Pyramid winter 2020/2021

[Philip]

Here are trail maps for Pyramid for those less familiar with the names:





Saturday Dec 19, 2020

We obviously woke up to a nice dump of snow in town, so I popped up to Pmid to check the conditions. The road was not plowed but easily passable with 4wd. The parking area wasn’t cleared but with care you could rut yourself a way in and get situated. A nice skin track was already established by 11 am. Still lots of salmonberry tips poking out on the way up to the spruce knob, but decent snow coverage above that. Maybe a foot of fresh pow in the Jibber Bowl. Light and fluffy and sitting on older storm accumulation with no obvious layers. Pretty deep and decent. By the top of the Jibber you climb into wind-affected snow with drifts and exposed old crust:



The ridge to below the summit was a patchwork of new deposits and old crust. Rocks were visible in places. I went to the South Bowl expecting a big wind slab but the bowl was actually pretty wind scoured with pockets of storm- and wind-deposited pillows. I dug a quick ECT pit in the thickest part (2 m depth to ground) of the wind pillow below the ridge on skier’s right as you enter the bowl and nothing reacted after 30 taps. The whole snow storm deposit was fist or 4 finger hardness top to bottom with some old melt-freeze rounds at the base near the ground. Levering my shovel blade behind the column caused it to tip from the base where it detached from the refreeze rounds. So nothing of particular concern:



The best snow was definitely the deep new stuff in the Jibber.

[Philip]

Saturday January 2.

The pitch from the parking lot to the Spruce Knob is a sad lawn of salmonberries, but above that in the Jibber life is good. A firm base is covering a decent amount of brush and the last storm deposited 4-6” of reasonably evenly distributed fluffy new snow. The wind was 15 out of the NW and the light was flat above the Jibber, so I didn’t go higher. Very good conditions coming down the Jibber, the upper Beaver Pond run, and most of Sharon’s Traverse. The road and parking were not a problem.

[Philip]

Sunday January 3.

The North Bowl was nothing short of spectacular today. 6” of lovely settled pow over a good base made for hero skiing down the bowl and even out the bottom onto the lower slopes. Among the best mid-winter conditions I have experienced on Pmid. The ridge run is good with some rocks showing. The Jibber still needs more snow and is getting a little cut up, but it’s still fun. The Beaver Pond is fine, but salonberries limit options. Sharon’s Traverse is getting scraped pretty thin, but is the only option down that doesn’t involve walking. Stunning sunny skies, no wind, and pockets of superb snow. Spectacular vistas of snow-flocked Devils Prongs and Sharatin. Not a shabby day at all, and more snow in the forecast. Snowpack stability was good on all aspects we encountered. Thank you, 2021.

The North Bowl delivered:





Mid winter sunshine is awesome:



The Jibber is getting a workout, but should get refreshed this week:

[kayakhans]

Thanks Philip. Looks very inviting. I am glad you can enjoy these ideal conditions. Mt Hood has plenty of new snow and we will be heading up there in a few days. I am looking for tire chains for our new car since it has only front-wheel drive and the wheels are somewhat smaller than the Subaru wheels. Therefore the old chains do not fit well.

[patrick]

Monday 1/4 - Today Nora and I skied the skier's right side of the jibber bowl and down into trees below the cliffs. It was excellent and snowing hard. The new snow was already doing a zamboni job on all the tracks too. Yesterday we skied Sharatin Mountain and it was excellent down low but windblown on high. Good skiing down to about 500 feet in elevation.
Patrick

[patrick]

Tuesday 1/5. Today I went up around 2 and it was cats paws at the antenna field, sleet at the parking lot, and pretty much all snow at the knob.  But the transition zone between the rain and snow seemed a little broader than usual - and there was sleet mixed in with the snow all the way up to 1700 feet.  We are not losing snow below the knob and are gaining above it.  From mid jibber on up all the old tracks have been wiped clean.  Also remarkably little wind in the jibber.  Snow very wet and slow even at the top of the jibber.  Also they scraped the road while i was up there - but road may be a sheet of ice with water on top by tomorrow.
Patrick

[Philip]

It looks like colder storms and more snow on the way but with no real clearing until next Tuesday.

[Philip]

Wednesday January 13.

The North Bowl was truly great again today. Pyramid has been gaining snow steadily with most of the rocks on the upper ridge covered (or ‘hidden’- still be careful) and some brush getting buried in the Jibber and on the north side. The North Bowl today was a reasonably consistent 4” of carveable wind board that got better and better as you go down and transitioned into 8” of superb wind-packed powder on the lower pitches. The Ridge Run was okay with some patches of expose rime, but generally acceptable skiing. The Jibber was wind scoured on top but was nice by the bottom as was Beaver Pond and Sharon’s. Snowpack stability seemed very good on all aspects and elevations I visited. It’s going to blow NE hard tomorrow but bring more snow. The road is in great shape but the parking lot is a nasty rutted refrozen mess. I wish DOT would give it a couple of blade passes. Be careful when parking. Bring a really stout shovel just in case.

The upper slopes are filling in nicely:



Superb conditions below the N Bowl:

[Philip]

Friday Jan 15.

I drove up to the pass this morning hoping to find some nice fresh snow on Pyramid. It looked like it had rained up to about 1,000' judging by the runnels on the surface of the snow. The snow at the parking area had a solid refrozen rain crust on it. I decided to skip going up the mountain as I was not in the mood to take a digger on concrete coming back down. The parking situation is terrible. I stopped by the DOT building at the turnoff to the pass and they were very nice about hearing my request that a grader make a little room for folks to park at the chalet as they have in previous years. This being a holiday weekend they may not get to it immediately, but hopefully they give it a good scrape soon. If a few other folks make similar requests I bet we can get an area cleared. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, especially at DOT.

[patrick]

1/15. Philip is right - when I went skiing yesterday it was raining up to the knob at 1000 feet and there was mist mixed with snow right up to 2000 feet. But today above the knob the skiing it not all that bad - sort of well-adhered dust on crust. And at least it is smooth. Below the knob is sort of ugly.

And all hail to Rolan - He plowed the parking lot on his own with his personal truck! It was quite impressive because the berm was partially frozen etc. And he did not plow the whole parking lot, but he did clear an impressive area. Thank You Rolan!
Patrick

[Philip]

Wow, that’s great. Rolan was at the pass when I pulled up and we chatted about the parking. He followed me back towards town and we went to DOT together, but after that I guess he decided to do some vigilante snow removal, lol. Good for him!

[patrick]

2/12/2021. Yesterday there was a foot of snow at the pass and the beaver pond run was a winter wonderland. So today I had high hopes for the rest of the mountain. And was sadly disappointed. The Beaver Pond run and Sharon's traverse are still pretty good but from the upper jibber on up the mountain is a sheet of ice. I gather that after Nora and I went skiing around 3 PM yesterday that the snow turned to rain - and it was on ice storm on high. After midnight it looks like we got some more new snow but on high it all blew away.

Also the road from the gravel pit on up is pretty bad. Deep ruts, slushy, and the snow up to the under carriage in the middle. If it does not get plowed and freezes solid driving to the pass will be very bad. A frozen rutted disaster.

I think I am going to stick with XC skiing tomorrow! Golf courses looking good!
Patrick

[patrick]

2/14 10AM I gather the road to Pyramid is getting plowed right now! So the road ought to be good later today.
Patrick

[patrick]

5/30/21 Skiing still good to the creek on Pyramid but that's not the reason I'm posting. Today at the knob I noticed that the melting snow has uncovered a line of human poop and toilet paper along the trail. I counted nine in about 20 feet just past the knob. I actually don't mind the poop so much as the toilet paper. Just a reminder that toilet paper does not melt away when the snow does! If you use toilet paper either pack it out or burn it. If you bury it a fox will dig it up.

Patrick