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

Oct. 27 Paddle Sayulita

Headed down to Sayulita Mexico for a week with our neighbors Scott and Diane.   Really enjoyed the quaint surf town of Sayulita.   The surf never stopped, and there was always a group of surfers and paddle boarders catching a wave.   This trip was a bit strange vacation for Francine and I, as we didn't bring mountain bikes or skis.   I can't really remember going on vacation and not playing hard.   We made up for playing hard by eating well at the restaurants in town.   The food was great and we had night after night of good eating.  We did get out on the water a little bit, body-surfing, boogy boarding, and paddle boarding.   We tried a little surfing on the paddle boards, but didn't look too professional.  The day of these pictures the surf was pretty big, and we had to time it out carefully to get beyond the surf.

Checking the waves, before we try to get out

The gang

Kevin

Diane and Scott

Francine

Oct 21, Dirt Biking above Lake Cle Elum

More dirt biking with Scott and Vic.   With recent rains, could not have asked for better conditions.

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Kevin

Kevin

Victor

Oct. 10, Dad Turns 80, Weekend in Suncadia

The family all hooked up at Suncadia to celebrate Dad hitting a milestone.  Eighty and still going strong.  We split up and headed out mountain biking the first day, with the hard chargers making it up to the top of Cle Elum ridge.  Day 2 saw the motivated runners do a 5k run, the Big Dirty Run.   Great weekend with all the family.  

The Family

 

Day 1 bike ride to top of Cle Elum Ridge

Ridge-top views, almost

Len and Jack

Leonard

 

Day 2 Activity, the Big Dirty Run, Hillary leads the family

Len and Kris

Jen

Jim getting his feet a little muddy to start the 5k race.

 

Oct. 3, Cashmere Dual Sport Ride by Coyote Offroad

Rolled out of bed, far too early this morning.  Alarm was set for 4:30am.  Had to be in Cashmere Wa. at 7am to make the riders meeting for the first annual Cashmere dual sport ride put on by Coyote Offroad.  My neigbor Scott and I made the drive to experience some of the "off the radar" trails around Cashmere.   Ride was 64 miles of mixed forest road and singletrack that took us out to Plain Wa., where we topped off our fuel tanks.  The ride back on more trails and smooth dirt roads brought our total mileage up to 110 miles for the day.  Whew, big ride, big day.   Good time.