Did you know the "three sisters" (mountains) down in Oregon are named Faith, Hope, and Charity? That is so neat! Does anyone know the background or history behind these names? Maybe it has something to do with this Bible verse:
"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." 1 Corinthians 13:13 (KJV)
Hmm, I wonder if they named the biggest mountain Charity? Anyway, I’m writing about skiing on the "Bachelor" mountain, but I thought the names of the three sisters were pretty interesting, too.
On January 27th, 2006, Christina and I went skiing at Mt. Bachelor for the first time. They were having their annual "ski free day," which is a canned food drive where each skier donates three cans of food in exchange for a free lift ticket. Tickets are normally $49, so this is a great deal, especially if you don’t have to rent equipment! The national guard was there with their big trucks to help transport the canned food. We later found out that 7,000 skiers participated and donated 25,500 lbs. of food! This food will go to the poor and needy of Central Oregon.
We invited Jon, Jacob, Ezra, and Anna to go with us. I told Ben about the deal, too, and he brought a van load of 9 more skiers and snowboarders. We met at the Woodland Park and Ride at 4 a.m. and had a wonderful drive down to Bend, OR. We took highway 26 over Government Camp on Mt. Hood, which had gotten 7 inches of new snow the night before. We were able to avoid putting on chains and had a safe drive all the way. We enjoyed visiting and singing songs along the way.
The ski area opened at 9 a.m., and our goal was to arrive by 8 a.m. so Jon could rent skis and the rest of us could get all our equipment ready. However, because of the new snow on the road and several other delays, we didn’t arrive at Mt. Bachelor until 10 a.m.
The slopes were not overly crowded, and everyone had a great time. The snow was awesome near the base area, but near the top of the lifts it was a bit icy. The upper area was also very windy and snowy, and our goggles were freezing over in no time. The summit chair lift was closed. Still, it was a great time! I can’t wait to go back and explore this ski area some more…I may be going again on spring break!
We got back to Woodland at 10 p.m. This will be a day to remember for a long time. I’m already looking forward to next year! This was the 17th annual "ski free day," so I’m hoping I can attend for many years to come. The weather wasn’t the best for photography, but I did get a few shots: http://www.farnellfamily.com/pictures/Skiing/2006-01_Mt_Bachelor
Sorry Jon, you and I aren’t in any of the pictures.
Update, 2/26/2006: I found out that the names of the three sisters were "probably originally applied by members of the Methodist Mission in Salem in the early 1840’s." Also, Mount Charity is about 300 feet taller than Mount Faith or Mount Hope. You can read more about these mountains here.
Update, 2/26/2006: Oops, maybe I spoke to soon…."Here’s an interesting fact about the Sisters: they were almost going to be named Faith, Hope and Charity, but the Oregon Geographic Names Board turned down this proposal in 1975." I found this fact here.
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