Skiing the Burn

In 2008 flames from the Gnarl Ridge fire raced up the northeast side of Mt Hood. Tearing their way through the Tilly Jane historic area they headed ever higher toward Cloud Cap Inn. A building that has rested at the foot of the Eliot Glacier for over 130 years. Flames from the fire lapped at the building’s walls before losing energy and retreating. The building survived, but the surrounding forest was not so lucky.

The Gnarl Ridge fire left a swath of Mt Hood’s northeast flank bare. The fire ripped through the canopy and opened the slope to the elements.

In only a few years, the area was re-opened, and people once again flocked to the Tilly Jane trail that winds through the fire damaged area.

Backcountry skiers are drawn to this side of Mt Hood for the easy hike in, consistent snowpack, and reliably good turns. Skiers heading up the trail start their hike under cover of a lush, green west coast forest. But soon the trees thin and daylight streams down. The slope prized open by the wildfire. Thousands of limbless burnt trunks standing like so many totems.

Ralph Bloemers knows this area well. Bloemers is a lawyer and has fought for years to keep developers off this side of the mountain. Bloemers sees beauty in the burn. He sees nature working as intended.

“There are cool things to see in burned landscapes. As people that love these places it is in our own best interest to make peace with fire,” said Bloemers.

It’s easy to make peace with fire when it occurred high up on a mountainside where no one got hurt and no homes were lost. It’s easier still when the fire has created wide open glades for backcountry skiers. Yet as people build houses closer and closer to these wild areas, the calculus will change.

Sam St. Clair is plant biologist at Brigham Young University, he fields calls from people that want to talk about his work daily. St. Clair attributes this to his focus on both wildfires and water. Two areas that are of great interest to all the western states.

St. Clair is looking into the role that elevation and aspect play on the snowpack of previously burned slopes. In three or four years, he believes forest managers will be using his work to inform their practices in mountainous areas.

The Gnarl Ridge fire was contained with the help of helicopters, planes, and 800 firefighters.

St Clair’s data shows that wildfires on north-facing, high-altitude slopes aren’t always bad. The lack of tree cover means the snowpack will be more than twice as deep. And while snow on exposed slopes melts earlier, the high elevation means it’s only on average four days earlier.[i]

Bloemers wants to see more fires left to burn. He’s not opposed to fighting all forest fires and he’s not opposed to all fire management, but he thinks there is hubris in the belief that we can control nature.

Bloemers says you don’t have to look far to find beauty in a burn. He mentions the springtime bloom of Avalanche Lilies that carpet Vista Ridge, another burned slope on Mt Hood’s north side. “The only reason that Avalanche Lilies pop is because of snowpack and intense fire where most of the trees are killed.”