8/4/2019 Earning Turns All Summer Long Sept 7,2011 Kaleidescope

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JASON LESLIEFor the News

While the south side of Mount Hoodreceives most of the attention andcrowds, the less-visited north side alsooffers some of the best summer skiingaround; it just requires a bit more effortto get to.

Towering above the historic Cloud CapInn (now the base of operations for the

Crag Rats mountain search and rescueoperations) the north side of MountHood holds skiable snow throughout thesummer months. Just how skiable it isdepends on ones tolerance for navigat-ing sun-baked snow. On a recent outing,Crag Rat Dave Waag described the snowquality as ranging from manageable toexponentially horrendous. But mid-summer backcountry skiing is less aboutquality conditions and more about expe-riencing the grandeur of recreating inremote wilderness on a glacier-clad vol-cano. Mount Hoods combination of highelevation and proximity to ocean mois-ture leads to an enormous amount of an-nual snowfall. As a result the fanaticalskier can enjoy schussing down themountainside practically all year long.

Although much of the skiing is on oth-

erwise intermediate terrain, accessing itdoes require some glacier travel and anassociated level of skill and experience.Draped with remnants of last winterssnow, crevasses gape open, revealing

deep chasms. Meanwhile rock and icefallare a near-constant hazard. Waag reportshaving seen a large serac (a tower-likeblock of glacial ice) calve off the Eliotglacier this past weekend, sending car-sized chunks of ice and snow slidingdown the mountain. Yet despite the risk,the intrepid adventurer can still findslopes where a few dozen turns can belinked together.

The north side of Mount Hood can beaccessed from the trailhead at the end ofthe Cloud Cap Road, an 11-mile roughdirt road beyond the Cooper Spur skiarea. The drive up to the trailhead is al-most worthy of a visit in its own right.Much of the road travels through theburned area from the 2008 Gnarl RidgeFire. The incinerated forest is just begin-ning the rejuvenation process as wild-flowers poke up through the blackenedsoil. Even if lugging your skis up for afew turns is not your idea of fun, thehiking and sightseeing is spectacular.From Cloud Cap, there is great hiking tothe south along the Timberline Trail andup along Cooper Spur. If planning avisit, be aware that the section of theTimberline Trail that crosses the EliotCreek is obliterated and attempting tocross is treacherous and not at all recom-mended.

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Jason Leslie is a Hood River writerand mountain backcountry aficionado.

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Earning turns ...all summer long

Get off the beaten track:Skiing Mount Hoods north face

CRAG RAT Dave Waag looksfor a good ski line near the Eliot

Glacier. More than the CooperSpur, accessing the glacier can be

dangerous and should be doneby those with experience.

Photo by Jason Leslie

Its not the super awesomeextreme skiing that makes itworth the effort.

Its only a few quick turnson mediocre-at-best snow, atthe cost of multiple hours ofstrenuous hiking on steepand unstable terrain, theburning in your legs andlungs often accompanied bythe burning of high-altitudesun on your face and highwind blasting sand acrossyour legs.

Its about an 8 out of 10 onthe difficult scale as far aslocal hikes go but forthose who make the trek, thereward is definitely as goodas it gets.

And for those who lug skio r s n o w b o a r ds h i g h u pMount Hoods north side,the pleasure and novelty ofs k i i n g o r s n o w b o a rd i n gdown however short itmight be is well worth theeffort.

Thanks to a deep snow-pack and a cool spring thisyear, the summer has beenone of the best in recentmemory for T-shirt back-country; towering above thevalley, shredding the slopesof the Cooper Spur and EliotGlacier.

Adam Lapierre

Photos by ADAM LAPIERRE

SNOWBOARDING IN AUGUST usually occurs on the other side of Mount Hood, at Timberline Lodge.But for those who dont mind a long hike for a few turns, the mountains north side offers someunique,and amazing,backcountry opportunities.With unrivaled view and wide open spaces, the Coop-er Spur and Eliot Glacier area is fairly easily accessed from Cloud Cap Inn or the Tilly Jane Ski Trail(when the road to Cloud Cap is closed).These pictures are from a late-August trip up the spur with Hood River resident Delaney Sharp andSweden resident Martin Lundin. The three-hour hike at a moderate pace yields amazing viewsfrom start to finish. Wildflowers and high-mountain plantlife at lower elevations give way eventuallyto sand, stone and wide open snowfields. Standing at the top of the Spur Trail, a look south revealsviews all the way to the Three Sisters in Central Oregon, a look east across the desert and the snakingColumbia River, a look north to Mount Adams, Rainier and St. Helens and a look west at the toweringsummit of Oregons highest peak.Above, Lundin snowboards with Eliot Glacier and Mount Adams in the background; below, Sharp glis-sades down a snowfield in hiking boots.