Snow in the PNW

[ey_allen]

departing Mukilteo with a mess of coworkers in 5 min

if youre at stevens tonight call for change

Must have missed you. Was cruising around with the girlfriend all night (I was riding s7s, red coat, black dakine pack and shes in blue and white).

Stevens was fun as hell. A little chewed up in places, but soft and snowing consistently. I found a few untouched patches and lots of jumps with soft landings . It felt nice to be on soft snow again...

[skiingsamurai]

Must have missed you. Was cruising around with the girlfriend all night (I was riding s7s, red coat, black dakine pack and shes in blue and white).

Stevens was fun as hell. A little chewed up in places, but soft and snowing consistently. I found a few untouched patches and lots of jumps with soft landings . It felt nice to be on soft snow again...

yep, we only stopped to get some beers in the lodge at 6, then skied till 10

conditions were way better than I was expecting, nice and soft all over the place, the ice only poked its head out on steeper narrow shots where it had been scraped off

tomorrow should be a good day for the DPS demo's as long as the freezing line stays below 4000

[crstlextrm]

Went to Xtal on thurday and was really fucking bummed when I saw it was raining in the parking lot. Thankfully though, the snow was really decent if you knew where to look. Sometimes the cascades are full of enexpected and pleasant surprises. Here is a short, shaky video I took that that proves the snow wasnt so bad in places.

[Scott~]

Stevens was very fun yesterday afternoon/night. Excited for skiing more over the 3 day weekend.

[KIRinPNW]

Crystal was money today. Pockets of goodness all over the mountain.. and then there was the $275 speeding ticket my buddy picked up heading down Xtal Blvd. They must be upgrading their stereo systems so I'm sure they will be looking for more donations throughout the long weekend.

[x lurker]

Those fuckers have been swarming all over the road the last month. You've got Ranger Dick from the feds and State Patrol to boot.

[powholic]

i heart rain

not

[Sessiøn]

i heart rain

not

Welcome to Oregon.

[fish]

gore-tex + me = happiness

[prokeke]

was raining all the way to the top at white pass today

[jonesy]

Welcome to Oregon.

get it right,orygun

[ey_allen]

Went to Xtal yesterday. Some rain at the bottom of the mountain, but the higher up you got the better. The place was pretty damn empty as well, so we found fresh tracks all day.

Found some nice light fresh powder in a few not-so-secret stashes. As you headed down the mountain it only got heavier and wetter though, leading to some tired legs. Elsewhere, it was soft but heavy and skied out a bit in the usual places. Green valley actually had some of the best snow of the day. Top of Northway was good as well.

Other than that, I traversed all the way over from Northway to High Campbell just in time for them to close it due to wind. By the time they opened it again I was soaking wet, freezing, and had legs like jelly. Oh well.

Was snowing pretty good up top when we left, so today should be decent as long as things arent too wet (looks like they got some good snow overnight as well).

[skiingsamurai]

stevens was a ton of fun yesterday. The backside was not great, but skiable. Front side was actually pretty good, especially higher up. I wish my partners wanted to tour yesterday, that would have been a good deal. Everything was skiing really well where it wasnt scraped down to the ice.
I made the mistake of dropping into a little chute off 7th and ended up sending 10ft to bullet proof with 1/4" on it. Im sore.

Also got to demo some DPS 105's. Very interesting ski. They ski long when you want it, short when you want it, and are at home in anything. They behaved REALLY strangely on the groomers. They wanted nothing more than to stay flat and not be on edge. I found that the downhill ski always wanted to fight being on edge, and would turn harder than the uphill, even with good weight distribution. Could be the crazy stiff torsion, base structure, or my technique. I want a pair with some dynafits for a super light weight touring weapon.
Those skis wanted more than I had to give at 2pm.

It was rather warm, but still snowing at the base when I left at 4, dont know what it did last night

[BenWA]

Alpental sucked very much today.

[Velillen]

hey skiingsam you gonna be up tomorrow? id be up for a tour...well more side country than long tour but we could do something if you wanted. Or just ski at the lifts either way its good.

[RyanPete81]

Somewhere on the flank of Angells Peak, in the Anthony Lakes backcountry:



Lovin' the continental/intermountain snowpack out east.
I'll try and post some more once I get back to Seattle.

[skiingsamurai]

hey skiingsam you gonna be up tomorrow? id be up for a tour...well more side country than long tour but we could do something if you wanted. Or just ski at the lifts either way its good.

nope, gotta work m-f typically

ill shoot you a pm next time im heading up (probably sat if the below falls through)

ATTENTION PNW MAGS: I want to drive from Seattle to Jackson for a long weekend. Its a ~15 hr drive and I dont feel like doing it solo. My coworkers and friends up here have all pussed out, if anyone wants to go for a drive in the coming weeks shoot me a pm

[Velillen]

yeah shoot me a pm. ill be up most weekends for the rest of the season. Damn work has kept me busy!

As for the long weekend deal....sounds interesting but i wouldnt be up for it till probably in march sometime

[SP_sam-O]

Can anybody tell me what they expect crystal to be like on Tuesday(and compared to stevens)? That and the rest of this week through next weekend. I have some day passes I need to use this season but want to use them on pow days.

Stevens was great yesterday. Lots of great slackcountry/backcountry and some good inbounds stuff. Also I got to try some 190 Lotus 120s which were some fun skis, but made me glad I have my 202 Lotus 138s(which I was on all day except those 3ish L120 runs). I waited for years for a cheap pair of 120s or 138s and couldn't be happier on the 202 138s(07/08s, R2 F2), so glad they were the first ones to come up cheap.
I hit the back of cowboy twice, once from the peak of the tye hike(on that only really big open face) and once from the peak of cowboy as my last run, and got picked up by my ride at the bottom to avoid hitchhiking at the end of the day. I doubt it's still good. Coverage down low(BTW, there is only one area you can really ski most of the way out of) isn't good, and I hit one big rocks on my 138s that I thought must have destroyed them, but only got some minor base scratches.
The best runs were completely north facing IMO.

[Greydon Clark]

Alpental sucked very much today.

I thought I saw you today. You didn't enjoy the soft bumps? I demoed some DPS 120s which made the mank enjoyable.

[Scott~]

There has been some real good snow to be had at stevens the last two days actually. Very fun. Was anyone here the one who hucked the cliff directly under 7th heaven ~40 ft? Very impressive considering how much exposure there is just getting there and how narrow the landing is.

[klauss]

Skied Crystal Mountain for my first time on Saturday. Very impressed with the features/terrain.

Here's a little footage, but nothing too special. Just was documenting my first run on a used pair of skis I bought that day at the hill (craigslist find). Snow was actually very good on this part of the mountain all day long and most of the mountain for that matter except the very low elevations.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqmkc3ZsKbc"]YouTube- 1st Day at Crystal_1st Run on 198 XW Labs (older skis).wmv[/ame]

[SP_sam-O]

There has been some real good snow to be had at stevens the last two days actually. Very fun. Was anyone here the one who hucked the cliff directly under 7th heaven ~40 ft? Very impressive considering how much exposure there is just getting there and how narrow the landing is.

Are you talking about the cliff with the takeoff just left of the 7th lift(and just higher than that part of the lift)? Pretty sure nobody hit that, somebody dropped below that into that things landing, and that was maby 12 feet. My last run of the day was on 7th at about 3:10 and there was no mark up there(two days ago).

Edit: I don't think anybody hit the large cliff at the center(ish) of the top of this picture(from a few weeks ago). I hit that smaller one and terminal a few times but people scraped under the landing again and there was no marks up above that 40 footer.


Anybody, what should I expect at Crystal tomorrow? Pow or sun baked thick crap?

[Chainsaw_Willie]

Stick to North facing aspects and it should be pretty decent.

[skiingsamurai]

I dont think anyone hit that cliff under 7th. Conditions were good, not heroic. That would result in a definite impact with the hiding ice.

There was one brave (read: stupid) snowboarder who maple leaved the shot directly below the lift. Not a single turn, just 1 board width scraped the entire wall.