April 3, 2010 Summit West

After yesterday's "powderfest" at Crystal, I was spoiled.  It seemed logical to assume that Crystal, Stevens and Alpental would have great conditions BUT every powderhound in the Puget Sound would be standing in line and working the terrain.  So the logical choice was the "steep and deep" terrain of Summit West.  With a bit over 700vf what testosterone filled snow rider would go play on the little hill.

The choice was obvious for a senior citizen.  I pulled into the Summit West parking area to find it deserted and parked within 20 yards of the lift. I'm riding the lift at 8:45am and the light is flat but it appears that the slopes have a fresh blanket of 9" of powder.  For the next 2 hours, I skied untracked lines in 360 Bowl, Thunderbird, Wildside and Beaver Lake.  There was never a lift line at Wildside and I had to wait at the base to have someone to share the chair ride.  After 2 hours and 12 untracked runs, I skied to the car and headed home. 

Dang - Good call.

As I was waiting in line at chair 2 today, I found myself thinking that skinning up Hyak or even Central (assumed it was still closed) would have been a better choice.

I was on the lifts at 9am and got 5 runs in by 1:30, with a half hour break for lunch.  Best snow I've seen at the pass all winter though. Funny how it fell in spring.

me too.  The line of cars heading to Alp looked horrendous so I rode the Wildside lift from opening until 11am w/o a line and empty chairs.  Fun enough, and took a run through the cliff bands down to Beaver Lake -- patrol had dropped the uphill end of the rope which I took to mean please go billygoat to your heart's content.  Really terrific terrain back there -- too bad it is 300vf instead of 3k!