January 14/15/16, 2006, Mission Ridge,WA

Skied Sat afternoon skied mostly in the glades east of Chair 4 -- we did find some nice pockets of untouched -- but somewhat crusty snow. -- the quad was down for repairs until 3:15 -- so we only took one run off the quad (Bomber Chutes)<br><br>Sun had no new snow -- and the wind had scoured most of the ungroomed slow.  The quad was running and the 6 minute ride sure is better that the 12 minutes of old chair 2.  The unloading station is a bit higher than the old.  We were able to find some soft snow on the lee side of "Windy Ridge" and in the "Bomber Chutes"<br><br>Mon had a bit of fresh in the morning and snowed hard all day.  Just a bit cold up top -- bring a face mask to Mission Ridge!   Good runs down Lemolo, Nertz and Bomber Chutes -- My 14 yo son (snowboard) and I enjoyed jumping the small cornice into the Bomber Chutes many times.<br><br>The drive back via Blewett and I-90 was a nightmare.   97 was OK -- but I-90 was stop-and-go from Cle Elum to Easton -- over an hour to cover 12 miles.-- all the trucks were chaining up in Easton -- huge traffic jam -- but it sure is dumping snow.

Randy is right, Mission is too cold and that damn wind takes away all our snow. We still do not have enough coverage and all our ungroomed snow is windpacked and crusty. The Debilitator quad is unreliable and lift lines are HUGE. It's a long drive to get here and traffic is getting worse, you might as well just stop at the Summit or Steven's, or better yet go to Crystal.

I was there on Sunday as well in a party of three. We mostly lapped skinny chutes through the Bomber Cliffs, nabbing first tracks in two of them. Snow in there was delicious -- a creamy base layer, a feather light topping, and a few chocolate chips on the apron thrown in for good measure. We couldn't get enough. Thank god the quad was closed on Saturday.<br><br>In the afternoon we discovered the Central Park area and just kept nudging one line further over as the day wore on. Such beautiful tree skiing under big old fat giant somethings (what are those, anyway?). Snow in there was not particularly deep, but with such smooth open forest it was more than enough. The last run popped us out onto the snowshoe trail under the lower double chair after what seemed like a thousand or so verts of near perfect tree skiing. We left, spent, at 4 and had no issues with traffic.<br><br>Sorry to let the secret out, but we loved our first day at Mission Ridge.

Those are big old ponderosas and larches.