USA 2009 - PART 2

Tuesday March 17th - St Paddy's Corned Beef

Any hope of waking to another large overnight dump of snow was sadly denied at 7am when I poked my head up off the pillow and could see that there had been no real new snow in town but maybe up on the hill would be a different story.

A cup of coffee with Kenny followed by a shower before Bill served up sausage, eggs and toast which set me up brilliantly for a day on the hill. At around 10am I headed on the short drive up to Discovery and found a very much busier base area with clearly a lot of people taking the day off to score second day powder and I have to say that even though there were many more people on the hill I still had a lot of fresh turns from start to finish.

I made my way to the backside where I'd had a whole lot of fun the previous day and found the skiing in the bowl to be superb with lots of fresh tracks. I lapped Christmas Tree several times which had barely been skied which is surprising as it is one of the easiest trails to hit when coming off the top of the Limelight lift. I pushed out as far as it is possible to go on the backside along Red Lion and it takes you eventually to a wide open section which was 12" of totally untouched powder but it is very short and the few turns that were possible were simply not worth the hassle of getting to when there were still so many untouched lines straight off the lift.

By 2.30pm I was done and having yet again failed to get cash I decided to head to Anaconda, a small town around 30 miles up the road from Philipsburg on the road east to see if I had any luck there. I had spoken to some locals the previous evening who said the road was a complete nightmare and I could see even today that care was required as I passed a couple of ploughs trying to get the roads back to black.

Signs say to beware of sheep on the road and a few miles outside Anaconda I had to stop completely as a small herd of wild Bighorn sheep was bang in the middle of the road. Around 30 sheep in total and I took the opportunity to take a picture as I crawled past. They may be wild but they were completely at easy as I edged my way through them. Great to see Rocky Mountain Bighorns as they number only around 30-35000 having been close to extinction a hundred years or so ago. The crest of Discovery Basin is that of a Bighorn ram.

Arriving in Anaconda I could not believe how many people were wondering about the snowy streets and it took a minute to work out that I had arrived just in time to see the annual St Paddy's Day parade. First off I headed into the ATM in the foyer of a local bank and to my delight it spewed out $100 no problem. I was back in business.

Standing at the side of the road I watched as a multitude of different groups passed us bye. Pipers, servicemen and women, women dressed in Irish looking costumes carrying washboards, old cars and tractors and the local fire brigade throwing sweets. The sound of all the horns blasting was deafening and although cold I was glad to have seen a proper St Paddy's Day parade. I decided to have a quick beer in the Locker Room bar in Porky's and found a very busy place with a great mix of people of all ages having a drink after the parade.

I had to be heading back to Philipsburg though and I set off noting that the roads were now a lot clearer and that my sheep had made for the hills.

Arriving in Philipsburg I decided to head down to the Sunshine Station for my après ski for a change rather than the White Front. Bill was working in the store and Scott Shake whom Bill introduced to me a few days back was tending bar. Debs was having a shot of tequila before pool night and I grabbed a seat with a few of the local girls who were drinking green beer in celebration of the day. A few drops of colouring in my Bud Light and I was joining them. Good fun.

A traditional meal for St Paddy's Day in the USA is corned beef and cabbage and although I have spent a lot of time in the USA I was never sure what to expect so when Bill and Kathy promised me the traditional meal I was really excited. In the UK corned beef comes in a tin and is a ground beef held together by fat in a tin but in the USA it is a cured piece of meat. Heading home with Bill at 9pm I was really looking forward to sampling this.

Bill and Kathy put their chunk of meat into seasoned brine and cooked it slowly through the day along with cabbage until it was tender and full of the flavour of the spices that had been put in the mix. I laughed at Bill as he moaned at Kathy for cutting off the fat from the beef as it was exactly like my mum and dad back home when my mum decides to do her healthy bit and take fat off steaks or the skin off a chicken. It really was lovely, so tender and full of flavour and I always marvel at what Bill and Kathy cook me up each winter and I have yet to have a single meal that I have not thoroughly enjoyed.

After a couple of beers we all headed to bed, another great day in Montana.

Wednesday March 18th - Cocktail Gwen

I awoke early but lay around as Kenny got the coffee and the stove going and even Tank showed a little more interest in getting up but I had to get going and at 8am I got up, had a look of the morning paper with Kenny and had a cup of coffee before hitting the shower. Bill came through at a little after nine and prepared a breakfast of bacon, egg and toast which was really nice and set me up for the day again.

The skiing after the previous couple of days was decidedly ordinary although if you looked hard enough there were still great lines with fresh wind loaded snow on the back side of the mountain.

I stopped for quite a while to chat to the liftie on the Limelight lift who was amazed that I came all this way to ski. He was getting married and was actually from Las Vegas but preferred the quiet life in Montana.

By 2.30pm I was ready to hit Philipsburg and said my goodbyes to the hill for 2009 and I had really been served well by what many would class as a small local mountain. I cannot wait to return in 2010. I headed to the White Front and grabbed a beer and then at 4pm the infamous Gwen came in to tend bar and I knew we would have some fun.

Two girls from Missoula were passing through and before long we all got chatting along with a local guy, Tyler, and started playing pool. The girl I was playing with was hopeless and although we got beat overall the highlight was clearing the whole table which she could not believe. Beginners luck or a misspent youth I told her.

Gwen is legendary in my eyes from previous visits with my dad and brother, Mike Richards and also on my own as she always serves up a few cocktails, many of which are on the house. Today was no different and we sank a good few cocktails and tequilas before I headed down the road to the house at 9.30pm with Bill and Kathy no doubt wondering where I had gotten to. I'm sure they know!

Bill and Kathy's neighbour Clyde who stays down the road makes his own sausages and tonight dinner was his sausages with fries and they really were nice and I washed them down with a couple beers before heading to bed at 11pm with my good old pal Tank at the side of the couch on his back and enjoying the final belly rub he would get on my trip. I always wonder if he recognises me each winter, I certainly think he does and we always have fun throwing the ball around the yard.

Thursday March 19th - On The Road Again

Kathy was working again this morning and had said she would say goodbye before she left at 6am. I was aware of everyone being up but I was dozing and stayed put and before long it was 8am and I rose for a shower and a coffee and rather sadly put my gear away and got the car loaded up and ready to head west to Seattle.

Bill put it simply, Kathy would make his life hell for the next year if he allowed me to go without saying our goodbyes so we jumped in his truck and headed round to the local hospital where Kathy works. It was sad to be leaving my friends but it was tempered by the fact that I was going somewhere new and would surely have a good time. None the less it was sad and I had my usual hug with Kathy before heading to the house to say goodbye to Bill and Kenny. At 9.30am I left Philipsburg knowing one way or the other I would be back at some point.

The drive towards Drummond was a little sad so I got some good tunes on the radio and with the sun on my back I looked forward to some good turns out west. I've driven towards Kellogg, Idaho several times so know the road well and have always wondered what Lincoln's $10000 Silver Dollar bar and casino was all about so today, with plenty of time to kill I stopped in past for a look around, buy a few postcards, have a couple beers and stretch the legs.

There is a marvellous story about the bar and it goes back to 1952 when a year after the bar opened for business the owner Gerry Lincoln cut a hole in the bar and battered the silver dollar into the hole and marked his and his wife Marie's name below the coin. Within one year there were over 2000 coins hammered into the bar and the owner of each coin have their name under the individual coin for all time. At that point the name of the bar changed from Cherry Springs Bar to Lincoln's 2000 Silver Dollar Bar and was changed up until they reached 10000 coins in the bar. Now they have around 50000 on display around the bar and the original 2115 coins are still on show in the original bar with the rest on display on the walls. 10623 are real silver dollars but since 1972 and a huge increase in the price of silver the rest have actually been an Eisenhower dollar which is a mix of copper and nickel. After a leisurely beer and a loss at the casino I headed on my way to Seattle.

I stopped in Kellogg and phoned home and my bank to sort out the ongoing issues with cash advances on my cards. A two minute call and I was sorted and at last I could breathe a little more easily. Heading through Spokane I had a smile to myself as I passed a sign for Colfax which is Kenny's brother Bill's home town and I recalled some of the stories of hunting and shenanigans that they have gotten up to over the years with their other brother 'Shotgun'.

The drive was fairly bland in truth although around Moses Lake and the Columbia River crossing was particularly scenic with clear blue skies and good music on the stereo for company. I made good time and had a laugh to myself as we got closer to the ski areas at Snoqualmie which are about 50 miles east of Seattle and the weather was awful. Chucking down rain it really was like home and the exact description that so many people have of the area.

I passed the ski areas at Snoqualmie at 5pm and saw 1 lift turning and the rain was absolutely incessant so I was not even remotely tempted to stop for a few turns so I carried on towards Seattle and my home for the next few nights.

Arriving in rush hour Seattle was a mistake, arriving in rush hour Seattle with some distance to my motel in Tacoma with an empty fuel tank was an even bigger mistake! Anyway as I got nearer Seattle I hit a wall of traffic. Just like home the rain pounded down and we crawled towards the city. Not my idea of fun.

Eventually I cleared the queues of traffic, rammed the car up to 50mph around a corner in an underpass totally unaware that in front of me the traffic was backed up again. As I swung around the corner I spotted a tail light and rammed on the anchors. The tail shot out sideways, everything in the car shot forward, suitcases, cameras, rucksacks, maps you name it, by now it was all on the floor. Screeching to a halt this was by far the closest I have ever came to totalling a car and it took a while to calm back down.

Heading to Tacoma I was totally lost, running out of gas and getting a little bit cranky. I stopped at one gas station and found another of these stupid places that don't accept UK VISA debit cards so I headed on and stopped again and the same problem. Remembering that my card should now work I got cash and then filled the car. At least that was sorted. Having no idea where my motel was I turned right out of the gas station and almost in front of me I could see that I had stumbled right into the Motel 6($109) where I would spend the next 2 nights.

With it being 7.30pm and hungry I ventured to the Burger King across the road and grabbed a burger and onion rings and sat and watched some TV before an early night.

Friday March 20th - Homeless In Tacoma

Awakening to overcast skies it was one of those days that getting ready to go took way longer than it should. It was so unappealing looking out but with a new mountain to explore I gathered my gear together and loaded the car and headed on the hour and a half drive to Crystal($60, 3100ft, 2600a).

The drive itself was for me pretty bland up until around Greenwood after which I felt it turned into a pretty scenic road reminiscent of much of Scotland with thick forests and meandering rivers. The only difference was a decent road!

I arrived, or rather sank, in a parking lot with a 12" covering of what can only be described as hard packed slush with huge furrows where larger vehicles had once ploughed. My aim was to keep the tires spinning, the car moving and to get to the far end without becoming marooned and after a few close calls I parked up for the day and got the gear together.

I headed to the base area which was quite impressive with a modern collection of buildings, a large outdoor patio area and just a short walk to the lift so after getting my pass I made my way over to the Chinook Express where I joined two local skiers and I landed up joining them on the next lift, the Rainier Express, which takes you to the top of the mountain and the Summit House. On a nice day the views must be incredible of the nearby Mt Rainier which at 14410ft towers over the resort. Today I could see the flanks of the mountain which was enough to suggest the scale of things.

One thing that I gathered from the two gents on the lift was that the conditions today were far from ideal on almost all aspects of the mountain after some warm weather, rain and freeze cycles. I decided to see as much of the mountain as I possibly could on my visit so I made my way over to the Northway lift via a run on Upper Ferk's Run down to the Green Valley lift and had a couple blasts down the pisted Green Valley trail and eventually I was dropping into the Otto Bahn trail which due to the frozen moguls was pretty difficult to negotiate down to the Northway lift.

The view of the area from the chair was brilliant though and you could see that in good conditions this would be a superb area to ski. Lots of chutes and trees and some nice pitches although on this occasion with everything frozen I could only dream of what might be.

I took another couple of runs down Otto Bahn and I think the only other skiers in the area were the two locals I had met earlier on the lift from the base area. Just my kind of place I guess! Next I made my way over to the Forest Queen express for a few runs before stopping at the Campbell Basin Lodge for a spot of lunch.

It was nice to get inside as the heavy rain and snow mix was making for pretty grotty skiing in the last half hour or so. Grabbing a seat I got out of the wet jacket and queued up for a burger, chips and a coke($11.75) and was joined by a guy and his two kids who were also glad to get inside for a much needed break and something to eat.

After 45 minutes or so it was time to head back out and I decided to take a few more runs on the Forest Queen lift which offered some great cruising on the groomed terrain but in all honesty the overhead conditions were at best miserable with snow at the top turning to heavy rain at the base of the lift and it simply was not very much fun so at around 2pm I decided that enough was enough and I made my way back to the car.

My motel in Tacoma was just along the road from a collection of small shops, a grocery and a bar so I headed out for some supplies. I must admit that I did feel a little uncomfortable walking to the grocery as there were a large number of coloured people some of which were clearly homeless and a couple did ask if I could spare any money. I would not like to be around here in the dark.

After dropping off my shopping supplies I headed straight back out and down to the local bar, Latitude 84*, for a few beers. There was an incredible mix of people of many races along with a strange homeless guy with long dreadlocked hair and bandaged knuckles who was trying to play pool by himself. His hygiene was clearly an issue and eventually the barman was able to coax him into leaving.

On the other hand the barman, after working out where I was from, was happy to serve up a small shot of each of his beers for me to try so that I could make up my mind which to order. I always find that as a visitor I am more than well treated and today was no different. I tried a fair few in a couple hours and got speaking to a guy called Phil who stayed locally but had spent a lot of time in Germany and we compared our thoughts on politics and our shared love of beer! It's always nice to meet people like this and all too soon it was time to head down the road to pickup a burger from McDonalds and wander home to watch a bit of TV before quickly putting my head down for the night.

Saturday March 21st - Always Ski In Control

After a good nights sleep I was up and about at a little after 7am and away at 7.30am on the long drive to White Pass($47, 1500ft, 635a) which was over 100 miles southeast of Tacoma. The mist as I left was incredible and visibility on the first part of the journey was anything between 20-50 yards and made for some tough driving. That said I made good time and arrived in a busy parking area at 10am and took my chances right on the edge of the Village Inn's private parking. I'd already changed into my boots before the guy next to me noticed a sign and moved his car but I stood firm.

After grabbing my ticket and taking a look at the trail map I headed up the Great White Express lift to the summit with a mix of cloud and a few breaks above. I was aiming to ski a few runs on the backside of the mountain although from the one lift it is actually possible to ski all 32 trails on the mountain without using the two man lift.

Anyway I decided on a few laps down the back and found pretty hard snow with just a slight dusting on top so it was a day to stick to the groomers. I tried all 4 blues on the backside and the bumps on Ptarmigan were a challenge as they were rock solid but I was able to get some real speed up on the groomed Quail.

I headed back to the front side for a couple quick blasts before lunch in the lodge which was extremely busy even at 11.45 but I grabbed a small table at the bottom of the stairs which led to the upstairs bar and chose a chilli burger, Fanta and cookie($14.75) to keep me going.

Back out I pretty much repeated the mornings play with a few down the backside and finished my day with a couple blasts down the front where I found Cascade and Poma Face to offer enough space to get some speed up and get some GS turn in. One thing that I had noticed throughout the day was a number of training runs for what was clearly a new intake of ski patrollers for next season. They spent hours on evacuation drills on slopes of varying steepness and I could see quite a difference in the abilities as I watched them. Some surely would not meet the minimum standard.

As it happens I was watching the training on Cascade Cliff from the side of the Cascade trail when a skier who was going far too fast for her ability careered into a slow skiing sign. Shaken she was helped by a couple of guys at the scene and I did not have to call on the instructors and trainees to come to her rescue. Always ski in control as the mangled sign suggested!

I headed to the bar at 2pm and found a really lively place, good looking bar staff and lots of TV's showing college basketball. With a beer in hand I can safely say that life does not get any better than this.

Heading on my way I was making for Portland for a few days and the Motel 6($269). I stopped in the town of Morton for some supplies and some gas and arrived in Portland at 5.30pm after a bit of a detour while trying to find the motel. One way streets and a lack of a map of the city were partly to blame but what I had not bargained on was the fact that this Motel 6 was not in the usual livery and I think I drove past it without seeing it at least once.

Once I found the motel I was pleasantly surprised. A nice room, fridge and right next to the cities tram system and with the sun shining I was able to stand outside my door with a few beers until nearly 7pm. A few snacks and the college basketball for entertainment where Gonzaga were seeded four and up against the 12th seeds Western Kentucky and I was not to be disappointed. Played just a few hundred yards down the road in the Rose Garden Arena it was Gonzaga who would score with just 0.9 seconds left in a 83-81 victory. Brilliant end to the match and by 10pm I was ready to hit the sack for the night.

Sunday March 22nd - 100 Not Out

Sunday morning came with a significant change in the weather and when I arose at 7.30am it was pretty unappealing outside with rain cascading down. The hope would of course be that up in the mountains the rain would be coming down as snow.

Setting off I would head up along the Columbia River as far as Hood River and then up towards the resorts at Mt Hood choosing between Hood Meadows and Mt Hood Ski Bowl for my sport. The rain was absolutely incredible and it was amazing to see the number of boats out fishing on the huge river in such an inclement morning. By the time I was in Mount Hood the rain was turning to snow and lots of it.

Snaking our way up the hill visibility was poor and several inches of snow on the road made for tricky driving and I went past the entrance for Hood Meadows so decided to go for Mt Hood Ski Bowl. A while later and no sign of the resort I was beginning to wonder where I was so when I came up and saw a resort named Summit($25, 306ft, 70a) at the right hand of the road I decided that enough was enough and that I would make my turns here today.

This was actually quite a special day for me in that I would be skiing at the 100th resort in the western states of the USA and little did I know that it would probably be at one of the smallest that I have visited and also the oldest having opened way back in 1927. History for me in the making at a very historical ski area.

I grabbed my ticket in the compact lodge and made my way to the lift in truly dreadful weather conditions. Horizontal snow, a fierce wind made for not a whole lot of fun but it was my 100th resort so I made the best of it and took a few runs over the mountain finding up to 12" of powder. That said it was too flat to really get great turns in so after a couple hours I headed into the lodge for a burger, fries and coke($8) and made the decision to head home.

Deciding to head home a different route I choose to go via Highway 26 and barely 2 minutes down the road I passed Ski Bowl and knew I had blundered. Anyway, I had made my choice and that was that.

Back at the ranch I settled in for the evening with a bottle of cheap Cook's Californian sparkling pink wine which was chilled perfectly and with a few nibbles helped celebrate reaching 100 resorts in the western states of the USA. The news was pretty bizarre with Portland's local news station running one of the biggest stories of the day from the UK where celebratory nobody Jade Goody had finally died after a long illness. I can only say with hindsight that I am so glad that I was in the USA at the time and missed the nonsense that went on back home. Elsewhere in the news was a plane crash near Butte, Montana which killed 17 including many children.

Settling in for the night I watched The Holiday starring Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jude Law and Jack Black. There were a few funny bits, it past a couple hours and Cameron Diaz is always well worth a look!

By 8pm it was time to head out for a walk around to see where I was in relation to the arena for the NBA tomorrow and to hopefully find a bar to have a beer in afterwards. My motel turned out to be extremely close to the arena and I found a diner with a bar which may be an option for a beer on one of the streets down towards the Rose Garden.

Heading home I had a couple of glasses of Hinman Vineyards of Oregon red wine to cap the night and by 10.30pm I was dead to the world.

Monday March 23rd - Bill And Delores Race To Victory

Waking early and knowing that a fair amount of snow had dumped down on the mountains the previous day I was keen to get on the road so I packed up my gear and made my way back to Mount Hood Ski Bowl($43, 1500ft, 960a) which this time I knew exactly where to find it.

The rain eased as I got closer to the mountain and I arrived at a pretty quiet parking lot and bought my ticket and jumped on the chair at 9.30am and immediately liked what I could see. Lots of snow, an upper lift serving great terrain and not many people skiing off the groomers would make for great fun so I headed immediately to the Upper Bowl lift.

The skiing was superb with 6-12" of untracked and a pretty consistent pitch from top to bottom. I covered a whole heap of the upper mountain with strangely most people sticking to the groomed section down the middle of the bowl. Working the ungroomed was fantastic and I found some fabulous stuff to the right of the lift as you looked going up and watched 3 young lads huck a few rocks and take some abuse from the lifts as they chickened out of a couple.

The snow was superb and from the lift it was possible to scope each line and I could have spent all day here with nobody really fighting for space but by lunchtime I felt like a change and made my way to Skibowl East for a spot of lunch at the Multorpor Lodge. First though I had a couple of blasts down the Cascade chair which had the Raceway trail dedicated for use by the racers so I took a blast down Rhododendron and Yumper which was practically untouched. Brilliant.

Lunch was a burger, fries and a coke($11.25) and a well deserved breather after a pretty hard morning skiing. After a hour I headed back out and took a run under the Multorpor lift and eventually back over to the Upper Bowl for a few final descents before I made my way to the Beer Stube for a quick beer before making my way back to Portland. Next to me at a table was what appeared to be a whole duck being shared by a couple and it looked incredible.

My drive back to the Motel 6 would not be quite the same without getting lost yet again but eventually I was home and hit the shower before having a few beers in the room with tonight's entertainment beginning at 7pm at the nearby Rose Garden.

At 6.30pm I made my way down the road in order to grab a beer for the first quarter of the game between Portland Trailblazers and Philadelphia 76ers which was brilliant entertainment. Philadelphia led by 14 points at half time and as a Utah Jazz fan I was quite happy to see Portland loose.

At half time the entertainment along with the usual cheerleaders was a race between 3 couples racing kids tricycles up and down the floor and I had to laugh and give generous applause to the winners, Bill who was 83 and his young partner, Delores who was the tender age of 73. Things like that make my nights at the NBA.

Back to the action and Portland came right back into it to force overtime before Andre Miller who had been the best player all evening took command and saw the 76ers home by a score of 114-108. A few beers and a great evening of basketball and I was ready for bed and hit the pillow at 10.30pm with a drive south to Bend in the morning to look forward to.

Tuesday March 24th - Like Skiing Scotland

I was pretty slack getting going in the morning and it was nearly 8.30am before the car was packed and I was ready to setoff on my way to Bend for a few nights via a day skiing at Hoodoo($42, 1035ft, 806a) which was on the road down anyway. The drive from Salem on was absolutely beautiful and again very reminiscent of much of Scotland I felt.

I arrived in a pretty busy parking lot and was on the slopes at 10.30 after getting my ticket at an impressive lodge which contained everything in the one building. I immediately made my way to the Big Green Machine with the aim of hitting the backside of the mountain before lunch.

It truly was a terrible day with rain and sleet at the base turning to snow and hail on the upper mountain with a biting wind and a bit of fog making for some interesting navigation on a mountain I did not know. I took the trail round the back via the mast and simply could not see whether I was going uphill, downhill, sideways or even if I was actually moving so I crept around and followed two boarders who were similarly lost. At one stage I slid off the cat track and almost crashed into a pile of rocks. This was really like skiing back in Scotland!

I tried a variety of the trails on the Hodag Chair before and after lunch which was a superb chilli fries and coke($6.75) and found some great conditions on Impossible Dream, Mambo and Leap of Faith. I also shared the lift at one stage with what I think was probably the only other person on this side of the mountain. It was just the first few turns at the top that were in the mist and below that visibility improved but with heavy snow and rain lower down it was pretty miserable so after a couple top to bottom blasts on the front side I called it quits at 2.30pm with the drive to Bend still to come.

Having given up in miserable weather on numerous occasions it never ceases to amaze me how often you leave the mountain and within a matter of miles you're bathed in sunshine and today was no different and the other side of the pass towards Bend was simply gorgeous.

After getting some supplies I checked in at the Motel 6($98) and checked my emails on the computer which is available for free in the reception. The motel was deserted and situated right next door to a sex shop called Imagine Kiat and what may well have been a strip club but it looked a little dodgy so I headed back to my room and watched the Jazz beat Houston in the NBA as well as Star Trek Nemesis which I don't think I'd seen before. A few snacks washed down by a few beers and by 10.30pm I was ready to hit the sack.

This article was written by Quintin Chalmers, a 34-year-old skier from Aberdeen in the north of
Scotland. Quintin has skied at over 100 US resorts and is in the process of setting up
www.offthebeatenpath.co.uk designed to help like minded people find the best turns in some of the
more unusual resorts in western USA. He has over 20 years skiing experience and enjoys nothing
more than seeing new places that many people write off as being not worth the hassle.