My friend josh and I had originally planned to go to RNP to run laps in the drainage but fortunately due to the miracle of Twitter, found out before we left that they had decided not to open the gate to Paradise. At all.
After mulling around and having some more coffee, we decided to run to White Pass. For once, totally sound decision making. This from the team that brought you the summer of failed mountaineering that was the inspiration for "50 Classic Approaches".
I will summarize by noting that I still love White Pass. It's small and made smaller still by having like half the lifts closed but we had a stellar day. It was raining almost all the way to the parking lot where it turned to snow. The coverage was 'spicey' and made for some very attentive skiing. The snow was ok, dry enough in the early part of the day, some exposed roots and icey patches for sure. Even some hairball looking rocks but on the upside, there was no one there. We didn't wait in lift lines at all and they reduced the price to make up for the closed lifts.
Towards the end of our day, the wind picked up and it got warmer which made for gloppier NW cement-der but all in all, a really fun day. We also got a bonus education on the use of two buckets by the snowboarders in a chair ahead of us. You take two buckets, see, and one just has water, the other, the second bucket, has the protein solution in it. Et et et.
Seriously, considering one option was cleaning the garage, it was an amazing save of a ski day.
