Pacific NW/AK/BC Pacific NW, AK, and BC Resorts, Weather, Conditions 19-20

[PNWRod]

Looks like heavy rain and wind for Thursday at Crystal. That is the day I designed my work schedule around so I'm trying to decide if I want to skip it, go to the boathouse and grab a couple combo waterskis and go anyway or reschedule everything and go Friday which may or may not be better. Either way it's gonna be wet heavy snow. FWIW- I just say NO to January weekend skiing at Crystal.

 

[Analisa]

Anyone else get stuck in the Stevens/Skykomish closure two weekends ago? Felt like the apocalypse up there come Monday, but skied so well. I regret I didn't have my touring gear with me.

 

[David Chaus]

Yes, I was parked 1/2 mile from Skykomish for 6 hours, finally turned around and drove back over the pass, then Blewett and I90/Snoqualmi, home around 5:30am. Good times.

 

[noncrazycanuck]

that sounds like an ugly drive
getting up the Sea to Sky was a bit challenging and slow last week but not that bad.
this week raining in Vancouver -lower hill heavy snow, mid is ok and alpine is great, base is now at a normal January level.
however typical Whistler visibility - has been snowing most of month.

 

[New2]

Neat article in SAM about 3 very local ski areas, including 2 in the northwest... Eaglecrest in Alaska and Little Ski Hill in McCall, Idaho. Anyone been to them?

Heartbeat Hills - Ski Area Management

We profile three local ski areas that are the lifeblood of their communities. Scattered about the winter sports world are special little hills that you may never have heard of. On a topographical map, they may barely make a blip. But in the communities they center, they stand tall: not just a...

www.saminfo.com

 

[David Chaus]

Interesting article.

Haven’t been to Little Ski Hill, but it’s near the road to Brundage, which is a small enough ski resort as it is, and more identified with McCall. Little Ski Hill is really geared to school-age kids and night skiing, it’s super easy to get to from town, though Brundage is only another 15 minutes up the road.

I have to say, I love the general area, the snow is great and it’s never crowded.

 

[PNWRod]

I'm going to hit the slush tomorrow at Crystal. Should be good times!

 

[David Chaus]

I was at a clinic yesterday at Alpental. I think the forecast for rain later in the evening kept the crowds away, plus it was mid-week. The forecast changed mid-day and the rain didn’t come until the next day (this morning).

It snowed at least 6” throughout the day, after about 7” the night before. It got colder after lunch and the snow was great, though still the heavy PNW snow we get when it’s 32 degrees at the base. Nonetheless there was no frenzy, no lift lines, everyone was civilized and we had fresh tracks if we wanted them. The easiest entry into Upper International I’ve ever seen. Snake Dance was pretty empty. Some nice untracked on Shot 6 at the end of the day, which is not too unusual because it’s a steep chute followed by a hairy traverse just to get to it.

Even the main runs off Armstrong were soft all day. Good times.

 

[Posaune]

Skied yesterday at Stevens. After last week's powder bonanza the heavy new stuff was a bit of a let down. Everything was fine, it was just a B- day compared to the A days of last week.
I stayed at my cabin near Skykomish last night and it rained like in the Bible. The amount of trees down along the road from the big storm was a mind blower. My place didn't have any problems, but I'm sure glad I cleared the trees out around the building a couple of years ago.

 

[slowrider]

Electricity?

 

[Posaune]

Electricity?

Those that are on the grid were back up. I am not, so there was no interruption of service for me at any time.

 

[PNWRod]

It's snowing in the parking lot at Crystal.

 

[PNWRod]

This morning early the runs were a bit challenging. It had rained yesterday, they didn't groom very much so a majority of the runs had 2-3" of wet snow over frozen leftover crud. Fortunately by 10:30 or so it softened up and it turned into a really good late morning early afternoon. Hopefully it keeps snowing instead of raining over the weekend as we have lots of precipitation coming in.

 

[noncrazycanuck]

Whistler Friday again lots of new -knee to thigh deep in places.
Alpine had very nice snow on some aspects, others heavy and a lot of work. Mid hill sticky and clumping. By valley spring conditions and staying on a run was wise.
Visibility was variable at best.

 

[noncrazycanuck]

I saw the sun today,
was more exciting than all the fresh.

 

[Posaune]

I saw the sun today,
was more exciting than all the fresh.

Me too. Baker was great with several inches of new snow and great weather. I could get used to it.

 

[slowrider]

Was wet in Oregon. Good soft carving snow and low traffic on the hill.

 

[Bad Bob]

Saw it in Kalispell today but home and for sure not 49* North yesterday. That could have been sasquatch on the chair with me and wouldn't have known it through the fog. The crud was next to unskiable and there was a mist falling.

I had a ball.

 

[Tom Co.]

Stevens- Monday Sun Here To
It turned out that all schools in WA were out for some teacher thing, so there was a much larger crowd than the usual Monday. Even so the lines were non existent except for a small one on Hogs. There was about 5 in of new schmoo to play in. Coverge is great, the back side was all open and if you can ski schmoo, skied well. Corona Bowl was disappointing. It was scraped with thick piles. Upper Pegasus was nice but the bottom half was work. Orion was better. Bumps were fun all over the mountain. The best part was the Visibility. The sun came out!

Fun Factor- 4/5
Stoke-o-Meter 3.5/5

Zoomed up Glacier Peak

Upper Pegasus

Schmoo on the Front Side [it skied pretty well]

More Schmoo, This is Orion

 

[DanoT]

Shared a chairlift ride today with 2 snowboard instructors who are here at Sun Peaks for a 6 day Level 4 instructors course and examination. There are about 35 of them and over 100 ski instructors plus examiners taking the level 4 CSIA course. So guys and gals from all over Canada skiing all over the mountain like they are on railroad tracks.