Per the usual, nothing ever goes exactly as planned for us. First we had to stop in a town called Bend and pick up some food and detailed topo-maps of the area. That went off without a hitch. Then we took off down the wrong road out of town, so we had to turn around and go back to Bend. That ended up being about a 40 minute detour, and unfortunately not our last trip to Bend that day. We finally found the road we needed and drove about a half-hour down it to where the road was closed and proceeded to gear up for the start of our trip. As Nate was putting on his avalanche beacon, however, we realized that mine was in a bag of gear I had wisely left behind in Seattle. Given that this area had received several new feet of snow over the previous couple weeks and it was warming up rapidly, avalanches were more than a minor concern. So we headed back to Bend yet again to rent one from an outfitter. The guy that helped me asked how I liked Bend. I said, "Oh, it's great, this is my third trip here." He said something along the lines of "Yeah, its a great place to visit", and I said, "No, I meant TODAY." Anyway, around 4:00 we finally got started (our goal had been 1:00). That's me on my skis with South Sister in the background.

Per the usual, nothing ever goes exactly as planned for us. First we had to stop in a town called Bend and pick up some food and detailed topo-maps of the area. That went off without a hitch. Then we took off down the wrong road out of town, so we had to turn around and go back to Bend. That ended up being about a 40 minute detour, and unfortunately not our last trip to Bend that day. We finally found the road we needed and drove about a half-hour down it to where the road was closed and proceeded to gear up for the start of our trip. As Nate was putting on his avalanche beacon, however, we realized that mine was in a bag of gear I had wisely left behind in Seattle. Given that this area had received several new feet of snow over the previous couple weeks and it was warming up rapidly, avalanches were more than a minor concern. So we headed back to Bend yet again to rent one from an outfitter. The guy that helped me asked how I liked Bend. I said, "Oh, it's great, this is my third trip here." He said something along the lines of "Yeah, its a great place to visit", and I said, "No, I meant TODAY." Anyway, around 4:00 we finally got started (our goal had been 1:00). That's me on my skis with South Sister in the background.