PNW 2021/2022 Season! La Niña ahead!

[SkiLyft]

Can you see the backed up traffic on hwy 2?

I think if you squint you can see the light in Sultan with the miles of cars parked behind it.


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[Bandit Man]

It’s so sad that guys are correct…about all of it. Used to love that place. Even when the mountain is fully staffed on weekends, it’s still a disaster coming and going.

[californiagrown]

Snow up high at Crystal held up great. started getting sun affected manky mid mtn down. 5 avalanche basin/king laps and then lapped northway till i left. Coming from alpental its a trip how much unskied and barely skied terrain there was 2-3 days after a storm. Killer mtn, but ill pass on the rest of the package.

[Patarero]

Mission unplauseable

NW did not do this tour justice. He convinced me to go into a zone neither of us had been in before given the challenges of getting in and out. I'm usually the one with the dumb ideas, tables were turned. We ventured up the road past the line of people waiting on the shuttle. Past that we had 10 miles of fresh tracks on the road. Made it to the TH and basically went straight up over marginal south facing coverage acknowledging we would have to boot on the way out. The straight up led to what felt like mile upon mile upon mile of side-hilling on various degrees of dust on crust. After looking at my watch it actually was miles upon miles upon miles. We both considered bailing given the sketchy sidehilling above various levels of exposure, but we kept pushing hoping it would get better. Once we broke out of the dog hair timber and into remnants of the Norse Fire, it did. We broke out into the open, surrounded by burned over old growth and spirits were high again.



We pushed on thinking we would make our objective zone and we did.



We stopped climbing at ~6k due to some questionable layers. NW called in to work then transitioned for the descent. We dropped in and laughed most of the way down the 1k+ descent.



Then the sufferfest began. We reached the bottom of the drainage thinking we would find convenient snow bridges over the next 6 stream crossings we had to make to exit the zone. Some streams had snow bridges some did not, some required attempts at using poles to vault across. We got minorly cliffed out several times trying to find a route, slid down slope, faceplanted in gullies and soldiered on. Uphill, downhill, uphill, negotiating heinous blow down while sidehilling. Then it really started snowing and blowing. I looked at my watch and thought about the headlamp I had stashed in pack and regretted not bringing my full e-kit. We made it to the final ridge that separated us from the car and decided to try to ski down the south facing slope. That lasted about 5 turns. We moved skis to the packs and started booting down slope. Sliding down Oregon grape, exposed basalt, blow down, and mud. I seemed to find every void in the snow covered blow down and ended up with one knee in my face and one dangling in the emptiness often.



We made it back before dark, exhausted. Type II fun, alot of pain and suffering towards the end. Even my best dad jokes were falling flat. On the drive home we dubbed the zone "The helicopter zone" since neither of ever want to do that again without some mechanical assistance.

[eleeskiing]

There was a pretty cool trip write up in here recently? Looked like some nice skiing in some old burn areas. Looked like super easy access and probably a pretty straightforward exit. Anyone remember seeing that one? I think NW Skier posted it maybe?

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Passable skiing today at Mission. Snowed until 11 and another 4-6” of accumulation made for boot top blower in protected areas. Lower angle was key to avoid hearing or feeling the crust. Ripping groomers and crud.


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[brown9]

I have a rv reservation at alpental for tomorrow night (Friday) that we won’t be able to use. I don’t see a formal way to transfer it but if anyone knows how I can do that and would like to use it. Let me know


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[The AD]

I finally made it up to Stevens today for the first time this season. They've finally got their shit together with all lifts open except for Brooks.

[Markeyz]

No kidding, not a single line out of Sasquatch chute (upper left in photo).

Snow up high at Crystal held up great. started getting sun affected manky mid mtn down. 5 avalanche basin/king laps and then lapped northway till i left. Coming from alpental its a trip how much unskied and barely skied terrain there was 2-3 days after a storm. Killer mtn, but ill pass on the rest of the package.

[Bandit Man]

I finally made it up to Stevens today for the first time this season. They've finally got their shit together with all lifts open except for Brooks.

Was up today, too. There were lots of stashes to be found. Snow was amazing where it was in the shade. It finally felt like Stevens of old…and only took until Feb 25th for them to get there.

[Markeyz]

Was up today, too. There were lots of stashes to be found. Snow was amazing where it was in the shade. It finally felt like Stevens of old…and only took until Feb 25th for them to get there.

Good news. And gooder news (fingers crossed): https://a.atmos.washington.edu/data/rainier_report.html

[SirVicSmasher]

I have a rv reservation at alpental for tomorrow night (Friday) that we won’t be able to use. I don’t see a formal way to transfer it but if anyone knows how I can do that and would like to use it. Let me know


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Appreciate it.

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[riff]

Here’s a few from the last week, I’m so tired and grateful….


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[SirVicSmasher]

Here’s a few from the last week, I’m so tired and grateful….


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Riff the energizer bunny thanks for the inspiration

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[eSock]

Seemed like reported conditions scared a lot of folks away from Crystal and the goods were shared by the brave few that were dumb enough to show up. Good snow / times up high and only scary mush right at the bottom. 6 ran and I'm pretty sure I saw a green light for Northway but never ventured over. All those north facing aspects woulda been primo though if green valley was any indication.

[Brasso]

The upper mountain wind hold announcement kept me at bay.

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[Ørion]

Seemed like reported conditions scared a lot of folks away from Crystal and the goods were shared by the brave few that were dumb enough to show up. Good snow / times up high and only scary mush right at the bottom. 6 ran and I'm pretty sure I saw a green light for Northway but never ventured over. All those north facing aspects woulda been primo though if green valley was any indication.

Can verify. Crystal's app warning about conditions and saying they won't ding no-show reservations about turned us around halfway through the drive but we persisted.

Snow was wet sticky garbage lower mountain and it was actively raining at the base most of the morning. Forest Queen groomers weren't bad, just typical high water content snow, but Green Valley conditions were quite good and the lift line showed it in the AM.

Mountain effectively emptied out after lunch though and it started snowing heavily. Lift lines were non-existent and lifts were practically ski-on. Felt like a secret pow day.

Northway did open up but we were lapping stuff at Campbell Basin by then. I bet it was quite good.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Can verify. Crystal's app warning about conditions and saying they won't ding no-show reservations about turned us around halfway through the drive but we persisted.

Snow was wet sticky garbage lower mountain and it was actively raining at the base most of the morning. Forest Queen groomers weren't bad, just typical high water content snow, but Green Valley conditions were quite good and the lift line showed it in the AM.

Mountain effectively emptied out after lunch though and it started snowing heavily. Lift lines were non-existent and lifts were practically ski-on. Felt like a secret pow day.

Northway did open up but we were lapping stuff at Campbell Basin by then. I bet it was quite good.

Was it a powder day or a wet new snow day?


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[Ørion]

Was it a powder day or a wet new snow day?


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After that high pressure streak, anything new feels like powder.

Ultimately it was somewhere in between. Not "blower pow" by any stretch of the term, and mid to low mountain was firmly just really heavy wet snow, but the upper stuff on the leeward side was pretty fun.

Definitely wasn't a true secret pow day, just felt like one, if that nuance makes sense.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

After that high pressure streak, anything new feels like powder.

Ultimately it was somewhere in between. Not "blower pow" by any stretch of the term, and mid to low mountain was firmly just really heavy wet snow, but the upper stuff on the leeward side was pretty fun.

Definitely wasn't a true secret pow day, just felt like one, if that nuance makes sense.

That’s fair.


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[californiagrown]

Was it a powder day or a wet new snow day?


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Hey man, addicts dont get picky after a prolonged dry spell.

[eSock]

Was definitely a game of finding the good patches, a lot of my fave spots were wind scoured but that just meant more adventuring.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Hey man, addicts dont get picky after a prolonged dry spell.

Oh I know, I was skiing boot top blower over fractured basalt all last week. It was great but a little sketchy at times.


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[river59]

GPNF is planning improvements to the Cold Springs area of Mt Adams.

If you want to read the plan or comment, see: https://www.fs.usda.gov/nfs/11558/ww...T3_6400144.pdf

[Patarero]

GPNF is planning improvements to the Cold Springs area of Mt Adams.

If you want to read the plan or comment, see: https://www.fs.usda.gov/nfs/11558/ww...T3_6400144.pdf

Portlanders will rejoice. Kinda removes some of the charm and part of the adventure. Should have rammed this through post Cold Springs or Cougar Fire.