Snow in the PNW 2019-20

[ACH]

This has been the story of the lots all year. Sounds like it's worse today than yesterday. At least yesterday things weren't all blocked up.

Truth...

I hope anyone who has experienced this will comment on their social media accounts. They do pay attention.

[SeatownSlackey]

Yesterday morning at Alpental the parking lots weren’t even fully plowed. Do they not have enough employees or plow trucks?

Was hoping I'd get some turns with the marvel/gorton crew but manged to stay off-cycle.

then again....i may have become overwrought with jealousy if i'd heard more details of your most recent trip back to BA

[wickstad]

Alpental is parked out on the access road halfway to Sahalie ski club. I was completely parked in at lot 4 and was lucky that the asshole who parked me in was just leaving to go ski so i could tell him to move his fucking car. easily another 100 cars parked in, plus its a maze to get out as 50% of the drive aisles are totally blocked at one end or the other. Bad parking ops, disgraceful behavior by the public.

Snow is variable but pretty decent in spots. lines are long. I went back to my car to grab some water at 10am and the crowds and parking shit show just ruined it for me so i left and went into work to try and free up a morning or two midweek. One less fucker in that cluster up there today.

Hopefully bong water.

[pipedream]

Yesterday morning at Alpental the parking lots weren’t even fully plowed. Do they not have enough employees or plow trucks?

Yo dawg, I'mma let you finish, but



Not a single k00k parked in my parking spot this weekend, mostly because they couldn't get to it (and the one who intended to couldn't make it, so he secured 2nd chair for me instead)

[Dromond]

Was hoping I'd get some turns with the marvel/gorton crew but manged to stay off-cycle.

then again....i may have become overwrought with jealousy if i'd heard more details of your most recent trip back to BA

I spied you on the chair! It was a good trip with several reappearances from last year. Meanwhile, Alpy reminded me that I forgot how to actually ski!

[californiagrown]

Yo dawg, I'mma let you finish, but

Unplowed lots i can deal with fine. Not ideal, but my 4runner handles 12" of slop in Lot 4 just fine.

Treating Lot 4 like valet parking with no valets is a problem. Fucking selfish assholes intentionally, and blatantly parking in other people is a problem. I don't have social media, but i will be emailing staff about the clusterfuck that Crystal exacerbated this weekend, but still does exist on many normal weekends. Ruined the weekend for me, so i left before my temper ruined the weekend for others.

Absolutely gorgeous views on Sunday morning though. The dramatic, steep peaks and cornices of the Alpental valley on a sunny morning after a storm are truly breathtaking. I bet folks up by snowlake had a great day.

[snoqpass]

Absolutely gorgeous views on Sunday morning though. The dramatic, steep peaks and cornices of the Alpental valley on a sunny morning after a storm are truly breathtaking. I bet folks up by snowlake had a great day.

It was nice

[ACH]

It was mediocre

FIFY

Nice picture tho

[ridinshockgun]

It was a beautiful day to stand in line on the mountain. Attitude was everything yesterday.

[Toddball]

Anyone notice the group skinning up Lower International yesterday? Wondered what their plan was.

[ridinshockgun]

Anyone know where exactly this was?

"A skier was fully buried in an avalanche that occurred adjacent to the Mt. Baker Ski Area. The avalanche was triggered by a traveler from a different party. Mt. Baker Ski Patrol was on the scene immediately, located the victim quickly, dug them out, and cleared their airway. The individual survived and reported no injuries. The avalanche was about 1 ft deep and eventually widened to 500 ft across the slope. "

[Greydon Clark]

10-15 years ago, Alpy was just as crowded on weekends with fresh snow. The difference is the parking lot fills up earlier
.

[Norseman]

Happy clam here despite the Ikonik invasion. Crowd-fu was practised.

Moved the rig up to the shot 10 lot at 7am for proximity to the carpet and St Bernard, with escape path scoped (winch on truck ready if needed).

Went out solo early, caught a doe eyed single at the ramp who was oblivious to the heckling she deserved for going past the "no singles beyond this point" sign. Troller at top suggested gates in play later. Good start.

Skied back down to 2, paired up with a single. He wore his Ikon pass in a neat little clear pouch on the side of his helmet. 95 waist solomons, floppy pole straps.

First thing he said to me was, "maaan, I really wish Crystal was open". Second thing he said was, "maaan, this place is so weird with the lift corral sidestep. Why don't they groom it so we can just ski up to the chair?"

Turned to him and said, "it's to give you something to complain about." He stuttered and backpedaled, more bullshit. I jumped out to the front with a patroller to let him whine to someone else.

Skied down to the base, made many laps of StB and carpet with the 3yo.



She was tired by 1115 so I dropped her at the camper and went out for lunch quiet hour. Top gate was open! Cruised out past postholing oneplankers and caught ACH and jtgoat at piss pass. Glorious untouched first lap of the season!



Sent the wife out for afternoon laps during my baby duty in the sun, snackin on fruit and joking with the 3yo.

Went out for another long lap at the end of the day, more great pow skiing and the lots had cleared. Chill roll home, tired happy 4pack fam.

Cheers

[ridinshockgun]

I'm convinced the parking lot thing is kind of like a run on the bank. Everyone keeps saying leave earlier, and then EVERYONE keeps leaving earlier, so everyone needs to leave earlier. It is an arms race to 4 am departures. I say we reset, call a truce and sleep an extra hour or two?? This will work right?

[SirVicSmasher]

Happy clam here despite the Ikonik invasion. Crowd-fu was practised.

Moved the rig up to the shot 10 lot at 7am for proximity to the carpet and St Bernard, with escape path scoped (winch on truck ready if needed).

Went out solo early, caught a doe eyed single at the ramp who was oblivious to the heckling she deserved for going past the "no singles beyond this point" sign. Troller at top suggested gates in play later. Good start.

Skied back down to 2, paired up with a single. He wore his Ikon pass in a neat little clear pouch on the side of his helmet. 95 waist solomons, floppy pole straps.

First thing he said to me was, "maaan, I really wish Crystal was open". Second thing he said was, "maaan, this place is so weird with the lift corral sidestep. Why don't they groom it so we can just ski up to the chair?"

Turned to him and said, "it's to give you something to complain about." He stuttered and backpedaled, more bullshit. I jumped out to the front with a patroller to let him whine to someone else.

Skied down to the base, made many laps of StB and carpet with the 3yo.



She was tired by 1115 so I dropped her at the camper and went out for lunch quiet hour. Top gate was open! Cruised out past postholing oneplankers and caught ACH and jtgoat at piss pass. Glorious untouched first lap of the season!



Sent the wife out for afternoon laps during my baby duty in the sun, snackin on fruit and joking with the 3yo.

Went out for another long lap at the end of the day, more great pow skiing and the lots had cleared. Chill roll home, tired happy 4pack fam.

Cheers

Sent from my I3123 using Tapatalk

[plugboots]

Yeah, Norse, well played.

[pipedream]

Nice day, Norse! I fought the crowds at Hyak, unable to leave my neighborhood when I tried to after hearing the back bowls were in play.

Days like Saturday are great, days like yesterday, not so much. The real bummer is that there's a hearty temperature inversion taking hold and as evidenced by the trees in view of the webcams at Crystal, it will not be a bluebird powder reopener down south

[Norseman]

What an asshole!

Exactly. Fuck that guy

[jaja111]

Anyone know where exactly this was?

"A skier was fully buried in an avalanche that occurred adjacent to the Mt. Baker Ski Area. The avalanche was triggered by a traveler from a different party. Mt. Baker Ski Patrol was on the scene immediately, located the victim quickly, dug them out, and cleared their airway. The individual survived and reported no injuries. The avalanche was about 1 ft deep and eventually widened to 500 ft across the slope. "

I heard Hemispheres facing toward Baker. 1ft of powder slid off the concrete below. They hired out a helo in the morn on Sunday to bomb it out more. Short crowns with WIDE releases and LONG propagation. Might of not suffocated you, but carried and meat grinded you into a wet bag of smashed bones. Banked Slalom warrants aviation fuel $$.

Sent from my SM-G920V using TGR Forums mobile app

[glademaster]

Baker has to rank high nationally for ski areas with the most cavalier/clueless/dangerous lift-accessed backcountry scenes.

[snoqpass]

Baker has to rank high nationally for ski areas with the most cavalier/clueless/dangerous lift-accessed backcountry scenes.

You’re obviously pretty smart when it comes to managing lift accessed terrain, what’s the number one tip you have to offer?

[glademaster]

You’re obviously pretty smart when it comes to managing lift accessed terrain, what’s the number one tip you have to offer?

I'm referring to the BC out the gates, but that people use the lifts to access. I can say with certainty that I have never seen parties drop in on top of each other the way people seem to at Baker. And that doesn't even get into people ski cutting large convexities with groups below, gang skiing 35+ degree slopes. I've witnessed all of that behavior every time I've skied there, and I've only been there on weekdays, so I'm guessing it's the culture, and not a bunch of weekend gapers.


I also respect closures as sacrosanct and find the concept of poaching to be distasteful.

[wickstad]

I moved the trail a little bit to hopefully avoid being brained by a chunk of ballistic rime ice...

[Dromond]

Unplowed lots i can deal with fine. Not ideal, but my 4runner handles 12" of slop in Lot 4 just fine.

Maybe so, but it's a problem for everyone else - and they fill up the lots and cause general chaos.

I'm convinced the parking lot thing is kind of like a run on the bank. Everyone keeps saying leave earlier, and then EVERYONE keeps leaving earlier, so everyone needs to leave earlier. It is an arms race to 4 am departures. I say we reset, call a truce and sleep an extra hour or two?? This will work right?

I came to similar conclusions. Either they start a lottery for parking or - more likely - increase pass prices. (Credit to Greydon for predicting that.)

Baker has to rank high nationally for ski areas with the most cavalier/clueless/dangerous lift-accessed backcountry scenes.

I'm referring to the BC out the gates, but that people use the lifts to access. I can say with certainty that I have never seen parties drop in on top of each other the way people seem to at Baker. And that doesn't even get into people ski cutting large convexities with groups below, gang skiing 35+ degree slopes. I've witnessed all of that behavior every time I've skied there, and I've only been there on weekdays, so I'm guessing it's the culture, and not a bunch of weekend gapers.


I also respect closures as sacrosanct and find the concept of poaching to be distasteful.

I share your opinion that the general behavior there seems extremely risky.

[wickstad]

I moved the trail a little bit to hopefully avoid being brained by a chunk of ballistic rime ice...

First transition was super sketch. And I’ve lost a ski there before. Bulletproof and drops away in every direction. Not super windy today though.