Mt Thielsen Splitboard

Ever since I have seen the proud peak that is Mt Thielsen, I always looked up in amazement at the positioning and her lower flanks.  The peak is very distinct and can be seen very prominently from around the area.
Bob and I decided to take a day off mid-week and get a day of backcountry in before the weather closed the window for snow fun.
We rallied and decided Wednesday was the day...I did not know much about the mountain, or the access so Bob was led us through the game plan as it unfolded.

We woke up knowing it was going to warm up significantly throughout the day and decided an early start would be the best course for many reasons.

The big question was how much snow was covering the trail that gave way to the mountain's flanks.  That question was fairly quickly answered once we hit the trail and started to walk up the trail and through patches of snow that gradually got bigger and bigger and forced our hand to transition over into tour mode and start the skin in earnest.
The trail meandered through the foothills until it finally gave way to peak a boo views of the mountain.  After about an hour, we gained a ridge and the view gave us 360 views of our surroundings.  To the west, we could see Bailey, to the north, Diamond Peaks, Mt Bachelor, Sisters....and of course Mt Thielsen held court as it stood there right in front of us showing us all her glory.  She was basking in the sun and proudly showing us her goods in full splendor.  The ridge was windy and we both went into auto-layer mode by adding a layer despite not really being cold..it was somehow more about comfort than it was being cold.
Soon enough, we worked our way up the ridge to the upper flanks.  We saw a soft slab avie on one of the steeper slopes and realized this might be one of the last days to get out before the weather forced us to other activities.  We enjoyed the skin up and took frequent stops to snap pictures and take in the sites.  Mt Scott became more visible as we ascended and as we gained one of the upper bowls, we could start to see just how large some of the surrounding ridges were along the flanks of the pointy peak that is Thielsen.  It was amazing to see just how big these ridges were - they did not get much justice or scope in terms of size from the roads way down below.

After about 3,000 ft of elevation gain, we huddled up by a little protected rock outcropping where we transitioned into ride mode and took the last of the views in as we carved turns in the heavy, warm snow.  All too quickly, we were starting our traverse back down the ridge and picking our way back down the trail to the car.

We put in a long day of hiking, skinning, riding, more skinning, and more hiking...The mountain had worked us pretty well.
The snow conditions did not make for the best of conditions for length of descent (especially on a splitboard) but the views were certainly worth the amount of work and body thumping.
There are not a ton of turns that are earned on the mountain, but it is more than offset by the bang for the buck of the views.  This will have to go into the rotation of snow adventures...albeit a slow and not super frequent rotation...it will largely depend on turns vs tour frame of mind.

Some pix: