Potato Hill (OR) - North Face

Another weekend, another tour. This time we decided to hit Potato Hill, which has great access and 1,000’ shots. Even with its ease of access, it can be hard to hit, due to its relatively low elevation / minimal snowpack. Luckily, we had been blessed by a few storms and it now had the necessary coverage. The last time I had been there, it was during a big powder day and provided some pretty amazing turns, which I was hoping to repeat. For our crew, we’d be rollin’ six deep, with Iryna, Emily, Mark, Ethan and me leaving from Eugene and Andrew leaving from Salem.

Meeting up at the Potato Hill sno-park at 9am, we quickly readied our gear, did a quick beacon check and headed up the trail toward the summit. The approach itself is only two miles to the top out point, and luckily for us, a couple of snowmobiles had set a track, which made skinning quite a bit easier. The snow to the sides of the sled track was both deep and light and it was still snowing – all the makings of a good day! As we closed in on the summit, the wind picked up a bit but never got too obnoxious. Once we reached the summit, we transitioned over to descent mode and discussed a plan of attack.

Beacon check

Brandon and Emily get stoked for another tour!

Congo line

The crew, about halfway up.

With the longest and steepest shots being down the north face, we decided on that for our descent. Most of the terrain is below 30 degrees, but the entrance and final pitch are a bit steeper. In addition to any avalanche danger, the upper ridge of the hill was almost entirely lined with a cornice on the north side. It took us a little bit to find an opening, especially with the low visibility/ flat light. Before dropping in, I stomped on the slope and kicked lose a small cornice to test the stability. After feeling good with the stability, I gave Ethan the thumbs up and watched him drop down the face in his typical steezy style. Below the initial pitch, the run enters the matchsticks, burned out remains of trees, which both helped with the visibility and provided some fun slalom features. Once he was finished with the first pitch, I traversed over and dropped in for the first powder turns of the day – whoa, so good! A couple hundred feet down I pulled over and readied my camera while the others dropped in, with plenty of face shots and lots of smiles.

Ethan enters the north face of Potato Hill

Entering the matchsticks

Iryna digs in

Slashin'

Brandon enters the slalom course

Emily, setting up for the matchsticks.

Andrew, in the thick of it.

Below the first pitch, the slope mellows out quite a bit and allows for a fun little party ski. The matchsticks also give way to a wide-open shot with small trees and rollovers providing the only real texture to the fresh powder that blanketed the hillside.

Ethan gets a lift into the next pitch

Wide open glades

Emily, all smiles, as usual!

Party ski!

Before long we reached the final pitch, where the slope angle kicked back up to the mid-30s and larger trees, both standing and fallen, created a fun obstacle course. The snow was deep and provided just enough coverage to take advantage of the different terrain features. More than one of us dropped over fallen trees just to discover how big of a drop it was on the other side, which made for some good entertainment. Now at the bottom of the hill, right next to Hwy 20, we celebrated a great run and were eager to head up for another!

Ethan enters the final pitch

Still plenty of snow down low

Potato pow!

Iryna on the final stetch

Without the benefit of a snowmobile track, we were forced to break trail through the deep snow up the hill. Luckily for me (or was it deliberate…) I took longer than the others to transition over and didn’t have to put in any work setting the track. At the top of the first pitch, we were able to grab a sled track, which headed straight up the mountain with no switchbacks. It was just at the limit of what was possible to climb but certainly got us up in a hurry. On our way up, the sleds had returned and we had to step aside to let them through. As we neared the top, we found a few other groups that had also skinned up for some powder turns, including one group that had a few friend connections with ours. After joining forces, as a much larger crew, we de-skinned and got ready to drop in.

Heading back up for lap two

Ethan and Emily

The author closes in on the summit once again.
(photo by Brandon Mark)

For the second lap we angled a little further left, which allowed us to hit a nice wide-open shot for the final pitch. As a bonus, there were quite a few stumps with snow caps, which created perfect little pillows to boost off of. After popping off of one myself, I made a few turns and skied up and over a fallen log, not realizing how big of a drop it was on the other side. Carrying less speed than I would have liked, I dropped over the other side and cratered into the snow, much to the delight of my companions – too much fun!

Ethan drops a small cornice to start things off on round two. 

Diggin' in

Looking back up the first pitch

Anderw drops into the final pitch

Emily splits the pillows

Iryna enters the scene

Iryna stomps one of the fun pillows on the final pitch

The author finishing up the second lap
(photo by Andrew Boes)

Not satisfied with just two laps, we headed back up for one more. The snow was really starting to come down at this point and the visibility went to shit, so I put the camera away and just focused on my line. Once again it was all smiling on the way down, with powder turns, a few crashes and plenty of laughs along the way.

Losing visibility

Iryna finishes up lap 3

We did decide to skin up one more time and drop down the ridge to the car, as opposed to traversing alongside Hwy 20. Once at the ridge top, we were able to rip skins and ski the low angle terrain until we reached the final pitch back to the car. The snowpack on the last bit was a little shallower and we had to pick our way down. The really nice part about this though was that we were able to ski right to the car without skinning up or doing any hiking – now that’s the way to end a tour!

Conclusion:
Potato Hill is a fantastic tour option if conditions permit – unfortunately this isn’t often enough. The skin in is easy-peasy and getting to ski the matchsticks is pretty damn fun, especially in powder conditions. Most people I’ve talked to about it haven’t considered touring there and are surprised to hear that the shots from the summit on the north face are ~1,000’. This is a little surprising since it’s right beside Hoodoo and you drive right past it when you're heading up toward the pass. It might have something to do with the name, maybe it just doesn’t sound tough enough…

The tracks from our tour: