TR Replies
That unbreakable crust sounds nasty. I saw a photo of a friend going uphill to ski powder and he had boot crampons on his feet!
Aha! I wondered who traveled by ski, I saw your tracks on the bike path. Your planks were definitely fatter than any XC skiers. I was the dumba$$ who thought it would be ok to pedal my bike in. Tomorrow I'm using my AT setup to get to work. Thanks for breaking trail.
POW on crusty crust ice. Yes.
Yesterday (sunday) @ Rampoart Ridge I found the crust on the downtrack too which made for rubbinsh snowboarding. Possible that I'm heavier with a shorter snowboard etc etc etc. Pretty bad ride down except the real low angle stuff which was delicious.
Yesterday (sunday) @ Rampoart Ridge I found the crust on the downtrack too which made for rubbinsh snowboarding. Possible that I'm heavier with a shorter snowboard etc etc etc. Pretty bad ride down except the real low angle stuff which was delicious.
Amazing action shots - 20" in the driveway...to start! That's the ticket to a great day.
Epic Great flic! Thanks for sharing.
Did you think you were dreaming when you looked out the window this morning?
Absolutely incredible!
TR of the year
TR of the year
Thanks for posting these cool reports...hope to see some from Japan too
Wow...ski dream come true...in your back yard no less :)
Nice idea, Rippy! 1st quarter moon 2/12. Full 2/19.
If a full moon preavais, ski from the top of Schmitz park to Alki on the trail, then the road at night. If it's as good as 1969, the silver glow around you is off the hook and no botttom outs, headlight un-necessary. It may ski end to end with a tad more snow?.
author=rippy link=topic=41486.msg163825#msg163825 date=1549843641]
It's beyond rare. Just flipped my 65th a few days ago and told the wife, things could get epic around here. Then had the dream and whooaah, are ya kidding me? Never in my life again most likely but havin a blast outta my backyard. secret tip: Eastbrook Drive / road end / look for tracks
A HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you! I turned 65 a decade ago and I amortize my...
It's beyond rare. Just flipped my 65th a few days ago and told the wife, things could get epic around here. Then had the dream and whooaah, are ya kidding me? Never in my life again most likely but havin a blast outta my backyard. secret tip: Eastbrook Drive / road end / look for tracks
Maybe once in 20 years but ya gotta love it!
Wonderful powder pictures, about as cold and deep as it gets, and the elk!
I like your short ski buddy who also likes powder.😉
OK. The most wonderful things sometimes are right in front of us. Aside from my wife and kids, that may be the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
West Seattle has the max VF in the city limits: 514' el. at High Point at Myrtle St Reservoir to the sea level. I've wanted to do this since someone posted in 2012. Here's a route that went good today: RWGPS
It could be even better if you take 39th a block south to SW Orchard, traverse up a half block on California, and head west on SW Othello.
I did a loop from Alki to High Point to Lowman Beach and back to Alk...
It could be even better if you take 39th a block south to SW Orchard, traverse up a half block on California, and head west on SW Othello.
I did a loop from Alki to High Point to Lowman Beach and back to Alk...
Nice going, I love those exotic ski locations, you never know when they will be in again!
Later in the day, with colder temperatures, the snow quality improved significantly. However, the neighborhood wasn't as quiet anymore. I was surprised how many steep streets (even those under "SNOW CLOSURE") were worn down by tire tracks. And the others chosen for sledding areas turned quite icy. But there were a few pockets of soft fresh snow. Yay, local skiing!
Nice to hear from other areas. Where were the best runs? I'm looking forward to the next round!
Nice to hear from other areas. Where were the best runs? I'm looking forward to the next round!
Well we went into the Kendall trap zone today. Besides tricky skinning up the stump due to pow on crust, the skiing was fantastic. Only open slopes got that grade, anything with tree cover got chunky crust with some pow, not awesome.
Why the trap today?? Well, zero wind slab, the usual winds not present and with the east flow Kendall was nicely sheltered all day. 3 laps of great quality then out.
Why the trap today?? Well, zero wind slab, the usual winds not present and with the east flow Kendall was nicely sheltered all day. 3 laps of great quality then out.
I'm glad to see an 'Urban Touring' report, as I'm confident that many in our ski community continue to take advantage of turns close to home. I live in Edmonds, and I, too, took the time to trek a 1/2 mile from home at midnight last evening, to partake of Main Street. In 2011 or 2012, the last time we had a big, long-term snowfall, I attempted to ski this city street from its summit. Even though the street was 'Closed' by the Street Dept, I was stopped by a police o...
I found some good turns on the steep east-west streets (steep for streets, I think 20% in spots! not steep for skiing) near the arboretum between 24th and 28th ave e. Waxless teles with leathers were ideal for the conditions. It was sticky enough that I could go straight uphill, then kick the snow off and go back downhill without a pause. Might have gotten 1000' vert total. As the day went on and more people skied, fresh tracks were still available on the sides near the parked cars. Just wa...
author=mikerolfs link=topic=41457.msg163796#msg163796 date=1549599295]
Me too
Not much more detail.
On our first time up the skin track, there was a spot between some trees that was shoveled out with a shovel left in the area. Unusual sight, we thought either (A) memorial of some sort or (B) someone left it. (A) seemed possible, but unknown to us, (B) seemed very unlikely. On our second (or thir...
author=dberdinka link=topic=41457.msg163766#msg163766 date=1549386332]
Curious about your "fort" comment.
Me too
Impressive. I think most go CW and buy a single ride ticket to take the lifts up Blackcomb to start. Then you can ski down Singing Pass trail. You then have the option of skiing Fissile Peak at the end, which is glorious. Downside is you have to wait for the lifts to open, preventing an early start. I was with a snowboarder and Singing Pass sucks on a snowboard. So we opted to hike all the way back to Flute bowl where you can ski down the groomers after the lifts are closed. Also, going CW there...
author=dave095790 link=topic=41457.msg163746#msg163746 date=1549245220]
Sunday we met someone in their "fort" who was refusing entry and making people go around. there might have been a joke, but we missed it. curious if this is normal and if/where I can get my own fort.
If you only knew the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow...
Curious about your "fort" comment. As in someone built a snowfort and didn't want you skiing through it? Or someone placed an imaginary fort in their immediate vicinity and told you to give them a 10' radius? Details please....
Good additional data. My thought is a route that is quite likely to have "snowmobile groomed" escape hatch options :-)
I will say that the lower 2/3rd of Nash gate skied as bad as I can remember yesterday, the stuff you can cut your face, break your leg, slide forever on and of course forget about turning on it either.
THanks. Seems worth investigating then. I have low expectations but don't love the sort of breakable crust that can cut my face when falling :-) Your comments leave me mildly hopeful for something that might be more fun than hiking down Mt Si with the right route choice.
Jim, the best skiing we had was the return slope above Source Lake. At lower elevations that didn't recieve much new snow, things felt kind of like "rain corn." But without yesterdays warming, it is probably firm and bumpy now. I think you can count on a pretty frozen but at least supportable surface on S slopes that warmed up yesterday.
Thanks for the report. Do you think not-steep or beneath-steep south aspects that have gotten sun will have a supportive crust in open areas below say 5K or so? Or still breakable? Pondering some "hike on skis" thoughts and the potential for at least skiable dust on crust in some spots (i.e. able to stay upright even if it's not truly fun turns)...
Ridge rd. is scheduled to open Friday but I wouldn't count on it. I talked with the plow crew which were just about done plowing Sunday and was told they had to plow to keep the road open for emergency purposes despite the shutdown. I'm going to miss owning the place. Nice granular turns again today above Switchback!
Yay for climate change ::)
Was the HR road open last weekend?
Was the HR road open last weekend?
See also:Â http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=41291.from1548863071;topicseen#msg163693
Amar,
Thanks as always for the detailed report. I thought about heading to Mt St Helens on Saturday but opted for some southeasterly-facing terrain on Mt Hood (white river canyon environs). It was near windless there and the sun was shining strongly enough to develop great spring-like snow conditions between 5 and 9,000-feet. I was thinking along similar lines to what you found Monday, that seeking spring this time of year is fickle, if the high clouds are a little thicker or th...
Thanks as always for the detailed report. I thought about heading to Mt St Helens on Saturday but opted for some southeasterly-facing terrain on Mt Hood (white river canyon environs). It was near windless there and the sun was shining strongly enough to develop great spring-like snow conditions between 5 and 9,000-feet. I was thinking along similar lines to what you found Monday, that seeking spring this time of year is fickle, if the high clouds are a little thicker or th...
Amar, Thank you kindly for the tutorial, I knew there must be some simple step to which I was oblivious...
Thanks also for the extended info on the route conditions, glad you got out and got so much of it! I too was surprised at the amount of trail melt-out during just the few hours elapsed between ascent and descent. Sounds like the weekend was the window for maximum fun/effort.
Thanks also for the extended info on the route conditions, glad you got out and got so much of it! I too was surprised at the amount of trail melt-out during just the few hours elapsed between ascent and descent. Sounds like the weekend was the window for maximum fun/effort.
Hi CliffedDoubt, thanks for the report. In order to get the images to show within your TR, link to each actual image file on Imgur, not the webpage for each image. To do this, change the first pic's URL inside the img tags from https://imgur.com/jLmKBCO to https://i.imgur.com/jLmKBCO.jpg instead, and similarly for the other 2 pics.
Like so for your 3 pics:


Like so for your 3 pics:


Great! Thanks for the stoke!
author=avajane link=topic=41423.msg163662#msg163662 date=1548743711]
Maybe not on the link.
Great call.
Thanks for the tip-off... Less than tech savvy. Tried imgur and TAY's internal photo stitcher to no luck. Modified the link to a "shared file" in the google's terms, should all be visible now.
Maybe not on the link.
Great call.
Great call.
Yeah, that was me, nice to meet you. Lapping that corn was a good call - that was the best snow we skied all day. We took a detour up Lundin on our way to Red and by the time we got to Red it was too mushy so we bailed.
Thanks for your reports and beta. I think we met you up on the Snoqualmie Mtn East. We did one more lap in that nice corn before joining the luge track down the valley.