I wasn't real excited about crowds at Crystal and I was too lazy to drive anywhere cool so I made a quick trip up to Alpental today. The plan was to snowshoe up and hopefully snowboard down at least part way.
On I-90 the first car flipped over in the ditch was at milepost 40. Pretty steady snow started by Denny Creek.
There was a fresh 16" or so at the base. The temps were well below freezing and the snow was light and fluffy. By the time I hit the top of Armstrong Express there was 24" of very nice powder. There was a noticeable drop in temps near the top of Armstrong.
Sadly, 24" on top of no base isn't really enough to enjoy Alpental. There were only a couple patches where the coverage was deep enough to keep the fallen trees and rock fields out of play. Consequently, I ended up snow shoeing most of the way back down. It will take at least another 18" before Alpental is gonna be too much fun.
On the way home it was snowing all the way down to North Bend.
All in all, not a bad day. It did reinforce just how out of shape I am. Sitting in front of a computer all day is not a good way to train for mountain sports.
