Santiam Pass / Hoodoo

I often make the joke that Bend is never as excited about backcountry riding as when there is 6 inches of snow on the cinder cone!  Sure enough there is snow in the high country and folks have been getting out sliding around.  The Central Oregon Avalanche Center is scheduled to begin daily avalanche forecasting on December 1.  By no means does this mean that avalanches aren't possible before then.  If you are headed out to make turns or ride in avalanche terrain, you should consider the possibility of avalanches.  This means doing all the same things you should be doing later in the winter:  carrying avalanche rescue gear, using thoughtful travel techniques, and assessing the snowpack.  When the snow is shallow, folks might be looking for where it's blown in a bit to hit the least rocks.  These wind blown deposits can also be the most likely places to find significant avalanches during the early season.  If you are thinking about heading out, check out both our observations page as well as our weather station map for conditions.  

Hopefully the snow will continue to pile up, and we'll have great riding by the time we begin operating.  In the meantime, be careful out there; of avalanches, but maybe more so of rocks, logs and other snow snakes.  Be patient.  Snow is exciting, but even our worst winters are long.  The avalanche center has lots of pre-season events scheduled to help you build enthusiasm for the season!  Here is a link to our events page:  https://coavalanche.org/pages/events.