[Lutzman]

I heard Hayden Kennedy say, "you know the skiing really sucked when someone says 'it was just great to be out there.'" That pretty much summed up our day Thursday. I was turning 28, and a bluebird day with no wind was forecasted so it was a great idea on paper. Until we showed up to a completely buried town of Cougar, WA, it was news to me and my partner that Portland and the surroundings had received 15 inches of fresh snow on Tuesday. Our stoke came to an abrupt end as we neared the snopark and hit a closure 3 miles from the trailhead. Because the road crew was still actively digging out the remainder of the road to the winter route, we put on our skis and skinned up the road toward the summer trailhead. Getting to the mountain was an exercise in futility. After hours of skinning aimlessly up roads and still miles from treeline we gave up, went back to the car and had beers. Skins never came off the skis - up or down. Moral of the story, just because its a snopark and you paid $20 for a permit doesn't mean it will actually be open.

[Jetlag]

Sorry to hear of the unfortunate set of circumstances! I hitched a ride on a snowmobile to get to the Marble Mountain hut the last time I found the snow on that road too deep. Saved my bacon! I had wonderful split-boarding in fresh powder, though I ran out of time to catch the summit. Learned that a snowmobiling group from Portland had done most of the trail and road maintenance that year.

[Lutzman]

ya sh## happens. wish we had a snowmobile! breaking trail was just too much work. Next time i'll look closer at the weather, and go when things are consolidated.

[fourteen410]

I saw something on the USFS Facebook page about someone vandalizing the snowplow, which prompted the road closure.