Donaldson Crew Adventures

We go camping on Paulina lake often in the summer. I have never been up in the winter. The resort on Paulina lake is actually open for a few months in the winter but you cannot drive in - hike or snowmobile only from a snow park that is a few miles down the road. 

Noah and I drove up Friday afternoon and hiked in staying at one of the small 2 person cabins for the night. 

On the way in we stopped and hiked down to Paulina falls. Again - a place we have visited in summer but not in winter.  Really pretty.

My friend Mark got a couple of snow machines recently so we rode them from Mt Bachelor where this road is closed for the winter to Todd lake to do some skiing. Cold and crisp morning - great fun.

This past week we got hammered with snow.  We beat a single day snowfall record in Feb that was set in 1917.  Since Monday we had over 30 inches fall in our yard... and its March now!

Around the house

Cross country skiing in the Neighborhood

Walking after the storm

Playing

Kelly and I went up x-country skiing this afternoon with Holly.  Kids wanted to just play at the house so we had a date!

Today Hunter’s youth group with Church did a snowshoe outing. It was also exciting for me as it was my first outdoor event since being in the hospital over a month ago. It was a great day.

For the last few days we have been socked in with freezing fog.  It makes for yucky days that seem to stay the same time all day long.  There is almost zero air movement however the fog has produced some amazing frost art creations on all sorts of things outside.  There must also be some slight air movement as most of the ice crystals point northward.

And Not just plants... Pic 1 - chain links, Pic 2 - Wind chimes, Pic 3 - wire stuck in the trunk of a Juniper

Today we actually got about 1 hour of partial sun so took some pics with the sun shining

Here is another example of frost art that I found on my car one morning going to work when we lived in Wales.

Fresh off last weekends avalanche course, my neighbor, friend and fell classmate Abe, wanted to head up early and ski Tumalo  (across the road from Mt Bachelor) mountain this morning for his birthday!  Hunter was up at the hill yesterday, Noah had a friend over, so I was able to head up.  

Here is Tumalo mountain in the summer. 

A trip up Tumalo mountain last winter in Jan 2016 (snow conditions were much much better today)

We got up there at 6:30 and headed out just as we got some nice morning alpen-glow on Mt Bachelor. 

It was a cold morning but clear and beautiful as we headed to the top.  Note in the first photo down low that is the parking lot at the main lodge of bachelor still empty at this time.

Couple shots of the top before taking our first run down the bowl on the north side. 

Shots from the bowl (our first tracks)

Video - me laying some fresh tracks on a section of the bowl