Where to go skiing in the Seattle area?

Hi
I am a Norwegian age 40 planning a 10 day visit to some friends that live in Seattle late march 2008. This is kind of a family trip with wife and kids, but I am hoping to get a few days of skiing.
I have read lots of articles of US and Canadian powder but have never skied in the US.
I'm an quite experienced backcountry and alpine skier who are hoping to get a day or two (without the rest of the family) with offpiste skiing not too far from Seattle. I am bringing AT-gear so both backcountry and liftbased skiing is of interest. Maybe a combination to achieve as much vertical descents as possible.

I've a lot of experience in climbing and skiing the mountains in Norway.

I do not know anything about where to go and so on.
The only places I've heard of is the Mt Baker ski area, which is famous for its snowfalls, and the Snoqualmie area, where our friends use to go if they go skiing. I do not want to ski the groomed slopes, just use the lifts to get altitude

By using Google Earth I can see there are mountains all the way from Seattle to Canada

Hopefully someone can give me some info of where to go.

This might be a bit early, but research is half the fun

Hans-Petter

If at all possible, go to Baker. Not only is it a storied mountain, but they often get late season snowfall in MArch.

Alpental (Snoqualmie) is a close choice to Seattle, but its lack of elevation can constrain snowfall at times.

Crystal Mt is also a great choice, the highest lift served elevation and great views of Rainier weather permitting

Close to Seattle with good backcountry, Alpental.

www.alpental.com

As Randy said, Baker and Crystal too.

If you find research fun, I recommend that you go through the March lift-accessed skiing reports and backcountry trip reports from previous years. Conditions do change from year to year and there is no guarantees for March 2008. For example, March 2007 was better than average and March 2005 was poorer than average.

a Norwegian on AT gear? !!!

I gotta see this. Come to Baker and I will be your guide to the goods.

a Norwegian on AT gear? !!!

I gotta see this. Come to Baker and I will be your guide to the goods.

He He
Its true, and I'm not alone. More and more skiers in Norway have rediscovered the alpine style.
Guess I saw the light in Chamonix two years ago after having skied telemark since 1985.
I started out with soft leather boots and narrow mountain skis with almost no sidecut. I still remember getting my Tua Wilderness and how fantastic they were. Then wider and wider skis, plastic boots in '93 and then finally locked my heel in 2005.

From the 'one ski to do it all' philosophy I now have one pair of carving skis for the slopes, one pair with Dynafit for the backcountry and one wider pair with the Dukes for even more fun in the backcountry, and of course 2 pair of boots.

Anyway
Thanks for all the replies. I've already ordered a detailed map and really look forward to visit Seattle and the state of Washington
I hope to get at least 2 days at the Mt Baker ski area, and some more in the backcountry closer to Seattle.

Hope to see you at Baker Tim

Hans-Petter