November 13, 2011, Blueberry Chutes
11/13/11
2086
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Curtis, Russ, Tristan, Bobby and I cruised up from Seattle to Table Mountain on Sunday morning. My fwd VW, sans chains, made it all the way up 542. The road seems to be consistently plowed and didn't cause me any problems. Bobby and Tristan made a run at the Heliotrope trailhead before joining us; but that road proved a little too sketchy for their Subaru.
Probably my favorite thing about Sunday was skinning from the carI haven't been able to do that since July! We took three laps on the Blueberry Chutes and encountered plenty of heavy, deep snow. The only real *unintentional* rock issue came when Tristan tripped a snow shark near the top of our first run. He ejected from his binding and the ski suffered a little mangling, but it should be repairable. Otherwise the coverage seemed pretty good. With all the snow coming this week; I imagine that even some of the steeper aspects will be adequately filled in relatively soon.
Visibility was good enough for safe skiing, and barely passable for photography. Only several times during the day did we get a view of the summit of Table Mountain. We also seemed to time each of our descents with a load of fog rolling in. Each time we waited a few minutes and things broke up enough for us to see across the valley. Wind was relatively low all day and didn't present much of a problem either.
Compared to last weekend on Heliotrope, this snow certainly felt more "traditional." Although heavier, it was still fun to ski. My fat, rockered skis were worth every ounce.
I also made it down the Mount Baker Highway without incident. Another car, a Subaru for that matter, in our group gently "glanced" a snowbank. They left before me and still beat me to beers in Bellingham, so it didn't sound like it was that bad.
Loads more photos on my blog: http://www.explosion5000.com/2011/11/blueberry-chutes.html
I found this message scrawled on my car... It turns out the other half our crew skied in the ski area proper and finished about 30 minutes before we did. What better way to cap off a November ski day than detouring through Bellingham on the way back to Seattle?
Probably my favorite thing about Sunday was skinning from the carI haven't been able to do that since July! We took three laps on the Blueberry Chutes and encountered plenty of heavy, deep snow. The only real *unintentional* rock issue came when Tristan tripped a snow shark near the top of our first run. He ejected from his binding and the ski suffered a little mangling, but it should be repairable. Otherwise the coverage seemed pretty good. With all the snow coming this week; I imagine that even some of the steeper aspects will be adequately filled in relatively soon.
Visibility was good enough for safe skiing, and barely passable for photography. Only several times during the day did we get a view of the summit of Table Mountain. We also seemed to time each of our descents with a load of fog rolling in. Each time we waited a few minutes and things broke up enough for us to see across the valley. Wind was relatively low all day and didn't present much of a problem either.
Compared to last weekend on Heliotrope, this snow certainly felt more "traditional." Although heavier, it was still fun to ski. My fat, rockered skis were worth every ounce.
I also made it down the Mount Baker Highway without incident. Another car, a Subaru for that matter, in our group gently "glanced" a snowbank. They left before me and still beat me to beers in Bellingham, so it didn't sound like it was that bad.
Loads more photos on my blog: http://www.explosion5000.com/2011/11/blueberry-chutes.html
I found this message scrawled on my car... It turns out the other half our crew skied in the ski area proper and finished about 30 minutes before we did. What better way to cap off a November ski day than detouring through Bellingham on the way back to Seattle?
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