Nothing like snowbiking in the beautiful Cascade Mountains
of Oregon's Santiam Pass!
of Oregon's Santiam Pass!
Last weekend, I took the scouts from the Aloha 1st Ward to Hoodoo Ski Area for a weekend of camping, skiing and snowboarding. We had a great time and all the scouts got some valuable experience both on the slopes and camping in the snow (unfortunately, some of them still need to learn how to throw away their trash and take down their tents, but we'll work on that...).
Meanwhile, it gave me a chance to once again practice my new hobby, SNOWBIKING!!
If you've never seen a snowbike before, it is essentially a bike frame with two small skis in place of tires. There are several varieties available, and Hoodoo is quickly becoming known as the snowbiking capital of the Northwest (In fact, Hoodoo will be featured as a snowbiking mecca in the March issue of Portland Monthly).
I only started snowbiking last weekend at Hoodoo's annual Winter Carnival. It didn't take me too long to get comfortable riding down the Easy Rider hill and move on to the Manzanita lift. I stuck to the green lifts that first day, but by the time I left the mountain around 8 p.m., I was hooked!
Later that day, I took some video with my brother-in-law's video camera, and he edited it together for this "Queen-tastic" tribute to snowbiking!
This weekend, I brought my 15-year-old cousin, AJ, with me on the scouting trip. He'd been to Hoodoo before, but only to go tubing at the Autobahn. After just one trip on the Easy Rider hill, he was ready to tackle the rest of the mountain.
AJ wasted no time getting comfortable on the snowbike. He eventually convinced me to take him to the top of the mountain for some thrilling downhill rides.
Everybody loves Hoodoo... including me!
I'll admit, I was a little nervous about going all the way to the top of the mountain, but AJ's youthful persistence finally got the best of me, and we went. I'm glad we did because it was a lot of fun (save the times when I was crashing into 3-and-a-half foot piles of freshly fallen snow!!).
AJ's a pretty cool kid and despite our nearly 14-year age difference, we always have a fun time together. Plus, despite his youth, the kid is taller and beefier than me!!
4 comments:
No this looks like the type of skiing I would be into!
This looks like it could be pretty fun. I may have to try it out sometime. Although, I might need someone to follow me with a radio playing the bicycle song. :) Then I would feel like I was really good at it.
It sounds like the kids had a lot of fun, although mine came back with the flu (which he's just now getting over)... but other than that... looks fun!
That looks like a total blast! You are a brave soul to go all the way to the top.
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