Mount McLoughlin (OR) - SE Face

The SE face of Mount McLoughlin

With plans to ski the Wy’East face (Mount Hood) on Sunday with my buddy Rich, I was a little bummed when weather looked like it wasn’t going to cooperate and we ended up canceling plans. With no real backup plans other than maybe a day or two inbounds at Hoodoo, I was pretty stoked when my friend Emily reached out to see if I was interested in touring on Saturday, which the weather looked much more favorable for. One of the ideas she threw out was Mount McLoughlin, which was one of my favorite tours from last season – for that one we did the NE bowl, which is a pretty amazing line. Since we’d have to start our tour from the highway on the south side of the mountain (due to snow levels) I proposed we target the SE face, which looked really good on our way up the last time. Of course doing a new or different line is also something I seek out. Since it was Friday when we made plans, we weren’t sure if we’d be able to put together a crew and figured it would just be the two of us. To our surprise we were able to pull together a team of six, all of whom were stoked for the start of volcano season and McLoughlin more specifically.

With a 3 ½ hour drive from Eugene, we needed to get an early start and met up in town at 4:30am – ugh… Audrey, who was in Roseburg, jumped in with us on the way down. We made one stop at a gas station near Medford, where we picked up some coffee, snacks, and the seventh member of the team, “Rainbow McSparkle Python”. By the time were reached Summit sno-park it was 8am and the sun was just starting to splash down on the parking lot. We quickly geared up, did a beacon check and set course for the summit of Mount McLoughlin.

Startin' off from Summit sno-park

Beacon check

I really didn’t know what to expect for our approach. I knew from the map where we needed to go, but wasn’t sure what challenges the tree cover and old lava flows would present. As we headed north-northwest we found the approach fairly straightforward, but did have to navigate around a few lava fields, as they weren’t very conducive to skinning. The one unforeseen issue we encountered was sticky snow, which copious amounts of glop stopper couldn’t remedy. At one point I had so much snow build-up on my skins that I figured it would be easier to shoulder my skis and hike – Luckily, the snow was pretty firm a few inches down, so I didn’t have to posthole. Eventually, the forest opened up at the bottom of the SE face and we were able to start skinning again.

Conga line

Our first shot of the SE face of McLoughlin

Audrey and Rainbow McSparkle Python (RMP) lead the charge

Suns out, guns out

Mellow climbing during the traverse

Navigating the complexity of a lava flow

Typical forested section during the approach

The start of the open glades section

Now at the bottom of a historic avalanche path below the SW face, our approach became much more straightforward but also steeper. The face in front of us looked amazing and I couldn’t wait to get to the summit and lock my heels into my skis. Conditions in the open glades we were skinning up through felt pretty damn good. They weren’t quite corn conditions but the sun had softened the few inches of fresh snow on top of a firm base. My only concern was that it might get a bit slushy later on since the sun was beating down pretty hard. Although we didn’t know how the conditions would be high up on the face, my hope was that the windier conditions, which was quite obvious from the fast-moving clouds, hadn’t formed a crust layer.

Moving up

Audrey and Lucy getting cozy with RMP
(photo by Emily Halnon)

The author setting the track
(photo by Emily Halnon)

Brown Mountain, to the south.

Mount Shasta (CA) - Also to the south

Continuing on

At around 8,000’, the slope steepened enough to warrant kick-turns. As we started making our way up the western side of the slope, we found zones of wind loading and scouring, which made skinning challenging in spots, so I was happy to have my ski crampons. More toward the east, where we’d planned to ski and was partially protected by the SE ridge, I was pleasantly surprised to find between 3 to 6 inches of storm snow that hadn’t been heavily sun or wind affected. As we closed in on the summit, the wind blew harder and harder and from time to time we found ourselves engulfed in small cloud formations. For the final push, I ran out of room to switchback and shouldered my skis for the rest of the way up. Although we had planned to ski directly off the summit, the wind, which was sustained at 20-30mph, convinced us otherwise and we opted for a drop-in about ~20’ down.

Getting steeper

Emily, with Klamath Lake in the background.

Lucy, enjoying both the weather and the scenery
(photo by Emily Halnon)

Our target

McSparkle, looking a little gassed.
(photo by Emily Halnon)

Traversing between switchbacks

The author
(photo by Emily Halnon)

Emily, with her head in the clouds.
(photo by Audrey Squires)

Lucy and me closing in on the summit
(photo by Audrey Squires)

...followed by Audrey and Emily

Lucy, at the summit.

Audrey and Emily taking the final steps to the summit

Audrey and Rainbow McSparkle, stoked to be at the summit!
(photo by Emily Halnon)

Emily also looks pretty happy
(photo by Audrey Squires)

Once everyone had a chance to touch the summit and rip skins, we discussed a game plan. Although we felt very good about stability (of course, we’d just skinned up it) we still went with the one at a time rule. Per usual, I wanted to take photos from below, so I asked to go first. As conditions appeared on the way up, they were perfect for skiing and I found absolute bliss as I painted my line down the face. Although I wanted to keep going all the way to the bottom, I reluctantly pulled off to the side and readied my camera to capture the others coming down. Before long, and one by one, they dropped in. It was obvious from the spray they were kicking up and the smiles on their faces they were enjoying their turns as much as I had.

The author drops in for the first turns of the day
(photo by Emily Halnon)

Lucy, starting it off.
(photo by Emily Halnon)

Lucy, a few turns in.

Kickin' up some soft boot shots

Emily, drivin' hard...

...and slashin' turns.

Audrey drops in on the fun

The author finds some freshies
(photo by Emily Halnon)

Audrey

Still a long way down

Emily, halfway down the steeps.

Kickin' up dust

Lucy, with Klamath Lake and a frozen Lake of The Woods in the background.

More soft turns

Wide open snowfield, midway down.

The author
(photo by Brandon Mark)

We continued this leap-frogging process as we went down – rippin’ turns, taking photos, and soaking up the sun in fits and starts. For nearly 2,000’ the slope hovered in the low to mid 30° range and had really good snow conditions. Lower down, the angle dropped into the 20s and the snow started to get a little wetter, but since there was a firm base underneath, it never got overly sticky or difficult to ski. We also left the expanse of the wide open face and entered a section of sparse tree cover that offered up some fun slalom opportunities as we connected open slopes. All too soon the slope mellowed out to the teens and the terrain became fairly rolly. Of course this opened up the possibility for a party ski, which our crew took full advantage of.

Stacy some untracked goods
(photo by Brandon Mark)

Brandon, down lower on the run.

Still finding good snow down low

Closing in on the glades

Lucy again

Side slashin'

And straight-lining

Mellowing out a bit

Stacy with some nice sweeping turns

Regrouping at the glade line

The author gets some final turns on the open face
(photo by Brandon Mark)

Stacy getting in some soul turns

Emily adds a line to the mix

Wide open glades ahead

Audrey enters with speed

Party ski!

Stacy, railing turns down low

Lucy finds an opening

It never ends!

Closing in on the bottom

Regrouping at the bottom of the run

The author makes his final turns of the run
(photo by Emily Halnon)

Success, 3,000' later!
(photo by Emily Halnon)

Once we reached the bottom of our run, we sat down for a snack and beer break, while reminiscing on the fantastic line we’d just skied. Since the next part of the tour would have us skiing back down through the thick trees and only half of the crew had a map, we decided to buddy up to make sure we didn’t leave anyone behind. As usual, the ski out ended up being more challenging than higher up, which can be both entertaining and frustrating, depending on conditions and terrain. For the most part we were able to stick together as one group and had a surprising amount of fun along the way. The one downside to starting from Summit sno-park is that we had to do quite a bit of traversing instead of just dropping down the fall line. For the last ¼ to ½ miles we needed to maintain our elevation, which required quite a bit of sidestepping up small rises. By the time the sno-park came into view, I was pretty tired and happy to be back at the car.

Celebration

Après ski
(photo by Emily Halnon)

Brandon, having a little fun on the way out.

One of the most challenging parts to any tour in Oregon - skiing back through the trees to the car.

The final view of Mount McLoughlin on the way out

Once again we decided it was a good idea for a snack and beer break, this time while we changed into more comfortable clothes and loaded up our vehicles. After parting ways with half the crew, we started the long drive home. It was around 9:30pm when I finally pulled into my driveway, marking a 17hr day. It goes without saying that I was pretty tired and don’t remember much other than my head hitting the pillow and intermittent dreams of volcano skiing.

Conclusion:
The SE face of Mount McLoughlin was fantastic, plain and simple! In my opinion, it isn’t as good as the NE bowl, but that’s also a pretty high bar. Although it doesn’t offer extreme terrain and the slope angle only gets into the mid-30s, it does provide a long run of soulful turns – nearly 3,000’ worth! This would actually be a great tour for someone wanting to ski their first Cascade volcano, especially if bagging the summit is important. That said, and with most tours in Oregon, the ski out in dense trees and variable conditions can be the most challenging part, so plan accordingly. Another benefit of this route is that the highway provides winter access as well, conditions permitting. In hindsight, we really should have started from Fish Lake, which would have eliminated the traverse and made the ski out quite a bit easier.

It goes without saying that I’ll be adding this to my list of standard tour options, with the only real downside being the long drive from Eugene.

The tracks from our tour: