I have been living in Portland for just about a year now. One of the big draws of Portland was how close it was to Mount Hood and we envisioned heading to this place every weekend. In reality we didn’t even go once the entire year. I wanted to start the year off differently though and celebrate it with a snow boarding trip. Despite the cost and the fear of it being extremely crowded given the fresh snow and weekend it turned out to be fantastic.

All the pictures taken for this post were made with my iphone. While I would have loved to have used my DSLR there, some times the best camera is the one you have with you. I use an app called AutoStitch which creates a panorama from a bunch of pictures. Most of the panoramas that I take use anywhere from three to nine pictures.

My girlfriend and I learned how to board together a few years ago. We go very sporadicly, so every time it feels like we have to learn the basics over again. By the time we are finish we feel like we know what we are doing but then the process repeats itself.

We don’t own a 4wd vehicle so we used a bus service to get to Mount Hood. This involves parking our car some place, then sleeping on the bus for 2 hours while the driver deals with parking and the snow. Once there we rented the boards and boots.

On my very first run my worst fear happened: I had no idea how to interpret the route signs and some how stumbled upon a run that was way above my level. I quickly lost momentum and found myself surrounded by trees in fresh, deep snow. When I tried to move myself I would sink into the snow. The weather was absolutely perfect though and I didn’t really care. At one point I found myself at the top of a very steep hill that looked very dangerous. I butt slid around and eventually realized that I was surrounded by similar tracks. Apparently I wasn’t the only person to recently be in the same situation. Eventually I pushed and hiked my way through the snow until I got to a clear hill and was on my way again.

After spending some time around the newbie coarse I eventually became more comfortable riding the snow board and decided to make my way up the mountain. After taking the above picture I was entranced by the beauty of the mountain, only to realize shortly afterwards that I was no longer holding my glove. I glanced over my shoulder just as it hit the snow. I spent the rest of the trip trying to memorize a route to my glove and planning how the heck I would get down there without my glove. I opted to use my inner fleece as a glove (which worked horribly) and had to make frequent stops to warm my hand. Shortly before reaching it though another boarder had picked it up and deposited it at the entrance. Thanks man!

Despite worrying about my glove I couldn’t help but snap the above panorama at Cascade Express.

Throughout the day I couldn’t help but appreciate just how lucky I was to be where I was - perfect weather and snow, tearing down a beautiful mountain. It was an amazing way to celebrate the end of an awesome year and the beginning of a new one.