2002

Session 1, 2002 MHSSC update
Hi Mt Hood Summer Ski Camp staffers from past and present!  We just finished up session 1 of MHSSC summer 2002.  It was an eventful week.  We had 24 campers.  We had 5 coaches.......tom, rust, Darren (moguls), and Chris and new guy Mike (snowboarding).  3 semi-crappy weather days to start the summer......kept us off Palmer until Thursday.  We had a power outage while at Charlies on Tuesday night.....so they lit some candles and kept serving beer.  Pierce made a guest appearance.  He's living and working in Hood River for the summer......he's designing the camp T-shirts this year, and we coaxed him into shooting some video of  the snowboarders for a day.  Brandy has 2 bum knees.......she'll be shooting snowboard video until her ACL surgery later this month.  Feeney is back from his knee injury........There is a chuck of snow out back of Mike's lodge still....so we set up the snowboard rail, and Tim and Pierce did some rail riding.  Is that the right lingo?  "rail riding" ?...Anyway, we got it on video....the first ever skiing/snowboarding at Mike's lodge during camp. woo hoo.  Still some snow in Govy.....enough so we can't park cars in the usual spots out back.  The tragedy on the mountain got a lot of media attention.  As we were training on Palmer on Thursday morning, we did notice a lot of hikers in one spot way up near the cravasse (spelling?)......then we start noticing lots of news helicopters showing up.......then military helicopters showing up........then we start hearing stuff from the ski patrol about the hikers that fell in the cravasse.  We had no idea about the rescue helicopter that crashed until we got off the mountain and turned on the news.  There were at least 10 news sattelite trucks in the parking lot covering the story.  We finally got to see Tom and Mary's new baby boy "Peter".   Peter gave me the evil eye first time I saw him.  Must have learned it from Tom!  Mike's son in law John, has started to update the camp website staff page.  I'll keep adding photos and other info as the summer progresses......check out the new updates and pictures:  http://www.mthood.com/staff.htm  Terry's picture pretty much sucks.......so I'll have to take a new one soon.  Vance isn't in there yet......he hasn't put in enough years at camp I guess.  Today was the golden rose celebrity race at Timberline.  Only actual celebrity that was there was 1984 olympic gold medalist Bill Johnson.   I shot the race video.....and Brian Robb took photos.  thank you come again

Session 5, 2002 MHSSC update
Hi all! Here's your weekly camp update for session 5, 2002.  Britta, the counselor, celebrates her 30th birthday today.  The BIG THREE OH!!  And new coach, John Rusten (no relation to John Rust), celebrates his birthday today as well.  I think he's 22.  We had 113 campers. Nice weather all week, except friday, which was foggy on Palmer, and started to rain later in the day.  Lots of injuries this last session. At least 4 people had casts on their hands/arms by the end of the week and one kid hurt his back when his buddy tackled him at the top of the lane.  Mike rented a big yellow bus for the next few sessions.  Mike went running with us again at the picnic. He's super-runner-man!!  Charlies bar had it's 25 year anniversary party last Saturday night.  It was well attended.  Pierce made a guest appearance wearing vintage 70's clothes and pimp sunglasses. Rogan ended his 14+ year MHSSC career yesterday.  He said he'll be laying on the beach next summer.  (he says this every year).  Craig is off to France for a month long Bike trip with friends.  Will Wasson is off to South America for his "Snowfari" adventure.  camp is on cruise control right now...........5 sessions down, 9 to go. 

 

Session 6, 2002 MHSSC update
Hi kids, Here's your weekly mt hood summer ski camp update.  Last Saturday the Mt Hood area experienced an earthquake.....4.5 on the richter scale.  I was home for the weekend, so I missed out.  But I felt an aftershock on Tuesday.  It lasted about 1 second.  Mike said some campers felt the original earthquake, and others had no idea it happened.  I heard that Rogan freaked out during the quake, but I can't confirm that.  4th of July was INSANE!  It was the 3rd annual camper firework display on the Lodge soccer field.  A few staff members made their annual trip to Washington State to purchase illegal fireworks for the campers.  In Oregon, they don't sell anything more powerful than smoke bombs and sparklers.....Anyway, after Brandy's "safety meeting" with the campers before the fireworks were to begin, things turned chaotic.  There was no regard to human life.  Instead of the fireworks going in a vertical direction, they were instead used as weapons.  It was the low landers on the soccer field vs. the hill gang on the tubing hill.  The smart people were in the blue bus to watch the war from the designated safety zone.  Outside a few burned hands, nobody got hurt (miracle)  But that's not all.......  Two kitchen staff members, whose names I won't mention, decided to toss some lit firecrackers into one of the lodge dorm rooms full of campers in the middle of the night.   The smoke alarms went off, the campers freaked out, the building was evacuated.......If you are interested in a kitchen staff position, there are now two job openings.  (see Mike). Outside of that, it was a typical MHSSC week.  Still enough snow to ski to the parking lot.  Lift lines have been short on most days.  6 weeks down, 8 to go.  124 campers next week......the most since the late 80's at snow bunny lodge. 

 

Session 7, 2002 MHSSC update

.  

 

Session 11, 2002 MHSSC update 
Hi kids,  Eleven weeks down, 3 to go.  Session 11 highlights:  Power outage at the lodge for Tuesday night Pasta dinner.  Luckily we have propane to cook the food at the lodge, so dinner went off without incident.  Jamie Hinderliter's car got backed into by the Rossignol Van yesterday.  Lots of damage to the front end. She was planning on leaving for home today, but her car needs to be repaired, so she's stuck in Oregon for the time being.  Pat Holland, snowboard staffer, took a wicked bad crash into the rocks after a big jump in the snowboard park.  I wasn't there, but I heard all the stories of how ugly a scene it was.  Injuries to head, hand and back......he spent the night in the hospital.  I believe he checked out of the hospital yesterday and is on his way home now.  Janet Lorton (new last name "Moran") returned from a 7 year MHSSC retirement to coach this last week.  New snow fell sunday night so it made everything look nice and white on the glacier this week.  The groomers took a night off on Wednesday night......leaving all the lanes awfully messy and rutty from the day before.  It was bad enough to scare GMVS ski camp off the mountain for the day.  Friday was Hawaiian shirt day on the hill.  Still plenty of snow on our lanes.....just a few rocks poking out near the top of lane 6 now.....still skiing 3/4 the way to the parking lot down the magic mile canyon.  Somebody stole the new Sony Playstation out of the basement this week.  Mike invested in a new super heavy duty ping pong table.......it's already falling apart on one end.  that's about all I can think of right now.  I'll eventually send out a few camp pictures......but probably not until camp is over when there's more time.  may the force be with you all

     

 

Tragedy at MHSSC
KEES NEDERHAND  1988 - 2002

For those of you that didn't know about Kees Nederhand (pronounced "case"), he was a 14 year old MHSSC camper from New York.  He was killed when he skied into the rocks on lower Palmer during a warm-up run on August 14, 2002.   

Brandy Powell and I put together a memorial video the day after the accident. (click the link)
KEES MEMORIAL VIDEO
(*the video quality is a little grainy due to the compression process required to make it internet friendly)

Hi staffers,
I know I haven't written any camp updates in awhile, so here's a big long one for you guys. I've received lots of e-mail's from you guys asking about Kees Nederhand, and what exactly happened the day of the accident.  It's really hard to write about, but here is how I remember things.   Kees was taking a warm-up run in the early morning down lower palmer.  I only read one eyewitness report, but it said he was skiing at a high rate of speed, when he lost control and went into the rocks.  Nobody cut him off, or anything like that.  Despite efforts of a doctor and ski patrol performing CPR, they could not save him.   He was 14 years old.....ski racer from Utica, New York. Kees had two older sisters.  His parents were vacationing in British Columbia at the time of the accident.  They flew to Portland immediately.  They brought in grief counselors from Portland's fire dept. to meet with all the kids/staff at the camp Lodge.  Then there was a memorial service with the camp kids/staff later that evening with a Pastor....and was attended by Kees' Mother.   Next day most of the kids met at the site of the accident and set up a beautiful memorial.  They put down flowers, personal notes, candles, etc.  I'd have to say that the kids handled everything amazingly well those couple of days after the accident.  Then the coaches came down and set up a pyramid of rocks in Kees' honor.  Friday night, we had a candlelight vigil at the lodge.....and Mike Annett gave an emotional talk about Kees....wish you could have all been there to hear him.....it was awesome!   Many of the kids wrote notes to Kees' family and Brandy and I helped put together a memorial video for the family.   I didn't know him personally, but from what everyone has said, he was a great kid and he will be missed immensely.  Read an e-mail from Kees' mom that over 1000 people attended his funeral service back home. 

Other camp news......Scotty Veenis injured his wrist in a mountain biking wreck.  I think he suffered a hairline fracture, but don't quote me on that.  It didn't hold him back from skiing though.  I think he only took a few days off before returning to bashing gates.  And Scott Carlis made a MHSSC comeback.  I think it was 3 years ago, when he left camp after suffering a broken collar bone after wrecking off a big jump.......well he did it again.  This time, he broke his other collar bone.....and it was from wrecking after running a GS course at the bottom of the upper lane.  He got caught in some thick slush and he landed hard.  Tim Feeney carried on Izi's tradition of skiing through Govy for the annual Hood to Coast running race.  This time he was pulled through Govy from the Summit Lodge to about Hucks via a rope behind the blue bus.  Sparks were flying, the crowd went wild.  He finished the rest of the journey self propelled on his way to Charlies to down a nice cold beverage in traditional Izi fashion.  For you super-old timers from MHSSC 80's era, Paul Richardson, former cook, coach, etc. came back as a camper.  He still kicks ass at the sport of ski racing at the ripe old age of 34.  Masters session went well.  We had about 40 adults last week.  Brian Case even showed up for a week of training.....no broken legs this time...woo hoo!  The snow survived pretty good.  You could still ski about 3/4 of the way down the magic mile at the end of the day, although most people were downloading for the last month or so.  The mogul lane was down to frozen ice/dirt by the end and every lane beyond lane 10 was unusable due to the dirty snow conditions.  Darren had a lot of shoveling to do everyday to keep one line of moguls skiable for his group. Tom Sell returned to Mt. Hood for the last week of the summer with his kids from Gould Academy.   That's about  all I can think of right now......I'm sure I forgot a lot of stuff.....  I have pictures to send, but am having technical difficulty getting them from the camera to the computer.........I'll keep trying...Robin

Email from Tom North:

 

 

October 27, 2002 MHSSC update
Happy Halloween! did you remember to set your clocks back one hour? Not much new MHSSC news to report these days.  Mt Hood is dry as a bone.  It's been extremely dry in Oregon all fall.  Liz Hazel (Savage), former staffer, was coaching up there a couple weeks ago for a western region camp.  She said you had to take skis off every run.....get to the top of Palmer and walk down over rocks to get to the snow.   Happy news:  Will Wasson is having a baby!  Well his wife Paula is having the baby!  Baby is due in April.  Jon O'Brien is enjoying his History teaching job.  I think he get's done in mid November, to resume coaching moguls for the winter months.  Former staffer, Julie Janus ran the Portland marathon a few weeks ago....under her goal time of 4 hours!  woo hoo!  Jamie Hinderliter is working on a MHSSC trivial pursuit game!   One of her questions is:  "What is Mike Annett's favorite song"........I personally don't know......do you?   Pierce Louis will be narrating my latest MHSSC video production......it's a "how to cook breakfast at MHSSC" video.   The footage was shot in July.......starring fired MHSSC cooks Matt and Jordan.......and non-fired cook Elliot.   Maybe it will turn into a series of MHSSC cooking shows.   Lately I've been an "extra" in a couple of movies being filmed in the portland area.  First movie is called "what the heck do we know"......starring Marlee Matlin (children of a lessor god).........I actually think they have a couple of Medium close-up shots of me.....the other movie is called "elephant".....directed by Gus Van Sant (good will hunting)......no famous actors in this one.  It's about a shooting that takes place in a high school.  I play the role of a high school basketball coach.....but so far, I do nothing but walk down the hall with one of my athletes in my one and only scene...........and likely to be out-of-focus.  oh well.  that's about it from Oregon.   may the force be with you.