Alpental Plea

As a (former) regular user of the alpental valley - the best solution are road signs.  With info on "big control Days" - ala, shooting artillery around the I-90 corridor at mountains that look suspect - A DAY IN ADVANCE.  Most of my trips began in the dark, by headlight, to catch first ski before work.

Road signs work.  Give you an example - and this might bring back some TAY memories - On December 7, 2005 I was driving home to North Bend over Snoq Pass for work.  The sign that usually said "Chains Required..." instead had an unusual sign: "I-90 closing 7 am for control work".  Interesting.  I've never seen that sign.

Did I ski the next morning?  You betcha, December 8th, 2005, and when the shelling above I-90 started I was very high on Mt Snoqualmie, hoping that closing I90 meant they were blowing the slopes above the road, and not Mt Snoqualmie.  At the time, I would have liked a little clarification on exactly where they were shooting on the road sign. 

And I would have heeded the warning.

 

As far as blasting on Snoqualmie Mt, I have lived at Alpental every year since the epic '98-99 year and have only seen them firing shots at the phantom once. This was during a monster strom cycle in March where we got ~5 feet in just a few days and the pass was closed at the time. If Gib or anyone else can correct me please do so but my point is that it is a very very rare event.

For what it's worth I obviously support people being able to tour the Alp. I have always tried my hardest to be respectful of the patrol and obey any requests they may have. With so few exceptions that they are like tiny blips on a radar they have always been respectful and reasonable with me when I approach them in this manner. I am always willing to alter a tour or go to a different area altogether if it interferes with their work schedule or simply if they ask me to.

I was thinking about this and it might just come down to money. On many weekends, the Alpental parking lot fills up quickly. If there are 50+ cars up there that are using the parking for ski touring, snowshoeing, sledding, ice or alpine climbing the ski area will lose out on that revenue. I know there is a shuttle from the other areas but parking is so bad on the weekends, I know many people who just don’t bother to ski the lifts there on the weekend. I never do.

Just a thought.

Alpental kicks butt as a ski area, and has great steep BC stashes and decents. But as per my other posts in another forum, the intial plea here makes sense to me.

Know when to say "no". And since we all share the area, it will be up to the individual to make that decision for himself/herself.

I would like to remind the "Alpencentric" folks here that there are other great places to ski besides arguably the most dangerous valley in Washington. That said, you'll probaby all see me developing my own case of "Alpencentrism"...but the plea still stands.

Consider going somewhere else when conditions warrent it. (like the past 3 weeks).

Just wondering:
Maybe this has already been suggested, but why not an AM radio report with respect to avy danger/blasting similar to what the DOT does on AM1610 at the pass?