Dec. 27, Snoqualmie Mt.

Seth Davis drops in on Snoqualmie Mountain,

Kevin climbs with Chair Peak in the distance.

Dec. 15, Alpental

Hooked up with Scott and Crispin for a lap up Snake Dance, out above Knoll zero, down towards trashcan then up and out Snake-dance.   Snow heavy and wind affected up high.  Better snow Snake-dance and down.   150cm  in alpine with 60 cm on top of the rain crust with good bond.  

Geeb, Sophie, Crispin, and Scott climb out of Snakedance

Sophie

Adding a layer

Our high point below the cliffs.

Scott skiing  shoulder of Widowmaker

December 14, East Peak Area, Crystal

Crispin going to snorkel depth

The plan was to go explore Alpental Valley.   Greg and Crispin were planning to come up at 8:15 for an early start with Scott and I.   Unfortunately, a slide of debris closed down the eastbound lanes of interstate 90.    At 5am, Crispin was already pinging me that the pass was shut down.   They quickly redirected their sites on the Crystal Mt. area.   Crispin had toured the East Peak area and was ready to go back.    I threw all my gear in the car and rushed to catch up with them in Greenwater at Wapiti Woolies.  I had never toured this area, so couldn't say no.  Scott wasn't quite ready, but said he had a great time skiing up at Snoqualmie Pass.    The touring area is behind the on-hill lodging on the left side of the road as you drive into the Crystal parking area.   There is actually a nice parking lot up on the hillside.   There were 4-5 cars parked to tour today.   We saw most of the crowd in the parking lot, but we all spread out soon enough.   We climbed towards bullion basin and up to Union Pass?    Anyhow we dropped a couple runs off the backside and a couple down the front side.   Great skiing.  I think the pictures validate the great snow conditions.

Crispin heads out the ridgeline

Greg

Crispin

Greg climbing out of the backside

Greg,  nice.

Not too bad

Crispin

Heading for the white room

The white room,   

Dec. 11, Alpental

I attended the grand opening of Summit West in the morning, then in need of a little more stoke toured up Alpental.    Ran into Gib at the bottom, and he thought they would close the area to uphill travel beginning Sunday.  The ski area had actually gotten a groomer up Debbie's Gold.   Looked like some pretty good driving.  Anyhow, snow was about 4-6 inches over a firmer layer.   Made for great skinning and good skiing.

Pretty Snow

Top lift shack still need some work.  Notice the roof is not complete.

Dec 7, Summit West

Scott and Sophie

I was really ready for a nice groomer over at Summit West.  Unfortunately, they didn't seem to be hurrying to buff out the ski hill for me.   Instead, had to ski more deep snow.   By the time I got home, there was another 6 inches of new in the driveway.   Got to like the start to this winter.   The ski area should be up and running at West by the end of the week.   Lots of snow.

Scott off the top, with the dogs right behind.

Diane snowshoeing,   Need to get her some skis.

Dec. 6, One lap on Sessel at Alpental, One lap at Summit West

Dan Larson gets fresh above Sessel at Alpental

Thick and deep, with ski penetration at probably 16 inches.  Thanks to Tom Davies for breaking trail to slightly above Sessel Chair.   Ski down was actually okay.  Especially if you like ultra thick mash potato skiing.   Also, helps to have wide-ass skis.   Anyhow, after our large group tracked the heck out of Sessel at Alpental, with just one lap.  Then, we retreated to Summit West where they had some some kind of bottom to the fresh snow.  Unfortunately it was pretty wet and heavy. It was definitely raining by the end of one lap.   Another fun day on snow.

Big weekend crew

Francine

Kelly hits the track at bottom of Sessel

Lap 2,  Over at Summit West

Dec. 5, Summit West

Good group for the weekend.   Thought about skiing Hyak, but the road was torn up by trucks in yesterday's warm weather.  Thankfully we ended up at Summit West, where the snowcats had actually groomed the front side.   Conditions started with firmish crusty groomer, but with heavy snowfall the conditions were improving quickly.  Two inches on the car after our third lap.

Skiers:  Kevin, Kelly, Tom, Scott, Lori    Snowskate:  Danny   Snowshoe:  Diane

Scott and Dan

Kelly

Tom

Dec. 3, Hyak

Crusty Crud, but still skiing.

Scott getting free stone grind

We got adventurous and dropped off the Hidden Valley side.   Probably a bad idea.  Very thin snow coverage.

Dec. 2, Hyak

Last night brought about 5 inches of new.  With low expectations toured up the Hyak access road with Scott and Diane to the summit.   New snow was great!   Turns off the top were super smooth.  Then we just cruised down the road, which was still fresh.   Great day to try out my new touring boots.

Scott heads up the road

Kevin

Diane, Olive, Scott, Sophie

11/30 Windy Pass Day 1 of ski touring

Drove out past twin lakes towards windy pass.  Parked about half way up the last straight away, after the last tight switchback.   Road had packed snow.  Ski toured up road to top of Ollalie Meadows.  Snow was pretty thin and rocks were showing in places on the road.   Left skins on skis for first part of descent to protect from the rocks.   No good turns.   First day touring.

Granite Mtn.

Silver Peak Basin, needs more snow

Clouds flow across the way

Nov 20-22, Big White Ski Area, Canada

Well, it's been raining a lot around Seattle lately.   While watching the rain and trying to escape to eastern Washington, I did notice that it appeared all that rain was hitting  interior British Columbia and falling as snow.  In fact it looked like Big White was off to a banner season.  I convinced Francine to take a day off work and got her friend Sue to join up for our adventure.   We left the house around 2:30pm on Thursday, and arrived at Big White at 10:00 with a stop for dinner in Omak at Rancho Chico. 

Yes!!       Worth the Seven Hour Drive

Sue skis the soft stuff

Nice

Francine carving

Great two and a half days of skiing.   Friday was fairly quiet with only the Ridge Runner chair open, but great snow.   Saturday, the crowds came out to enjoy the opening of two more high speed quads and get at the  foot of powder that fell earlier in the week.  Sunday, Francine and I  skied 3 hours, and got our final leg workout before heading home.

Nov 14, Rocky Top, Yakima

Ran east with Francine to escape the rain.  Rocky Top was, well, rocky.   It made you really appreciate the smooth sections.   Did about 13 miles.

Nov. 13 Sunshine, Dirt Bike outside Thorpe, Wa.

Well maybe not sunshine, but a lack of rain was certainly nice.  Drove east on I-90 until the rain stopped(about Cle Elum) and parked at Elk Heights.   Our timing was excellent and we had fairly dry conditions until the end of our ride.

Nov. 1, Flyboard in Puerto Vallarta

Lift-off,  Kevin

After a week in Sayulita, we headed down to Puerto Vallarta for two more days.   Scott and Diane have been coming to PV for twenty years and showed us a couple of good places to eat.   Not wanting to get too boring, Scott and I signed up for one of the tourist activities.   They call it flyboarding.   You are strapped into what looks like a wakeboard with jet nozzles attached.   The board is powered off an umbilical cord that provides the jetpower from a nearby jetski.   It definitely took some balance, but was pretty crazy.  Once you felt comfortable hovering over the water, you could dive under water, then propel yourself back out of the water.


The girls chill on the beach

Scott Flying

Scott