Cat Snowboarding - Mt Bailey

As Trevor was trying to fill spots on the cat for Mt Bailey, he reached out and extended an invite.  I figured what the heck...it was something new and worth checking out.
Mt Bailey is down by Diamond Lake so it would only be about a 2 hour drive to the cabins where we would check in and rest up for a day of backcountry fun on Saturday.

I have mixed emotions about the day.  It was great to check out new terrain and get into a new adventure.  We scoped out some great opportunities for further exploration and it just indicated how much backcountry access there is in this state.  It is pretty incredible.

We were treated to decent weather.  The area had been consistently  getting snow and we were able to get fresh tracks from the recent snowfall(s).  The snow was a little on the heavy side but still big fun.

In a way, the cat lift seemed a bit like cheating as we did not have to sweat our way up and earn our turns.  We piled into the cat and my biggest challenge was fighting off the nausea at the top of each run as we hit white out conditions thanks to the wind and snow.  It always took several minutes to get below the whiteout to start seeing a little more clearly and for the nausea to start to dissipate.

All in all - thumbs up...it is definitely a very different experience than a true backcountry experience as a little bit of the soul was missing but still good fun none-the-less.

It would have been awesome if it was clear since it would have helped in getting a better lay of the land but alas mother nature was storming and we were along for the ride.

We managed to get 6 runs in and each seemed to get a little better.  My favorite runs were the last two where we got an amazing tree run that seemed to go on forever (but not long enough) and then a nice steep chute with amazing lines and fresh luvvin'

some pix:
Nathan doing his praise the lord booty dance...

 from inside the cat:

 getting ready for tree bliss:

 yum!

Crater Lake Splitboarding - Cherry On Top Pix

The best pix from the whole trip:

Crater Lake Splitventure Day 2 Pix

Crater Lake Splitventure Day 2 - Applegate

For day 2, we decided to head up the ridge line once again, but instead of continuing to Garfield we headed towards Applegate.  We took a slightly different approach to further explore the terrain lower on the ridge but also in part because we knew what the conditions were like on the steep and icy ridge.
Somehow, we once again got into terrain that was sketch...and once again we were kicking ourselves for not having brought crampons...we loaded up on the dosage of kicking by having to kick-step our way through the steep section until we got on mellower terrain again.

We gained the ridge and then got into some open meadows that treated us to some phenomenal views of the valley and the cascades.  We could see Pelican Butte, Brown Mtn, Mt McLoughlin, Mt Ashland, Union Peak, Mt Bailey, Mt Thielsen, Mt Scott, Mt Bachelor, Paulina Peak....

The weather was a little warmer than the day before and we theorized about how good the split boarding was going to be...the snow was softening up and spring corn was in the air!  We made our way to the peak proper where we hung out and just filled our heads with the views.  We were more than happy to just take it all in.  While we were hanging out and grabbing a bite, we saw a skier come up and then drop into the scooped terrain and swoosh some turns.  The best part was that we did not hear that scrape sound that comes when skiing hard snow/ice.  It was setting up perfectly!

We changed from tour mode into ride mode.  As we were doing that, we noticed the skier's skin tracks on the edge of the cornice!  DOH!  It made my heart skip a beat just thinking about how insane that was.
Bob dropped in first and got some nice arcing turns as he went down the feature.  I pointed my split board downhill and did the same, albeit on a line further south to try and find untracked snow.  It was full on sweet nectar of the spring snow gods.  It was difficult not to enjoy the sweeping turns in the enormous terrain around you.

The plan was to ride the scoop, and then instead of riding all the way back down, we were planning on skinning back up for another quick lap.  After another skin, we reached the peak again and cherry picked our line.  I dropped in first and rode while trying to enjoy every moment.  Within what seemed like seconds, we were at the bottom of the first feature and trying to figure out where to pick our way through on the terrain.  We picked a line and tried to maintain as much momentum in order to keep moving on the slightly flat meadow section.  Soon enough our speed ground to a halt and we walked over to a little knoll that would allow us to milk some more downhill out of the ride.

The lower we got, the heavier the snow got as the temps were warming up.  Before we knew it, we were back in the trees and dropping back on to the access road...all too soon, it was over!  An hour plus of skinning up, took us all of about 10 minutes (or less) to descend).  It was all good though - it was food for the soul and head.  Nothing like a little backcountry therapy to cleanse....mmmm mmmm good...thank you, may I have another!

Pictures of Day 2:

Crater Lake Splitboarding Day 1 Pix

more pix from day 1: