Bend, Oregon lies at the base of Mt. Bachelor Ski Resort and this week we have received more than two feet of fresh powder!  With about three or so weeks to opening day, my friend and I could not wait another day to experience the bounty of powder offered to us the prior night.

Early Wednesday morning at the end of October was a perfect day, filled with sunshine, blue skies and fresh powder snow.  As my friend placed his skins on his telemark skis and I strapped on my snow shoes and with my snowboard on my back, we skinned and snowshoed up the side of the resort to the top of a run called Ed's Garden.  With the mountain in pre-season opening mode, we were delighted to find such a glorious day for free, and with some effort, we were able to get in fresh tracks on two "rides" down pure fresh, dry powder snow. 

Open vistas along the way to and at the top of Ed's Garden offered glorious, spectacular panoramic views of a portion of the Cascade Mountain Range :  Broken Top, North Sister, Middle Sister and South Sister.  We were in awe of the beautiful sight and the tranquility that the open blue skies and snow capped mountains offered to us as we ventured forward to find "freshies" for the day!  We were not disappointed with our adventure for the day:  untouched snow was waiting for us!  As I changed out my snow shoes for my snowboard and my friend eagerly removed his skins from his skis, we went hooting and hollering all the way down Ed's Garden as we sprayed snow from beneath our rides of "choice"!

The reward proved to be well worth our hard earned trek, and now we were faced with the uphill climb up Ed's Garden and then to the right of "The Cone" located off of "Lee's Way".  Reaching the top of this independent small butte-like mound, accessible only by hiking up with your gear in tow, whether the resort is open or not, it granted us our second wish for a nice ride.  From the top of this cone, the views to the East are as equally spectacular.  As we repeated our ceremony of swapping out gear to take our second ride, we were again given the great satisfaction that only comes from hard work as we rode down the hill, I took the path to the right leading me down The Cone to Lee's Way and almost to the edge of resort's parking lot.  My friend chose telemark ski to the left as gracefully took off for his descent.

We are hoping Mt. Bachelor Ski Resort will open by early or Mid-November, but until then we will poach our rides and our powder accordingly!  Don't forget to purchase your tickets for your powder day on the "hill" soon and book your Winter vacation rentals in Bend, Oregon with Alpenglow Vacation Rentals at http://www.AlpenglowVacationRentals.com and GET SOME!

Victoria J. Smith
Alpenglow Vacation Rentals
Bend, Oregon
http://www.AlpenglowVacationRentals.com
541-385-7100