During the drive from Crystal Mountain to our next stop in Mt. Bachelor, OR, we glimpsed views of the towering Mt. Rainier, stopped in Portland to pick up Hal, our honorary PTTP co-pilot, then powered through the rain and into the high desert of Bend, OR. Arriving after midnight is never ideal, but late arrivals are instantly forgotten when you open the door to your 2 bedroom house and realize it is full-on luxury for the next two days. King size beds, a private deck with hot tub, and an amazing view of the forest and cliffs above the Deschutes River was our reality. After a very comfortable but short sleep, we were riding the lift at Mt. Bachelor in a raging blizzard. Another storm day of fresh tracks, sheltered tree skiing, and adding to the Fresh-O-Meter, ah yes, life was good. The folks at Bachelor took amazing care of us. Aside from the great pad, they provided us with our own mountain guide. This proved to be a Godsend as we would have given our left arm to see our right. Our guide was more than stoked to show us all that was open and we blasted through windlips and surfed the lower flanks of this volcano. As stoked as we were, we could only imagine how good it would be when the top opened up. Tales of colossal cornices and funky terrain features got our imaginations running, but the gale force wind and snow forced us to retreat to the house after a full day on the hill.

With a place as nice as ours and a fridge full of Redhook beer, getting psyched up for the party that night was not hard to do. Apparently this was the case for everybody else in Bend as there was a huge turnout for the 14th party of this two-month long circus. The place was packed full of fly ladies, reminding us that Bend is not really a ski town, just a sweet place to live near a kick ass ski mountain. As we pulled out of town two days later, the clouds finally lifted and we were treated to the most amazing view of Mt. Bachelor. Beaming gold in the early morning sun, the mountain was covered in fresh and the ski area stood proud. Within the next 48 hours Mt. Bachelor was hit with 2 feet of snow and very cold temps. Although we were bummed to have just missed these epic conditions, we felt satisfied that the Powder to the People Tour had delivered on its namesake once again.