It's unique.
On May 4, 5, 6 I was at Mt. Hood, OR on the 17th annual trip of the Wild Hearts Vertical Adventure Club, a group of 20 people I was lucky enough to join 10 years ago. We rent the Silcox hut at 7000 ft on Mt. Hood for 3 days of whatever you want to do, mostly climbing, skiing, drinking and telling lies. I missed last years trip due to a health issue so this year was especially sweet. Hood rises to 11,200 ft above a coastal plain of about 2000 ft., dwarfing the vertical rise of anything in the Rockies. Other cascade volcanoes, like Shasta, and Rainier are even bigger. Hood is 70 miles from the Pacific and moisture laden air hits that vertical relief and drops prodigious amounts of precipitation, mostly snow. Timberline Lodge, built by the WPA in the Great Depression, sits at 6000 feet, at the timberline, and there are ski lifts both above and below that point serving 3600feet of vertical. Above that are another 2700 ft for which you climb. The lift served terrain is mild, but it's huge and goes on forever. I love all kinds of skiing, but there is a special quality to the vastness of the northwest volcanoes. It's hard to describe, but I'll try. You really have to experience it. You get off the lift and look around. Then you ski, just flying over the non threatening terrain, for 80 turns. You stop for a rest, look back, and there stands Hood, in all it's white immensity, starring at you, immovable, having receded not one inch while you made 80 turns.
For a great resource on volcano skiing, check this out,
Sounds really fun Denis, especially staying in a hut up on the mountain. The only time I skied an obvious volcano was with Vince for three days in late Dec 2012 at Mt. Bachelor, OR. It was fully open in beautiful weather/conditions and we got to ski 360 degrees off the summit. The off-piste terrain on the backside was really cool skiing among thousands of snow ghosts (snow/frost encrusted trees), but hardly any people. Visually, the big difference over most other ski areas is that you're not skiing the front or back of a ridgeline. You're on a stand-alone volcano/mountain and there are expansive views in multiple directions on every run.
A little more detail, sent to family.
I am in Shasta City right now. Yesterday I skinned a short way up mt. Shasta for a look and I will be back. I got a very late start at around 3 PM because I had driven from Portland, OR starting at 7 and the corn was seriously over cooked, which prompted my turnaround after just a half mile or so. I did get a good idea of the lay of the land.
http://www.fs.usda.gov/detailfull/stnf/home/?cid=STELPRDB5360169&width=full
May 4-6 was the annual backcountry hut trip to mt. Hood. It always seems to be that one day of the trip has epic skiing. This time it was the 5th, cinco de mayo. It had not gone below freezing for several days and the snow was deep, wet, and unconsolidated. With no freezing at night you don't get corn you get bottomless glop and avalanches on steep slopes. The entire high Cascades have been under extreme avalanche conditions for most of the winter. The south side of hood is less than 30 degrees all the way to 10,000 feet and so it is safe. A strong cold front came in on Sunday night, just after we had eaten dinner snug in the hut. We had a bit of rain, then hail, graupel and snow along with the fierce wind for which the mountain is known. One lightning bolt brilliantly lit the hut and a raven standing on the snow at the window looking at our food. In the morning it had frozen and there were pillows of dense chewy powder all over the huge open snowfields. We were in and out of the clouds. When they came in thick it was impossible to keep ones bearings. I fell several times from vertigo; each time the snow was moving the wrong way when I impacted. I had turned across the fall line to stop but with no frame of reference had gone all the way across and then up the fall line, then backwards, without realizing it. Fortunately the patrol had placed one line of poles with bright green disks on them so if I kept them in sight it was OK. As the day went on it would clear briefly, with some sun patches. You could wait at the top of the lift for visibility and then rip a long series of turns connecting the powder pillows. It was glorious.
