Trip Report: Spiltboarding to Mirror Lake and Tom, Dick and Harry Mountain
When: 03/05/2019
Location: Tom, Dick and Harry Mountain
Conditions: 20 degrees, overcast, no new recent snow.
Duration: 4 Hours
Difficulty: Moderate
The Full Report:
First things first, we stopped at Next Adventure in Sandy to rent a splitboard, skins and trekking poles. Once inside the Sandy shop I realized I didn't have any sort of lightweight pack, luckily they had me covered. I decided on the Black Diamond Dawn Patrol which fit me and my gear just perfect. About 40 minutes later we arrived at the Mirror Lake Trailhead! Mirror Lake is a common weekend hiking spot, but the weekday traffic was mellow as could be.
As a longtime snowboarder, but first-time splitboarder, Mirror Lake to Tom, Dick and Harry Mountain seemed like the perfect place to begin my splitboarding career. We began on a packed trail that gave me more than enough time to figure out the basics like you know, how to move. Being in the trees gave us good coverage from the wind. Once I was cruising on the packed, not so steep trail it was time to get off trail and see how comfortable I really was! (not very)
Off trail was definitely more difficult, but that's what splitboarding is all about. Blazing the trail, going beyond the resorts. And of course, the occasional photo shoot.
Once we made it to Mirror Lake we got our first look at where we were going to descend. That view was on my mind for the rest of the way up. From Mirror Lake to the top of Tom, Dick and Harry was less mileage than getting from the trailhead to Mirror Lake but took about the same amount of time. Most of the time was me struggling to get over windblown snow and wind lips.
We finally made it to the top and were surprised to see St. Helens, Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams and of course Mt. Hood! Not long after that, I was finally on something that made sense to me, a snowboard! We picked our lines and made our way down a fresh chute, and then into an awesome pillow field. We made our way as far as possible in board form, then threw our skins on for a quick trek back to the car.
Overall, my first splitboard experience was a 10/10! I can see myself doing this as often as the snow allows it.
The Full Report:
First things first, we stopped at Next Adventure in Sandy to rent a splitboard, skins and trekking poles. Once inside the Sandy shop I realized I didn't have any sort of lightweight pack, luckily they had me covered. I decided on the Black Diamond Dawn Patrol which fit me and my gear just perfect. About 40 minutes later we arrived at the Mirror Lake Trailhead! Mirror Lake is a common weekend hiking spot, but the weekday traffic was mellow as could be.
As a longtime snowboarder, but first-time splitboarder, Mirror Lake to Tom, Dick and Harry Mountain seemed like the perfect place to begin my splitboarding career. We began on a packed trail that gave me more than enough time to figure out the basics like you know, how to move. Being in the trees gave us good coverage from the wind. Once I was cruising on the packed, not so steep trail it was time to get off trail and see how comfortable I really was! (not very)
Off trail was definitely more difficult, but that's what splitboarding is all about. Blazing the trail, going beyond the resorts. And of course, the occasional photo shoot.
Once we made it to Mirror Lake we got our first look at where we were going to descend. That view was on my mind for the rest of the way up. From Mirror Lake to the top of Tom, Dick and Harry was less mileage than getting from the trailhead to Mirror Lake but took about the same amount of time. Most of the time was me struggling to get over windblown snow and wind lips.
We finally made it to the top and were surprised to see St. Helens, Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams and of course Mt. Hood! Not long after that, I was finally on something that made sense to me, a snowboard! We picked our lines and made our way down a fresh chute, and then into an awesome pillow field. We made our way as far as possible in board form, then threw our skins on for a quick trek back to the car.
Overall, my first splitboard experience was a 10/10! I can see myself doing this as often as the snow allows it.