Easter in Oregon – April 10-12

Pete in Joe Bob's on the Clackamas

The usual suspects (and some new ones) made their way to Oregon to dust off kayaks and paddles. The rivers: the Clackamas (a bit higher than two years ago, much of the smaller features and Bob’s were washed out but Joe Bob’s worked), the Molalla, a new run in narrow basalt canyons with some fun drops (should take a lower put-in next time) and the White Salmon at relaxing low flow (2.75, but unfortunately a big fat log in Husum Falls).

Its spring in OR. Maple trees bloom in yellow and the first Balsam Roots show. Bagby Hotsprings still snowed in, but of course excellent! Star gazing at our campsite on the Klickitat and turkeys gobbling at night.


Spring is here


Molalla - Three bears run


Basalt pillar canyons








Maytag on the White Salmon

Pow and Airtime – April 4/5

On Friday the Coquihalla webcam showed lots of snow in the trees, so we drove up to Needle Peak Saturday morning to see for ourselves. And yes, there was fluffy powder, all the way down to the road. Did several runs in the trees to a total of 1100 m in knee-deep pow – maybe last pow for the season? By 1 PM the sun was high enough to hit the north facing slopes on top making the snow sticky, so we packed it in to meet up with the Deimos crew at Mt Woodside. Pete had a stellar flight thermaling up to his personal record height around 1800 m and despite a strong East breeze made it past Harvest Market LZ together with Paddy. I didn’t have so much luck with the thermals and ended up with two shorter flights. Maybe a good thing – Pete reported rather exciting conditions up high.


Yak snowed in again


Pete happy with the conditions




I like it too!






Riverside LZ below Mount Woodside

After Work Fun

Finally a couple of nice and sunny days. Is spring here?
The days are now long enough for some fun after work, so we drive up to Mt Seymour and enjoy the views and the snow (still a few meters of it).





Watching a paraglider with the city in the background.


Successful evening out.

More North Shore Pow – April 1st

No, it wasn’t an April Fools Joke. This week it was so cold that it even snowed in town. The hills reported 60-70 cm fresh over the last couple of days. March roared in like a lion ... and out.

We took advantage of the late season pow and the longer daylight – skiing the last run around 8 PM, but with thick cloud cover it was getting a wee bit too dark. Didn't see much with the goggles on because it was too dark, didn't see much without them because the snow got in my eyes.