Jan 8, Otterson back from Denmark

Scott was in town for two weeks over the holidays.  With a jam packed schedule, he only had time to ski one day.  Since he is in Denmark until May, this will be his one ski day of the winter.  We tried to hook up last week, but about 3" of rain denied any skiing.  Luckily with cooler temps. we enjoyed some great powder turns today.  

Scott gets his first/only powder turns of the year

Greg
Scott   Telemark  "free the heel and free your mind"
 or is it "fix the heel and fix the problem"?

It's a nice life.
We alway's give Scott a hard time about telemarking.  It look's like a lot of work!  He ripped the powder pretty good, but the survival tree skiing down lower was pretty tough.  Maybe, he just needs to get out more than one day.   Unfortunately sounds like Denmark is pretty flat. 

Jan 1, 2011 Mt. Roosevelt

With perfect weather, and a good crew we charged out to Mt. Roosevelt.    Wind had effected certain aspects, but we found some pretty darn good skiing.  At the end of the day, Seth had 5,000 feet of vertical registered on his watch.   Definitely a full day, and a nice way to start the new year.  I have too many good pictures, but hard to not post them all.



Seth breaks trail - we tried to wear him out,
 by making him go first the entire day

Greg boots up the crux pitch to Mt. Roosevelt, with Snow Lake below





Mt. Rainier in the distance, as Greg makes
 the final traverse to the top

Kevin enjoys a quick break on top of Mt. Roosevelt





Seth skis off the summit

Kevin

A little firm, where the wind blew.

Greg

Lot's of turns.

Happiness

Greg, back in the sunshine


Seth enjoys the best snow of the day.





Dec. 29, Kendall Ridge

Hooked up with Chris B. and Greg for a tour.  Yesterday we had a frozen rain event, but the new snowfall today made for tolerable skiing.  About 6-8 inches over the crust.  Crust was firm enough that you did not break through.  As usual, just gaining the ridge was an adventure.








Dec 17, Slot couloir, Snoq. Mt.

Alpental was pretty tracked out, so decided to get a little human powered skiing.  Hooked up with Greg Louie and Justin Herx  at the Alpental parking lot.  Word was two groups had skied the slot yesterday, so we had a nice uptrack to follow.  As we neared the top, caught up with Silas and a large group of about 8.  Lucky for us, all but two ignored the slot and headed back down the frontside.  That put Greg as 3rd person down the slot for the day.  Justin was happy to have his first chance at skiing the slot.  Weather was perfect and snow was pretty darn good as well.  Slot skied a little narrower with early season rocks.  The apron was definitely a little thin on snow and Justin found most of the rocks.   After Greg busted out the super steep skin track back to the frontside we enjoyed great snow all way down the frontside as well.  Justin even had to ski the waterfall, although he did opt out on the last pitch.   Nice day.

Greg scouts out the Slot
Kinda Steep


Justin 

Skiing out from the slot
Justin avoiding rocks

Greg Louie powder shot


Justin skis the phantom waterfall with the valley below.

Dec 15, Hyak

Spun a few laps with the Heckers and Frank.  One run down the backside revealed some pretty thin snow coverage. 

Nov 30, Hyak

Backyard Day.  I love it when it snows!  Frank, Greg and Don came over for some Hyak laps.   Lots of new snow.  Definitely wind affected and a little stiff, but the turns off the top were excellent.


 
Greg 

Kevin

 

Nov 27, North Slope of Chair Peak

It was time for a real tour.  Phoned up the hardcore crew.  Conditions looked good!  Met up with Seth, Ian, Crispin, and Greg at the Alpy parking lot.  Crispin had talked to probably one of the few that actually had been up towards Chair Peak.  Recommended route of travel was Snow Lake trail to Source lake Overlook.  Skinned up into the Chair Peak Basin, then decided to climb up to the NE ridge and take a look at the backside.  North Slopes looked good!  Skied almost to the lake, then skinned back up.  With skin track in place dropped one more line off the backside.  Back to the front for more good turns, followed by a luge run down the Snow Lake trail.  Good day, lots of vertical.  I was pretty wiped by the time I got home.

Seth and Ian boot the final pitch to the ridge.

Seth

Crispin

Crispin

The Gang,  minus Greg taking picture

                       Kevin           Photo by Greg Louie

Greg

North Slope of Chair with Snow Lake frozen over at the bottom.

Nov 24, Hyak

Took a break from drywalling and made a quick lap up Hyak.  One hour round trip, lower lot to tip top.  Hyak has been skied pretty hard.  After this weekend it might have moguls.  Checked out the chair progress.  Backside has the cable tensioned, no chairs to be seen.  Front side missing the lower bullwheel, and needs the cable strung.  Crews are concentrating on the backside chair.   A fleet of snowcats descended from the mountain with the workers, as I skinned up.  Skiing was excellent with my fat skis. 

 Turkey traffic lights up the Pass

Backside chair

Cable ready to be installed

Nov 23, Day 3 Summit West

Hooked up with Greg and Francine for another day at West.  Bolder skiers were shredding Hyak and Parachute at Central.  In Hyak news, it was nice to see a lead cable strung on the front side lift.

Nov 22, Snowcat Race

Plenty of snow, West should open this week, but will not happen tomorrow.  

Nov 21, Summit West is IN

I told everyone at work this morning that there was not enough snow at the pass.  I stated the forecast looked very weak for much snow this week.  Fortunately I was wrong!  As I drove home on dry roads, the weather began to change, snow.   Snowing hard, the DOT was quickly trying to transition to chains required on I-90.   I got home and ran the snowblower, then waited as the snow accumulated.  After about 8" of new had built up on the railing, it was time to head to Summit West.   We managed two quick laps.  Snow was almost too light, but we were not hitting the ground.  Rumor is West will open on Tuesday.   Guess tomorrow I will be chasing the grooming snowcats up the hill.



Nov 16, Last Run off Chinook

Frank, Greg, and I headed up to Chinook Pass for a couple of turns.  Unfortunately the DOT workers were hanging around telling people that the pass was closing for the season at noon.  With nothing better to do, we quickly hopped out of our car and made some quick road side laps.  Snow sucked, but the company was good and it was a lot better than a day at work.