2020

Ok kids, where to begin.....You may have noticed that there were zero staff updates last summer. There was so much uncertaintly last year because of Covid and I had some reservations about posting anything that could possibly used against us, like a photo of someone not wearing a mask or not socially distanced 6 feet. So with that being said, I felt that it was in our best interests to lay low on staff updates, social media posts about camp, etc. And quite frankly, I was ignoring messages from friends asking me about camp, protocols, covid, etc. There was always this feeling that Timberline could be shut down without warning mid-summer, or camp shut down if we were to fu*k things up or have a Covid breakout. From what I heard, zero ski camps at Timberline had even a single case of someone contracting Covid last summer. And we made it all the way thru summer.

As far as this staff update, it's going to lack a few things. Although I took quite a few photos last summer, I didn't write anything down as far as things that happened that might have been "staff update worthy", and thus probably forgot a lot as I'm typing this out in late May 2021. Also, I spent very little time at the camp lodge, ate 95% of my meals in Govy, only went to a handful of camp picnics. And I generally didn't go to many afternoon activities, so I know I wasn't around for much of what was happening, except for the on-hill parts. So this staff update is pretty much just a big photo montage of last summer, and since a picture is worth a thousand words, there's plenty to take in.

 

Spring Session 1, 2020 Staff update

The story starts here, SPRING Session #1. Mid-March. The whole Covid thing was just ramping up. Masks weren't a thing yet. We only had 3 campers signed up, 2 snowboarders and 1 ski racer. One of the campers arrived a day early, and Mike bought him a Spring pass at Timberline. He only got to use his spring pass for ONE day, as Timberline shut down because of the pandemic. Mt Hood Meadows ski area had also closed the same day. The only remaining game in town was Mt Hood Ski Bowl. Their lifts ran 12 noon until 8pm, so we had to adjust our schedule. Not a big deal. Ski bowl is fun! They let us set a race course. We were happy they were even open. Mike bought everyone Spring Passes at Ski Bowl. They were cheap. Story continues below...

 

March 17 (day 2) we get word that Ski Bowl is shutting down. We still have 3 more days of camp, and all of Mt Hood ski areas are closed. Now what?!

 

With ski bowl shut down after day 2 of spring camp, we get on the internet to see if any other ski resorts in Oregon are still open. There was ONE! Willamette Pass ski area, located in the middle of nowhere. It's about 3 hours south. That would be 6 hours in the car if we were to commute from Govy each day. So instead, we packed up our stuff, jumped in the van and made a multi-day road trip out of it. One of the 3 campers bailed at this point and so we were down to 1 snowboarder and 1 ski racer. Bill Toney was coaching the racer kid and Evy ____? was coaching the snowboarder. Evy lived in Bend, so she just met us each day at the ski area. Mike Annett and the 2 campers lodged at his daughter Jennifer's vacation home, near Sunriver, Oregon, while Bill and I stayed in a motel in LaPine, Oregon. Each morning, we'd drive to where Mike and campers were staying and we'd make our lunches and Mike cooked us pancakes for breakfast. For dinners, covid lockdown was starting to be a thing, so there was no indoor dining at any of the restaurants. We did take-out Pizza one night, McDonalds/Subway drive-thru another night. Willamette Pass was about an hour's drive, so we still had a bit of a commute each day.

 

Willamette Pass was pretty much a ghosttown. You can see in some of these photos, there was hardly anyone skiing there. We had perfect weather. There were spectacular views. They didn't let us set gates, so that was really the only negative.

 

6-person high speed quad!

 

Mike's car battery was dead, so we had to recruit some help.

 

We did our video review each afternoon back at Mike's place. (Jennifer's place!)

 

Elk herd! Mt. Bachelor in the background.

 

Giant empty lodge. They did have a snack bar open, but you had to eat outside.

 

So we skied there the final 3 days of camp and headed back to Govy Friday afternoon.

 

Turns out Willamette Pass closed for the season the very next day because of Covid, so we were fortunate to finish our session before that happened. The photo below is of me getting an IV of Vitamin C before spring camp happened. With the virus happening, I wanted to give a boost to my immune system.

 

Timberline re-opens: May 15, 2020 Staff update

With all the ski areas closed in Oregon, we had to cancel the rest of the scheduled Spring sessions. There was a lot of uncertainty if MHSSC summer 2020 would even happen. Then we got word from Oregon's Governor, Kate Brown on around May 10, she gave the ski areas permission to re-open on a limited bases, as far as number of people they would allow, and all kinds of safety protocols in place. Timberline and Mt Bachelor were the only resorts in Oregon to re-open. Bachelor only opened up to it's season ticket holders. And Timbelrine created a reservation system and only let about 200 skiers to ski each day. If you didn't have a reservation, they didn't even let in in the Timberline parking lot. Anyway, Mike, Bill and I all managed to get reservations on day 1 of re-opening for May 15, 2020. The reservations were all claimed within 3 minutes each day, so we were lucky, and the people who didn't get one were pissed off! And there was lots of venting on Timberline's social media websites.

 

 

The rule was you had to park your car in front of one of the cones they had laid out in the parking lot, as they wanted everyone to be spaced out, as a safety precaution. Masks required in the lift lines. And they only let you into the lodge for bathroom use, and only a few people at a time. And there were timberline staffers enforcing all of these protocols. I think they only had 2 chairlifts running that day. Zero lift lines because of how few tickets/reservations they were allowing at the time.

 

 

Session 1, 2020 Staff update

Session number one! We had 15-18 campers, from what I remember.

 

Ex-staffer Elliot Halverson made a brief guest appearance!

 

Mike Annett made a rare appearance at the staff bus meeting. He was kind of emotional about the fact that camp was about to happen despite all the uncertainty.

 

Day 1 on the hill, June 1. There was still a check-point before they'd let you into the timberline parking lot, but this was the last day that they were doing that.

 

We had to do all our video analysis back at camp each afternoon, as Timberline didn't allow us to do it at the top of Palmer anymore, as a safety precaution.

 

A few George Floyd/Black lives matters protestors on the Multorpor Bridge in Govy. The highway dept. removed their signs the next day.

 

 

Session 2, 2020 Staff update

Camp signups started to come in at a much increased rate once people saw that session 1 actually took place, the ski area stayed open, and that things appeared to be going well.

 

Fresh snow!

 

80's staffer Rogan Connell made 2 or 3 visits to Mt Hood in 2020. He was there coaching some College age racers.

 

Wildwood park, our usual camp picnic spot, woudn't allow groups in 2020, so we did all our camp picnics at the Hood River marina. The shelter was fenced off, as you can see, so we just did our thing outside the shelter.

 

"Earthing"!

 

It's pretty standard to lose soccer balls and frisbee's in the blackberry bushes at the Hood River marina.

 

Black bear in Govy. *photo credit Rogan Connell

 

This is me with long curly hair. My previous haircut was in February, due to the pandemic restrictions in Oregon.

 

Session 3, 2020 Staff update

Plugging along into Summer.

 

They finally opened up Palmer chairlift. They had lots of damage to repair on the upper lift towers.

 

Mid-station not open yet.

 

Mike and Lynne doing home projects.

 

The ravens ate all the donuts.

 

Timberline moved the mogul lane to lane 11.

 

 

Former staffer Ian Cary passed away on June 15, 2020. He was only 32. I wish I had more to say about Ian, but I did not know him well.

Ian Cary's obituary

There was also a zoom memorial service for him and posted to youtube here.

 

 

Session 4, 2020 Staff update

For those of you that know John Rust, this is his daughter Bergen Rust. I think she's the youngest coach in MHSSC history at age 15.

 

My car broke down in Gresham and I ended up missing a day of work.

 

Former staffer Scotty Veenis!

 

Session 5, 2020 Staff update

 

Former MHSSC staffer Lyndsay Strange and 5-time Olympian Sarah Schleper. I think she intends to compete in 2 more winter Olympics.

 

These are parts for the new Pucci high-speed-quad chairlift.

 

Lifts on standby

 

Frisbee recovery at the picnic

 

Session 6, 2020 Staff update

Still plugging away.

 

Former MHSSC coach, Kevin McDevitt (left) and Lloyd Scroggins.

 

Youngest camper OF ALL TIME.....age THREE! Kudos to coach Andrea for handling it.

 

 

Session 7, 2020 Staff update

 

Some campers got busted for this graffiti in the ski room.

 

And this is how it looked after they scrubbed it off.

 

Florjan Jagodic and Rogan Connell

 

Head coach Mike Syrovatka got married at Timberline Lodge on a Thursday afternoon to his girlfriend Pam!!. Mike had that week off from coaching and he had called me on the mountain, asking me if I could officiate his wedding on Saturday of that week. It so happened that I was already commited to Mike and Lynne's granddaughter's wedding that same Saturday, as their wedding videographer. So I said to Mike: "what about you guys getting married today?" And booyah, wedding slapped together a few hours later up at Timberline Lodge at their amphitheatre. As we were waiting for everyone to show up, some lady showed up with a yoga mat. She said "I'm teaching an outdoor yoga class here in a half hour". So we had to get this wedding done before her class. We got it done before yoga! It was fun. Short and sweet. Then we headed to the bar upstairs in the Timberline Lodge for drinks and cheers. Pam's son watched the wedding via zoom on a laptop set up in the amphitheatre.

 

I did some minor stalking of Mikaela Shiffrin. (blue helmet)

 

Mikaela's ski technician was none other than former MHSSC staffer John Mulligan! (guy in all black)

 

The Annett ladies! Jennifer's daugher, Sierra, got married at Jennifer's home in Kelso, Washington. Left to right: Lynne, Sierra, Michelle, Jennifer.

 

Session 8, 2020 Staff update

 

 

Session 9, 2020 Staff update

 

Staff table. ugh. Clean up your sh*t!

 

Fire! This was in the Summit Lodge parking lot. We could see the fire from Palmer.

 

Another icky couch that was added to the collection.

 

So this was a fake selfie, when the real goal was to get a photo of Mikaela Shiffin on the chair behind us.

 

Nancy Schmeler, from the 80's staff, and her daughter Stephanie. Her other daughter, Charlotte, was a camper these last 2 summers.

 

And notice my last name on this 1989 Timberline summer ski pass. Back in those days, there was a familydiscount on season passes, so we got a little creative.

 

 

Session 10, 2020 Staff update

Bill Toney broke a bone in his foot in a GS crash.

 

Here's a story: This little girl came over to the lodge with her parents for the afternoon video review with her coach. But her coach (John Rust) had already done video with his group and had since left the lodge. So I offered to show them their video without their coach. I told Terry McLeod this and he offered to step in and do some video analysis for this little girl. The mom ended up tipping Terry $100 bucks! Terry insisted on giving me half ($50) because I helped set it all up. The end!

 

Some gnarly weather on whatever day this was. Timberline closed the lifts because of visibility and overall unsafe conditions. But coach Jack Simon was out shoveling the jump in thick fog all by himself, and he had no clue the lifts were shutting down for the day. Anyway, I wandered out to lane 11 before leaving the hill and told him the news.

 

Session 11, 2020 Staff update

 

Pucci chairlift rebuild, phase 1.

 

Session 12, 2020 Staff update

Summer winding down. Staff meeting w/Mike.

 

Jonathan Rosenstrach's stuff before he packed his car and left town.

Andrea made a miracle shot and I gave her prize money.

 

The injured bird we named "Jill". Jill flew into the window at Parham. Eventually Jill got her self together and flew away.

 

80's staffer Amy (McNees) Van Valkenburg made a visit to Govy with her family.

 

Spectacular double-rainbow! *Photo credit Logan Stewart

 

 

 

Session 13, 2020 Staff update

Adults Only session! A lot of the regular adults we get year after year did not come to camp in 2020. Probably because of Covid related reasons. We still had a good amount of adult campers though.

 

 

This random photographer guy showed up and was taking pictures of his toy Giraffe, using camera angles, people-props and lenses to make the giraffe seem life-sized.

 

Game over. Sasha driving the last of the Adult campers to the airport.

 

I put some video clips together from recordings taken on my amart phone. I hope you like time-lapses.

 

Lynn Gibson and Bristol Sorensen

Heartbreaking news: Two former MHSSC staffers passed away on April 27, 2021. Yes, both on the same day. Lynn Gibson, who worked at camp starting in 1986. And Bristol Sorensen, who began in 1991. Some of their MHSSC friends have contributed photos and memories for the memorial webpages. If you'd like to contribute a photo or memory, please email them to me and I'll get it posted. Robincressy (at) gmail.com

Click the Lynn Gibson photo to go directly to the Lynn memorial page and click on the Bristol photo below to go directly to the Bristol memorial page. *Or just click Lynn Gibson Or Bristol Sorensen