February 17, 2005, Steven's Pass-reopening day!

Since I gave up my car in January I now travel mostly by two wheels or free heels. I also get around by the kindness of friends and strangers. While this is mostly a trip report about the fabulous "re-opening"; day at Steven's Pass it is also a public thank you for those who inspire and support (by way of transportation, on this occurrence) my love for skiing. <br><br>The first kudos go to you all at TAY. "This is a great community" said RossMac on the 12th and I concur completely. I've spent the last few days gearing up for trips to warmer lands and procrastinated a fair bit by reading telemetry data, TAY postings, and checking out photos here. This week of freshies made the decision to spend the next five weeks in Central America feel like poor timing. So seeking one last winter hurrah I carved out a day this week to head to the hills. <br><br>Enter the kindness of strangers. In January while looking for alternative transportation options I logged onto the RideShareOnline program through the Steven's Pass website. I registered and completely forgot I did. Until Josh emailed me Tuesday with an invite for a ride from the RideShare Match program. Since Mej and Lowell Skoog's TAY partner calls didn't pan out, and friends didn't take the blue bird bait, I was thrilled with the serendipity of this option. Josh, a third RideShareOnline participant, and I shuttled gear into one car and headed into the sunshine slowdown at 7:30 this morning. <br><br>I let out a hoot and holler in the parking lot! The sight of first tracks at Steven's pass was intoxicating (even if they weren't mine). A cold blue bird morning. It was already a great day. Of course, any day in the mountains is a great day. We took a few warm up runs in the sunshine on Skyline. Deep thigh wakes of powder off the groomers were great! Then I left the intermediate snowboarder boys for 7th heaven. Heaven. A few exposed hazards but pockets of plenty of snow made for a few good trips. The views from Tye Mill chair were fantastic and you could see skin tracks up the high ridges of the back side. The lack of snow beyond the backside was a bit disheartening. There is clearly less snow at Steven's now than there was the day before they closed on the 17th of January. Big boulders are apparent in Tye Bowl. Showcase is not as bare as the January 22nd Seattle Times photo, but still not open. By the end of the day patches in places (off of Tye and the top of Skyline) were skied low to thin cover (rocks or ice). Patrol were out with hedge shears and gardening tools trimming the shrubby fingers poking out of the snow. Plenty of joy on the mountain today. Kids skipping school, lift ops singing in the sunshine, free heelers genuflecting plenty of praise. Sucked it all down, good to the last drop--orange sky behind the Olympic range on the return. <br><br>The snow was awesome! What a great and glorious day! <br>-Jessica<br>