. Wasn't interested in skiing in these conditions. Not only was the snow deep, but visibility was minimal, at least for the time being. I encouraged him to ski on. They wouldn't give him a refund because he didn't have a receipt. However, even if he had it, they wouldn't have refunded his money since he bought it at Collins Lake.

Just before sliding into the lift line, The McVey contingent showed. Jacob and Lane were about to board off when Darwin pulled Lane to take him to get some food. Apparently he slept until the last minute. Didn't eat anything. Up Hood Express the rest of us headed. Visibility was at a premium, but I was giddy with excitement for the opportunity to ski in the fresh powder again.

We headed to the left over towards Shooting Star. The visibility was so poor that seeing what you were skiing was next to impossible. And what's more, we couldn't see too far in front of ourselves either. Ugh! As such, we all skied tentatively. We did two or three runs up and down Shooting Star before Glenn shared that he was feeling poorly (vertigo). Wanted to head back to Hood Express where the runs are tucked between two tree lines and likely to provide slightly better visibility. I followed while Mindy stayed over in Shooting Star with the kids since Jacob wanted to do Rock Garden a few more times.

Glenn started hitting the booze early too. Said it helps cure the vertigo. Taking his lead, I did a few nips of George Bailey, too, since I was feeling a little woozy as well. But even over there, visibility was at times at a premium, though far better than the Shooting Star runs. We skied it three or four times. It continued to snow hard all morning and early afternoon long. And at times visibility was near zero!

We took a nice long break around 1230pm I'm guessing. We got a nice table with view of the slopes. I drank only ice water for the day's duration since I'd be driving back to the Couv later that afternoon. I was sucking it down, too, glass after glass. David & I shared a plated of loaded waffle fries. Man, were they good. Must've been near 2pm when we headed out for the last hoorah. I was eager to ski the face, something we hadn't done all week. I would've done the bowls had visibility been better. Not going to get much better snow at Meadows.

We did a couple runs down the east side of Hood Express, David's favorite. Glenn suggested we do the west side, over where Chunk Swirly and One Bowl reside. Can't recall the run, but it was pretty easy. Takes you to Beaver Tail, which is a run I remember skiing back in '08' with the Imber's. Despite the fairly easy run, my legs were largely spent and I wasn't afraid to admit it. I told David & Glenn that I was done and heading in. It wasn't exactly how I wanted my ski season to end, but ending then was far better than ending it hurt. :)

I headed back inside where Mindy, Bella, Brad and I think Darwin were hanging out. Not too much longer, David and Glenn came in. Conditions were tough one everyone. Jacob, Lane, and Jordan stayed out until the last lift ride. Once we corralled Jacob, we said our goodbye's to David, who Glenn would be dropping at a friend's place in Milwaukie, Oregon where he'd be overnighting before flying back to S.C. on Friday evening. We also said goodbye to the McVey/Harmer contingent, not sure if we'd see them at their condo since we had to stop there to pick-up our luggage and ski totes.


Before stopping at the McVey condo, we dropped off the rented snow board at the Govy Camp ski shop. Took just a couple minutes. Darwin gave us the garage door combo so we could access our stuff. Took about 30 minutes to pack our skis for air travel home and then load all of our suitcases into the minivan. Mindy put the kids ski clothes in their dryer while we loaded up. However, they were still damp when we finally left. The McVey's were still not back when we pulled away. We stopped at the office and handed off our snow park pass, which still had another day's worth of parking on it. Hey, give it to a lodging guest. Next stop the Vancouver Hilton.

Doesn't take long to get out of the altitude and away from any signs of snowfall. Within ten minutes everything was lush and green as we descended the mountain into Rhododendron, Zig-Zag, and finally Sandy. And while MT. Hood behind us remained socked in in clouds, the sun was shining at least periodically in the rolling hills and finally Portland and the Couv. Very nice. Once again, it felt like spring!

Easy drive into the Couv. Avoided the usual traffic jam on the I-84/i-205 interchange that so often causes delays. Think it was 6pm by the time we were checked into our room at the Hilton. Nice! Before doing anything else, we did a repacking of sorts, making sure we had everything where it needed to be for the flight home. Once done, Mindy and I were aching for the hot tub. The kids, however, wanted to remain in the room. Fine. She and I headed to the Hilton hot tub, and even invited Glenn to join us, who was now at home after dropping David at his friend's place. We planned on meeting for dinner near 8pm at Joe's Crab Shack. He declined the hot tub offer for feeling gritty.

The hot tub was indoors on the 3rd floor overlooking the Columbia River. Nice! Very hot too, just like I wanted it. Ahhh! Mindy and I relaxed for 20 minutes or so before heading back to the room for showers. The partly sunny skies from earlier soon gave way to rain. And the forecast for Friday looked even rainier. While they were expecting oodles of snow in Hood, they were calling for 3-5" of rain in and around Portland. Ugh!

We left to meet Glenn for dinner near 8pm. We were seated at a table before he arrived. The greeter brought him to us shortly after we order drinks. I ordered a big beer, a Bridgeport IPA, but only one. We all ordered seafood dinners save for Bella who ordered a burger from the kiddie menu. Mindy, Jacob and I had our dinners served in steel buckets called steamer pots. I had queen crab legs. They were decent. We wrapped up dinner by 930pm agreeing to meet Glenn again for breakfast at 930am at the Quay restaurant, the same place we convened for breakfast the Saturday morning prior. Offered to handoff all the groceries right then but he said he was too tired to fool with it. Agreed. We were all tired too.

Back at the hotel all four of us were quickly in bed with the lights out. Hard to believe a week had already gone by.