January 17th, 2009, Stevens Pass, hard and fast

The skiing
We arrived about 8:30 with perfectly blue skies that stayed that way the entire day. The crowd was pretty moderate for a Saturday with the only significant line on Hogsback. But conditions were Bulletproof (note the capital . The groomers were hard and very fast but there was just enough scraped snow to make it reasonable. Coverage is excellent. Off the groomed was horrible, frozen-in-place concrete. The lift op at 7th was discouraging riders to the point that I only saw 4 people up there all day. Under Hogsback there were only 2 groups all day, 1 of which was finally helped down by Ski Patrol. I went to the backside about 11am and it was harder than the frontside. So for now stay on the groomers, watch your speed when the slopes are crowded, and enjoy the sunshine.

RFID
I put my Advantage card in my pants pocket (right side only) with a credit card, license and money. That worked fine for the first 3-4 trips but then stopped. The sensor is on your left side so I moved everything into an interior chest high pocket where I also keep a handwarmer packet. Nogo there either. Maybe the credit card or the handwarmer materials had something to do with that. Then I took the Advantage card out by itself, put it in an outer coat pocket and had no more trouble. Others had trouble too so the system is not perfect. The sensor is about 4-5 feet above ground and about 1 foot back from the bar so try to get the bar to swing open before you are up against it. Stevens had one or two people standing there to help out with problems.

Hogsback lift line tip
The first tip is the obvious singles line. It was much faster than the group lines especially when they let in 4 singles at a time! There are 4 lines for groups with the one on the right only for Stevens Pass ski school. The ski school line was virtually empty so the line next to it goes almost twice as fast as the other two lines.

The fog
Seattle was cold and foggy in the morning with my temperature reading showing 31-32 degrees. It stayed that way until just past Goldbar. Then it was sunny all the rest of the way with the temperature varying up and down from 34-39. At the pass the East side had low level fog that moved rapidly to the West but then dissipated, never getting to the ski slopes. It was pretty cool to watch. On the way home the fog started again at the same place near Goldbar but then lifted near Monroe.

Hogsback lift line tip
The first tip is the obvious singles line. It was much faster than the group lines especially when they let in 4 singles at a time!

Skied Stevens last Sunday. The only lift with a line was Hogsback. I was solo and got into the singles line behind what turned out to be a group of two and one of three. Between the RFID gates and the load line everyone reorganized and hung out waiting for friends, so after 15 minutes in line, I ended up solo in the chair behind a chair of 3 and an empty chair in front them. I confess to come controlling tendancies, but when the lines are long, that's ridiculous.
bill

The instructions state to put the card/ticket on your left side, away from credit cards/cell phones. My jacket has a shoulder pocket that this works well for, but you could put it in any pocket on your left side and it works fine, I've never had a problem that way.