Bulletin E-Edition:
Riding the butte
Heavy snowfall has provided Central Oregon skiers, snowboarders a rare opportunity: riding Pilot Butte
Published: February 05. 2008 4:00AM PST
more photos | order photo
While sunlight breaks through the clouds, Justin Norman, 21, of Bend floats his snowboard 180 degrees, after lofting off a lip on Pilot Butte during his run down through the accumulated snow in Bend on Sunday afternoon.
Andy Tullis / The Bulletin
advertisement:
The thought had never crossed my mind. Skiing or snowboarding down Pilot Butte?
I guess if ever there was a time, this is it. A series of snowstorms that bombarded Central Oregon has left Bend’s signature cinder cone, usually a mound of sagebrush and lava rock, covered in snow — snow deep enough for a board or skis.
A friend called me on Sunday and said he had seen skiers and snowboarders up there. They were hitting the butte’s north side, making turns in fresh powder down the steep slope.
I headed up myself on Monday. When I reached the top of the butte via the nature trail, I saw the tracks where the previous day’s skiers and boarders had started out. It looked sketchy: tight turns through sage brush and juniper trees, not knowing what’s underneath the nearly two feet of snow.
I headed down anyway, making my own fresh tracks close to the ones already there. Just as I got a rhythm, my board hit something hard and made that scraping sound that skiers and snowboarders dread.
But what can you expect on Pilot Butte?
Since I own only one snowboard, I decided to take the paved road that spirals to the top of the butte the rest of the way down, getting weird looks from hikers as I boarded past them. The slope was a little flat, but I knew there would be no trees, bushes or rocks to weave through, and the snow was packed down enough so I would not sink to the surface of the road. When I saw a few patches of bare pavement, I decided to hike the rest of the way down.
It was not the most memorable deep-powder experience, but snowboarding in the middle of Bend while traffic roared by on U.S. Highway 20 below was surreal.
While riding down Pilot Butte seems like a sneaky endeavor, the powers that be have no problem with it.
On Monday when I called Chris Parkins, the High Desert District manager of Oregon State Parks, he said he was not aware that anybody had been skiing down Pilot Butte.
I expected him to say that skiing and snowboarding were prohibited, or at least that they were discouraged.
But that was not the case.
“As far as rules, if they’re not creating a problem or a hazard, there is no specific rule about not skiing on Pilot Butte,” Parkins said. “You can’t make a rule about everything. If people aren’t getting hurt or interfering with people’s enjoyment, there’s no sense to have a rule about it.”
It was a refreshing conversation.
Parkins did advise, however, that snowriders should stay in control at all times and avoid any dangerous areas.
Those areas are a matter of interpretation on Pilot Butte, where snowriders should pick their lines carefully to avoid rocks and other obstacles.
Bend resident Ralph Tadday skied Pilot Butte with two friends on Sunday. He said the hill’s northeast side, facing between Pilot Butte Middle School’s football field and St. Charles Bend, offered the best snow and the fewest rocks.
“It was just amazing powder,” Tadday said. “It’s actually not a lot of snow, but we’ve skied those conditions up at (Mount) Bachelor early in the season.”
Tadday said he had been waiting to ski Pilot Butte ever since he moved to Bend eight years ago.
“I thought there would have to be enough snow one day to ski Pilot Butte,” he said.
Sunday was his day.
Surprisingly, while skiing on Pilot Butte is rare, it is nothing new. In the mid 1960s, a national Junior Olympic ski jumping competition was held on Pilot Butte, according to Craig Coyner of the Pilot Butte Partners, a group dedicated to improving Pilot Butte State Park. The jump for the event was built on the butte’s north side.
“A group of doctors in town purchased snow-making equipment for the jump, but it didn’t work,” recalled Coyner, 60, who watched the competition. “Governor (Mark) Hatfield had (the Oregon Department of Transportation) haul in snow from trucks to make the run. That’s the only skiing I’ve heard of. But a lot of people come down the road.”
Good, so I am not alone.
As I walked back to my car Monday, snow began to fall.
Maybe Pilot Butte will stay ridable for some time still this winter.
Mark Morical can be reached at 383-0318 or at mmorical@bendbulletin.com.
ARTICLE ACCESS: This article is among those available to all readers. Many more articles are available only to E-Edition members. Sign up today!
blog comments powered by Disqus
