I am going to Timberline at the end of Feb. Not sure what conditions will be or what will be open, but I have never skied Off the Wall or The Drop because I believe they have these intimidating signs that say "Experts" only and they can clip your ticket. I am not an expert. That said, I have no issues skiing Upper Thunderstruck or White Lighting - nice easy "black" diamond runs. I also do Gravity when at CV and it is open - which was steep and bumped down the left side last time I was on it a few years ago). Aside from the intimidating sign, another reason I have not done Off the Wall or the Drop is that I can't really see what I am getting in to before dropping in to the run. I just recalled the signs said something about cliffs (maybe not), drops, natural terrain/expert ...

Anyway, what are Off the Wall and the Drop like? Obviously conditions play a big role in how easy they will ski, and I assume they are ungroomed and bumped up. Are the bumps tight and steep, big and rolling? Icey in the morning if no fresh snow? I am just trying to get an idea what these runs are like to deside whether I should ski them. I am not sure whether they would be fun, or just survival. Given this lack of snow year, I am not sure they would be worth it.

Any advise on what I can expect would be appreciated.

walk over to your window. Look at your yard, tilt your head about 30 degrees to the side. Imagine more rocks, some diversion ditches and longer grass. If there is snow on your yard, imagine it without snow.

That's The Drop this season...


In better years its a good bump run, if you can make controlled linked turns on WL or Thunder you will probably be OK if the conditions are decent.

OTW this season is steep big hard bumps and bigger hard whales. It was reportedly bulletproof this weekend and was closed all weekend for that reason. When it softens up, its fun.

You have to be honest with yourself when deciding if you are ready for these runs. A lot of people tend to grosly overvalue thier ability level. Next time you are at T-line ski Salmander and look up OTW from the S-turn. You can see most of the steep part of the run from there.

Check out this recent DCSki article by Jim Kenney Firsthand Report, Keeping the Faith on our recent get together at T-line. There is a comment by me about Off The Wall but more to the point, check out the video at the bottom. Footage of Off The Wall that weekend begins around 1:45.

Go to the ski school desk and sign up for a 30 dollar group lesson telling them that your goal of the lesson is to ski off the wall or drop like terrain. The instructor will evaluate wether or not you are ready---if you are then the instructor will coach you on off the wall(drop next year/maybe),,if not then the insctructor will coach you on easier terrain to help you work on developing the specific skills that are needed to negotiate that terrain. There are a ton of great ski and snowboard instructors at T-line and for $30 its a no brainer...in my opinion for that price the ski school is greatly underutilized by mid-level and upper-level customers that could greaty benefit from an hour session w/ a great instructor. So many years of teaching experience in t-line ski/board school its ridiculous.

That's a very good idea.

I feel your plight. I have only been skiing for a couple of years now, and have maybe 16 total days on skis so far, so I am by no means an expert skier either. However I can ski most mid-atlantic blacks in control and safely if not with style and grace. Last year I wasn't too comfortable on any bump runs (though I tried my hand at and floundered on some at Canaan and Whitetail) and after a good look at Off The Wall decided it was beyond my skill level didn't attempt it, though I felt good on White Lightning and Gravity at Canaan. This year after spending some time flailing and actually managing to link together some turns on easier bumped runs like Squirrel Cage at Wisp and Exhibition at Whitetail and a few up in New England I decided to give Off The Wall a shot. I skied it a couple of times a couple weeks ago, the same day the video linked to above was shot. There was plenty of fresh on it though it was scraped off and rock solid in places, such as on the sides of the huge steep whales. Between the whales the bumps didn't seem too steep though they were pretty tight and rock hard underneath the fresh snow. I wouldn't say I skied it with ease but I didn't feel unsafe and made it down fine just going from bump to bump and whale to whale, though did take one of those low speed spills once where your skis turn up a hard trough a little too far and take's you off balance and you topple into the side of another bump. That being said I saw a guy double ejected on the side of the run near the top looking really dazed. When I stopped to see if he was alright he just said it was his first time to attempt Off The Wall and had no clue what he was in for. He wisely decided to hike back up to Salamander.

The lesson part was very good advice. If you choose to ignore that (and assuming OTW doesn't get groomed), can you
1) Ski an entire run only skiing knee high bumps? All bumps, no flat spots in between.
2) Ski down White Lightning in total speed control (i.e. fairly slowly), skiing side to side at most 10 feet.

If no to either question, you have no business being on OTW in it's current state.

If yes, I'd only try OTW the first time on a warm sunny day (45 plus since the trail is pretty sheltered) or very early on a powder day. (It can get scraped off pretty quickly.)

Off the Wall is about to get groomed (hoping for only the left side to get groomed).
That will bump up nicely for the rest of the season. If it doesn't happen quickly enough, shoot an email and express yourself with kindness - and wait couple of days.

Once the whales are groomed, the skiing will bump up really nicely, and very similar to the Drop - as long as the weather is warm enough (35-40 degrees), you will have a wonderful time in bumps that will be very manageable.

Alternatively, hope for a huge dump - at which point Off the Wall will feel more like a difficult Blue slope (needs about 2 feet of powder).

Thanks for the update Voila.

To the OP: once Off The Wall is groomed, it skis a tougher than White Lightning, but not a huge leap. It will bump up over time with warm weather and new snow, but that generally takes a bit. And those bumps will be a lot easier than the ones that were skied in the earlier linked video.

They put those scary signs at the top for a good reason. The run in at the top of each trail is very mild so you can't see what's coming. This has trapped my Boy Scouts a number of times, they thought they were beginner trails. These were kids who had never skied before in their lives, so now the signs are big and scary. Lots of scout, church and youth groups go to Timberline, which has been very good to them.

Great info! Thanks. Video looked awesome and fun, but it looks like you had one of the rare snow events this un-snowy season.

Lots of good advice. If anybody finds out that it did get groomed, please reply back.

Ungroomed, hard, without fresh on top with rocks and grass does not sound appealing this year.

Can you find out the conditions where you buy the lift tickets? Maybe a dumb question, but last time I was there, the workers were clueless about what trails were open and other very basic information that one would think they should know. Maybe I just got them on a bad day.

Part II -- If I try the group lesson route, is there a time or day that would be better -- as in, smaller class, better instruction -- than another. I would be available to go any time during the week - Monday to Friday - although I do plan on going to CV at least one day.

Do it during the week. Sign up for an 11:30 group lesson then ski a bit to warm up. You might be a group of one.

An intermediate/advanced group lesson at Timberline during midweek will most certainly be a $30 private lesson. No better deal at any resort around, especially considering the quality of instruction at Timberline.

Just don't forget to tip your instructor!!

Anything above level 5 group lesson would usually be a private anytime but especially midweek. There are very good instructors for those levels as well. You might get either the Asst. Ski Skool Director or the Technical Director if things are not too busy.

perfect spring conditions for OT-Dub today! best it's been all year. everything else was a little too soft actually

something tells me OTW will be awesome today again but terrible tomorrow when the temps drop way back down. get on it!

Have they groomed OTW, or is it still similar to the video I watched?

the Wall was soft, bumpy, and awesome yesterday! this morning it is probably an ice cube shaped like a giant egg crate surface, and most likely closed...they will be grooming it soon...last few days of warm temps, wind, and rain has really put a hurtin' on the mountain...bare spots on lightinin', dew drop, and a couple other places...grass is pokin up through spots in the little park, park crew worked all day yesterday resetting all the features by hand...snowing this morning, cold and windy, that surface should be firm this morning..

sorry to hear you all may be losing the bumps

39" of snow this week at Bridger...Tucker, maybe it's time for you to take a vacation