TR: PacNW can suck my balls (Crustal/Alpy/Steven's Ass)

[Natedogg]

FEBRUARY 2008



Warning--this is NOT a one-pic TR.

This POS TR is brought to you by complete idiots:


No, really:


The players:
Natedogg, the oystah shuckah


BenWA, the hostess with the mostest


Maddogg, the nueroscientist (aka, my bro)


Braddogg, bro's buddy--the midwest rippah (he may be on here lurking somewhere)


Squirrel99, themanthemyththelegend, our one-night stand tour guide


Washington was getting hammered earlier this season, so the annual trip to visit BenWA was looking very promising. By mid Feb, the snow totals were insane:
Crystal: 386"
Snoqualmie Pass: 424"
Steven's ass: 456"
Baker: >500"?

The entire week we were there:
Crystal: 0", 55 degrees, sunny
Snoqualmie Pass: 0", 55 degrees, sunny
Steven's bare ass: 0", 55 degrees, sunny
Baker: take a guess. We didn't even try.

We maintained hope for late-week snow, and kept a positive attitude.

Since the weather was bluebird the first day we were in Seattle, Ben had an idea:


Let's check out some mountains:




Mount Index--burrrrrly.


"I'm gonna take these jongs for a ride!"




Wish I had a photo of me and my bro when Ben thought it would be funny to stall the plane. You've probably never heard two big guys scream like four-year old girls. Well, maybe not quite, but I almost puked a little in my mouth.


Great views of the sunset over Rainier from a few thousand feet up:


Speaking of Rainier, how many days can you see the peak in the winter? Under different circumstances I would have said this was awesome, but when I make my annual pilgrammage to the west coast to ski, seeing Rainier this clear every day really isn't so great:




Seattle at sunset:




Back to Seattle to get ready for some skiing. The tools:


Our initial plan was to hit Mount St. Helens, but the avie danger was considerable, so we went back to sleep. Got up at 0800 and drove up to Alpental. Brad liked the looks of the snowbanks along the road:


Loaded up, good to go. Beacon--check. Probe--check. Shovel--check. AT gear--check.


We get off the first lift to find out chair 2 is closed. "Uhhhh, good thing we have all this gear with us to ski all these bulletproof inbounds runs." Frozen avie debris, ice bumps, bulletproof hardpack--you name it, Alpy had it.

Frozedup bumps? Why not, I know how to ski these:


That night--sushi time. Ben digs in at the Blue C in University Village:


Blue C=slay3d!

[Natedogg]

Next day... F the crusty resorts--we went for the north-facing BC. Matt topping out on a small ridgeline during the first day at Steven's Pass:


Brad gits 'er done:


Matt finds a small patch of good stuffs:


Ben charging:


Matt and Brad prepare for takeoff, scoping the line back down the frontside after a few pow/chow turns on the backside:


Ben slays some corn on the front side on the way back down to the pass:




Matt says "I like this line bettah!"


...and sluts little for the camera:


Brad gets in on the action:


I guess maybe they got some snow before we got here?


Shoot, that was ok, let's do it again (the next day):


More stinkin' bluebird. Doesn't it ever snow around here?


The views sucked:


Some nice tracks across the way:


Ben finds some shaded soft stuff and gets after it:


and keeps going after it:


The BROs were pretty stoked to get off the EC, eventhough the snow was worse:


Ben dropped into this nifty line:


Maybe Ben shouldn't have hit all those drops:


Matt and Brad hit the sauce, because, well, this trip didn't go exactly as expected:


But we made the most of it and hit a lot of the local spots:


Things were blurry more than one night:


I guess there were several moons out, but only one got eclipsed:


Unfortunately my brother found out that he got an interview for grad school at Rutgers after we made the plans for the trip, so he had to fly back early. JetBlue charged $300 to change the flight!!!?!?! Brad, Ben, and I headed to Crystal for the worst day yet, but still managed to find a few turns with some chundery goodness:


I ain't no birder--anyone know what this little dude is?


Brad found a postage-stamp sized stash:


Mmmmm, salmon:


Fooding up for the last mission of the trip--Mount Snoqualmie and the Slot:


Speaking of food, we ate a lot of burritos last week:


"What the--"
"Uhhh, hey guys, nice photo and all, but I think I far--"

[Natedogg]

Back to Mount Snoqualmie... to tackle the Slot. Who's up for the pain train? Ben and the flying squirrel guy are:


Natedogg feeling good:


Unfortunately, this is NOT the Slot.


Neither is anything you can really see here (exit is barely visible to the right of the tree):


Brad and Tim will have to post what they have, because Ben and I didn't make it.

Tired Natedogg makes a few last turns down Snoqualmie before jumping a red eye:


The upper half of the climb (from Snoqualmie Pass):


I think Ben just about says it all--the big F-U to the PacNW:


Especially when I come home to Boston to this:


and this in the forecast:


And last but certainly not least, a tribute to a recently fallen friend. RIP Brian Parks:

[RootSkier]

Umm....yeah, OK.

There's some good shit in there, minus the naked guy.

[cascadianwarrior]

Yeah, no love for WA resorts right now

[Airpoppoff]

Prob the best TR I've seen in a while.

Clean your sensor.

[birdman829]

Yeah, no love for WA resorts right now

++++++++VIBES++++++++++

Nice TR. No freshies but it doesn't look like it was that bad a time.

[bio-smear]

Any TR with flying and skiing is awesome. BenWA is a dick.

This shot is money. I like the wide angle action.

[Squirrel99]

So after the EC crew wanted to booze it up on Friday night at Fremont's infamous Red Door
they wanted to get after something close. I tried to convince them to go back up to Stevens,
but after seeing Powdherb's pics of the Slot- they wanted a chance to bag that before heading home
(or perhaps more/less because it was an hour closer to Seattle?)

With the freeze/thaw in effect, BenWA enjoys the icy tree climb


Back in the soft sunny snow, Natedogg on approach


Guess you'll have to come back another time for some of my favorite easy access fun- ya, ova there!


Hiking up the final 1000 vert on Mt. Snoqualmie, conditions became punchy & slick. BenWA and Natedogg felt an itch... I think it was their EC pussy hurting....

So Braddog repRzAnTd on behalf of WILMOT MTN and da Midwest


It's a little tight getting into the slut


2"-3" of nice powder hid the nasty boiler plate, try not to slide into the wall


Best skiing was in your slough- nice ankle deep action felt like a moving magic carpet under the feet


yep, just a little bit longer than Exhibition


midWest Rippah


As the sun was setting, a perfect carved pitch over the Phantom waterfalls


Well, for BenzzzAWaWa and NattyDogg. next time, propa alpy tour!!!

Fun skiing & drink'n with you guys. And White Chocolate and I will make sure that the BennyWA is overserved on alcohol and airs!!!

[dfinn]

Now that is a well documented trip. I think I need to hire you as a photog for my next trip because I'm way too lazy to do it myself.

[BenWA]

You guys should come back out this week, if the snow sucks at Alpy we can just take the shuttle over to Summit Central...

[BenWA]

p.s. that pic of Index is super spewwwky!

[Magnoe]

I'll stop complaining about Montana's snow conditions...

[Squirrel99]

Spring-like snow with 2" of fresh made skiing on Sunday kinda-fun

StroupSkier in the Alpy BC

[Yonder_River]

Sorry you missed out, this will end up ranked as the third driest February in Seattle history.

Fun TR nonetheless, great photos, and impressive blue c stack.

[White Chocolate]

I told benwa to come to baker saturday............ oh well

with you guys here, my bank account is replenished due to work picking up. now that you are gone, snow is in the forecast. sounds like a good trade to me

[BenWA]

Hiking up the final 1000 vert on Mt. Snoqualmie, conditions became punchy & slick. BenWA and Natedogg felt an itch... I think it was their EC pussy hurting....

Yeah, somehow climbing 50 degree no-fall bulletproof crust with exposure to cliff bands below without an ice axe is when my VJ starts to flare up... I'll try to remember to bring a tube of Vagisil next time, and an ice axe.

[BenWA]

I told benwa to come to baker saturday............ oh well

wouldda been a stretch to make it to Seatac on Sat nite had we gone up there... "[fffhhp] it's a bummer man." -the Dude

[SonnyBoy]

It's nice to see a TR with things other than just skiing

[renoenvy]

Nice!

I need a friend that can fly a plane.

[lemon boy]

way to make pea soup out of bluebirds or something

[Anby]

Excellent TR Natedogg!! Unbelievable pics!! Too bad the conditions were not the greatest for skiing but they were definately good for picture taking. You need to go on vacation again so you can hook us up with another kick ass TR.

[meatdrink9]

Great TR. Looks like you guys made the most of it.

[BLESS]

fuckin sweet. great job.

[adimmen]

That's a sweet way to scope lines.