-19°F and frozen pipes

+ lots of skiing! ⛷️

We have truly been winter camping the last few weeks 😮‍💨

I knew we’d hit snow, questionable road conditions, and cold temps with our plan to ski this winter, but did I expect seeing negative temperatures and multiple blizzards the first week? No.

We hit the nail right on the head with timing, and have spent the last few weeks traveling between storms in one big storm cycle. To be clear: the storm cycles have included multiple blizzards, winter storm warnings, high winds, and a cold snap (you may have heard about that one). The ski resorts we’ve been at? 110 new inches in the previous 10 days. We threw ourselves into the deep end of winter camping to say the least; these were some storms.

Not that I’m complaining though — storms equal snow (+ pow days!), which means the snow packs are finally healthy and we may actually get a good season! But traveling through storms has definitely taken a toll on us.

Mount Hood Meadows - OR

Our first stop! We left Portland Friday evening and found camp at a sno park 15 minutes from the mountain. Camping so close that you can wake up at 8, get your parking spot, make coffee + be on the lifts by 9 is 🤌🏼 ✨

A little hiccup: I checked the blackout dates. I did. Yet my brain skipped over the titles and just read the listed dates, so I missed the very important detail of *peak Saturdays* between the dates listed 🙄 (my ADHD can really bite me sometimes)

So we paid to ski 👎🏼, but the snow was fresh and coverage was good 👍🏼!

Midday tea 🌟

Interesting camp spots

Camping in the snow is a whole new deal. Campgrounds are closed and dispersed sites aren’t accessible, so we’ve been left to camp in some interesting places. Sno parks are a great one for before / after skiing, but beyond that? We’ve learned a few fun ones:

• Museum parking lots: we spent the night in the WAAAM museum parking lot in Mount Hood, then went to the exhibits in the morning! It was out of the way, quiet, and no one bothered us. Looking for museums to park at when we’re at a loss in the future will be handy. (Church parking lots are another backup!)

• Truck stops: ok not the *quietest* of places, but truck stops have been really helpful when traveling between storms on remote highways. Rest stops also are a good option — you can park for up to 11 hours!

• Ski resorts: We have the Indy pass which is a ski pass of small + family owned mountains! With the resorts being so small, camping in the parking lot is almost always an option (it just might not be level).

We have also opted for RV campgrounds more than we usually do. RV sites aren’t our favorite, but with unpredictable storms, no solar generation, and cold temperatures it’s worth doing a few nights for the hookups + hot showers!

Bluewood Mountain - WA

After Hood we went North to Bluewood Mountain near Walla Walla. The idea: do some mid-week skiing in-between work on Monday and Tuesday. We *accurately* checked the blackout dates this time, checked if we could camp in the parking lot, and were stoked to stay for a few days and ride out the next storm at the ski resort.

We missed the small detail of the small resort being closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Two-fer-two on the oopsies 🤷🏼‍♀️

We got some groomer turns in Monday and headed to my closest small business friend’s house about an hour away.

Waitsburg - WA

If you’ve been following along for any significant amount of time, you’ve probably heard me talk about Ali. She’s the owner + maker of Wild Clementine Co., a handmade home goods shop with the best colorful prints! I’ll link her shop here (my favorites are her reusable bowl covers).

With Ali being only an hour form Bluewood, it was a no-brainer to stop by + say hello. We planned on staying one night then continuing on, but the weather (and Starlink) said otherwise.

Remember last letter when I said we replaced our Starlink dish? Well when we did that, we had to return the old dish. When Starlink processed the return, they deactivated our current dish instead of the old one 🙃 We figured it out within 24 hours, but were thankful to be at a friends house to borrow internet!

The other reason: a blizzard. We weren’t about to drive over Dead Man’s Pass in high winds + snow 😅

Once the blizzard blew through, we shot the gap to Baker City before the next winter storm started!

Baker City, OR → Boise, ID

This is becoming our new path for getting from the Pacific Northwest to Mountain West: Portland → Baker City → Boise. The best part about it? We get to see some of our favorite people along the way.

Our friends Aubrey + Brain live in Baker City and it’s always so much fun to meet up with them. They’re the owners + makers behind Huck Phinn, a handmade leatherworks business! Linking their shop here.*

My aunt and uncle live in Boise, and it’s such a treat to say hi for a day here and there. We love it and the dogs love it (there’s a huge yard and Sacha can never get enough of the horses)!

I also attempted to silversmith *briefly* in Boise

Pomerelle Mountain - ID

A new fear has been unlocked the last few weeks: high winds on exposed highways. Why? You know when semi-trucks blow over? That happening to us = new fear. The likelihood is a lot lower for us than semi-trucks, but still, it’s something #1 to plan around and #2 my brain can’t let go of (so I’ve been a little stressed while traveling).

We planned our route up to Pomerelle Mountain between windy days, but our time on Pomerelle had us with raised eyebrows at the wind + temps 👀

Pomerelle was our first true powder day of the season. We took it easy the first day as we were feeling slightly winded (altitude went up 4000 feet getting to the mountain). But, we do have some work to do to strengthen the legs + possibly need to invest in some fat boys (powder skis). I am so happy to have invested in some new ski gear though, because it was negative temps with windchill and I wasn’t completely frozen (!!?).

Speaking of gear — when the 50 mph winds hit later that night, my new insulated Carhartt overalls and arctic Outdoor Research down jacket kept me toasty!? I was in complete shock and I will never not invest in cold weather gear again. I have never enjoyed the cold this much. Could do without the boat rocking wind though 🫣

Our second day on the mountain was a little windy but we were both more acclimated to the altitude and lasted much longer (and had a lot more fun)!

Frozen Pipes

Some strategic timing later, we made it down the mountain from Pomerelle and through the final stretch of exposed highway with minimal wind. We opted for a RV park to take some hot showers and wait out the final bit of the cold snap.

-19°F without windchill later, we had some frozen pipes 🥶

Luckily my partner installed the diesel heater to route both into the main cabin and basement of the camper (remember this photo from install in December? ⤵️)

We diverted 100% of the diesel heater into the basement, and 12 hours later our pipes were no longer frozen (and the basement was a toasty 80°F 🤯)! No damage was done, but we’re both very glad we installed the diesel heater and kept the original propane heater as a backup.

Dogs

I have to throw in here just how much the dogs love the snow. They love the snow a lot — especially Sadie. She was fine in the negative temps, rolling around on her back in the snow, chasing snow balls, and having a grand ‘ole time. Sacha gets the snow zoomies, but our little short haired dog can only last so long before needing to warm up. We’ve been looking into getting her a bright pink snow suit 🤭

Sacha definitely misses the sunshine, but if Sadie had her way I think she’d live in 3 feet of snow year round 🥹 She’s been making the snow storms extra fun, and has had a blast just running through snow banks + sniffing everything.

Next letter

We’re in Utah! It’s warm enough for me to *attempt* silversmithing, we do a little skiing (at our favorite mountain so far), and I catch a flight from Salt Lake City to some warmer temperatures 🫢

Stay tuned 🌟

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Thanks for reading, friend 💛

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