May 5, 2013, Alpymayo

Fun/forgiving snow, not too sticky with waxed skis. Nash laps wound up being the best of the day; with the long lines, quality beat quantity. Fun to meet up with Crispin, Stephanie, and Zach!

Looks like future Alpen-touring prospects are good, but melt-out/creeks-opening may occur earlier than we've become accustomed to over the past couple years.

Stopped past Exit 47; Granite trail is still taped off with crime scene tape, with a sign noting that the Pratt trail is open. South side melting fast; may Mitch's family have closure soon. Photos of the mountain yielded nothing -- much of the lookers-left chute is hidden from below.

Nice pic's especially upper Nash, but that lift line for Armstrong looked painfull - but I'm sure the whole vib was probably great.

Indeed a fine day. I'll just add that the snow in Snake Dance was equally good as upper Nash. We found the lift lines considerably less on Sessel and lapped it much of the day!

After a late return from Mount St Helens Saturday and a fire to put out at work Sunday morning, I drove to Alpental around 1pm. The crowds and congestion were so bad I turned my car around and headed to Summit West. Carried my alpine skis and booted up Big Bill a couple of times. Fun...like summer skiing in the old days.

Cinco de Mayo at Alpental was a huge success. Early arrival and loading the main chair at 0900 let us score a good 10 runs down low before the big crowd clogged things up. Huge waits for Armstrong and 2 after 1030. Hawaiian shirts and jeans, bikini tops and booty shorts, sombreros and serapis, a couple of gorillas and astronauts, it was a huge party. They fired up Sessel but most folks just were not having any of that so we let them wait in line at the big chairs while we sessioned S and La Bernardo after hitting Nash down thu Snake dance. Super sunny Sunday indeed! Folks were parking below Alpental Strasse - never seen it that for down the road. TomK & Kerry.

Great first two pics, thanks for the last one too, it helped validate our decision to celebrte the end of lift season on quatro de mayo  !

Thanks for another fine season Alpental.