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| Greg |
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| Classic Greg ski form |
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| Crispin |
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| Crispin and dog Geeb |
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| Dwayne tele-turn |
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| Kevin gets above the pow. |
February 2, Searching for Pow
Hooked up with Crispin, Greg, and Dwayne?. Headed uphill from the Alpental parking lot. Lots of tracks above source lake. We had fairly poor visibility in the Chair Peak basin, but finally found good visibility and no tracks over the west shoulder.
Jan. 26, Mt. Snoqualmie Corn Harvest
So Seth had this new alternate route to get to the goods. Basically you went out the back door of the condo, skinned uphill for ten minutes, then started booting. Gosh, only 3000 feet later you reach the summit. Somehow, Seth's estimate of 500 feet of bootpacking, changed to something like only 2,700 feet. Anyhow, we made the summit, then skied southerly aspects off Snoqualmie. Perfect corn, butter smooth. We managed 4 runs, two short drops, then one lap to the gully that separates Snoq. Mt. from Cave Ridge. Finally, after another solid bootpack up the SE ridge, we traversed towards Lundin and dropped down into the Commonwealth valley. Nice day.
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| Seth, just boot it. |
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| Kevin, cheating on the boot pack for a minute |
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| Good n' Steep |
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| Kevin balances on the edge of darkness. |
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| Seth |
Elevation gain: 5,045 Loss: 5,234
January 22, Brandonee Randonee Event
Ten people met up at Silver Fir for a little informal night racing. Uninvited, were the two security people from the Summit Ski Area. A flurry of phone calls, ended with a no-go, for the race at Central. A stealthy retreat was made, and we regrouped at Hyak. Race-on. Route was from just above the OLY can to the top. Whoever made the most laps in an hour gained all the glory. Of course, finding the top, in the wispy fog and pitch black evening, was a little tricky. Happily no one got too lost, and everyone had a good time.
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| Lowell Skoog - downhill in the dark. |
January 17, 1/2 way up Lundin Couloir
Hot, Inversion Hot, like 52 degrees hot. Grabbed Don Hecker, and got right back out in the commonwealth valley. As we passed Red Mt. we could see a group post holing their way up Red, following my track from yesterday. We continued up towards our objective, the Lundin Couloir. It was still looking very smooth, but the warm temperatures made us a little uneasy. I could stuff my ski pole, grip side down, all the way into the snowpack. This being an avalanche chute, hmm. Skinning was actually pretty good and we saw little indication of current slide activity. There was a little debri, most likely left over from the rain event. We most likely could have made the top, but with the warm temps, and sore legs from yesterday, decided to call it near tree line at 5,400'. Skiing was a little variable and quite crunchy through the lower woods. Still a beautiful day, and will have to get back again. Hopefully after we get a good freeze to lock down the snowpack. The Red Mt. group did look to have skied down without setting off any slides.
January 16, Red Mountain
Great day in the mountains. Hooked up with Crispin at the late hour of almost noon. 5 hours later we were back at the car with smiles.
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| Crispin and dog Geeb enjoy the summit of Red |
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| First turn off the top |
January 11, Hyak
Finally get to ski out the back door. Hooked up with my neighbor and his furry buddies. Snow was incredibly mushy from the rain, but luckily the ski area had run a groomer up the access road. The untracked mush was almost unskiable and we stuck to the fresh corduroy from the groomer track. Hopefully, they will be able to groom out a little more of the mountain in the coming week.
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| Sophie, Scott, and Olive |
January 6, Alpental Sidecountry
Yesterday was good. Today was better. Shot Crispin an email before I went to sleep. When I woke up, there was a plan - Silas, Frank, and Crispin were going to skin up through snake dance and hit some sidecountry powder. 5,400 feet vertical for the day. Sorry Seth, no strava time.
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| Crispin and Geeb break trail above Martin Bowl |
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| Silas |
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| Silas |
Lap 1- Sharon Bowl, Lap 2 Stokes, Lap 3 Stokes all the way to Valley bottom. Exit route was a little sporty.
Jan. 5, Alpental
Beautiful sunny day in the mountains. Skied with Francine, Don, and Greg. The sweet powder of two days ago, was pretty tracked up, but nice to get out with good friends. Dropped International, then poked out to Snake Dance for some adventure skiing. Good times.
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| Francine gets in her first tour of the year. |
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| Kevin and Francine |
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| If only this chair was running! |
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| Don Hecker |
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| Greg Louie |
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| Francine - widowmaker |
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| Don - snakedance |
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| Getting sporty - lower snakedance - tree belay |
Dec. 28 Alpental
Still riding the mountain bike, more than skiing. Hooked up with Seth and Greg this Saturday to get few turns in, on the crunchy slopes of Alpental. The ground is fairly well covered, but the skiing was horrible, due to the rains of yesterday and the cooler temps of today. Everything below the fan, to the base, totally sucked. The top half of the mountain was okay. Weather was gorgeous and as usual, just glad to be out skiing.
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| Seth and Kevin topping out, "Chair 2 Summit" |
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| Lower slopes, Alpental |
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| Seth and Greg wind their way up Meister. |
Dec. 20 Alpental
Thin snowpack, thick snow, still skiing.
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| Don Hecker skinning up gunmount. |
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| Don on Debbie's Gold |
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| Don |
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| Kevin |
Dec 12, Crystal Mt. Ski Resort
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| Kevin and Greg Louie |
Francine had the day off and was itching to get outside. With the forecast a little uncertain we headed for Crystal Mt., picking up Greg Louie along the way. The ski conditions were surprisingly good. Nice packed powder that was very carveable. The snow base was a little thin, but we did very little damage to our skis and the ground was pretty well covered everywhere we went. The sun was even shining most of the morning. Now, if we can only get a little more up at Snoqualmie.
Oct 30/31 Dirt Riding in the Teanaway
Couldn't get my ride buddies lined up for the same day, so ended up riding two days in a row, over the Teanaway Valley. Can't complain.
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| Eric Rides Rock |
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| Scott |
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