Pacific NW/AK/BC 2018-2019

[Tom Co.]

Stevens - Fri 12/14
It was a lot better than Wednesday. Only a few small lines, visibility was better with a high overcast, and my season pass worked. Off piste was unskiable. There was a crust over the new snow. The groomers we're in pretty good shape and there were a lot more of them. Also, Tye Mill and Big Chief chairs were open. Seventh Heaven was open but had few takers. I was not one of them. The groomers on the lower half of the mountain we're pretty icy and got worse as the day went on. Upper Sky and Tye had the best snow. Big Chief was the iciest. It was worth going. I had fun, but still only a 2 out of 3 day

 

[David Chaus]

12/15 Sat
First day on snow this season, instructor clinics at Stevens. Kehr’s was challenging, soft and icy spots. Hogsback and Skyline were pretty good, even decent enough coverage on the Blue Trail if you liked irregular moguls. Tye Mill had good snow, another group took some runs on 7th Heaven and reported the snow was excellent, top to bottom, with only a few sketchy spots. Back tomorrow for more, and it’s supposed to snow all day. Crowds and liftlines weren’t a problem, provided you weren’t in the long line at guest services trying to pickup a pass.

 

[David Chaus]

Sunday 12/16 at Stevens, about 4-5” new snow overnight, with new snowfall throughout the day, though warmer around noon and some frozen rain/ice falling near the base, then back to snow. Some fog at one point (on Mill Valley at least) then back to decent visibility. Decent skiing everywhere, coverage and conditions are better off-piste. No problems with crowds, minimal lift lines, and they opened up the backside and had Jupiter spinning. A fine day all in all.

 

[Tom Co.]

Stevens- Mon 12/17
It was our best day of the season so far. No lines to speak of, visibility, pretty darn good. The light got a little flat at times, especially later in the day. The snow was also pretty darn good. There was a couple of inches a new and it made off piste skiing fun. The off piste chair line run on Sky was good, ditto for the the Blue Trail on Hogs, skiers right off of Chief was fun. We did our first run of the year on 7th and it skied well, however by the time we got around to a second lap, the light had gotten really flat. We also did our first run of the year on Jupiter. The trees on the upper part we're fun. The lower part was pretty sun affected. The lower section of the groomer was pretty icy. The treed areas of upper Orion we're a bit thick but skiable. Lower Orion beat the heck out of me.

One point for crowd, .9 for snow, .9 for visibility = 2.8/3 prorated for this season and the fact that it was a really fun day .

 

[David Chaus]

I was at Stevens as well, 3rd day in a row! I was on the slopes from 10-1. We’ll have to try to meet up sometime.

The best snow was on 7th and there was a fog band on top but after the first steep pitch the visibility was fine. Nice groomer conditions on Brennan’s on the far side of the terrain park, to get there the chute from Lower Terminal from Skyline was pretty good for this time of the year. Roller Coaster/Gun Tower was good; the backside....ugghh. Gemini was OK on top, icy on the bottom. Aquarius was heavy chop from the top, fun irregular bumps in the middle, and again Lower Gemini was a good challenge for working your edges. It’s amazing how much more sun-affected that side gets, with as little sun as we had.

The conditions Sunday was much better, and the lift lines on Sunday weren’t too much a problem. But I’m not complaining, Mondays are fun.

 

[noncrazycanuck]

still snowing at Whistler - over 2m in last 7 days and a lot more coming by weekend,
Taking bets on when the alpine can completely open. Avy conditions are extreme.
Think I've mentioned it before a very good info for this area is the wayne flann avalanche blog
just read Grant Gunderson was caught at Baker. Sounds like it's going to be a high risk season if we don't get some rain soon to help consolidate the pack.

 

[David Chaus]

Sounds like it's going to be a high risk season if we don't get some rain soon to help consolidate the pack.

You know, I might be crazy, but I’d rather not get some rain. Then again, while I’m an inbounds skier, I can understand the need and desire for more stable backcountry and alpine conditions.

I hope Gunderson is OK, his photography is amazing.

 

[David Chaus]

Sadly, I need to work today, and Stevens had 10” overnight and more on the way.

Hope they get more snow in UT, as I’m heading there Friday-Xmas for a family gathering, and The Beav and Cherry Peak will be nearby.

 

[DanoT]

Sadly, I need to work today, and Stevens had 10” overnight and more on the way.

Hope they get more snow in UT, as I’m heading there Friday-Xmas for a family gathering, and The Beav and Cherry Peak will be nearby.

Any family gathering where you get to bring your skis:

 

[noncrazycanuck]

was thinking about a quick trip to Apex over the holidays but their site shows not much open due to lack of snow.
that seems very unlikely with all the fronts that have gone through lately.
any more current info on Thompson/ Okanogan ?

 

[John O]

Good day up at Crystal yesterday. The freezing level had gotten up above the base, but the top of the mountain was dry and in good shape. Coverage is improving rapidly with all the snow that's been falling. Winter took a while to get here, but things are looking good right now. Let's hope the snow keeps coming and the freezing level stays down.

 

[DanoT]

was thinking about a quick trip to Apex over the holidays but their site shows not much open due to lack of snow.
that seems very unlikely with all the fronts that have gone through lately.
any more current info on Thompson/ Okanogan ?

Sun Peaks has 112 of 137 runs open. Some of the black and double black runs on west Morrisey and lower Burfield are closed, hike to Gil's hill is open. No rocks to speak of are showing so rock skis not needed. SP has increased the capacity of their most popular lift, Sundance, by 30% so Xmas lift lines should be smallish.

Silver Star is listing 127 of 127 runs open so the Powder Gulch is open.

 

[Posaune]

My Christmas tree business is now closed for the season, so I finally got up for the first time this season to Baker today. There is good coverage on the main runs, no rocks, bushes or other obstacles. Some of the really knarly runs are still closed due to lack of snow, but that didn't stop a whole bunch of folks from ducking the rope and poaching them. Snowing and a bit foggy on top, but mostly OK visibility and decent snow. There is a reported 77" base at Heather Meadows and 100" on top of Pan Dome.

Today began my 55th consecutive ski season. I'm old.

 

[noncrazycanuck]

don't let him fool you, the kid can still ski.

 

[Tom Co.]

I was up at Stevens today for swing shift. I Started skiing about three o'clock and was able to get one run in on Seventh Heaven before it closed. Seventh was pretty good, it was a little thick and gloppy but worth it. Once the lights came on, I skied most of the time on the runs that are normally groomed but are now kind of fun bump runs. Those would be Blue Trail on Hogs and Crest Trail on Tye. There were some lights not working on the main groomer down Tye so it was pretty dark in there. The lit off piste areas of Sky we're very skiable. No lines anywhere. Well except for the one at guest services where they're still doing season passes. It looked to be about 30 minutes long
Vis= 1 Crowd=1 Snow=.8. Another 2.8/3
Nice to see John O and Posaune posting. I am hoping to get to Crystal on Sat. Anybody heading that way?

 

[Christy]

I was looking at an issue of the Seattle Times from June 1967 today and saw this ad. Must have been a good snow year.

 

[Posaune]

I was looking at an issue of the Seattle Times from June 1967 today and saw this ad. Must have been a good snow year.

View attachment 61260

Not necessarily; it could have been average. Baker has the world's (or at least North America's) largest average snowfall. 200" of base or more is not an infrequent event. Already 100" is being reported this season, and it's been below average, so far. There is often plenty of snow to go well into July, but not plenty of skiers. They now close in April like everyone else, (they even did it when they had the world's record snowfall year in '98/99) though it's often when we have the largest base of the season, and it can keep on snowing for a while.

 

[Tom Co.]

Crystal - Sun 12/23
More of what is happening in the PNW
There was a huge solid line of cars from Enunclaw and every one of them was a Powder pig. I was pretty early but the boulevard was 5 to 15 miles an hour just because of the backup of cars. There were instant lift lines everywhere. I guess that's what you get when everybody is snow starved. The report said 6 inches of new, however on top there was more, and it was bottomless in the trees. The untracked lasted minutes. I did four laps in Green Valley until the line got unbearably big, so I went out Kelly's Gap, which had fun skiing. The cut up Pow skied really well. It was light and fluffy enough that you could just blow through the piles. Northway opened, but only from Paradise bowl, so the good stuff is all roped off. It wasn't worth a second lap. The top of six is really rocky, but I still did three laps in the Campbell basin side. The Powder Bowl side had really flat light. Snorting Elk and Memorial we're both worth repeats. The lines all but disappeared after about 1130.
All of the lots except F were full.
I gave this 3/3 because I was so stoked

 

[Stephen]

Heading to Snoqualmie 12/28. Anyone gonna be around that would want to show me around a bit?

 

[Tricia]

Heading to Snoqualmie 12/28. Anyone gonna be around that would want to show me around a bit?

Anyone who can find the time to show @Stephen around, you will have a great time.