May 30, 2010, Alpental

5/30/10

WA Snoqualmie Pass

2327

3

Posted by silaswild on 5/30/10 9:28am

Getting very tired of the cool, wet Seattle weather, bad for skiing and biking, we decided to try to beat the rain today at Alpental. We followed half a dozen other skiers up under chair 1, starting 10' from the patio. Weather was perfect for uphill skiing, cool and cloudy but not raining. The snow seems to be firming up, perhaps thanks to rain? Above 5000' we found a couple inches of slushy new snow.

Like Monday, the ski down International was reasonable, but did require driving the skis through the turns, this time I wisely brought my Manaslus, 25mm wider than the Inspire Luvs. The lower we went, the better the snow, and no grabbiness. No rain either, yahoo.

5/30/10 1:03pm

lernr

Hi, thanks for the beta.

Do you think Alpental Mon around lunch and afternoon would be decent?

I am debating Alpental or Crystal (if anything at all).

Where would you say the good snow started - lower 'Nash?

Cheers
Ivo

5/30/10 1:51pm

silaswild

I would not call any of the snow bad, the higher slushy stuff was just more challenging, definitely bring your widest skis. And it just got firmer and firmer as you lost elevation, at the end of the tour some of our group thought doing laps to the top of Chair 1 would have been better skiing, not as panoramic a tour.

We chose Alpental because it is half the drive that Crystal is for us.

5/31/10 2:46am

lernr

Thanks - similar drive for me :)

I have only one pair of skis here in US, not wide but should do (Atomic RT86).

Lapping Chair 1 sounds better than staying home :)

Cheers
Ivo

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