Snowolf

Well, the May Challenge ends today, Sunday May 11`th. With 180 inches on the ground it seems sureal that we are closing. Lack of local interest though has sparked the decission as they can only turn empty chairs so long before pulling the plug. Timberline is still going strong and it will be an epic summer there!

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Jordan

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Simply^Ride

That kind of sucks, a short May challenge if you ask me. But at least you have Timberline to enjoy through the the summer. I been trying to find out how to get into wakeboarding, but the sport is very $$$ with the boat and all. And catering to the gas prices it gets even more expensive. I will keep on looking to see if the is a place that does sessions for a cheaper price than renting the boat

Snowolf

You might look into kite boarding also. It is getting to be a pretty popular thing here in the Columbia Gorge with the wind. There are several training places in Hood River. If you have the wind, it is a way to do the wake boarding without the need of a boat. Yeah, this decisiion has pissed a lot of our customers off. Many just bought a spring pass and they really gave no advanced warning. I think they should have at least gave everyone next weekend as the final weekend. If you read Matt`s blog on the Meadows website, the feedback is pretty hostile.

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Simply^Ride

I would look into kite boarding, but the issue with that sport is the lack of wind in Florida in the summer. Well unless we get a nice hurricane and get it to destroy everything. The starting rate of kite surfing is pretty step, although once you have your equipment you are pretty much set for life. I will look into it, the on thing is that I probably need lessons on that.

sparty

Lack of interest? Dang, people out west are spoiled!

Seriously though, with that much snow, what makes it so different now than earlier in the season?

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Simply^Ride

^^^^^ conditions vary in this time of the year, from sticky stuff, to corn, to ice. Of what I noticed most people pack their gear around the beginning of April, other like us that don't really care what the conditions are as long as there is some snow can argue that. But this resorts depends on tourist business they need all this extra $$$ to survive, once they start loosing money they close for the season.

sparty

Gotcha, I guess that makes sense. Well, maybe Snowolf can arrange to dump some of that "crappy" snow in my backyard?

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Simply^Ride

^^^^^ oh no no, by no means it should be called crappy snow. On the contrary with so many conditions to explore theres something for everyone. Conditions change withing hours it's really cool, you go for lunch come back out again and conditions are completely different.

Ill tell whats crappy snow, Florida snow .

Snowolf

This is the time of year that I hike for my turns and explore really awesome terrain up near the summit. Still waiting for the avalanch denger to drop. Last night Timberline recieved another 4 inches of snow. This snow fell on top of a hard frozen layer and everything is super unstable again. Mt. St. Helens is a planned destination in the coming month and this heat wave expected at the end of the week will really bond all the layers together and trigger natural slides. After it cools back down, things should be epic for backcountry.

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