Soooooo, I went to Mt Hood this last weekend and Damn was it a brutally good time. Got down to Camas (just east of Vancouver) Friday night and just kinda hung out and chilled a bit. Saturday we got up pretty early and headed out and picked up some people so we were rolling 6 deep in Mikes Excursion. Got to Hood about 8:30 (notice the time) and unloaded everybody and theyre stuff off at the lodge at Meadows. After getting lift tickets we proceeded to wait untill at least 9:15 for all the SKIERS to finally get their boots and various parephanallia on and everyone loaded up their packs with Lots of beer/lunch/Super strong Margaritas.
Five of us took off while Mike went and looked to meet the other group we were going to ride with.
We finally got riding about 9:15 - 9:30 and there was anywhere between 2 to 5 inches of new. We rode up the Mount Hood Express and Buried our Bags in theyre favorite bag burying spot atop a 15 to 20 foot cliff (more on said cliff later) ended up riding trees for a while and having a blast untill we hear that Cascade Chair is open so we haul ass over to it and proceed to take the chair into a white out/flat light wonderland. The snow felt great but you couldnt see anything at all once we traversed over to the top of Heather canyon where there are a bunch of sick bowls that we wanted to attack. John and Chris proceeded to eat shi*t pretty spectacularly due to the lack of any definition on the snow. All in all it was probally the worst light Ive experianced this season and thats saying a lot considering some of the days Ive ridden. Well Alpental was as bad if not worse on New Years Day but I knew that line like the back of my hand so I knew what to expect.
So we head back over to Shooting Star and Heather Canyon and ride great tree lines for a while until its time to go meet the other group down at the base area. Me being the way I am, am doing my usual haul ass- hyena routine when I notice that no one is behind me anymore and Im going somewhere Ive never gone before so I just start following signs to the Parking area. I forget that there are more than one parking area at hood with differebt base areas so I end up all the way down at Hood River Express and have to get all the way back over to The main base area. About this time my lower legs and back knee(which have been really bothering me for the last few weeks) are really starting to ache so I down four Aleve with nothing to wash it down with and wait untill I can get to the PBR tall cans in my pack. So after getting pissed at my Ipod because the shi*tty battery dies I finally make my way to where Im going and proceed to look for the group for the next 20 minutes or so until John finally runs out and flags me down.
We proceed to eat and drink beer which everyone else has been doing all morning and then the real games begin. By this time were 11 deep with only John and I and Mikes kid being on snowboards. All of the Skiers were pretty damn good which was a bonus so we start terrorizing Jacks Woods which is a decent sized wooded area at really high speed with eleven people trying not to bounce off of each other or more importantly a tree. Of course on every chair up were downing beers and Margaritas out of multiple flasks on three full chairs full of people and generally having a grand old time. This goes on untill most of us can barley stand our legs are so worked and then we decide to call it a day about 4 or so. Anyone who knows me knows I never dirnk more than a couple beers at lunch if Im riding and hardley ever ride from 9 to 4 so it was definatly a looong one for me but I was just getting warmed up by this point.
We go to retrieve our packs atop the earlier mentioned cliff and three of the group want to drop it. Me knowing better in my state and my legs being worked decide to spot the landing. First up is this Guy named Rob who proceeds to drop in with a touch too much speed and proceeds to go out about thirty feet from the face of the rock and about 35 or 40 vertical feet. The landing was a little on the firm side that far out and I had NO idea he was going to hit it that fast so he proceeded to rag doll for about 30 yards and ends up holding his shoulder and not feeling all too great. Im not sure what the final result was, but thats the first time Ive ever been with someone who had to ride a tabogan down the mountain before. His shoulder was either dislocted really bad or he had a broken collorbone.
After we all met up again we all pile in to the previously mentioned Excursion and follow a Denali full of Skiers to a crazy cabin in the woods complete with fully stocked beer cooler and hot tub. We proceed to party/marinate there for a few hours and then hop back in the Excursion for the trip back to Camas while Chris and I who are sitting in the back seat proceed to sing lots of Buttrock songs (all I remember was a Van Halen one) at full volume for the entire trip.
All in all a vedy vedy good day on the mounatin!
