Mt. High Photos (2006/2007)

Sunday Brunch River Cruise

September 30, 2007. (Saturday)  What a great cruise on the "Portland Spirit"! About 17 or 18 of us participated, including two new members (Moniquea and Brock). In spite of some rain during boarding, the weather actually worked in our favor, as the rain calmed the waters, so the sailing was very smooth. The food was fabulous, a buffet loaded with a large selection of meats, eggs, pasta, salads, and different kinds of desserts.  Champagne was poured and refilled, as well as orange juice, apple cider, and topped off with some delicious coffee.  The view of the river was so good from our table that we didn't even need to step outside on the deck, but Emilio and a few others didgo out for a short time anyway. There was also live, jazzy music on board, some piano music, and even the waitresses singing their hearts out!

Just a few of us, boarding the ship. More people came later.

Annual Mt. High Picnic

August 11, 2007. (Saturday)  This is the the third year in a row that we've held a picnic at Sellwood Park. As usual, it was preceded by a short bike ride along the Willamette River. We crossed the Sellwood Bridge and went up the west side of the river all the way to the Steel bridge, then crossed over to the east side and rode along the new bicycle path along the east side of the river, past OMSI and the submarine.  But, that was just half the fun. Then we proceeded with the picnic, the hot dogs, heated conversations about upcoming ski trips. We met a few new members, and played some softball.

Hike to Warrior Rock

July 8, 2007. (Sunday)  our hike to Warrior Rock was very nice, the weather was perfect. The Wanderers were: Alice, Blaise, Lisa, Jean, Yolanda, Marlise, Lydia, Chuck and Elisabeth.

FWSA Convention (Santa Clara, CA)

May 31 - June 3, 2007.  The Far West Ski Association Convention was held in Santa Clara, CA this year. It is an opportunity to meet with other clubs, and with ski industry representatives, and to plan for future winter trips.  Our club got recognized in a number of ways.  Our very own Linda McGavin received recognition for the NWSCC Newsletter she edits every month.  Mountain High won first place in the Outstanding Club competition, in the AAA category, which are clubs with over 200 members. We have just grown to slightly over 200 members this past season!  Also, our PACRAT racers were recognized for winning the most points at the recent Far West Championships at Mt. Bachelor (in April). Debbi Kor won the President's Award for her contribution to the Far West Ski Association. Emilio Trampuz received the "Safety Person of the Year" award, for promoting safety. See the Safety, Vision, and Articles pages on our web site.

Rat Attack

April 13, 2007.  (Friday). The PACRAT Awards dinner party was held at the Greek Cuisina, complete with Greek circle dancing, belly-dancing, an ouzo drinking contest, plate smashing, and dressing up like pirates. Arrrgh!

The top 4 teams were all from our Mt. High club:

1. Rattitudes (captain: Chris Wiley): 205 points

2. Psychothermia (captain Gary Gunderson) 192 pts.

3. Drooling Moose Rats (capt. Elaine Bock) 180 pts.

4. Avalanche Express (capt. Gary Gunderson) 163 pts.

See results on our Race Results web page & on the official PACRAT web site: www.pacrats.org. 

To join a team next season, contact one of our team captains. See our "Racing" page.

Mt. Bachelor Weekend - Far West Championships

March 30 - April 1, 2007.  What a great weekend in Bend!  Lots of fun skiing, racing, and partying. Emilio forgot to bring the memory card for his camera. So, thanks to all of you who sent in your photos for our newsletter and for this web page.

A total of 161 racers participated in the Far West Championships. 47 of them were PACRAT racers, who performed very well against racers from other western States. Among 11 racing leagues, PACRATS scored the 2nd highest number of points in slalom, and 1st place in GS and the overall combined points. Official race results and some photos are posted at: http://www.fwra.com/Results/FWRA%20Championships.htm

Mt. Bachelor "Cloud 9" photos of slalom race are at:

http://www.photoreflect.com/scripts/prsm.dll?eventthumbs?event=038L00SO

Bus trip to Leavenworth, WA (Mission Ridge, Stevens Pass)

March 16-18, 2007. Except for a few injuries, it was a great weekend. We skied Mission Ridge and Stevens Pass, and stayed both nights in the charming Bavarian town of Leavenworth, WA.

On the bus, we had a jokes contest, won by Colin Gadler (by popular vote). Also, it was St. Patrick’s day, so we had a limerick contest. Many limericks were submitted. Our shy Barbara Derkacht had the winning entry, a bit too raunchy for print. Tim Gadler’s limerick won 2nd place.

We had a perfectly sunny day at Mission Ridge. The views were fantastic. As usual on such trips, we tried a bit of human slalom, and explored the Bomber cliffs.
At Stevens Pass, it was a bit more cloudy. Bruce Kuper wore a helmet cam and showed us his fall and slide on the very steep face of 7th Heaven. Click here to see the video, or visit our web site videos page.

Mt. High Pizza Party

March 8, 2007. (Thursday) One of our quarterly pizza parties, held at the Round Table Pizza on Barbur Blvd. (near Capitol Hwy.).  As usual, it was well attended, the pizza was free, and the company enjoyable.  This time we had Diane Hicks as our guest speaker. She told us about how the Northwest Snow Sports Foundation helps with scholarships for your, aspiring local racers. Our club donated $500 to the Foundation, plus an additional $150 which we "earned" from the Far West Snowsport Association, as a prize for an outstanding club and web site. That $150 was actually donated by the FWSA, but our club selected the NW Snow Sports Foundation as the beneficiary.

Timberline's New Trails

March 5, 2007. (Monday) This was a one-day preview of the new trails at Timberline. It was open to anyone who bought a lift ticket this Monday. A new Express chairlift will be built this summer (2007). It will be called "The Jeff Flood Still Creek Basin Chairlift", and will be located between the current Pucci and Stormin' Norman lifts. The top of the new lift will be near the bottom end of the Magic Mile. The new lift opens up a lot of new terrain, some very long cruising trails, some unexpectedly steeper slopes, and even some glades. Best of all, the new lift will take a lot of the load off of the Pucci chair. Since you can use the new lift to return to the lodge, and the runs are much longer anyway, there will be much less traffic on the Pucci chair.

Ski the Glade Trail Day

March 3, 2007. (Saturday)  This is an annual event, sponsored by the Mt. Hood Museum & Cultural Center in Government Camp. It's an opportunity to ski the historic Glade Trail from Timberline to Government Camp, as many times as you wish.  A couple of vans provided the transportation all day. This is a fund raiser for the Museum.  In return, each participants gets to not only ski, but also partake of some breakfast, lunch and dinner at the Museum. There was also a raffle, wine tasting, and everyone also received a nice gift package full of all kinds of goodies, from sunscreen to power bars.

Cascade Lodge Weekend

March 3-4, 2007.  We were all invited to stay at the Cascade Lodge in Government Camp, for a special rate of only $17 per person. Dinner was only $9.  There was so much happening this weekend (including the Oregon Cancer Ski Out, the Ski the Glade Trail Day, the Moonlight Snowshoe trek to Trillium Lake, and the new trails opening at Timberline) that it was better to stay in Government Camp than drive all the way home every day.  Thanks to the Cascade Ski Club for their hospitality!  Too bad only relatively few of us took part in this.

PACRAT Race at Ski Bowl

February 18, 2007. (Sunday)  This was our third race of the season.  A fast course was set up.  There was plenty of snow everywhere. In between and after the racing, the ungroomed areas were quite skiable, and some of us took advantage of it in the Upper Bowl.

Our Mt. High club was in charge of organizing and coordinating the post-race party at the Mt. Hood Museum & Cultural Center in Government Camp.  Several people volunteered (see photos).  Also, several of our members brought baked goodies and desserts. Some of them may have been leftovers from the Chocolate Party the night before?

Annual Chocolate Party

February 17, 2007. (Saturday)  Our annual chocolate party was hosted by Steve Royce and Edie Martinelli.  As usual, it was a fun event, full of sweetness. The company was enjoyable too, as you can see from the photos.

Utah Trip

(Eden, Powder Mountain, Snowbasin)

February 9-16, 2007.   We had a 4-day option, with people staying in hotel rooms at the Red Moose Lodge, ... and a 7-day option, with people staying at the Moose Hollow condos.

Our first day at Powder Mountain was sunny, but without fresh snow. The second day, we got a lot of new snow, while skiing at nearby Snowbasin.  The third day, we got to experience Powder Mountain with fresh powder on the ground, although some people opted to drive to Park City instead.  This was easy to do, since we had rented a number of SUVs, one car for each 4 trip participants.

Linda McGavin cooked us all a spaghetti dinner, served in the conferencee room at the Red Moose Lodge.  On another day, we all went out to dinner at the Timbermine Restaurant in Ogden -with an interesting decor: a cross between an old-time saloon and a mining operation.

Many people on the trip got sick with some flue-like symptoms. Kurt had the most serious malady, possibly caused by Salmonella poisoning.

But, those of us who could ski had a "powderful" time!!!

PACRAT Race at Timberline

January 14, 2007. (Sunday)  Our first race of the season was held at Timberline, under wonderfully sunny skies, and on excellent snow that held up beautifully during the whole day, with hardly any ruts at all. This season, our club has 9 teams, of 10 persons each. That's a total of 90 racers, which is actually a tad over half of all the PACRAT racers (from various local clubs).  The après-ski party was held at the Mt. Hood Cultural Center and Museum (MHCC&M) in Government Camp.  There was food and drinks, hosted by the Skiyente ski club. Also, lots of door-prizes, but you had to be present to win.

Canada Ski Safari

December 2-9, 2006.  Fifteen of us went on a road trip through Washington and British Columbia, in six separate cars: Lots of early snow blanketed the West this year, and Mt. Baker had by far the most snow, about 10 feet. The weather was partly cloudy to mostly sunny, except at Silver Star, where we got a few inches of fresh snow overnight.

We shared the cost of gas and lodging. The total cost per person differed based on the number of people per car, the number of people per hotel room, and the type of lodging (hostel, motel in town, or hotel in the mountain village)  Some of our group, sharing costs between 4 people, paid as little as $168 per person for all 5 days of skiing.  Others paid about $206 per person (with 3 people sharing costs). Going for total comfort, with only 2 people per room in an on-mountain hotel, the cost per person was only $350 - $370 (for all 5 days) The only additional expense was for food.  For comparison, note that on any average ski trip, you will probably spend $100 - $150 per person per day.

We skied a different area each day:  Mt. Baker (WA), Sun Peaks, Silver Star, Big White and Apex,  (British Columbia). That was the basic 5-day trip.   Bob and Emilio proceeded on to Red Mountain, 49 Degrees North and Mt. Spokane, for a total of 8 ski areas in 8 days.