Sure, it felt like cheating, but I loved riding the chairlift to the top of Mt. Hood Ski Bowl several times today and bombing down the trails with my friends Scott Markham and Cristina Fillis. Hard-core mountain bikers would say I needed to earn those thousands of feet of elevation gain, but I think the $24 price of the permit and the lift ticket was money well spent.
The weather was cool and damp, which was perfect in my opinion. I even had a new piece of kit to try out today -- the Ether wind shirt by GoLite.
At first I didn't think the ultralightweight anorak-style jacket could do a thing to keep me warm during the 40-degree day we were about to enjoy. Looking across the tiny valley of Government Camp, Ore., I saw snow at timberline on Mt. Hood! As a real shell backup, I stuffed my GoLite Xirtam softshell into the backpack so I wouldn't freeze if the new Ether failed me. To my pleasant surprise, the Ether wind shirt kept me as warm as I wanted to be, whether I was motionless on the breezy chairlift, or bouncing down rocky trails at high speed. Big props to Demetri "Coup" Coupounas, head of GoLite, for figuring out just how light you can go and still have a useful garment.
