Can I do this? 17 ski days, 11 ski areas and 26 days total on the road. Need beta.

[PNWbrit]

I lived and worked at Crystal for 2 seasons, and after having done the Crystal-Bham-Baker drive a few times, I wouldn't steer a guy wrong with this one. Yes you COULD do it in 4 hours, but that would involve speeding in a number of notorious speed traps where I have gotten tickets on numerous occasions. DO NOT SPEED ON 410! I've had 3 tickets on this highway in 1 season, with a radar detector. Afternoon commute you always have 1 or 2 (on occasion 3) Pierce county Sherrifs' on a blind bend doing a speed trap, or waiting for people on the boulevard. In addition, there have been many very bad wrecks on 410 because people were speeding in bad weather or fog. Be aware that the Elk and moose population tend to start migrating around this time, so watch out for them! I've had a couple jump out in front of my car on foggy nights, and luckily I had enough time to swerve out of the way.

No need to hurry if its going to cost someone their life.

There ain't no mooses on 410. Herds of kamikaze elk though. Almost nailed one yesterday.

Agree that 4 hours is very optimistic.

[garyfromterrace]

- alkares, not scared of long drives. where i live a 5 hour drive can be considered a commute. sounds like Mt St Helens is a go, i may spend 2 days there if needed. I'm interested in Telluride/silverton/durango area - is there more snow there than Hunter S's old stomping grounds? Is access to touring better there than Indy pass area? Interested in that SLC/Moab/Arches/La Sals/Telluride/Lizard Head route you mentioned...
- dipstik, noice trip man! sadly my 9 days not skiing are driving. I live a long way from anything and at least 6 days of my driving are basically to get from the north to the south and back. there are no extra days for sightseeing, this is a ski road trip, and only a ski road trip. If i see something pretty out the window, i may stop and take a photo
- buster, although skiing is the goal, skiing areas that i've never hit is also high on the priorities. I've also been reading ski magazines for 30 years and have heard all about all these spots. I want see them.
- brannan, don't think i'm going to make it too far south. Shasta is really north though, some good shit there???
- fiddler, thanks will hit baker
- Jube, i have WA mag guides so I will bow to their will (as long as I get to stay in their fancy cabin and they ski Mt St Helens with me)
- Arizona, I plan to sleep when I'm dead
- bfree, I'm trying to figure out how to make alpental a hit (i'd especially love to make it to the long board day, i've some 217's that got a few days on em this year and i'd love to show off , but... it may or may not happen. thanks much for the other beta!
- splat, i would fucking love to be there for the mini however the road trip route as layed out makes a little bit of sense, and i've got some offers of accom and mag guiding..(not real guiding, no funds for that)
- scotsman! Fuck Yeah! Wimmen!
- shredhead, aw fuck. methinks that making it to drink in Hunter S's fave bar may not happen. where's your snow dude???
more replies later.....

[marshalolson]

snowbird is skiing really pretty good right now, just FWIW.

[garyfromterrace]

- PNW, further to pm, still haven't ruled out UT, though CO might be a no go. i think the WY stuff may preclude going back to the PNW as it's a pretty straight driving shot north for me and I'd like to spend a night in calgary and one in jasper on the way home. trying to figure out how alpental could fit in, but would like to wait and see if i cancel CO. Baker summit, might be a bit ambitious (don't know), and I would like to ski SOME lifts
- bern, may skip CO, but would still like to hear more about it... UT still certainly in the cards (I will ski in the Wasatch w/ salida).
- alkares, thnx for the cop beta. any beta on speed traps is most appreciated as I have a heavy foot, will watch for elk.
- marshal, how's the touring? Is Alta pretty decent too? Think things will hold up for a coupla more weeks? edit, i want some dps wailer 112's do i get a deal if i pick em up from you personally

[Alkares]

- alkares, not scared of long drives. where i live a 5 hour drive can be considered a commute. sounds like Mt St Helens is a go, i may spend 2 days there if needed. I'm interested in Telluride/silverton/durango area - is there more snow there than Hunter S's old stomping grounds? Is access to touring better there than Indy pass area? Interested in that SLC/Moab/Arches/La Sals/Telluride/Lizard Head route you mentioned...

Well, Silverton is claiming 63" mid mountain, take that for what you will.... Purgatory mtn weather station is claiming 43" as of the 1st... Can't seem to find any obs for Lizard head itself, but in general Norther San Juans seem to be showing 40-60in depending on where you look. Check this out for more info.... http://avalanche.state.co.us/index.php

I know you are looking to ski, but the drive from SLC through Moab-La Sals to Telluride and SW CO is the trip of a lifetime IMO.
The scenery is really goregous and diverse, going through Desert/Red rock to Moab, then up and through La sal with Pine and aspen forest, then back down into the next valley which climbs through the steppes into the San Juans. The first time I did the drive I was really amazed by the beauty of the area, definitely my favourite region in the US IMO... Wish you luck out there!

[garyfromterrace]

^^
Thanks man. so looking like 1 to 1.5m (in our language). given that it's going to be about 3 weeks till I get there, likely will end up with about 1/2 that. Might be sketchy. What if I just road tripped southern Utah for a day, then ripped up to Jackson Hole via the fastest route possible? Don't want to skip CO, however skiing is the priority.

thnx for the link!

[Alkares]

If you're only gonna spend only a day I'd say don't bother IMO. I would take 3 days minimum if you're gonna go that way, 1/2 day to a day to see Arches (its worth it), another day for the drive to Telluride, and another day up and over to Durango, maybe see Mesa Verde while you're down there....

After alot of loooong road trips in my day, anymore I like to take some extra time to smell the roses... but thats just me. Just make sure you post a TR when you're done....

[garyfromterrace]

Yeah, if I was to take a few days and smell the roses, I'd have to skip JH and I don't want to do that. My son and I are doing a road trip this July/August and I think that would be a great one to hit up. plus, I've some rellies in Pueblo that I'd like to stop in and see this summer. I haven't done a NA ski rd trip in 20 years so I'm keen to drive like a moran, without smelling flowers. Thanks for your help, TR is a given.

[garyfromterrace]

REVISED - Alpental looney bastards have caused changes to sched

Van Isle, WA, OR, UT, WY mags

Plan is to leave Terrace on April 13th and ferry to Port Hardy, then ski Cain 2 days, Washington 1 day, ferry to Vanc, then Baker, Crystal (3 days), Mt St Helens (2 days), Hood (2 days), drive, Alpental (2 days), drive, Alta, Snowbird, Wasatch, drive, Jackson Hole (2 days), 3 days drive.


Back home May 9, broke but happy.
Advice, assistance and sharing of your women would be appreciated.

Revised dates added:
Cain April 15,16; Washington April 17; Baker Apr 19; Crystal April 20-22; Mt St Helens April 23,24; Hood Apr 25,26; Alpental April 28, 29; Alta/Snowbird/Wasatch May 1, 2, 3; Jackson Hole May 5, 6

[garyfromterrace]

Finally, I've put it together. Grab a cool one, it's not a short TR





April 13 left Terrace and all my cares behind me. A quick hop to Rupert, a 16 hr ferry ride to Port Hardy and a quick stop to photograph the Giant Knob of Port McNeil. Quite a knob really.




From the Giant Knob it was a short drive to Mt. Cain and I was immediately blown away when I got to the parking lot...


Hiked up in the late afternoon on a scouting mission and was astounded by possibilities here.

[userA]

REVISED - Alpental looney bastards have caused changes to sched

he writes this with endearment for a magical place.

[garyfromterrace]

When leaving Terrace, my hope was to keep my ideas of an area unclouded by avoiding comparisons to Shames. My reasoning was that wasn't fair to either the hill I was skiing at or my beloved home hill. I immediately compared Cain to Shames, and it rates, highly. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't have the infinite possibilities of Shames' BC, however in the immediate vicinity of the top T there are dozens of serious lines ripe for the taking. I would have loved a keen partner to egg me on.



On the way up I zeked over to the far lookers right of the ski hill proper trying to eye up the bottom of the gorgeous runs I was scoping out (up and right of the top T).
It looked as though people (though the tracks were days old) had been doing a big traverse to ensure they made it back to the lifts. I scoped out a fairly steep line that avoided any fresh avi debris and looked to be a 8 or 900' warm up, then I'd cut back onto the ski hill proper (as the tracks seemed to indicate prior skiers did).

From the top of the T, I hiked the ridge line that was my route to the entrance, and the line I wanted to ski. The rocky little ridge prompted me to take off the skis and hike the last 30 or 40m before finding a suitable drop in. Snow quality was excellent spring slush atop a firm supportable layer. No chance of a serious slide, and fun turns until cutting right as low as I cared to go. A 100m contour around brought me to an old boot pack trail which was climbed about 100 vertical ft or so, then followed some ski tracks back into the ski area proper and ripped down the ski run I had just skinned up, enjoying quality spring shmoo.



My high point Apr 14 showing some of the possibility on the "other" side of the ridge line.



My line down on Apr 14.


Apr 15 Mt. Cain. Great bluebird day dawned, and it was time to hike something substantial again  Had a minimal breakfast (having consumed as many calories as a sumo wrestler the previous evening) and headed up my skin trail from the day before. Things cooled off a little with the starry night previously, so along with the relatively early start skinning up by 8am, I wasn’t overly concerned with avy hazard. The climb was very straight forward with the crux of the climb being the last 100 vert due to some post-holing. At the top the views were very nice with the aesthetic snow mushroom at the summit of Cain within touching distance. The possibilities from the top were even more mind blowing. With the right stable conditions there are some really sick descents to be had here. I vowed to be back in the spot I was standing in the middle of a ski season before I geared up and headed down.
The couloir proper skied very nicely, however once I got into the debris from an old slide, the frozen chicken heads had to be avoided. This only lasted for the middle 300’ of the run though, and the last 600’ skied like a creamy ski dream. I was tempted to follow the drainage down further, but discretion was the name of the game, and I traversed back into the ski area proper looking to hook up with my boot pack from the previous day.



My line down Apr 15



Mt Cain summit mushroom.



The line on the left I skied on Apr 14, on the right Apr 15

This place is amazing and should not be missed. The terrain, though not quite as large as the Shames BC is every bit as accessible. I left Cain with a great ski buzz and Afro Celt Sound System blasting on the CD player.

[garyfromterrace]

I made it to Cumberland right at dinner time, and showed up at a cousin’s place. Turns out they didn’t get my phone message about me stopping by for the night and my presence was a surprise. No matter. A Salisbury steak and some lovely pre-formed potato patties were presented upon arrival and were washed down with much of my cousin’s amazing high-test homemade wine. His kid, a very handy type also re-riveted the straps on my climbing skins, fixing an embarrassing hack job by yours truly. Had a nice little family wine session ending at an appropriate family hour, had some skiing to do the next day after all.



Homemade wine and backyard campfire with the rellies

Apr 16 Mt. Washout er, Washington. Arrived at the lower parking lot to pouring rain at 9am. Boarded the lift and met a local who said he was skiing today only because he had a pass and wanted to get his money’s worth. From the top of the lift I skied to the main lodge on saturated snow that nonetheless offered enjoyable sliding. At the lodge I was told all expert terrain was closed and would not be open in all likelihood during this day, and there was no discounted lift tickets in spite of this. Jumped back on lift (the kind lifty allowing me to ride without a ticket again), into the Escape (as in Ford) and made the 12:30 ferry to Horseshoe Bay.

The ferry sandwich incident

So, I’m pretty hungry as it’s about 2:00 and I only had a nibble for breaky (had to get to Mt Wash to ski the pow don’t you know?). I’ve a cooler full of food and proceed to build a couple of gourmet sandwiches (I had 2 buns after all). I take out the large wooden cutting board and set up shop. Mustard, mayo, horseradish, relish, smoked turkey, mozza, parma, onion, lettuce & red pepper. I Rinse the lettuce and pepper, slice the pepper and onion, then start construction. Focused and ravenous, I pour a german schnapps & OJ.



Before I started construction, I noticed there was a guy in the truck behind mine, sleeping the ferry ride away. Of course I kind of forgot about him as I furiously made the sandy from heaven. After assembling the king of bunwiches I look up from my epicurean haze. There’s dude in the truck behind me, giving me the double thumbs up from behind the steering wheel. I start howling with laughter, so does he. I invite him out for a bite. He comes out chuckling and tells me he was watching me for about the last 10 minutes building my creation and was starting to salivate. Dude says that he was going to stop for a burger after the ferry ride but my food-craft made him change his mind and want to hit his favorite sandwich shop instead. After I insisted that he take one of the sandwiches we become temporary best buddies and share few good laughs on our trip to Vancouver. Him going to work, me for the start of the real road miles.




Getting close to the big smoke (Vancouver)

[garyfromterrace]

I wasn’t sure of my next move after a good lunch, so I thought I’d get some beta from a coupla guys in the ferry lounge who looked like skiers. “Hey do you know if there’s any north shore mountains open?” I inquire.
“Uh, yeah I think Cypress is open” says one “uh, um.. yeah Cypress is open for sure”. Concurs his skier-type looking friend. OK, Cypress it is. The turn off was minutes from where I got off the ferry at Horseshoe Bay.


About 3:00 I pulled into the very empty (closed) Cypress Mt parking lot. After inquiring of a young lady in a Cypress staff jacket if skinning up was OK, and being told “no, it wasn’t”, I had my pick of going right or left. I chose left for the shorter of the 2 climbs as I wanted to surprise my Maple Ridge friends by arriving 4 or 5 hours ahead of schedule, and more importantly get there before dinner.



The climb was surreal. It was absolutely bizarre for me to be this close to a huge city and be in serene alpine wilderness, albeit with a couple of idle ski lifts in vicinity.
OK, not very "wildernessie" at all really.



Had a lovely walk to the top of the lift and then summoned up all my gumption for a solo run down the closed “Bowen Face”. Ducking the rope (poaching within a poach), I had a wonderful soft bump run. The bumps had some pitch too. Fun!



Skied the line under the chair.
Then jumped in the car and headed to Maple Ridge

Had a great evening with my buddies Chris & Jen and an ass kicking dinner at a pub/restaurant you should all hit if you find yourself anywhere at all close to the old Albion Ferry works. Kingfishers provided much good sustenance.

Apr 17 Hemlock. I left my friends place reasonably early for a little ski area up the Fraser Valley called Hemlock.


Some nice scenery on the way


A little waterfall on the access rd

[garyfromterrace]

My first impression of Hemlock was that I was impressed. Tons of snow, and some pretty cool little steeps under one of the chairs.



In fact, it looked as though someone had used explosives to release something near to a rock. Cool, figured I better ski that line soon before it got too warm and unstable .



It was very nice skiing although I did get some sloughing . Yet another "Face" was conquered! Check out the rowdy little lines across the way.



Following my first run I figured it was a long drive ahead so another run would be a good idea. I skinned up for another lap, this time heading up to the top of the other lift.

The hill has some pretty cool terrain close by, not really big lines, but pretty gnarly nonetheless. My 2 hour ski stop was over, it was off to Baker and the US of A.

Following the great fruit smuggling ring scandal of April 17, 2012 (perhaps you heard of the Caucasian Terrace, BC man who had the gall to attempt to smuggle oranges across country borders? Thankfully he was nabbed by agents following a thorough 20 minute search) I made for Mt. Baker.



After picking my jaw off the floor when I noticed walls of snow on the road sides higher than those late season at Shames, I arrived in the Mt. Baker parking lot to a blizzard.

[garyfromterrace]

It appeared that about 4 inches had fallen by dinner time and it wasn't relenting.

North meets south. We can get along friends - just like Canadian Lobster & American Coors

I cooked up a couple of lobster tails, flash fried em in butter following the boil, and chased the tasty morsels with copious amounts of Coors Banquet - my yankee beer of choice following a right of passage story in CO when I was 17 (but I digress and the details cannot be published). Didn’t take too long to tire of standing outside in a blizzard so I performed the interior vehicle gear shuffle once again and crawled into my big comfy metal bivy sack. I fell asleep to the sound of a howling blizzard, and that’s how I woke up.

April 18 Mount Baker. Sometimes it’s hard to motivate yourself to get out of a warm bed, put on cold boots and clothes, and walk out into a blizzard to climb a hill, then ski it. Sometimes it’s not hard. Today it wasn’t hard, I just wanted to ski a run then get the hell out of there. The snow had accumulated at least a foot in the parking lot and I wasn’t sure if a plow would show up or not. I walked up to the top of Chair 6 and skied a very nicely powdered (and aptly named for this day) “Canucks Delux”. There was some serious avy hazard on anything steep with the amount of storm snow blowing about, so I was pretty happy about a straight forward ski hill run for a descent. At the bottom of the pitch I figured that I had just skied my last pow of the season. I headed for Mt Hood Meadows leaving Baker to snow without me.


A quick stop at the Wake and Bakery was in order

As expected, a quick drop in elevation from the ski area brought rain instead of snow and a quick jumping up of the thermometer from -2 to + 10. Then sun, and a big ass drive to northern Oregon. My route took me past both Seattle and Portland, and shit tons of traffic on the interstate even mid-afternoon.


The famed Tacoma Dome of Leasure, Knowledge and Garden Gnomes. Boasting the largest collection of hula hoops in the world. A must see for all.


Quick stop for a grilled pannini.

I Rolled into a nice hotel at Government Camp at about 9pm, changed clothes and headed to the bar. Charlie’s by name.
Oh, the atmosphere in that place was ski. The posters were all ski. The ornaments, the trophies, the yellowed articles stapled on the walls, the people - they were all ski. I sat my ass on a bench at the bar and started chatting with Joey. A very chill guy who had had a number of 300 day seasons in a row. Yeah, 300 fucking day seasons, topping out at 342 and, the bar tender did the big year with him. And, he was buddies with the guy who skied the most days in a row. Yeah, our fucking hero. The “we are not worthy oh you who has skied the most fucking days in a row and we will never beat your record” The like “over 8 years in a row” guy, Rainer Hertrich, who had to stop only because of a life threatening heart condition. Joey’s a former spansered boarder who now skis his ass off and boards and teles a bit. My talking to Joey seems to make me OK in the bar now and some other dudes start talking to me and they are as stoked about skiing as I am, and I party a bit with the lads after the bar. The “fucking ski” bar. It’s a great time and I hit the comfy hotel bed well lit.

April 19 Hood Meadows. I awoke to heavy rain, and upon arriving at the hill it started to rain heavier. But for $50, what the hell, I had nothing better to do and I’ll bet Rainer Hertich never flinched at a bit of rain. Shit, at least there was some expert terrain open and, with my new buddy Greg – I would find it and ski it. Greg was an old dude who had nothing better to do than teach a little skiing, get a free pass, and ski in a region where people put in 300+ day seasons. Unless you’re Greg, who goes wind surfing when he’s not skiing. Not quite wind-surfing yet, so he’s skiing in the rain. Anyway I got the lay of the land from Greg and then started lapping up the Shooting Star Express lift and finding tons of little 3 or 400 foot steep shots while exploring that side of the mountain.
By 1pm I was sopping wet and needed to change gloves and goggles. Into the bar I went, alone but for the Food and Bev Manager (who later slipped me a card when he saw me take a picture of the amazing Bloody Mary – thinking I was some travel writer or something I guess) and a couple of random water-logged guests. To be exact (and I counted), there was 7 people skiing the hill. Greg, 2 women tele-ers, 2 female boarders (not together), a guy and his kid. So, it does not need to be said that the service in the bar was fantastic. I had a bar tender, bevvie server, food server and the food & bev manager to myself and perhaps 4 others. I headed back into the rain with fresh goggles, gloves and even a very very slight vodka buzz.


Very tasty creamy tomato basil bisque with Bloody Mary pairing.

Immediately after lunch I hook up with Dana. One of the other 7 people on the hill, and she’s local, and she rips, and she’s cute! Dana apologizes for the weather, and shows me a bunch of cool stuff off the Mt Hood Express. Although we only did 3 or 4 runs together it was a hoot following a jibbing air puppy through trees, off hits, and through the terrain park even. After we parted company I started hitting more great lines (not long but very steep) off of that chair. One of my faves was traversing off the top of the Express to the closed Blue lift, then skiing “the Face”. Tee hee – another sweet “Face”.


Wet? Actually I prefer to be referred to as moist.

Skied basically to the bell, then went back into the deserted lodge, had a virgin mary, then packed up and hit the hotel whirlpool to get the moist chill out. Hit the Ratskellar for dinner and after a great pizza, wings and B-Ball game (finally got to see a whole Steve Nash game, and they won!), I stopped into Charlie’s again for a nightcap. Ran into Joey again and one of the lads I partied with the previous evening and said my farewells. Another great evening in Government Camp followed by a big sleep-in with an easy road day ahead of me.


All you can eat bacon at the hotel buffet made for great sandwich to go.



Although it was tempting just to see how lame this place was, I chose to give it a miss....

[garyfromterrace]

April 20 Scotsman’s Cabin (Greenwater) Crystal Mountain
Arrived around dinner time with enough time for a beer and we’re off to dinner up at Crystal. Nice dinner, good secular conversation, and a fairly tame evening later. To bed with visions of corn snow dancing in me hod.

April 21 Crystal Mtn. Sun, bumps, lots of skiers, high speed quads. To me, all this meant - ski steep bumps that had some traffic. To my guides Scotsman & PNW brit this seemed to mean “the stranger comes from a place of awesome touring, we must show him OUR awesome touring…. Even if the snow conditions off-piste suck”. Oh my poor tour guides, they knew not that I loved steep slushy bumps. That I don’t get to ski steep slushy bumps very often. That I love high speed quads and fall line vert chalking up and up like a stock market bubble about to burst. I had to keep insisting on skiing the steep bump lines, it was great.


Finally, skiing with some mags. Scotsman50 & PNWbrit putting on a game face whilst having to put up with a northerner with a border collie-like infatuation for big slushy bumps.


One of the many ballsy young lads and lassies ripping the free ski comp. Too bad the camera guy sucks.

There was a free-ski comp on a really gnarly section of the hill called elk chutes that mag oftpiste’s kids were in so we checked out the comp for a bit and were amazed at the balls and athleticism of these kids. oft’s kid actually won the event and scored himself a season’s pass for himself (nice one for you eh daddy-o?).


Rainier! Fuck yeah! Oh, and watch out or the fat little guy will punch you with the right.


Mags doing what mags do best. Scotsman50, PNWbrit, oftpiste & I enjoying a liquid apres.

And then....

A visit by someone very very special...

Could it be?
Was it him???? The chosen one.......

[garyfromterrace]

A harness, carabiners, 3 go pros, a canopy.... who is this man? At this point I am shaking and much afraid.



He (uncannily) senses a disturbance in the area - a snowboarder enters his sacred space.



Aw shucks, it's not the GSA after all. But he does have front and rear pointing contours & one go pro on the ski too. And he flew in on a paraglider. How cool was that?


What a stellar day! I met and skied with maggots Scotsman50, PNWbrit, and oftpiste, life was unfolding as it should. I made dinner for Scotsman, Oft and TAYer Joedabaker with a nice traditional Canadian meal of beef stir fry, turkey burgers (hah, customs guys – got those by you eh ?, perhaps someone isn't such a bad smuggler huh?), oven fries (thanks prep cook Scotsman) and salad. Managed to clean out my cooler without poisoning anyone, drank some beer and stuff but kept it on the mostly level.

[garyfromterrace]

Rainer put on a party hat for us today

April 22 Crystal Mtn. More sun, bumps, lots of skiers and high speed quads. This time the mags had come to just accept their destiny and ski with me in the bumps, even got to play coach for a run (remember Scotsman the pole plant is only a wrist flick). Funny note - as I’m giving Scotsman the verbal intro to my on-hill coaching session, Oftpiste starts chiming in with talk of body position and angulation and a bunch of other technical drivel. I say – “fuck off, who’s getting to the bottom first here?” Oft has to agree, and I laugh an evil laugh and resume my bump pointer. Don’t get me wrong – Oft is a very sweet skier and I’m a hack but too much tech is too much info when giving a ski pointer.


Scotsman50 working on the pole plants

We three hooked up with maggot Dromond and his buddy Cousin Nicky at the top of the gondy...



...and I got them to pose for a couple of shots on the public run under the Rainer Express, (how I heart thee public run, oh run of much traffic and big slushy fun bumps). For me it was the largest gathering of mags at one time thus far (4 of us). Sure, not a summit or even a partial mini - a hoot and a holler nonetheless!





Dromond ripping it up in public.



Cousin Nicky takes to the air



oftpiste exhibiting no agoraphobia

[garyfromterrace]

Cousin Nicky with the schmoo smear sequence





Dromond's turn to spread it like buttah

Got lots of vert today in summer conditions. Luckily I had the brown polyester Hawaiian shirt to wear next to the skin when things really heated up. Great bumps, ventilation and nipple irritation at the same time. Sigh….
Wonderful day with great people and my legs were feeling the bump love. After the amazing day at Crystal it was off to Scotsman’s very steezy house with ocean view to feed, sleep and prepare for a 5am start for Mt. Rainier tomorrow. Had a lovely dinner courtesy of Missus Scotsman, and met some nice Midwesterners before falling into an induced coma.

[garyfromterrace]

April 23 Mt. Rainier Nisqually Chute

Jesus. I hate getting up early in the morning, but up I was and out the door following Scotsman at an ungodly hour. We met pnw brit shortly thereafter and off we were to make the park entrance gate for 7:30. Except the parks guys decided the gate should open @ 0900 instead. Once finally in, we parked a vehicle at the bridge parking lot and headed for Paradise.

Having ski toured mainly at Shames (or at least within a few hundred kilometres of my house) the last 16 years or so, it was a bit of a shock to be sharing a skin/snowshoe trail with 30 or 40 others (though I wasn’t freaked about avi hazard or anything) just the sheer numbers of people sharing the same piste was a little weird. The last time I’d seen these kind of backcountry user numbers at the same time and place had to be The Fingers at Revy 10 or 12 years ago.



Sharing the skin track with others, and a view of some rowdy lines in an area that I forget the name of. The mountain in the background is Mt St Helens (or Adams, but probably not Baker). You're welcome.


Nice guys, met em later at the bridge parking lot.


The brit and the scotsman taking a breather (or may be it was having a smoke).



The view from the top of the chute. Destination is the bridge at the bottom of the photo.


PNWbrit on descent


Scotsman50 going down



Happy chute skiers.



This was likely the most fitting beer I've had in my life - Thanks Silas Wild! Sipping on a Rainier after skiing on Rainer - priceless!

The walk was fine and for at least the first part of the descent there was not a whole whack of depth perception, though it was far from white out. The snow was OK, not great (though the top 500 was quite nice, firm and steep and the middle 1000 had nice spring snow with some pitch), not shitty. However the descent was sublime in many other ways. I was skiing on Rainier! It was a 3000’ climb for 5000’! It was a PNW must do line, so I was happy! The crew at the bottom parking lot were very nice folks who shared stuff and I also like that. All in all a fabulous day in the mountains.

[garyfromterrace]

A nice cruise back to Scotsman’s place for another lovely dinner by Mrs. Scotsman and a very nice catch up sleep before losing my car keys for a day (yes I am a moran) however I got caught up on the TR for the last time until now and it was very pleasant hanging in the Scotsman families’ amazing harbour view dining room putting fingers to keyboard.



The dining room view didn't suck.

After the return of Scotsman (and my keys), I made for PNW brit’s place for dinner and a sleep-over before heading back to Crystal for some touring. It was on this leg that the Escape met its demise.


The accident incident:
While driving along a fairly major road and minding my own business, I heard and felt a loud bang. My side airbag inflated and I felt my car being pushed across the road and wondered what the fuck had happened. When things stopped moving I took stock of the situation. I couldn’t open my door, the passenger door was wedged against something, I couldn’t get into the back seat due to stuff packed to the roof, the moon roof had a big ass Thule rack on top of it, and I smelled gas. My panic was very short lived when I quit mewling like a little kitten, turned the key on, opened my window, and climbed out.

A mini-van like vehicle was lodged into my vehicle’s rear quarter panel. Very luckily no one in the other vehicle was hurt either (a woman and her 2 kids) due to air bags and crumple zones working like they should. A cop arrived at the scene, took info, called tow trucks and I called my insurance company for direction. ICBC (our provincial government insurer) was actually helpful and suggested there was no worries and to just rent another vehicle and keep all my receipts for reimbursement. Any additional costs that I incurred getting home would also be covered. This could have been a trip breaker, however it turned into a minor inconvenience that cost me just one day of skiing. PNWbrit picked me up from the tow truck/wreckers and I headed to the brits for a great dinner with him and his wife and much wine.
The next day was spent getting another rental, (a beastly new Suburban), gathering my gear, and by mid-afternoon I headed to Scotsman’s great cabin in Greenwater.

Upon arrival, the woodstove was loaded, email was caught up on and a restful reading session was followed by a deep long sleep.



A nice place to hang - Scotsman's cabin.

April 26 Crystal. Next day dawned nasty at about 4 C (36ish degrees F) and raining. Considering I was so close to a ski hill (even if it wasn't open) there was no choice but to ski. I walked up to the top and skied my favorite bump run of the trip so far. Thoughts of familiar northern coastal skiing danced through my rain-addled brain as I walked through the downpour which was followed by sleet and finally some sideways wet snow for the top 300’. Visibility for the walk up was limited, but I knew the way to the top (and there was conspicuous evidence of previous human habitation in the form of lift towers).

Up at the top of the gondola the clouds parted and though the wind was nasty, conditions got much better quick. I found a little nook to de-skin out of the gale and looked forward to a nice bump run down the front under the lift with a hill to myself. The rain hadn’t affected the bumps ride-ability and even the skiff of wet new snow just made the ride smoother and plenty fast. This nice day was followed by another great night at the Scot’s cabino. The kitchen was made use of since my next available kitchen time was unknown, and I made a couple of big dinners for down the road. A multiple meat and seafood pizza (consumed at the end of LBD I think) & a big ass spaghetti Bolognese. The next morning I re-arranged Scotsman’s wood pile, made some kindling, and hit the road for Alpenchronichabitual’s (ACH) pad near Alpental.

April 27 Hyak. Upon spying Hyak’s little steep run under the chair, I headed up the hill chatting briefly with some people at the bottom and then meeting Tay-er Silas, and his attractive apprentice-ski-tour-lassy halfway up the run (met Silas at Nisqually Chute a coupla days before, where he blazed up the skin trail like a youngster, and then at the end of the day graciously and very appropriately handed me a cold Ranier at the bridge parking lot).

The ski down, though steep in a couple of spots was pretty much stop and go snow, but it was a nice walk up and my heart rate went slightly above “sedentary”. It was off to ACH’s place to meet another new maggot.

[moose pit]

Well played sir. Looks like one helluva road trip.

[up an down]

Excellent, especially the close up shot of the bacon.

[Mofro261]

Loving it Gary.

And that pizza was guud.