Day 2, In the backyard, Hyak

Thick, heavy, dense, snow.   Wuhoo, first snowfall at Snoqualmie Pass.  Toured up the access road to the top of Hyak.  Not really enough coverage to ski the ski slopes yet, but getting very close.

March 3, Hyak

Not much to post on the blog lately.  Snow conditions have been high for avalanches, so have been staying on the chairlift served slopes.   I have toured Hyak a few times, and am hopeful to get a little more touring done when the avalanche danger mellow out. 

Scott Sumner contemplates the silence.   Snoq. Pass shut down for the morning due to snowfall.

Jan. 25 Hyak

Up and down the road with Scott S.

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.

Lowell Skoog - downhill in the dark.

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.



Sophie, Scott, and Olive

Feb 4, Hyak

Quick tour up Hyak with Francine.  Ran into Frank and he took our picture.

Francine and Kevin,
 Rampart ridge in the distance

Jan 14, Hyak

Quick lap, up and over with Francine.  Firm but edgeable

Dec. 9 Hyak

Quick lap up the backyard hill.  Waited too late in the day, and it had started to rain.   At least the ground was covered.

Jan 22, Hyak at night

Got out the headlights for a night tour at Hyak.  Snow was silky smooth.  Fresh powder, since the chair derailed at 10am.  Francine was only stuck on the chair for about 2 hours.

Picture is a little dark

Dec 24, Brandon Kern Hyak Invitational Randonee Race

Hmm, got an email last week from Brandon.  He wanted to do a casual randonee race at Hyak on Christmas Eve morning.  I told him that it sounded like too much effort.  The format was two hours of racing up and down the front of Hyak.   Greg Louie thought this sounded like fun, so he quickly forwarded the invite to his list of ski partners.  Well, race day dawned, 33 degrees and raining.  Since lift served skiing was going to be poor today, Francine and I motivated out of bed and made it to Hyak at the early 7:50 hourish.  I told myself I only had to do one lap.

Turns out we had about 15 hardy souls willing to get out of bed early to ski in the rain.

Of course, Seth was race favorite, with a history of dominating when it came to pain suffering.  Here he trails Brandon.  I think Brandon managed to keep the lead for two laps before Seth made his move.

John Stimberis about to get lapped by Seth

Seth, the machine

Brandon

Greg

Turned out to be a great way to spend the morning. I even managed to do 3 laps as I tried to keep an enjoyable pace.

Early Results:
Seth Davis 6 laps, 6,000 ft.
Brandon Kern 6 laps
John Mauro 5 laps
Greg Louie 4.5 laps
Heather Kern 4
Crispin Prahl 4 +
Holly Walker 4
Kevin Curd 3
John Stimberis 3
Elissa  Eng 3
Melissa 3
Francine Curd 2
Ann 2
Cindy 2

Dec. 12, Hyak Lap

Plan was to do a little Mt. biking in Issaquah, but with a huge fog bank in the city we decided to join Tom and his buddy Brad for a ski tour at Hyak.  Weather was bluebird and the mountains were out.  Brad was taking his first tour, so enjoyed the easy skinning at Hyak.  Unfortunately the snow was a little crunchy for his powder skis.  However, was perfect day to test the new equipment.

Francine and Kevin pose for possible xmas card photo.

Nov 18, Hyak

Struggled to keep up with Frank.  He was on fire.  Still waiting for him to get old and slow down a little.  Also dragged out Scott Sumner for his first day on snow this year.  Pretty nice first day with almost a foot of new.

Nov 17, Hyak

Nice to be able to ski in the backyard again.  All the brush work over the summer has really paid off.  Made one backside run and a couple on the frontside with Frank and Tom.

Frank and Tom at the top of Hyak

Frank cruising the backside

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 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

March 10, Hyak Skin and Ski race

Image taken by Greg before he decided to catch up.

The Snoq. Summit nordic center decided to do a low key Tele/AT/whatever festival which included a race. I showed up about 10:30 and the race had a whopping 4 people signed up. I signed my name on the clipboard and was ready to go. I chatted with Joe from Outdoor Research, who had been talked into putting the race together. There was a little concern that John, the nordic manager, thought we could just race up to the bottom of chair 2 and back. Luckily with a little persuasion, Joe convinced him to let the race go to the top of creek run and down serpentine. It probably helped that Rick, the Trab rep, was standing next to Joe in full randonee race glory, tight racer tights with euro bright orange coloring and big TRAB logos. As we got closer to the 11 o'clock start time, people started appearing out of the woodwork. We ended up with almost 30 racers. The race would be one or two laps, depending on your preference. Turned out to be an excellent race. Thanks to Joe, OR, and all the Hyak vollies for putting on the race. Scott Coldiron came from Spokane to show us what a real racer looks like and took first place and a sweet OR coat. Yours truly picked up second, with a telemarker on skinny skis in hot pursuit. Greg Louie showed up 5 minutes after the race started and decided to join in. He ended up only about ten minutes behind me!