I'm back from another one. Mt. Hood. The trip is always timed for summit attempt (Weather permitting) on the first Mon. in May). We were a group of 18, mostly repeaters and mostly Seattle-ites, staying in the Silcox Hut, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silcox_Hut above Timberline Lodge http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timberline_Lodge .

We went up to Silcox in the snowcat on Sun. evening. The weather forecast was for a storm of moderate to perhaps severe winter intensity. We got the latter. At wake up time for the climb, 4 AM Mon., the wind was howling with heavy snow. The forecast called for 12-18" with falling temperatures and rising winds. We slept a few more hours and then came decision time; ski down to Timberline and lift ski in the shelter of the trees, or ride the snowcat down and ski in the shelter of the trees. One decided to hang out at Silcox and read books, which she always does. I took the snowcat. My son and some other hardcores decided to ski down. They eventually got down safely but scared the bejeebers out of us first. To my son's credit he said he realized the foolishness of it and turned to take a snowcat ride in the first 50 feet. However the snowcat was already gone. The plan was traverse west for 100 yards and ski down using the lift poles for guidance, skiing down in single file slowly and keeping an eye on the person ahead and the person behind. All had FRS radios. They did not work. The plan also did not work. We learned later that winds were sustained over hurricane force and may have gusted over 100 mph. It was white out. There are no trees for most of this descent and there was no horizon. Everyone had vertigo and everyone got blown over many times. People lost sight of each other within 10 - 50 feet in blowing snow and ice fog. The lift poles are several hundred feet apart and they could not see from one to the next. At times they could see the wires and stationary chairs overhead, mostly not. The surface was pebbled rime ice with frozen "chicken heads". Several of them took off their skis and walked. They could not judge how fast they were going with vertigo and whiteout and decided it was safer to walk. Talking was almost impossible unless screaming into one another's ears, but usually the wind drowned it out. On both sides of the intended route there are steep sided canyons with cliffs. They got down in almost 2 hrs. The leader, who walked, has a full beard and it was a mass of ice. Later they debriefed and it was concluded that a similar situation in backcountry 4 miles from cars might have resulted in deaths.

After digesting the lessons of this all had a good time. We skied the very mild tree sheltered slopes below Timberline Lodge. On Mon., there were 2" or so of good chewy powder and the tree runs were a lot of fun. On Tues. it was mid boot depth and almost (not quite) as good as Utah). Snow fell continuously, or in brief intense squalls, the entire time. Much of it was graupel. In the Silcox, the food, libations, camaraderie, telling of stories (and lies) were great as always, thanks to old and new friends and hutmaster Steve. http://www.timberlinelodge.com/wp-content/uploads/timberline-trailmap.pdf

A link on the winds,
http://www.nwac.us/weatherdata/timberlineupper/10day/

Was reading about the Timberline Ski Area, courtesy of Denis posting links, and found their definition of how to determine the type of slope you are about to ski. I hope you all can make sense of this, since it did not copy exactly. Quite interesting, especially when one considers the discussions on DCSki about slope steepness, etc. The actual web site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timberline_Lodge_ski_area#VerticalThe Colonel
Terrain
Timberline categorizes the terrain as beginner 20%, intermediate 50%, advanced 30%. However, the Forest Service published an environmental impact statement containing more detailed information:

Terrain categorization by area and comfortable guest usage
based on industry standard terrain density Full ski area (Winter) Upper mountain closed
(40% of Winter days)
Terrain type Terrain definition
slope gradient Acres Rider
capacity Capacity
distribution Acres Rider
capacity Capacity
distribution
Beginner 8% to 12% 1.4 acres (5,700 m2) 42.6 1% 1.4 acres (5,700 m2) 42.6 3%
Novice to 25% (30% short pitches) 37.6 677.2 14% 37.6 677.2 48%
Low Intermediate to 30% (35% short pitches) 136.8 1,914.8 40% 23.6 329.8 23%
Intermediate to 40% (45% short pitches) 55.5 555.3 12% 19.0 189.7 13%
Advanced Intermediate to 50% (55% short pitches) 223.5 1,564.4 33% 24.1 168.6 12%
Expert over 50% 1.3 3.9 0% 1.3 3.9 0%
Total 456.1 4,758.2 100% 106.9 1,411.8 100%

Thanks for the story Denis. Glad you all made it down ok.

Every now and then, Mother Nature reminds us who is in control.

Scary wind conditions can happen even in bounds. About 15 years ago (I was much stronger back then and even had almost a full head of hair), I was one of the summit lifts at A-Basin (sans lift bar). It was calm at the bottom when we started the ride. Winds hit 70 MPH sustained halfway up the ride (we found out later from ski patrol). The lift operators slowed the lift to an absolute crawl; I was hoping that they wouldn't stop the lift because that would have meant frostbite. Frostbite or have a chair hit the pole; it was probably a tough decision for the lifties. Glad skinny skis were the skis of the day. A couple of stronger gusts caught my skis like America's Cup boat sales, tilted my skis downward, and almost flipped me off the lift, despite gripping strongly onto the side bar. My glove prints are probably still on that chair.

After what seemed forever, our chair finally reached the top. I pushed off extra strong to get off that freakin' chair. The wind pushed me back onto the chair. Woah! Tried harder with the next push and made it off the chair. Me and a bud were in the first chair. The rest of our group, intermediates at best, followed. It was so windy at the top of the ridge that we couldn't wait for the rest of the group at the top of the ridge, we were forced to ski down about 50 yards or so to wait for the rest of the group. That did provide some respite from the wind, but it was still pretty nasty. You had to duck your face away from the wind since it was too painful. Two by two, our group starting meeting up at the "safe point." Until a ski patrol sled broke loose and slid 10 feet away from us at bobsled speed. Uh-oh. Every man and woman for themselves. We all met at the bottom of the lift, which had been stopped by then. The winds were perfectly calm at the bottom, go figure - the lift didn't have that much vert to it.

Must have been a short term perfect storm since the lift reopened later that day. I wasn't on it.

Hi Denis - can you re-run your Alaskian ones? I missed them. How old (young) are you now? Yours, Connie or email on connielawn@aol.com