I was very sad to leave on Tuesday morning ... but hey all's well that ends well since I got to leave with Monday's Baker day as a high note. Glad you guys are finally getting some goods up there and slaying it properly!
Printable View
I was very sad to leave on Tuesday morning ... but hey all's well that ends well since I got to leave with Monday's Baker day as a high note. Glad you guys are finally getting some goods up there and slaying it properly!
the canadian side of the pnw was all-time yesterday.
what happened to all the whining about la nina not delivering, you impatient fools? :biggrin:
La Nina didn't deliver. We are now supposedly out of the la nina cycle and actually getting our "normal" weather patterns.
La nina is still on, but weakening. Regardless of what they call it, it has been good lately!
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/product.../ensodisc.html
Put in two hours on the lifts at Baker this morning before work, and damn was it fun. A super fluffy 6", and a super light crowd for a bluebird Friday made for an awesome time.
Yesterday was one of those days where the answer to the question of "should I skip work/school/court?" was somewhere between 'with out a doubt' and 'I hope I remember when to turn to avoid that tree, because I haven't seen shit for three turns'
there was a rain-ish crust in the chair 7 trees with a footto cover i up. nothing else anywhere
I'm pretty sure I saw you cruising inbounds a week or so ago at the top of gabls with some guys and a pro patroller. I mach'd past saying somethin about 'oh shit its a famous internet skier'. Are you the only guy around with a tan brimmed helmet?
Hey DBS,
If you haven't grabbed some yet, Safeway (in North Bend) is selling Black Butte Porter for $11.99 for a 12 pack, damn good price.
Thanks for the heads up IslandSnow! I'll head over there tomorrow and pick some up.
Damn i wish i could have made it up today.
I bought a ticket to Seattle on Tue night and got to Blaine at 3am Thursday morning ...Thursday was one of the best ski days of my life, today was great. The arm and i are gonna have sex on sun....life is good
It was nice to meet you yesterday Bobby and ski a few laps! Thanks for waiting up, you're a gentleman and a pro!
For those who missed it, the High Traverse opened around 11am for the first time since the big dump that produced the goods (and crowds) on Tuesday, plus a few inches from overnight. It was all very well preserved. Many remarked 261 and Pineapple were the best of the year. Nearly bluebird weather. Gonzo deep pow and no lines.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aP1NwNBp20
Another winning edit by oldmantex69
With all the talk of high avy danger and the ominous reports coming out of NWAC, I figured I'd play things safe yesterday. I toured at Heather Ridge and found nothing but deep untracked and bombproof stability. What a fantastic day to be in the mountains. The only downs side with being the first one up the skin track was having to put in the trail...
This storm cycle has been amazing.
I do not have a picture of the Shuksan Arm from today, but I cannot believe that people were still hiking out. Huge crown on the beast, my guess is 2-3m deep. They bombed all over but only this convexity went. Not as wide and almost as deep. I didn't think they were allowed to bomb on the arm anymore. Someone will post the crown on the beast, and this is from the 98-99 year for reference. http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/3...anarmslide.jpg
Worked the late shift today at Alpy, all lots were full when I arrived. BC was hammered and the sun was doing unkind things to the snow. The crowds left shortly after lunch and Nash skied really well.
Gunder and I have some nice pics of the crown today. Yeah, maybe 2-3m deep so that's about 1/4 to 1/2 as deep and maybe 1/4 to 1/5 as wide as 98-99.
I'm amazed nobody skied down right next to the slide path or in any of the other usual extremo places, esp. for a sunny Sunday. I mean, it's been bombed so it's gotta be good to go, right?
On the plus side, I got some great video of people getting their tickets and passes (!!!!!) pulled for being completely oblivious morons in the BC yesterday and today. It's all in the name of education folks!
I spent a few weeks hitting up friends in other places to deal with la nina being a bitch, but damn is it nice to be back. Crystal all weekend was a shit load softer than it was a few weeks ago. Visibility sucked in the afternoon on Saturday, but the snow was good and there were a lot less people than I imagined there would be. I figured everything would be cooked on Sunday, but found nice soft snow on every damn run.
Ah skiing in the PNW, its a love hate thing but when its good its good.
despite the gnarly looking crown, it was fairly stable out on the arm. esp considering the other three or four bombs didn't trigger much more than some sluff. my roommate sam and i set the boot pack and had a great run down from pyramid. blown away that the bootpack hadn't been put in before we got up there at noon. it took a lot of willpower to walk alongside the skin track instead of waltzing right through it. needless to say, it was well worth the effort. everyone must be burnt from putting so much work in this past week. i know we sure were. definitely blast though.
hop, we may have run across your group while bootpacking. saw a grip of skinners on the way up, just after football fields. also, i agree.. it was surprising that nobody had hit slingshot or any of the other glory lines. nothing wrong with playing it safe though. stranger things have happened.
I saw you guys putting in the bootpack from somewhere past Pyramid. Thanks for not bootpacking the skintrack - way to lead by example. I'm kind of curious how much energy you think you might save by bootpacking in a skintrack? Back when I was young and dumb I bootpacked in a skintrack a few times and realized pretty quickly the only thing I gained was the wrath of the skinners since even though I was in the established trail I was still sinking up to my nuts.
As for "fairly stable", that may have been the case when the shots went in there at 0700 and 20º, but by noon it was 32º. Just something to think about.
not much, i'm sure. all i know is i'm thinking of getting some collapsable poles for when i'm post-holing low angle stuff. going up the steep shit isn't bad because i have my board as a great support tool and don't have to bend down at all. when it's flat though i have to bend over to use the board and it's a total drag. that and the splitboard i'm looking to get for next season. :cool:
q4t
Looks like a lot of some good ol northwest snow coming this week. Should make for some fun avy conditions...
Hoping the snow levels drop a bit for thur/friday.
Anyone doing or wanting to to the Helly Hansen Big Mountain Battle at Stevens this weekend?
Would love to do it, just need a solid partner...