I looked at the radar this morning and this big juicy blob was heading for Stevens. Jill was on the Ski Masters Party bus heading for Stevens. All my ski buddies were staring at the radar screens and telemetry data like most of us powder starved addicts. I hoped that by the time I arrived at Stevens it would be snowing. It was bare and dry until Skykomish and then a faint flurry began. When I reached the parking lots around 9:30 it was snowing and a brisk NW wind was presently. By the time I did a senior stutter and hung out in the lodge about an inch was on the slopes. It snowed throughout the day and was still snowing when I left around 3pm. The conditions were a firm base with a few inches of powder. The trails were in good shape but it was not looking very inviting off piste. Stream beds were marked along the trails but there are plenty of holes and boulders visible off piste. Big Chief Bowl had a lot of bouders showing with gapping holes. Tye Bowl under the chair looked like a mine field. I looked up Aquarius Bowl and realized that was another mine field. I enjoyed the cruisers and enjoyed the few inches of new powder. Temperatures were in the mid 20's and the brisk wind kept me bundled. By 2:30pm the center of the trails were getting scraped to the firm base and the powder was piled along the trail edges-just like the old days skiing back East. The trails are fine but it will take a significant storm to fill in the off piste terrain. It was snowing hard down to 1800' around Deception Falls on the return drive.
I saw my first snowboader dangling from a chair today. I'll create a separate post in Random Tracks.
