Distance: 5.0 mi.
Elevation Gain: 2750 ft.
After skiing Diamond Peak and hanging out with some friends in Bend on Saturday, we wanted a shorter ski day to make sure we had plenty of time for the long drive home. Rodrigo and I had previously tried to ski Bachelor but had to make other plans when the weather wasn’t great and the summit was not open. On this day however the forecast was perfect and all of the uphill routes were open at 9 am.
From the West Village Lodge we started up the Cinder Cone route a little after 9. We made quick time skinning up the groomers with a few others headed uphill. We continued on to the Marten Lodge where we took a quick bathroom break. From here we headed toward the North Ridge, leaving the lodge a bit after 10. Through here we followed a few skin tracks through icy windblown snow that was starting to soften. The higher we went the icier it became and we switch to the ski crampons (except Rodrigo who carried). It got increasingly difficult to skin as we got closer to the top but I powered through lots of kick turns to get all the way without carrying (not worth it).
The views were amazing and clear, we could see all of Oregon, with views stretching from Mt. Shasta to Mt. Adams. We had a quick beer and snack break before getting ready to ski down. There were some others at the summit of course from the lifts, but I think we were the only uphill traffic, at least while we were there. The ski down was pretty fun groomers with some icy traversing in between to make sure we got to the correct lodge. All in all a great quick ski day. I would definitely do it again for some nice free turns in lift accessed terrain.
(Download the free Gaia GPS app on your phone to view tracks and then get a Gaia GPS membership if you want offline access. Discount below!)
Recommended brew: Pfriem Pilsner
Gear Used:
- Avalanche beacon/shovel/probe
- Backcountry boots/skis/skins
- Day pack
- Glacier glasses
- GPS
- Helmet
- Trekking poles
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