A8 THE SPOKESMAN • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2022
Sports+Outdoors
WINTER
ON THE
WAY
Another predicted La Niña
has skiers and snowboarders
excited for upcoming season
Emma
Maaranen
navigates
a rock line
on the Rock
Stacker
section of
C.O.D. trail
in Bend.
Submitted
photo
Dean Guernsey/Bulletin file photo
Skiers and snowboarders ride the Pine Marten Express chairlift with Broken Top
in the background at Mt. Bachelor ski area in December 2020.
BY MARK MORICAL • CO Media Group
I
f the snow this week in Central Oregon is not enough to
get skiers and snowboarders excited for the coming sea-
son, then the long-term forecast should. Another La Niña
is predicted, meaning cooler temperatures and more snow for
ski areas through December and January.
is where that dividing line is. It is somewhere in Oregon, according to
O’Neill.
“The way the La Niñas have gone over the last 10 years or so, is it’s a
better probability that everything north of about Willamette Pass tends
to get the better snowpack,” O’Neill said. “Then the south Oregon Cas-
cades have been quite a bit below normal. There’s more confidence
that the north Oregon Cascades and Washington Cascades
“We’re going into fairly similar conditions as last
will see an above average snowpack, and then it’s always
winter,” said Larry O’Neill, director of Oregon Cli-
tricky with the south and Central Oregon Cascades,
mate Services at Oregon State University in Cor-
if they end up above or below normal.”
vallis. “It might be slightly weaker than last
The storm this week blasted all of Oregon,
year, but probably not significantly different
bringing with it wet, heavy snow that can be
as far as La Niña goes. Right now we’re in a
good for building bases at ski areas.
weak La Niña, but it’s just on the edge of be-
While Mount Bachelor is close to that di-
ing a moderate one. Last year we were barely
viding line of El Niño vs. La Niña, the ski area
into the moderate one.”
has several advantages. Aside from being at a
El Niño — which usually makes for a
higher elevation than most Oregon ski areas,
warmer and drier Northwest winter — and La
it is also more inland, making for drier snow
Niña are seasonal weather patterns driven by
that can last longer. It also has a north-facing as-
sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean.
pect, which also allows the snow to stick and last
Mt. Bachelor ski area, which typically attempts to
longer.
open for winter operations on Thanksgiving weekend
Willamette Pass ski area, by contrast, is located at the
A snowboarder riding the
each year, plans to open on Nov. 25, provided there is
crest of the Cascades, making for wetter snow, and it has
powder bowls near Rainbow primarily south-facing slopes.
enough snow to open its base areas.
chair at Mt. Bachelor ski area.
With a base elevation of 6,300 feet, Bachelor can
No matter where skiers and snowboarders ven-
Bulletin file
pretty much count on getting decent snow every winter.
ture this year, they can probably expect a big gap in
But that is no longer the case for smaller ski resorts like
the snowfall, as happened last winter. After significant
Willamette Pass (base elevation 5,128 feet) and Hoodoo (base eleva-
snow dumps in late December and early January, high pressure from
tion 4,668 feet). Those resorts typically try to open by early to mid-De- mid-January to late February made for limited fresh snow. Mother Na-
cember, before the winter holidays.
ture then oddly made up for it in May with epic powder conditions in
The snow this week in Central Oregon are early signs of the La
late spring.
Nina, according to O’Neill.
“Every year has exceptions,” O’Neill said. “The last couple of years
“This year it’s cooling off pretty quickly,” he said. “So the outlook is
we’ve had big gaps in the middle of the snow season. There’s always
actually fairly similar to what it was last year in that La Niñas tend to
a caveat that conditions can change. Things are a little bit more un-
be cooler than normal with more precipitation than normal. For the
predictable because of climate change. What’s happened historically
most part that means better snowpack, on average.”
during La Niñas is not what’s happening now.
While La Niñas make for cooler and snowier Northwest winters,
“But I’m pretty optimistic, I just went and bought a new pair of skis.”
Reporter: 541-383-0318, mmorical@bendbulletin.com
they make for warmer and drier winters in the Southwest. The variable
█
Snowboarders at Hoodoo ski area on
Santiam Pass last season.
Bulletin file
Yes, technical
trails exist in
Central Oregon
BY EMMA MAARANEN
For The Spokesman
“Central Oregon trails are not technical.”
I hear this all the time. And, no, the green
trails in Central Oregon are not technical. They
shouldn’t be. Many blue trails would be rated
green at Whistler, British Columbia. We don’t
have 8-foot gap jumps, high-ball skinnies or 20-
foot high, steep slab rides.
However, saying we don’t have technical trails
is a falsehood. Our tech lines look different than
glossy photos in magazine ads, but there are
plenty of areas that take advanced bike-handling
skills to ride.
One of my favorite technical loops in Phil’s
(yes, Phil’s) starts up C.O.D. from LOGE Bend.
There are several rock ramps that take some
commitment and balance to ride as the trail par-
allels Cascade Lakes Highway and a rock gar-
den that I still put a foot down on now and then
after riding it at least 100 times. I take the Rock
Stacker option and really get to practice slow-
speed bike handling. Twice I’ve ridden this trail
clean in the uphill direction, and many times I’ve
left a little blood.
Next is the new-ish C.O.D. reroute to the Wel-
come Center with some spicy step-ups to keep
me honest. I then continue up Upper C.O.D.
through some rock gardens that take finesse
(don’t take the ride-around option on the rock
ramp) to the junction with Ticket to Ride (TTR)
south. Cruise TTR and Voodoo Child to Voo-
doo. Heading down Voodoo, you encounter
old-school tech where managing your momen-
tum over boulders and tight turns is an act of re-
sponding to wherever the trail tosses you. I turn
onto Grand Slam at the junction, where sighting
through keeper holes and over log rides is es-
sential to keep it rubber side down. I return to
LOGE via K.G.B. and the Tetherow trail. There
are a few fun alt-line launches on K.G.B. as you
descend to Tetherow to finish off the tech ride
sampler.
This loop is not steep. It’s not fast riding. But
it is an accomplishment to ride it without put-
ting a foot down or taking a ride around. When
you have the skills to do this loop, you have de-
veloped a complete checklist of skills needed
to ride the most technical of features on black
cross-country trails around the country. Central
Oregon has produced some insanely good tech-
nical riders from Red Bull Rampage finalists to
Enduro World Series contenders. They learned
their craft here, learning the foundation of pilot-
ing a mountain bike on our trails, and took that
to a bigger stage.
Have you ridden the wood features at 66 Trails
area? Practiced drops at East Hills? Found the
slab-rock rides on Larsen’s? Turned pale scouting
the lines on Trail 2 at Cline Butte? Found your
flow at The Lair?
There is technical riding among the flowy 500-
plus miles of single track in the area. If you are
not challenged with your ride loops, try mine.
I think you’ll sing another tune when someone
tells you there’s no technical riding here.
█
Emma Maaranen is a professional mountain bike rider,
coach, and the Bend Chapter representative on the Central
Oregon Trail Alliance board of directors.
Falling snow means Mt. Bachelor
expects to open season on Nov. 25
BY JOE SIESS
CO Media Group
With all the snow falling on Mount
Bachelor, this week, the ski area expects
to open the 2022-23 season on Nov. 25,
the day after Thanksgiving.
The Skyliner chairlift is also ex-
pected to be running by the time Mt.
Bachelor opens to skiers and snow-
boarders. Skyliner was shut down in
December and remained closed for the
rest of last season. One of the Skylin-
er’s 14-foot-wide bull wheels recently
underwent repairs, and returned to the
mountain on Saturday, Johnny Sereni,
spokesman for Mt. Bachelor told The
Bulletin on Tuesday.
“The bull wheel arrived, a little
bit delayed because of the ice on the
road. The crew got it up and into place
the same day it arrived. They are just
finishing up some of the mechanics
around it now, and we are going to start
testing it and spinning it in the next
few days,” Sereni said. “We will get it
inspected and it will be up and running
in time.” Skyliner will be dismantled
and replaced with a brand new six-per-
son lift, which is expected to open for
the 2023-24 ski season.
The anticipated start to the season
this winter is earlier than in the past
couple of seasons. Last season, the re-
sort opened in a limited capacity on
Dec. 13, and in 2020, it opened on
Dec. 7 with 40 inches of snow recorded
on the mountain. However, a mid- to
late-November start to the season has
been relatively common over the years.
This year, snow came later than
usual, but Sereni said so far it is pack-
ing down nicely and more snow is ex-
pected in the near future.
“We are getting good snowfalls,
one after the other. They are not huge
amounts of snow, but they are packing
down to a nice base which is freezing
the ground,” he said. “We start making
snow today as well. And there are more
cold fronts coming in the next week or
so, and we are expecting a little more.”
At this point, the mountain expects
two more cold fronts to bring snow in
the coming days, Sereni said. He said
if the weather keeps up, the resort will
open on schedule. However, gauging
how much snow is needed to open
properly is the key question.
“It is kind of the million-dollar ques-
tion: How much snow do you need? It
is a lot about where the snow falls, how
much is in certain areas, and what kind
of snow,” Sereni said. “So, it really does
depend on the snow at that given time.
But if we can get at least one run open
from top to bottom and groomed with
Mt. Bachelor ski area
One of the Skyliner chairlift’s 14-foot-wide bull wheels recently underwent repairs, and
returned to Mt. Bachelor ski area last week.
no obstacles, just good snow cover,
we’ll open a lift.”
Although the lifts are not running
quite yet, Sereni encouraged people
to come up to the mountain and en-
joy the snow. He was pleased to see a
cross-country skier slide past his office
window on Tuesday.
█
jsiess@bendbulletin.com,
541-617-7820