December 15, 2004, Silver Mt.

Desperate for a ski fix, drove over to Alpental and realized, yes there is no snow!  No possible way to cross lower slopes on skis.  Went with my fall back plan and did Silver Mt.  Was able to drive out the road past the sewer lagoon.  May need decent clearance for this section.  Then along the lake, road was snow free.  Parked the car just before the bridge over the river.  Continuous snow from there up to windy pass.  Unfortunately road was fairly rutted from snowmobiles and car traffic.  Above windy pass snow was smoother on road.  Snow coverage above road was just enough to be able to ski without hitting much.  Made it to the ridge leading up to the summit.  Nice view down to lake Annette, but backside of ridge basically had no snow.  Decided to stop on the ridge since I could get no further with the rocky conditions along the ridge.  Snow was very firm with trace of new.  This would be a nice ski, if the road portion was a little shorter.