January 9, 2006, Stevens

At 5:30am I'm staring at telemetry numbers on the web that are NOT confirming  that 12 to 18" fell overnight in the Central Cascades as forecasted.  After refreshing the screen numerous times, I'm baffled that only Baker has all the snow.  Finally at 6am Perlin emails me that it's a Stevens day. Jill opens the door to the computer room and wonders what the hell I'm doing home on a powder day.  OK, I'm outta here.<br><br>I meet Art and David at the P&R and watch the stream of cars leaving Monroe heading for work.  It's pouring rain on the drive but as we approach the hairpin turn it's snowing heavily.  We park in front of the stairs and notice there's giggling in the parking lot. I used my Whistler Edge card and bought a ticket for $36.  Somehow, we are in the front of the line at Chief as they start loading "butts" at 9am.  The Patrol is still doing laps up top so we cycle a couple of powder runs until the Double Diamond lift opens about 9:15.  <br><br>There's 6" of new that is light enough so you feel the hard moguls underneath on steep slopes.  On moderate terrain, it's wonderful boot deep powder without the ice.  Throughout the day it continued to snow heavily and tracks were filling within a couple of hours.  Needless to say there were no lift lines and we cycled non stop until 1pm. The car had about 6" on the roof when we departed and it was snowing heavily. They're forecasting another foot this evening.  Hopefully the temperatures will drop.  We noticed the snow was much heavier around 12:30. This could be an epic week. <br><br>Zap