source lake uphill dog park trail

BTW, I get that the posters who called out Pete for his lost dog likely think this was totally relevant to the thread, but FWIW, in the context and given the wording, the first reference to this loss on page 1 came off as a very personal sort of "insert knife and twist" sort of personal dig versus a really clear argument for proper handling of dogs. It's hard to read this as not being meant as being a personal dig as anything else. Yes, good voice control is important as Aaron points out, but IMO it's not sufficient and thus not super on-point with respect to the blind-curves-bowling-alley of this stretch of the Alpental border - the interactions just happen so fast along there that voice control won't be quick enough in many cases.

As for snideness, some might read the OP's reference to "you big tour studs" outfitted with full regalia as possibly just a teensy bit snide too - I know I did when I first saw that post. Perhaps understandable given the "righteous rant" nature of this anti-poo thread, but snide is snide. Not a good excuse to respond in-kind if you don't like snideness of course.

FWIW, I would never tuck above and past the water tower to make it across the flat above the upper parking lot (especially getting to upwards of 40 MPH in that circus zone =8-O ). Regardless of what the circus crew should be doing there, I know what they actually tend to be doing, and I would rather skate a little alongside the parking lot than take what I see as a significant risk of collision - same deal further up the hill closer to Source Lake where it's a bit roller-coaster-y - I accept a little skating, sidestepping, or herringboning as a cost of avoiding hitting a goomba or their dog. Regardless of who I could say would be technically "at fault" in case of a collision there, I'd still prefer to avoid the risk. YMMV

In all my years of slack country skiing Alpental I have never hit anyone unintentionally . Small children may dart from time to time but generally don't try to run toward you and nip like some off leash dogs will.  I was there when one of our group (3rd to go past) couldn't avoid one of the 2 dogs charging at us on the upper ski trail out above the water tower run out to lot 4, resulting in a lot of blood and doggie carnage. Nothing reckless or careless by the skier, all on the off leash dogs.  And I remember that another dog lover in our group took it upon himself to use his shirt to stop the bleeding, and then spent the rest of his afternoon driving the dog and the owner to the animal clinic in north bend to get mended.


As for dogs on the ski hill, in the nineties before chair 1 was replaced with the lovely high speed quad, my dog at the time would occasionally wander up from the loop road to look for hand outs from the female (that dog had a thing for the ladies) parking lot ski school crowd. On more than one occasion he spotted me while I was loading the chair and would run up the entire length of the chair, beating it to the top and meeting me at the off ramp. One spring day he met his match as we continued up to 2 and that darn dog tried to run up the Fan through the slush, no way could he keep up with the chair on that rise. I thought he was going to implode his little doggie heart and found him exhausted in the flats of tower nine. We skied back down the Fan and he got a free ride up the lift for a run down Nash.   

Ha. Funny story Mofro (the second one).

Glenn, by the way, you didn't deserve my snide comment to your first post. I could have made my point in a lot less of an assnholish manner. Sorry for that.

Pete,
I'm sorry, too, and my condolences to all re Rainy, a dog I went looking for a couple of times after you'd reported her missing. I'm sad you didn't have a better outcome.

I would advise
you stop the conversing with these dorks man. When u bicker with
idiots eventually they'll wear  you down and bring you down to there
rule abiding, sheep following thoughtless, mindless ways brother.
We live east of the crest, in the mts.

good way to have a conversation, huh?
Pete, the source lake trail policy reads as such;
The trail is located within the Alpental Ski Area Special Use Permit Boundries and is designated for Downhill Ski Traffic Only.

Discussion of boundaries and policies aside, I saw a fella charge up the groomed trail from the lot in his truck the other night. Imagine facing that as a downhill skier in the dark. I didn't wait around long enough to see if he returned.