[Gaper Jeffey]

Warning: This is kind of a long TR with lots of photos. If you don't have time to read it, feel free to come back.

The objective of this trip was not to ski powder. Nor was it to have a good time at the base of a not-well-known shield volcano in Southern Oregon. Our objective was purely utilitarian and altruistic: it was to find, capture and domesticate the Southern Oregon Sasquatch. Once captured our plan was to turn him into our Ski Journing slave. Yup, after this trip we were never going to skin again; instead we would get towed (or carried) up ski mountains by a Sasquatch. Capturing a Sasquatch may seem like a lofty goal, but we had plenty of things going for us. First, I have 1200+ posts on TelemarkTips in the past year and since it’s widely believed the Sasquatch is a close relative of the Telemark skier (Andy even suggested the Sasquatch may actually be a big, hairy Telemark skier that decided to never come home), I figured we could leverage my TTips knowledge to capture the Sasquatch. Second, we knew a Sasquatch *must* exist in this area as a trip here last year revealed a den in the snow were Sasquatches lived.

Our expedition began on Friday morning after a few hours of sleep. Here’s Andy readying the sleigh the Sasquatch was going to pull us out on once we captured him. Note the bottle of whisky which we would drug the Sasquatch with:


On our way to the hut. The approach is 3.3 miles, most of which is on a road. For humans the sled worked better on the road, though for a Sasquatch it wouldn't matter:


Base camp for our Sasquatch expedition:


The bottom door was buried by snow so we went in thru the second story entrance. Here I am contemplating the Sasquatch and Dynafits:


After eating lunching and unpacking we headed up the SE ridge for our first Sasquatch sortie. After about 900vft of climbing we came--for the 2nd year in a row!--to an odd hole in the snow which must be the Sasquatch’s home.
(Note: This photo is real and is not from last year. I have not digitally manipulated the photo other than to add the label)

We called out to the Sasquatch but he had apparently left for the day. We continued up hoping we'd encounter the Sasquatch higher on the ridge. Soon we encountered a whiteout:


We decided to return to the cabin and continue the hunt tomorrow. The snow was a bit suboptimal with warm temps today and rain earlier. Here's Andy:


Andy carefully studying the horizon looking for the Sasquatch:


We figured we'd definitely find him tomorrow:


Aaron starting the fire back at the cabin:


Eric and Mark arrived later that night (no Sasquatch sightings on their trip in), and two snowshoers joined us at the cabin for the night. During the night the temp dropped and 5-6"s of snow fell. The snow continued thru the next day. Aaron heading out that morning on our next Sasquatch sortie:


We headed to the top of the south bowl. Andy took a look into it and couldn't find a good entrance that we wanted to try given the vis. and storm, so we skied down the SE ridge finding many good pitches and enjoying good snow but not finding the Sasquatch. We re-skinned and headed for another lap. Aaron:

Andy:


AND THEN SUDDENLY out of nowhere a Sasquatch poked his head out of the snow and bit Andy's G3 cable breaking it!!
However the Sasquatch was unable to foil our hunt as Mark had a G3 repair kit (thank you Mark!)

We continued up for another lap. Andy was a bit peeved at the Sasquatch for breaking his binding:


It continued snowing thru the day and the skiing stayed excellent, though we did not come all this way for the skiing. We were here to capture the Sasquatch!

Andy:


Eric



We were still not finding the Sasquatch, so we forced ourselves to take more laps:


Which required skiing more powder:
Aaron:

Mark:

Andy:

Me:


It was getting towards the end of the day and we had still not found the Sasquatch. We had only a few hours left of daylight THEN SUDDENLY a Sasquatch reached his hand out of the snow and broke Eric's pole!


We searched the surrounding area but were unable to find the Sasquatch, so defeated we retreated to the cabin.

Mark climbing into the cabin:


The next morning was Superbowl Sunday. Despite it being sunny for the first day of our trip we headed back early in time for the Superbowl. Andy is from Pittsburg and was facing family disownment if he missed the game. Back at the truck:


Other side of parking lot:


Volcanoes of the surrounding area. Bailey:


Thielsen:


And that concludes the trip.

Although we never captured the Sasquatch, we still had a fun outing and we will be back next year to continue our search. A few notes for those planning to visit this area:
1) Although on our last two trips here we were happy to share the cabin with those who didn't have reservations, you must get reservations to stay here. Reservations are required.
2) The cabin is out of firewood.
3) Thanks to 'cascade pinner' who is one of the guide for Cat Ski Mt Bailey for sharing condition information prior to this trip. If you're looking for a fine cat skiing outing I highly encourage you to contact them:
http://catskimtbailey.com/
4) WE WILL GET YOU NEXT YEAR SASQUATCH!. Be scared, be very scared!

[TeleMang]

That sasquatch is indeed a wiley creature. I think perhaps he was a bit turned off by the dynafits

Better luck next year.

[adrenalated]

Indeed, the Sasquatch probably doesn't come out of hiding unless it thinks it can catch and eat the skier. Skiers on Dynafits, of course, are too fast to catch. Perhaps you should try bringing someone on big, wide, heavy skis, Freerides, and beefy 4 buckle boots. Or better yet, someone in alpine boots on Look P18's with Alpine Trekkers. That's sure to draw the Sasquatch out!

[Telemenow]

You left too soon! the sightings ratio is directly relative to the funkness ratio of the group. 3-4 days of fermentation is required as a minimum.
And i thought every sasquatch searcher knew this? Duh?
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The white zone is for loading and unloading only.

[Gwen]

GJ and crew: I think you were looking in the wrong place. I heard the old hairy dude was getting tired of all his food tasting gamey so he put on his shades and headed down to Shasta were he was able to fit right in. Then I guess he tired of the crystals and trimmed up a bit and took a cooking class, went upscale and bought a condo in Black Butte Ranch as he didn't want to repeat the old den lifestyle. I am sure you have seen him as he drives a Hummer H2 like many of his kind. Anyway...

Nice pics looks like a good trip. Thanks for sharing.
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I hope I can be in a binder one day...

[carpytele]

Awsome, creative and SNOW(a rare sight in the east this season). I noticed one thing was missing from your tool bag. Dayglow! How do you expect to hunt down Sasquatch without dayglow?

[pd]

Wow! I have never read with this much interest anything that had the word Sasquatch in it so many times (I counted 3427 occurrences). Nice TR! Show me all the blueprints. Show me all the blueprints. Show me all the blueprints. Show me all the blueprints. Show me all the blueprints. Show me all the blueprints. Show me all the blueprints. Show me all the blueprints. Show me all the blueprints. Show me all the blueprints. Show me all the blueprints. Show me all the blueprints......

[funhog]

[The New Guy]

Funny read, great pics. Nice TR, thanks for sharing

Steve
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"Those who look outward dream; those who look inward awaken..." - Carl Jung

Fat Boy Mountaineering Club. Take nothing but whippers, leave nothing but craters.

[Flyoverland Escapee]

Sorry, I must have missed the subtle clues: what were you looking for?
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All those who believe in telekinesis, raise my hand.

[jfb]

[christian :?)]

[wfinley]

That was a superb trip report!!!! A shame you never captured the elusive bigfoot -- maybe next time you could bring back a sample of bigfoot hair!

As for that hole in the snow... this is rather grisly (pun intended) - but a few years ago in Alaska some folks were tromping around in the snow when some guy stepped into a Grizzly den. The Grizzley came tearing out of the den and killed a man. Be careful where you stick you ski poles.

[cascade pinner]

Glad that you guys found some pow during the dump on Saturday.....pretty fun storm skiing. I was surprised that you would wake up as the only people on a 6000 acre mountain.....with a foot of fresh......bluebird skies.....not a single track anywhere on the hill......and go home to watch a football game! By the way, the skiing on Sunday was worth being disowned by family......

Good info about the firewood.....I called the Forest Service and hopefully they will pass on word to the caretakers of the hut......

[Gaper Jeffey]

Hey thanks for all the respones. This was a fun TR to write. JFB as Christian noted the bottle was whisky.