No new snow today; but the sun was shining brightly in a clear blue sky above the mid level clouds that kept the Columbia Gorge gloomy and gray.

A ride on the Cascade lift out of the Mt. Hood Meadows parking lot took you out of the clouds and into the sun.

The clouds covered the entire Cascade mountain range to about 4500′.

The sun was out but the temperature was cool; keeping the groomed runs firm and fast.

Back up again tomorrow. Hoping for more snow towards the end of the week; not only for us here in the Columbia Gorge; but for the Olympic Winter Games venues in British Columbia, just a little north of here. They could really use the snow.

Well; there was already one day of snowboarding this week at Mt. Hood Meadows that was pretty darn good; but today was better. Could be the best day of the year so far.

Yesterday the Cascade chair that goes to the top of the hill was closed; so that ment today all the upper runs had 4-6″ of fresh; fairly light powder. Tough decision at the end of the first chair up to the summit; one epic run down Heather Canyon; or a half dozen pow runs down from Cascade. Since I ran Heather a couple times yesterday; I chose the bulk pow runs off Cascade.

I was able to lay down fresh tracks next to each other for about an hour until other people started following me into the Secret Stash zone.

It was mostly sunny; the clouds staying mostly below in the valleys. Once in a while a cloud would blow over the top of Mt. Hood and whiteout everything. Still; sweet lines if you could see where you were going or not; feel the way through the powder.

Today was one of the best days of the year at Mt. Hood Meadows so far.

4-6″ of new snow, bluebird skies and no lift lines. This was the day every skier and snowboarder dreams of. The legs went out before the untracked pow was used up.

It was all good today.

Finally the locals get a chance to rip it up without the mob. That was today.

Today; there was a glimpse of the sun just before sunrise. The sun would soon quickly rise over the horizon and into a thick bank of clouds.

In the Mt. Hood Meadows main lot at 9:00 AM; a few snowflakes began to fall from the clouds that were beginning to settle over the top of Mt. Hood.

By noon; the top of the mountain was a complete whiteout; impossible to see or maintain your bearings or balance. The clouds moved down the mountain until they reached the half-full main lot as a steady snow continued to fall.

Even in this El Nino season; there are good days of winter sports to be had.

Midweek crowds are non-existent.

The scenery is always great.

The snow; what there is of it; is in good shape and once in a while the sun comes out.

Today was a glory day at Mt. Hood Meadows.
Yesterday; the place was packed. The Portland news stations broadcasting stories of more than a foot of snow brought the mobs to the hill. Unfortunately; all the snow shut down the premiere runs off Cascade and Heather Canyon; leaving long lift lines to rip up the lower mountain’s beginner runs.

One day later; a much different story. Heather is finally free from avalanche danger and open straightaway. Headed right over to Twilight Bowl for four great runs through a foot or more of untracked powder through the bowl and down through last week’s avalanche pile. Then; over to Cascade, closed all day yesterday for non-stop powder runs. Not exactly light, fluffy pow; but fresh snow is fresh snow; just lean back when it gets heavy.
Definitely one of the best days of the year. Locals cash in big today.

This week was a great week of snowboarding at Mt. Hood Meadows. Only 3-4″ of new snow this week; but the weather has been pretty good by January in the PacNW standards; heck, the sun actually came out today. Looks like the management at the resort has decided to put some extra effort into grooming the main runs which has resulted in great snow conditions. Everyone I spoke with on the lift mentioned the great grooming job. In the past; the conversations would usually be about the lack of grooming; so here’s a GoreTex five finger salute to the Meadows management.
Pretty sore right now after three days of boarding. No lift lines means lots of runs; lots of fast runs.

Thanks to everyone who voted for the photo of one of our favorite mountain bike trails.

The photo got 187 votes and is the winner of the Phat Phat-Tire Photo Contest for December, 2009.

The weather here has been unusual and harsh lately. A temperature inversion has made it warmer higher in the mountains and in the river valleys; but freezing cold in between. For the past week the temperature has been stuck right around freezing; day and night. All precipitation has fallen as rain or freezing rain and frozen solid after hitting the ground. Vehicles were covered in ice, roads and walkways were slick as hockey rinks.

Finally; today the temperature rose above 40F and the icy coating on everything melted away. Car doors could once again be opened and driving on the the local roads returned to normal. A light rain started to fall, washing away the last of the ice; then the sun came out.

One of our photos is a finalist in the singletrack.com Phat Phat-Tire Photo Contest. Go to the Photo Contest page and click on photo number 4 – The “Gorge”