Bloated Skiing: January 2016

January 24, Kendall Peak

Kelly and Tom lay down tracks below Kendall Peak

Tom

Kelly

Kevin

Kevin - breaking trail

Dan at the top of Lap 2

Dan

Kelly

Dan

Greg

Random guy with our tracks behind

Kelly

Jan. 9, Snow Lake and the Thumbtack

Kelly skins toward the thumbtack rock, below Chair Peak

Hooked up with Kelly to tour away from the crowds. Bluebird day across Western Washington translated to layer of fog in Alpental valley. We headed up valley, hoping to break through the cloud ceiling. Unfortunately, as we hit snow lake divide, visibility continued to be poor. With enough visibility to barely find our way, we dropped down to snow lake. Turns were a mix of decent snow with crunchy turned up stuff and fallen crusty snow off any trees. From the lake we headed back to snow lake divide and decided to go higher. We headed up towards chair peak basin, searching for the elusive sunshine. Finally we broke through! Enjoyed great views of the surrounding peaks poking out of the clouds. From the thumbtack we dropped straight down towards snow lake, enjoying good snow, along the shaded margins of chair peak. The main gully was crusty, but then, back in the cloud, enjoyed pretty good turns all the way to source lake.

Jan 4, Hyak

Scott Otterson gets his one day of powder.

I got the yearly call from Scott Otterson, letting me know he was in town, and ready for his annual one day of skiing. Scott has been working overseas for the last five years and typically makes it home to the Northwest for one week around New Year's. With eight inches of new snow overnight, we took him to the backyard. Hyak was in great shape, and we made a couple laps off the backside, and one great frontside run. Skiers; Kevin, Scott O., Greg L, Scott S. , Francine and Diane.

Dec 31, Snow Lake Area

Eric Noll and Seth Davis climb into Chair Peak basin

Hooked up with the hard charging group of Seth, Eric, Crispin and I. Plan was to head over towards Mt. Roosevelt. We climbed over the NE shoulder of Chair, where the winds threatened to blow us off the ridgeline. We dropped off the backside towards Snow Lake, despite the wind blitzed snow surface. After dropping the first main pitch we decided it was really not smart to continue downward. We climbed back over the ridge into the Alpental side of the valley, where the snow was still soft and fluffy. Skied a nice drop down to source lake, then climbed up to snow lake divide and over to Snow Lake. The slope, down to the lake, was wind hammered as well. On the lake, we decided to go for a nice looking hill off the east end of the lake. Turned out to be pretty sweet. Pretty much saved the day. Seth was nice enough to break trail from the lake to the summit(1,500 feet incl. sidetrip). Enjoyed slightly wind-packed, but still soft turns down to lake. Then we climbed back over snow lake divide to finish the day. Seven hours out, Approx. 5,500 feet of vertical covering about 11 miles.