April 5, 2004, MRNP Dream Bowl

Neener, Neener, I didn't fall down today  ;D  8) Unlike some of the others, I kept the slippery sides down, and working good all day!!  With it being another beautiful day in the PNW our usual gang, Darryl, Maureen, Stefan, Jerry, Ron and myself had designs on "Dream Bowl".  It was a dream come true, with first track all day.  After some rather interesting bush whacking and a "belayed" stream crossing, we finally emerged upon the bowl.  With the warm weather, the snow was soft and quite skiable.  You did have to watch for the occasional "death cookie" that would chase you down the hill.  There were no noted surface releases until we were about to make our final descent onto the Nisqually Glacier Moraine.  Jerry volunteered to do a ski cut on the west slope of the moraine, releasing a wet surface slide that took the top two inches, which gathered momentum and collected more snow before running down and stopping on the valley floor.  Interesting how the sound was much like hearing the Nisqually River itself. Jerry carefully continued the ski cut across the intended ski slope releasing more of the surface.  The rest of us waited at the top until he had reached the bottom safely.  Stefan volunteered to cut the rest of the area releasing what was left of the wet snow, while the rest of us waited patienlty at the top until this slope had been properly "groomed".  The remaining snow under the releases was very stable and skiable, as one by one we managed to safely descend to the Glacier Valley.  Once down we were able to ski most of the way back to the cars, only having to endure a couple of stream crossings.  All in all it was a beautiful.   8)