Mount Thielsen (OR) - NW Bowl

So far this season, the backcountry skiing in Oregon has been pretty lackluster - starting with sketchy avalanche conditions early on and poor weather and snow consistency since then. Based on these factors, I’ve been spending most of my free time either taking the lifts at Hoodoo or rock climbing at Smith Rock. Although both have been good alternatives, I’ve been really itching to get in a proper tour. I was hopeful that the sunny and warm weather that was forecasted for the weekend would provide better skiing conditions, and if nothing else, a break from the heinous winds that had plagued our previous efforts.

The next step was to establish a plan and send out the invite. Picking a proper zone for the expected conditions is based on both experience and luck, and with the busts we’d already had this season, I felt like I was relying more on the latter. In the end I proposed Mount Thielsen, for its various aspect options that could be accessed from a single approach, allowing us to adjust plans on the fly. From the email invite, we were able to put together a team of 7, which is a fairly large crew but still seemed reasonable based on the positive weather and avalanche projections.

It was forecasted to be fairly warm the day of our tour (especially for January), so we got a fairly early start, meeting up and leaving Eugene at 5am. By the time we pulled into the Mount Thielsen sno-park it was around 7:30am and the sun had just started to rise above the horizon. Leah and Eric, who had come from Bend, were already getting geared up, and after exchanging pleasantries we went to work preparing our gear for the adventure ahead. From the parking lot, we started skinning west toward Thielsen. Since there was already an established skin track heading in the general direction, we were able to follow it like a trail of breadcrumbs for most of the approach.

After a few hours of skinning through the dense forest, we reached the large meadow at the base of the SW bowl. Unfortunately, the entire area was covered in a breakable crust – the bane of any backcountry ski tour. Our only hope for the target zone was that the warm temps that were forecasted would melt the crust and provide at least some decent turns. As we made our way up to the bowl some high clouds started to move in and dashed our hopes a bit. As we weighed our options, we did a quick analysis of the snowpack to see if it would be worth changing aspects. There was some debate whether the surface crust was formed by rain or sun, but if it was the sun, moving to the NW bowl might provide some protected terrain. With a decision to check out the other bowl, we continued up and toward the ridge that separated the two areas.

Taking a quick break at the meadow

As we reached the crest of the ridge, we had a great view of the entire NW bowl, where conditions looked like a mixed bag. The zone that sat just on the other side of the ridge was fully sheltered from the sun and looked the most appealing. We quickly probed the snow up high and found a mix of wind loading and thick crust. The wind loaded snow didn’t seem like an issue from an avalanche standpoint, but it was fairly dense and combined with the intermittent crust didn’t seem optimal for skiing. We climbed up the ridge a bit further and upon further inspection we found slightly more favorable conditions – not quite fluffy powder, but minimal crust. Figuring that this was probably going to be the best we could find in the immediate area, we transitioned over for the descent.

The crew gets their first glimpse of the NW bowl (Mount Bailey in the background)

Eric checks conditions at the drop-in point

I wanted to take some photos of the descent, so I went first. As I traversed from the ridge into the bowl I tried to find the best place to make my first turn, which for some reason was mentally difficult; if I had to make an excuse I would blame it on the dense snow and being on my ultralight setup for the first time of the season. After making a few back and forth traverses down the face, I pulled off to the side and signaled that the next person could drop in. Eric came next and with zero hesitation started ripping turns down the face, with the occasional gleeful yelp signaling his delight. One by one the remainder of the crew dropped in for their lines, while I staged myself in different locations to capture some more photos. I did get in some pretty fun turns, and by the end of the run was starting to feel a little more warmed up. The portion of the bowl we dropped down only gave us a ~600’ of vertical descent, so we were itching for at least one more lap. Before transitioning back over to skins, we took a snack break and enjoyed the spectacular weather, which is quite rare for wintertime on one of the PNW volcanos.

Eric dropping in for his first turns of the day

The runout

Jonathan digs in up high

Leah rippin' some sweet turns with style, as usual.

All smiles

Lucy and Albus gettin' some

Dave, partway down 

Emily nearing the bottom

The author
(photo by Eric Finan)

Dave enters the glade section

Jonathan be like, "Braaap!"

Emily, coming in hot!

On our way back up we wanted to see if it was worth laying some lines down the middle of the NW bowl, which was currently in the sun, so we set our track in a northerly direction to check it out. What we found was a mixture of crust, wind loading and a bit of debris that had come down from the cliff band above – basically, not worth it. We figured our best bet was to do another lap on the strip we’d just come down. As we headed back over we were treated to a cool sun halo, an optical phenomenon produced by sunlight interacting with ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere.

The sunny section of the NW bowl -- unfortunately, conditions weren't worth rippin' lines down it.

Heading up for another lap

Emily and Dave, with Diamond Peak in the background.

Sun Halo!

The congo line

Jonathan, textbook kickturn.

Leah nears the drop zone

Since this would be our last lap, we wouldn’t go all the way to the bottom and instead cross over the ridge a little higher up to reconnect with our approach track that headed back to the sno-park. I definitely felt a bit better this time and was able to link turns with a little more confidence straight off the bat. Unfortunately, it was over way too soon and some of the descent was used to gather enough speed to make the traverse across the ridge.

Eric fires up his second line

Jonathan takes advantage of the terrain

Leah

Carrying speed for the traverse across the ridge

The author makes his way toward the ridge crossing
(photo by Eric Finan)

Dave finishes up

The ridge crossing

Lucy, stoked on a great couple of laps!

Now back on the other side, we found an abundance of sun and mashed potato snow. The skiing back down through the trees in these conditions presented a bit of a challenge for me – my ultralight setup felt pretty underpowered. Even so, it was still way better than the time I had to splitboard out, especially where it flattened out a bit and the trees got pretty tight. Before long we reached the parking lot, where I was pretty happy to change back into regular shoes and reflect on our day’s adventure.

The crew celebrates 

Parting thoughts:
It was great to finally get in a decent tour, which has been rare this season. Both the weather and crew were fantastic and the snow was pretty good too. From a terrain standpoint, the main line down the SW bowl is quite a bit better, but it’s really hard to complain about the line we did in the NW bowl; in fact, had the other half of the bowl been in good shape it would probably rival the SW line. Beyond that, there is a lot more very promising terrain to explore on Thielsen, which is why I think it’s one of the best touring spots in Oregon, especially with its winter access.

Parting shots of Mount Thielsen on the way out