PNW 2021/2022 Season! La Niña ahead!

[nickwm21]

Keep going east until Cabin Creek exit, way better trees and way less kooks

Thanks


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[vonn]

I was just in Plain for the first time this weekend, really nice area to stay in and at that point Mission Ridge is definitely doable for day trips.

Drove past Stevens on the way back and though Seventh is looking much more filled in, Double was still pretty spotty.

[The AD]

Seattle Times story about the Alpine Lakes High Camp:
https://www.seattletimes.com/life/tr...er-overnights/

[Crippity]

allright locals, thoughts on if this new snow coming will open up baker/alpental/crystal/ by weekend? supposed to fly out there friday (i know your first honest reaction is to stay away either way ) but just for fun what do you think? TKS

[Buster Highmen]

Not enough for Crustal beyond a WROD or Alpental at all (Alpy needs like 6+ feet )

Flow is forecast to go North, still I doubt enough for either Stevens or Baker.

[Bandit Man]

allright locals, thoughts on if this new snow coming will open up baker/alpental/crystal/ by weekend? supposed to fly out there friday (i know your first honest reaction is to stay away either way ) but just for fun what do you think? TKS

I think Baker is going to try and Crystal might open more terrain. Alpy? Who knows. Regardless, it will be a limited opening and all the quirks of an opening weekend with too many customers and not enough trained staff. Ski or ride at your own risk.

[L82thegate]

The costs went up by a lot with new ownership, too much for what you get. But I come from the old days when it was doable for people managing on a budget. If you look at the available terrain, it doesn't do much for you until you hit McCue ridge or peaks to the west. You will do some climbing to find good skiing, weather permitting. Or, will Mountain Madness and snowcat skiing / guiding change that dynamic too?

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Thanks for the suggestion. That's a strong candidate. Would ideally like to have snow on the ground where we stay as well but that might not happen.

There is usually snow on the ground in Wenatchee over Christmas. Not a lock but usually.


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[vonn]

What's the read on Stevens for this season? Considering that operations were a little shaky some days last season and the ongoing labor shortage + limited employee housing I'm a tad worried.

Still stoked, may just be time to hike more

[The AD]

The costs went up by a lot with new ownership, too much for what you get. But I come from the old days when it was doable for people managing on a budget. If you look at the available terrain, it doesn't do much for you until you hit McCue ridge or peaks to the west. You will do some climbing to find good skiing, weather permitting. Or, will Mountain Madness and snowcat skiing / guiding change that dynamic too?

It certainly ain't cheap, that's for sure.

[Crippity]

follow up and my apologies if stupid question but when i see 3 plus feet by end of weekend, would that not be enough? and if open everything in play or you really need much more. opensnow has alpental at 5 plus feet by weekend Take with a grain of salt, ive been to many big mtns but my brain is always on east coast, and just thinking of storms that big are just nuts. TKS again. i can very easily postpone with the airlines flexibility right now i just got very excited seeing the forecast for this week/end

[jacob_dbu]

follow up and my apologies if stupid question but when i see 3 plus feet by end of weekend, would that not be enough? and if open everything in play or you really need much more. opensnow has alpental at 5 plus feet by weekend Take with a grain of salt, ive been to many big mtns but my brain is always on east coast, and just thinking of storms that big are just nuts. TKS again. i can very easily postpone with the airlines flexibility right now i just got very excited seeing the forecast for this week/end

AFAIK this storm doesn’t have a lot of location confidence, so it’s showing a convergence zone on Alpy but it might not actually pan out. Happens somewhat often around here…

Plus they do no snowmaking there so they need lots of snow before even initial opening. I wouldn’t expect it to open this weekend. Especially if it’s dumping snow making it hard to do ops. Probably by next weekend pending weather or possibly midweek.

[riff]

What's the read on Stevens for this season? Considering that operations were a little shaky some days last season and the ongoing labor shortage + limited employee housing I'm a tad worried.

Still stoked, may just be time to hike more

Based on my occasional glimpses into the preseason talk among employees, I’d expect a total junk show. I tried to opt out of my season pass purchase in September but I’d paid the $49 deposit.
Lift ops is severely (about half) understaffed and they’ll be triaging chairs pretty hard.
Patrol had big turnover in the senior ranks so avalanche routes will go very slow on big snow days. I don’t know much about grooming or lift maintenance.
Hopefully skiers will remember that the employees on the mountain aren’t the reason for all the jangle, and treat them well. Forward complaints to Vail Corp.


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[Buster Highmen]

follow up and my apologies if stupid question but when i see 3 plus feet by end of weekend, would that not be enough? and if open everything in play or you really need much more. opensnow has alpental at 5 plus feet by weekend Take with a grain of salt, ive been to many big mtns but my brain is always on east coast, and just thinking of storms that big are just nuts. TKS again. i can very easily postpone with the airlines flexibility right now i just got very excited seeing the forecast for this week/end

https://weather.com/weather/tenday/l...2ba0aecf1b5ab1

I just don't see Alpental opening by the weekend, your original question.
You want to move the goalposts to next week, there's a slightly better chance, but that hill requires a lot of snow.

[californiagrown]

follow up and my apologies if stupid question but when i see 3 plus feet by end of weekend, would that not be enough?

not even close to open Alpy. And it would take time for Ops to get it open too.

Crystal could be decent by next week.

[Fishskisurf]

Snow is “forecasted” to come this weekend so no, I doubt you’ll be skiing Sat/Sun. We have barely anything on the ground and 3 feet of snowfall doesn’t translate to a 3 foot base

[vonn]

Based on my occasional glimpses into the preseason talk among employees, I’d expect a total junk show. I tried to opt out of my season pass purchase in September but I’d paid the $49 deposit.
Lift ops is severely (about half) understaffed and they’ll be triaging chairs pretty hard.
Patrol had big turnover in the senior ranks so avalanche routes will go very slow on big snow days. I don’t know much about grooming or lift maintenance.
Hopefully skiers will remember that the employees on the mountain aren’t the reason for all the jangle, and treat them well. Forward complaints to Vail Corp.


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That's not promising. I'd hope staffing might improve as the season progresses but it seemed like the opposite was true last year. I could see the addition of more carpool lots helping the overall experience (even if it's going to make it tougher for me to make it up) but with ~2 million epic passes sold I'm not sure by how much.

Really stoked to see that Ski Patrol was able to unionize and to settle on a contract, hopefully they can leverage the situation to improve their terms even more.

[Bandit Man]

follow up and my apologies if stupid question but when i see 3 plus feet by end of weekend, would that not be enough? and if open everything in play or you really need much more. opensnow has alpental at 5 plus feet by weekend Take with a grain of salt, ive been to many big mtns but my brain is always on east coast, and just thinking of storms that big are just nuts. TKS again. i can very easily postpone with the airlines flexibility right now i just got very excited seeing the forecast for this week/end

You can always come out and ride the crowded blue groomers that are sure to be open at Crystal.

The last town on the way up to Alpy got 14” of rain in November…and Alpy got even more! That killed our hopes of a healthy and happy early December opening.

[PNWbrit]

Happens somewhat often around here…

^ The funny.

[snoqpass]

follow up and my apologies if stupid question but when i see 3 plus feet by end of weekend, would that not be enough? and if open everything in play or you really need much more. opensnow has alpental at 5 plus feet by weekend Take with a grain of salt, ive been to many big mtns but my brain is always on east coast, and just thinking of storms that big are just nuts. TKS again. i can very easily postpone with the airlines flexibility right now i just got very excited seeing the forecast for this week/end

Alpental won't been open by the weekend you will be lucky if West is

[MagnificentUnicorn]

^ The funny.

He’s a PNW local


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[jacob_dbu]

^ The funny.

And? Was I wrong?

[californiagrown]

And? Was I wrong?

Yes. should have moved to boulder. No overcrowding before you came, and no one had heard of a Pineapple express. You blew it!!!

[californiagrown]

Take with a grain of salt, ive been to many big mtns but my brain is always on east coast, and just thinking of storms that big are just nuts.

This past february Alpental overaged over 10" of snow per day for the whole month. 3 feet over 5 days, is great, but hardly nuts. And Alpental is definitely not a big mountain.
https://summitatsnoqualmie.com/summi...in-two-decades

[d542east]

On high camp:

There's some fun mini golf pillow lines close to the cabins if there's enough snow. Otherwise it's a couple miles of approach to get to the good ski terrain. I spent a winter working up there for the previous ownership and my favorite days up there were long sunny corn days in the spring. The approach can go super fast and you can spend a big day in big terrain in the Chiwakums and come back to the wood fired sauna/hot tub. Renting the whole place out is also recommended, but it's best to keep the kegs out of the sauna. There is definitely nothing that would make sense for cat skiing up there, the clear cuts below camp can be ok with a bunch of snow, but paying money for cat rides up the road would be laughable.


On Stevens:

Best of luck to those working or skiing up there. It takes a lot to keep those old machines going and all of the complex terrain open. Having enough experienced employees to keep things running smoothly was tough before Vail took a gigantic shit in everyone's soup. Stack the current job market on top of that, whooo boy... Problem is, everyone that rides the whole mountain already bought cheap epic passes so there's no incentive for Vail to give a fuck if half the mountain never opens. Broomfield probably couldn't care less even if the PNW bought fewer epic passes, they still get to put Seattle on their investment brochure. Shitting on their core customers has been extremely profitable for them, MTN is at $340, up 800% from ten years ago.