Ski touring isn’t about proving anything. It’s about breaking trail, earning turns, moving thoughtfully, and learning to listen—to the snow, the weather, and our own instincts.

The story of Willamette Pass is not just about one ski area trying to survive climate change and legal headwinds. It’s about what happens when a community decides that access to the mountains is worth fighting for.

It’s a Friday afternoon in February, and our NWAC weather forecasts come bearing good news. A forecast of several new inches of snowfall means the group text is popping off with weekend plans and ecstatic friends.

“Here the beginnings of the Coast Range back right to town, and yet the foothills rarely see a snow event capable of even a sled run. So I started asking, ‘What about up there, at Marys Peak?’”

I took a look at the weather for the next few days. 4-6” on Wednesday, over 12” that night. Very quickly, the powder flu took hold.

It wasn’t until January that the temperatures began to drop and the weather radars started to pick up a large storm system heading south towards Oregon. The snow estimates got bigger, and bigger, and bigger. Then, it happened.