Mount McLoughlin (OR) - NE Bowl

For the last few years I’d been wanting to ski Mount McLoughlin, but I’ve had a hard time convincing anyone to do it with me. For whatever reason, it just doesn’t seem to be on the radar of the crew that I tend to tour with. My only guess would be because it’s a longish drive from Eugene (~3.5 hours) and is overshadowed by the other Cascade volcanoes that are in the more immediate area. This is despite the fact that it comes in at 9,495’, the 12th tallest peak in the Cascade Range, sitting just below Middle Sister. Although McLoughlin has skiable lines on all aspects, the one that really got my attention was the NE bowl, with a combination of a steep/longish slope and relatively easy access.

With the weather looking marginal in the Cascades north of Crater Lake, I was able to convince my buddy Andrew that we should finally give McLoughlin a go. Since it was a bit of a drive, especially for him coming from Salem, we decided to head out Friday night and camp near the trailhead for a Saturday tour. The drive from Eugene went well, with only a minor detour to get gas near Medford. By the time we reached the trailhead it was around 10pm, where we quickly laid down our bedrolls and tried to get as many z’s as possible before our early morning start.

When my alarm went off at 5:00am I was still a bit foggy-headed and stayed in my bag for another 15 minutes or so, before finally crawling out and putting together my breakfast and gear bag for the day’s adventure. Andrew, who had overslept his alarm, didn’t get up till ~6am, which was fine since he’s always much faster than me at getting ready in the morning. By the time we had geared up and headed out it was around 6:30am, a little behind schedule but still within the acceptable margin of error.

The trailhead
(photo by Andrew Boes)

From the parking lot, the trail crossed over Cascade Canal before starting its slow ascent up the foothills of Mount McLoughlin. The trail was well maintained and it was pretty easy hiking up to the bench where it intersected with the PCT, which was about a mile in. From there the trail remained fairly flat for another mile and a half, before reaching the NE ridge and starting to climb steeply up toward the summit. As we continued to climb, the patches of snow begin to grow and the trail became less obvious. Eventually, we found ourselves following crude cairns and GPS, as we navigated punchable snow and rocky scrambles. Still in my hiking boots, I decided to push on and deal with the rocks and snow that would occasionally slip in through the tops of my boots.

Andrew starts the long slog

Cascade Canal

Gettin' the low down

Trail marker at PCT intersection

The well-maintained trail made the first half of the ascent pretty straightforward

Our first glimpse of Mount McLoughlin
(photo by Andrew Boes)

Navigating the trail between patches of snow 

Andrew enters alpine and the start of the NE ridge

At around 8,200’ we reached a vista that looked onto the NE bowl, which renewed our spirits and made us look forward to the sweet reward we’d receive for our hard work. From the lookout, the trail followed along the edge of the bowl and alternated between piles of rock and small sections of trail. Eventually, I decided to traverse over to the snowfield on the southeast face, which made for much easier travel, especially with the bootpack that had already been established by the group just in front of us. I was actually a bit surprised the group of four were the only other people we would see on the mountain, and since they didn’t appear to have skis, it looked like we’d have whole NE bowl to ourselves! The last 500’ to the summit went fairly fast but I was certainly feeling the elevation. When I finally got to the top I was greeted by a guy from the other group, who was sitting in a chair (which he had hauled up) and smoking a cigarette. He was a really nice guy and we shared adventure stories while waiting for our respective crew members to gain the summit.

A distorted view of the NE bowl

The author pushes on
(photo by Andrew Boes)

A crude trail led us up the first part of the NE ridge

Wide open panoramics on the climb

NE ridge
(photo by Andrew Boes)

Takin' it all in

The final push to the summit, up the SW face

The weather at the top was fantastic, warm enough for a light fleece, and only a slight breeze. Although it was nice just to relax and take in the amazing view, both Andrew and I were ichin’ to drop in for some sweet corn turns! Andrew dropped off the summit and I dropped in about 15’ down, where it was a little easier to get started. We met up at the roll-in to the bowl and discussed our plan of attack. Since I wanted to do a write-up we decided to leapfrog down and take lots of photos along the way.

Relaxing at the summit

The author gets ready to drop in for the first turns of the tour
(photo by Andrew Boes)

I dropped in first and headed down a small ridge before traversing into the main bowl. With a slope angle somewhere between 40° and 45°, there really wasn’t any warm-up, at least based on my current skill level. After a few cautious turns I pulled over and waited for Andrew to drop in for his first turns of the day. Soon after he came into view, painting a series of S-turns down the slope and past me. Eventually he pulled over to signal that it was my turn. Once again I tentatively started my way down the slope, with every turn feeling more comfortable than the previous one. As I dropped into the large chute between the large rock formations, I caught a ski tip and slid out on the steep slope, knocking one of them off. Luckily I had on my ski leashes, as I’m sure my ski would have rocketed to the bottom had it not been tied off. Once I was able to get it back on I continued down the slope, enjoying every bit of the near perfect corn conditions. We leapfrogged a couple more times down the face, with the 40°+ pitch lasting about 1500 vertical feet before dropping onto the apron and providing some fun hippy turns for another 500’ or so.

Entering the bowl
(photo by Andrew Boes)

Andrew drops down the top of the bowl

Sizing it up

Andrew threads the rock features

Harvesting corn

The slope of the bowl remained consistent for most of the descent, at around 40 degrees

The author, about halfway down the bowl
(photo by Andrew Boes)

Rippin' some turns
(photo by Andrew Boes)

Looking up the bowl

Andrews finds some softer, but still great, snow lower down

Lots of other line options of the NE ridge can be seen in the background

The author continues down the bowl
(photo by Andrew Boes)

Another shot looking up the bowl
(photo by Andrew Boes)

Andrew finishing up the steep bit

Comin' in hot!

Once the slope had almost completely flattened out, we started looking for our exit strategy. At about 7,000' we started running out of snow. We thought that once we got into the trees there might be enough snow to get a little more descent, but this quickly proved to be futile. Knowing that it wasn’t going to get any better, I decided to cut my losses, throwing my hiking boots back on and tying my skis off to my pack. In order to get back to our ascent track, we needed to traverse south though the woods. The nice thing about the dryer climate of Southern Oregon is that the wooded area isn't nearly as dense. This made our bushwhack relatively straightforward, following the GPS and navigating around any small obstacles that got in our way.

Route finding

Closing in on the snowline

One last look at the NE bowl
(photo by Andrew Boes)

Within a half hour we found our up-track, and soon after this we were below the snow line where the actual trail revealed itself. The next couple of miles down the trail to the car went by pretty quickly, and by the time I reached the car it was around 2pm. Pulling the pack from my shoulders felt pretty good, and although it had been a fantastic tour I was pretty happy to be back at the car and enjoying a celebratory beer. Before starting the drive back north we decided to check out Fourmile Lake. We were both surprised to see how nice of a campground there was at the south side of the lake, with quite a few people who had setup camp there. From there we headed home, only stopping in Grants Pass for some burgers and shakes at In-n-Out.

Parting thoughts:
Mount McLoughlin more than met my expectations -- The NE bowl served up about 2,000 vertical feet of steep/wide open bliss. I’m really looking forward to getting back to this one and plan on making it a yearly pilgrimage, in either winter or spring. With 360° of skiable terrain, there are enough lines to explore for many years to come!

Our tracks