My First Adventure with the Van Part 1

Skiing Around Crater Lake

Day 1

I arrived at the Crater Lake station just before it closed for the night. I needed to get a back country permit for the next three nights. I opened the door to the ranger station and walked down a short dark corridor before entering the more modern part of the building.

There was a couple in front of me getting a back country permit for the night. They were doing an out and back snowshoe. I looked at their down parkas and then downwards taking in the rest of their winter outfits. Then looked at my attire consisting of river shoes, jeans and a long sleeve shirt. I was crunched for time and had not planned for this trip.

For the past few days I had driven across the country from Morgantown, WV to Glide, OR, so I had most of what I needed, more or less, in my van. I had stopped at Crater Lake the day before and the gate was locked, so I had hiked the 6 mile round trip. A ranger informed me after that hike I could ski around the lake. Usually one has to camp a certain number of miles from a paved road but almost all the roads were buried under several feet of snow, so I could pretty much camp where I wanted. So here I was getting my back country permit, the very day I checked in for my new job hours before. After meeting Janie, my new boss, and getting a briefing about my new job, I had informed her that if I did’t show up for work Monday morning it was because I got lost or died. She starred at me blankly as I relaid what the ranger at Crater Lake had said. I am sure she thought I was an idiot. At last I decided to fork up some cash and stay at a campground the night before so I could shower and I wouldn’t show up at my new job smelling as though I had just driven across the country I thought as I bolted out the door to make it to Crater Lake.

The ranger asked me the standard questions you would ask anyone about to go on a three day ski tour who was wearing open river shoes in the winter. “Do you have any clue what you are doing?!” I replied “Kind of.” Then he asked, “Do you have a GPS?” “Yes at home” “well do you have a good map.” “Nope, can I buy one?” “Here is one for $12”

By the time I tore everything apart in my van looking for and packing what I would need, a little over an hour had passed. I started my climb a little aggravated because I had planned to park at the top because the gate was open, but the ranger informed me I had to park at the bottom and re ski the 3 miles I had hiked the day before. I ended up passing the couple who had gotten the permit an hour or so before me.

There were whiteout conditions and route finding was hard once I passed them. I got to the top and decided to drop down a mellow slope and do some turns. I got slightly lost and could here the couple talking so they passed me on my way back down the mountain. Since it was snowing and windy, I thought it would be ridiculous to pull out the map I had just bought and not looked at yet. I followed the sounds of where I had heard them talking on my way down. The snow crunching under my skis and wind blowing it around made it hard but I finally caught them again after adding about four extra miles to my route.