Black Crater (OR) - North Bowl

As I’ve started to check off some of the lesser peaks in the Oregon Cascades, I’d been eyeing two of them located off of OR Hwy 242 (aka Old Mckenzie Highway) – Black Crater and Belknap Crater. Hoping to bag one or both of them once the road opened for bikes, I quickly sent out an email to the crew, once I heard it was plowed to the summit. What I had failed to notice was that Eli had the same idea and was planning to ski Black Crater the following week for his and Erik’s birthday bash. Not wanting to highjack those plans, I decided to wait a week and join in on the birthday tour. The day of the tour I met up with Audrey in Thurston at 5:15am; from there, we made the two-hour drive to the rendezvous.

Pulling up to the closed gate on the Sisters' side of Hwy 242, we found another group readying their skis and bikes. Since they were all dressed in rainbow colored and sparkly attire, we knew they must also be there for the birthday tour. Sure enough, and after exchanging pleasantries we discovered that they were, in fact, part of the crew. The rest of the group showed up soon after and we had almost too many to count. Leah, Audrey and I decided to jump out ahead and saddled up for the ~3.5 mile ride to the Black Crater trailhead. The pedal up the road was certainly less comfortable and more strenuous then it would have been without skis on our backs, but with the reasonable grade and paved surface it wasn’t too bad.

The rendezvous

Starting off the pedal portion of the approach

Audrey and Leah hit the snowline 

After about a half hour we reached the trailhead and changed out our bike shoes for ski boots and started the skinning process up the south side of the road toward Black Crater. The first pitch from the road was fairly steep but since we were skinning through the aftermath of a recent burn, our path was pretty unobstructed and we were able to move rather quickly. The snow was just starting to melt out down lower on the approach, so we had to connect the larger snowfields using some narrow patches -- surprisingly, we never had to remove our skis.

Super stoked to strap on skis!

Starting the skinning process

Entering the Three Sisters Wilderness

Simulskinning through the burn

Since I wanted to check out the lower angle snowfields off the summit and toward the east, we set course in that direction, which also happened to be the same route as the Black Crater hiking trail. The skinning for the next few miles was pretty straightforward, but we did have to do a little bit of descending on skins as we crossed the runout of the craters flow path. It was here that we also got our first glimpse of the line we’d be skiing, which dropped down the main face of the bowl and between some rock outcroppings.

On the other side of the runout, we gained the southeast ridge, which would take us to the summit and our drop-in point. The upper half of the ridge consisted of open meadows and a gradual slope, which made skinning pretty easy. I jumped out ahead while Audrey and Leah took a quick snack break. Eventually, I reached the open slope I’d been curious about, which headed down the crater toward the southeast. It looked like it would provide some nice mellow turns, with a slope angle in the low 20s and dropping about 300 vertical feet.

Reaching the open meadows on the SE ridge

Leah and Audrey take a quick snack break

Heading up the SE ridge

Awesome view of North Sister, near the summit of Black Crater

Soon after reaching the crater rim the other two showed up and we discussed a plan of attack. Although the SE slope looked fun, we decided to go see how the mainline looked, thinking we might prefer to get in a few laps on that instead. We left our skis at the summit and hiked down a short distance to the drop-in point. With the snow melted off along the rim, we hiked on loose lava rock, which proved a little awkward in ski boots.

At the top of Black Crater, looking northwest

At the top of the line we found a sweet looking descent, but the sun hadn’t had a chance to soften it much and it was still a little firm. We figured that by the time we had hiked back up to get our skis and drink a summit beer that it would probably be ready. We also hoped that the other half of our crew would show up soon and we’d get to ski together. In hindsight, should have just brought our skis the first time, but what are ya gonna do?

The ladies take in the view from our drop-in point

Belknap Crater was looking pretty good!

As was Mount Washington

After a beer and a quick snack, we ripped skins and prepared to drop in for our first lap. Unfortunately, the others hadn’t shown up yet, but we figured we’d catch them on the second. I dropped in first to get photos from a little bit down. The snow was still pretty firm and with the steep slope, it made for some exciting first couple of turns. I pulled over to skiers right about a hundred feet down and motioned to the others that I was in position. Audrey dropped in next and got in some nice turns before pulling over just below me. Soon after Leah took her turn, slashing up the slope all the way to the bottom.

Audrey cuts her first turns of the day

The snow was fairly firm and textured -- not the easiest skiing 

Leah, looking strong.

Kicking a little snow on the way down

Leah, down low on the run.

At this point the other half of the crew came into view on the ridge across from us and were shouting words of encouragement. From my perch, I backed myself up into the center of the chute and started the next part of my run toward the bottom. About halfway down it split around a rock and steepened a bit. With the firm conditions my turns were getting me down but I wasn’t exactly crushing it. The final bit required some loose hips to soak up the slide debris that had fallen from the adjacent slopes. Now safe at the bottom, I pulled out my camera once again to get some shots from below. Audrey, who now looked pretty small on the slope above, pointed it downhill and zig-zagged her way down the face.

The author gets started again after camera duty
(photo by Audrey Squires)

Audrey, on the lower half of the bowl.

All smiles

We weren’t sure if the others would be dropping in before we had a chance to catch up with them, so we decided we shouldn’t boot back up the face. Instead, we put on our skins and headed up toward the north ridge, which we could use to reach the top. With the rest of the crew in chill mode, we actually caught up with them at a nice rest stop that overlooked the bowl. It was here where we got to witness a small cornice fall, which was a good reminder for us to give them a wide berth on the way up. Unfortunately, the cornice danger forced us down from the ridge, where we had to travel through a dense section of burned out trees. Since it was southwest facing, the snow was melted out, so we had to A-frame our skis. Back at the top of the run, we had about 75% of the group, which was still quite a few people.

The whole crew

Looking at the line we just skied, from the meetup spot.

Audrey nearing the top of our drop-in for a second lap.

Back at the drop-in, with a few more this time.

One by one we dropped in for our run, some for the first time. The snow was quite a bit softer on the second laps and my turns felt much better. Even so, I wiped out at the bottom after getting bucked by some slide debris. Luckily no damage was done (except to my ego) and I joined the others at the bottom of the bowl.

Dropping!

Leah, halfway down.

Audrey, on her second lap.

Emily drops in

Finding some softer snow

And smoother snow

Coming in hot!

Sweet bird hat!

Entering the steep bit

Ian in a groove on the bottom half

Erik, one of the birthday boys!

Eli, the other birthday boy!

Bringing it home

Making the best of the debris field

Most of us were content with the skiing we’d gotten in and started our ski back to the highway. Other than having to boot pack up a small rise to get out of the runout of the bowl, the ski out went really well and was actually pretty fun – low angle and through the matchsticks. I did mess up our navigation a little bit, which dumped us onto the road about a quarter mile down from our bikes. Back at our bikes I found that mine had a flat tire, which required a couple of tubes to get it rolling again. The 3.5 mile ride back to the car went pretty quick and before long we were loaded up and headed toward Sno Cap (in Sisters) to grab some much-deserved burgers and milkshakes.

Heading back down. Much easier than going up.

The finish line!

Conclusion:
Black Crater is a pretty unique touring spot in Central Oregon. By the time we hit it, most of the lines down the north aspect didn’t have enough snow. The line we skied was super fun, but the avalanche debris did take away from the quality a bit. For such a small zone, it looked to have some pretty challenging terrain and hitting it in the winter would open up a lot more possibilities. Even though the terrain was fairly limited for us, it was still well worth the effort and I would certainly do it again. That said, the next time I bike up 242 to ski, I’d prefer to target Belknap Crater, which looked pretty damn sweet from the road and wasn’t much further.

The tracks from our tour: