January 24, 2012 Alpental

GerryH and I skied towards Armstrong Express at 8:40am and I thought "great we are the first in line".  Wrong ! They had been loading for awhile and someone,in fact a few someones, were poaching our lines.  It was snowing lightly with a mild breeze and the temperatures were in the mid 20's.  Visibility was variable so we skied the tree lines on the lower lift.  There seemed to be 4" from the last storm after the lifts closed on Sunday plus the new dusting.  The snow was dense but there was no crust.  It skied like velvet and covered the moguls with a nice dense covering.  We cycled the lower lift  skiing the untracked lines around the tree runs.  We noticed the upper lift's "closed" sign was laying down , then noticed someone on the upper chair.  Yikes, the top is open and there is no one in line.  The upper mountain visibility was limited but the snow was deeper and untracked.  We kept skiing untracked lines in the whiteout. We got off the lift and I noticed a unique pair of white skis-it was Kelvin.  So for 3 more runs the 2 Medicare guys followed the young telemarker flow under the chair to the loading ramp. It was fun watching him gracefully flow around all the terrain features then wait for us.    Around 11:30am the visibility cleared like someone flipped a switch and although still overcast you could actually see where you were going.  After 3.5 hours, Gerry and I headed back to the car and noticed an inch or two on the vehicle since our arrival. It was a wonderful "found" powder day and the hill was deserted. 

It was a ghost town at Stevens today also. We went to the far corners (Wenatchee bowl / Tunnel creek) looking for the goods. Turns out it was good everywhere. Left at two when precipitation began to freeze to our googles and everything else.

It was a ghost town at Stevens today also. We went to the far corners (Wenatchee bowl / Tunnel creek) looking for the goods. Turns out it was good everywhere. Left at two when precipitation began to freeze to our googles and everything else.

You did go to the "far reaches".  There is a wide variety of options "out there" if you know the terrain.  It seems the highway patrol doesn't monitor the "No Hitchhiking" during the week.

I mentioned to Gerry that we were leaving as soon as I had the frozen glaze on my goggles.  His very astute reply was "then it's too late".  Not sure if that's why we left after 3.5 hours or our senior legs were ready for the barn. 

Great day up there this morning. It was nice to catch first chair this morning!

Great day up there this morning.  It was nice to catch first chair this morning!

Kevin, When was the first chair ?

Can you walk across the street to Alpental or do you have to drive all the way to the parking lot ?   

Zap, we loaded around 0830. The line behind use tallied at 4 four people!

And yes, I had to walk UP the cattrack to get there.