I have not been traveling much except for visiting family as I wanted to be with my elderly pooch, Misty, in her final days. Well, Misty was stronger than I could imagine so it has been years since I've been away.
She was over 17 years old when she passed this April. I miss her so much.
The Summer Fun Nationals have been held at Mt. Hood with this year being the 29th year. It is a USSA sanctioned race where Masters compete with the kids on two courses run simultaneously over two days. Day one is GS, day two SL. The driving force behind the race is Meri Stratton who also runs the Intermountain Division's Masters race series. It takes a lot of volunteers and great deal of effort to pull off the race. Meri has been asking me for years to come out and participate so this year I did. I don't race SL or GS anymore so I came out to volunteer.
This was my first trip ever to Oregon and the rubbernecking began on the approach to Portland's airport. This is the North side of Mt. Hood.
I got a ride from the airport and started working right off the bat. Brandon and I delivered the bundles of bamboo, CAT5 cabling, scoreboard, pop-up tents and a slew of other equipment to this point along a paved trail above the Timberline Lodge where a snow cat got loaded to take the gear to the snowfield below the Palmer Glacier. The ski down trail was maintained to the parking lot but in the course of 4 days it ended further up the hill than when we arrived even with a lot of snow moving on the part of the ski area.
After the delivery to the ski area we drove on to Hood River and Meri's home. This is the view from her front porch. This is the North side of Hood again. Out the back were more snow covered summits, but the pictures were washed out.
A bunch of volunteers stuffed goodie bags with bibs, schedules and swag for the racers. We also got the radios charged up and loaded the truck, a van and a couple cars with more gear for the races.
The view from the Miracle Mile lift. @Brian Finch , I'll apologize here for not connecting with you. It was pretty busy and most of my down time was spent eating and catching my breath. Oh, and a beer or two.
This is the top terminal of the Palmer lift. They have doors on the terminals to keep the snow out in the winter; they only run this lift in the summer.
I forgot to ask which summit this is, but I think it is Jefferson.
The historic Timberline Lodge, built as a WPA/CCC project will get a post of its own. Here is a sampler.
A few of the corners had these animal carvings on them.
This is a carving that was outside the USFS office in the basement.
Looking out the main lodge's common room window. The lodge is halfway up the ski area and open year round.
The same view from the patio out front.
On the opposite side of the lodge is the FDR Balcony, so named because it is where he gave a speech dedicating the lodge.
The start area on Saturday.
The GS courses.
Fuxi had some new hats. I liked this one for the stiff brim that should stand up to sailing.
The latest incarnation of the Fuxi Haus. It was NOT an active gas station and is being torn down when Fuxi moves out.
The next day was very windy to start. It helped clear the 'marine air' that degraded the view the days before.
Did I say it was windy? The snow was super hard this morning as well. We used the 'monkey' to disburse salt. It was a job specific blower backpack that made for superb conditions. It was much more efficient than hand dispensing saving time, money and creating the best lane on the hill.
After breakdown of the SL courses and packing everything up for the cat to carry down to the base, we enjoyed a pool party at the Lodge. While I worked hard on this trip as a 'gate grunt', I had a terrific time helping my old and new ski racing friends enjoy a special summertime race.
There were only two casualties over the weekend. Meri tore her ACL when too many people tried to get on at the mid-load station of the Palmer Lift on Sunday. Nevertheless, she stayed on the hill, radio in hand, and helped direct the rest of the races. The second were my Fuxi rainbow glasses. They took their last fall and the frame broke. I got some new Fuxi shades, but nothing will come close to replacing the rainbow glasses.
She was over 17 years old when she passed this April. I miss her so much.
The Summer Fun Nationals have been held at Mt. Hood with this year being the 29th year. It is a USSA sanctioned race where Masters compete with the kids on two courses run simultaneously over two days. Day one is GS, day two SL. The driving force behind the race is Meri Stratton who also runs the Intermountain Division's Masters race series. It takes a lot of volunteers and great deal of effort to pull off the race. Meri has been asking me for years to come out and participate so this year I did. I don't race SL or GS anymore so I came out to volunteer.
This was my first trip ever to Oregon and the rubbernecking began on the approach to Portland's airport. This is the North side of Mt. Hood.
I got a ride from the airport and started working right off the bat. Brandon and I delivered the bundles of bamboo, CAT5 cabling, scoreboard, pop-up tents and a slew of other equipment to this point along a paved trail above the Timberline Lodge where a snow cat got loaded to take the gear to the snowfield below the Palmer Glacier. The ski down trail was maintained to the parking lot but in the course of 4 days it ended further up the hill than when we arrived even with a lot of snow moving on the part of the ski area.
After the delivery to the ski area we drove on to Hood River and Meri's home. This is the view from her front porch. This is the North side of Hood again. Out the back were more snow covered summits, but the pictures were washed out.
A bunch of volunteers stuffed goodie bags with bibs, schedules and swag for the racers. We also got the radios charged up and loaded the truck, a van and a couple cars with more gear for the races.
The view from the Miracle Mile lift. @Brian Finch , I'll apologize here for not connecting with you. It was pretty busy and most of my down time was spent eating and catching my breath. Oh, and a beer or two.
This is the top terminal of the Palmer lift. They have doors on the terminals to keep the snow out in the winter; they only run this lift in the summer.
I forgot to ask which summit this is, but I think it is Jefferson.
The historic Timberline Lodge, built as a WPA/CCC project will get a post of its own. Here is a sampler.
A few of the corners had these animal carvings on them.
This is a carving that was outside the USFS office in the basement.
Looking out the main lodge's common room window. The lodge is halfway up the ski area and open year round.
The same view from the patio out front.
On the opposite side of the lodge is the FDR Balcony, so named because it is where he gave a speech dedicating the lodge.
The start area on Saturday.
The GS courses.
Fuxi had some new hats. I liked this one for the stiff brim that should stand up to sailing.
The latest incarnation of the Fuxi Haus. It was NOT an active gas station and is being torn down when Fuxi moves out.
The next day was very windy to start. It helped clear the 'marine air' that degraded the view the days before.
Did I say it was windy? The snow was super hard this morning as well. We used the 'monkey' to disburse salt. It was a job specific blower backpack that made for superb conditions. It was much more efficient than hand dispensing saving time, money and creating the best lane on the hill.
After breakdown of the SL courses and packing everything up for the cat to carry down to the base, we enjoyed a pool party at the Lodge. While I worked hard on this trip as a 'gate grunt', I had a terrific time helping my old and new ski racing friends enjoy a special summertime race.
There were only two casualties over the weekend. Meri tore her ACL when too many people tried to get on at the mid-load station of the Palmer Lift on Sunday. Nevertheless, she stayed on the hill, radio in hand, and helped direct the rest of the races. The second were my Fuxi rainbow glasses. They took their last fall and the frame broke. I got some new Fuxi shades, but nothing will come close to replacing the rainbow glasses.
Last edited: