Day 13, or Day 1, January 1, 2015, Happy New Year

Seth , always eager for more, wanted an early start to maximize family time in the afternoon.   We met at the bridge at 7:30.   As I was sticking skins on my skis, Dan Larsen came walking across the parking lot.   He had sent Tom D a text, but with no Tom in sight we headed over to Sessel chair to start our groomed approach.   Tom came running up the hill, just as we reached Sessel.   Evidently he had managed to get ready in about 5 minutes.   We headed up and out to the back bowls.   Tom , busted a lung, and kept up with Seth for a couple of laps.   Dan and I, moving at a little more sedate pace, finally caught up with them as they toured up from a their second run, our first.   Did I say this was day 13 for me.   Not bad for a supposedly no snow start.  We grouped up, and went over to Piss Pass.   The backside of which looked quite wind blown with perhaps four tracks.  We decided to stay in Martin Bowl and weaved our way down through the large boulders.  Excellent snow, and a little more sporty than our runs above Knoll One.   We stopped before Trash can, and Seth led back up and out to Widowmaker.   On the way I took a quick detour and had Dan shoot some video.   By then Seth and Tom were cruising home.   Dan and I poked our way down knoll 0, to left of snake dance and found some more good snow.   Coming back out to Sessel we were astounded by the humanity that was attacking the lower hill with sleds, snowshoes, and touring gear.   A world way from our travels in the back bowls, where in the last two days we have only seen our tracks.   Bring on the New Year.   I am liking it!

Pics to come

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Dec. 31, The sweet spot

Went out and had a sweet day with Seth, Holly, and Greg.   Skied hard and fast on some good snow.   Our zone was devoid of people and we did our best to track it up.   Good stuff.  Seth said we only did 3,800 feet of skiing.   It seemed like more, but was all nice.

Seth

Kevin

Greg and Kevin

Holly

up for more

Greg louie

Greg louie

Kevin gets air

Dec 29, Alpy Again

Hooked up with my brother Kelly and his wife Jen for a Nash lap.  Little wind up top, but still pretty sweet  in the middle.

Jennifer Curd,   International, Alpental.

Dec 28, Alpental

Woohoo!   Awesome day at Alpental with good snow, good weather, and a good group of friends.   Nash was so good the first lap, I made a solo second lap to the top.    Starting to feel like the season is really starting.

Renata, Scott, and Dan

Tom and Scott climb up Rollen



Scott slides in, looking for a rock free entrance to nirvana



Got it.       Scott





Dan

Tom



Eric Noll skied through.



Scott



Renata



Dan

12/27 Summit West, Snowing up top, raining at the bottom

Quick west lap with Scott.  One and done.

Scott

Dec. 26, Summit West - Ready for snow.

Skinned up little thunder chairlift, which was actually groomed.  Did a short lap from above Little Thunder to the maintenance shed, then skinned to the top and skied the face.   Coverage was a little thin on the lower face, but didn't hit any rocks today.   Hoping for the snow gods to deliver over the next couple of days.   I imagine if the ski area does receive any snow, they will have something running on Sunday.

Fresh tracks, looker left of Little Thunder
 

Dec. 19/20 Mt. Bachelor

Skiing was so good last week, we hopped in the car and went back.   We invited several friends, but only Sue Taylor was able to make it.   We got opening day of the Summit Chair last week.  This week it was opening day of the Outback chair.  We made the mistake of starting Friday on our skinnier skis.  The fresh powder on Outback was pretty sweet, but we could have used our powder skis for the slightly thick snow.   After 2 runs on Outback we headed to the car and got our fat skis for the rest of the trip.   Worked the ski hill pretty well, skiing everything that was open and lasting until almost four o'clock.  Saturday morning brought more powder, Sue and Francine enjoyed making almost first tracks down Old Skyliner run.   Lots of fresh snow, but rapidly warming.  By 2:00 the snow was pretty cooked, but so were our legs.

Sue and Francine

Morning line-up.  We were about 10 chairs back from the front.

Fresh snow, on the car, at the end of our trip

Dec 15, Moto Hyak

Well no snow at home, so jumped on the dirtbike and checked out the neighborhood.   New chair at Hyak has the cable strung, and they are splicing it together today.  Looks like bottom lift shack still needs work.   Rode out to the gun-range and checked out the tree thinning and then poked around at the lake.   Snowing today, so hopefully the moto will stay in the garage.

December 11-13, Mt. Bachelor

Tired of the lack of snow at Snoqualmie Pass, we had two options:  Go North to Whistler or go South to Bachelor.   Both area were forecasting snow and had a good base.   We have not been to Bachelor in years and decided to head South.   The drive down the east side of the Cascades was definitely more pleasant than the I5 corridor.   From our house the drive is about five/ five and a half hours,  same as Whistler.    The weather was windy our first day, with about an inch of wet snow falling.  Second day was a little better, with just Skyliner and Pinemarten chairs running.  Saturday broke out bluebird and the Summit chair opened up with nice windpacked powder.   Great trip, sure nice to finally go skiing.

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This is the morning liftline on Saturday 15 minutes before opening.
Nice!  Definitely not as crowded as Whistler

Fresh corduroy, Saturday morning.

Francine

Francine skies the bowl off the Summit chair

Kevin at the top.

Nov 24, Day 3, Summit West Groomers

Very happy to see three groomers working on getting the ski slope ready.   Made two laps on the fresh groomers.  Started to rain at 1:45 as I was driving home.   Francine hooked up with me for the second lap.

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.