March 19, 2005, Stevens Pass
3/19/05
WA Stevens Pass
1911
0
I was feeling pretty good about my Saturday until I read Sam's post, but here goes anyway...
Staying in Plain with only a short day available, got to Stevens Pass parking lot at noon. Skinned up to the Tye Mill chair, which is the center, lower saddle (double diamond high point to skier's right, seventh heaven high point to skier's left.) 6 to 10 inches of new. At lower elevations, the bottom few inches had certainly softened and set. I wouldn't say there was a crust but it became noticeably more cohesive. Anyway, with all of the low coverage around, it seemed that taking a crack at what was normally a groomer might be the best bet. And we lucked out!
There's a run, I think called maybe Skid Road, which is an easier blue run that arcs in the shape of a big banana out to the skier's left and then back to the right. The upper few hundred feet was an untracked goldmine on the skier's left edge. about 10 inches of soft pow on top of a solid but smooth base. Most turns were pure softness, but on occasion we'd feel the resistance from the down deep solidness. This was a mellow pitch, but just perfect.
There were some sweet looking steeper lines up to the skier's left coming down that would have required maybe 15 more minutes up time to find, but my partner was in his element so we stayed put. Each cycle of climb/ski was maybe 25 minutes.
The ski out to the car was much better then expected as well, and we even laid a set of eights down a small rise coming towards the lodge. Saw only four other people in four hours, and once past the lower mountain, it was really quite beautiful up there - that run has a few trees and a nice arc to it that makes it quite aesthetic, and is fairly wind-sheltered to boot.
I think north aspects have great snow, but off the normal piste coverage seems sketchy, lots of rocks. Temps never got above 30 at the Pass over the weekend so recent snow quality was preserved. If temps stay cold, might be some easy pickings left there. There are clearly some nice steeper untracked lines near where we were.
JimmyO
Staying in Plain with only a short day available, got to Stevens Pass parking lot at noon. Skinned up to the Tye Mill chair, which is the center, lower saddle (double diamond high point to skier's right, seventh heaven high point to skier's left.) 6 to 10 inches of new. At lower elevations, the bottom few inches had certainly softened and set. I wouldn't say there was a crust but it became noticeably more cohesive. Anyway, with all of the low coverage around, it seemed that taking a crack at what was normally a groomer might be the best bet. And we lucked out!
There's a run, I think called maybe Skid Road, which is an easier blue run that arcs in the shape of a big banana out to the skier's left and then back to the right. The upper few hundred feet was an untracked goldmine on the skier's left edge. about 10 inches of soft pow on top of a solid but smooth base. Most turns were pure softness, but on occasion we'd feel the resistance from the down deep solidness. This was a mellow pitch, but just perfect.
There were some sweet looking steeper lines up to the skier's left coming down that would have required maybe 15 more minutes up time to find, but my partner was in his element so we stayed put. Each cycle of climb/ski was maybe 25 minutes.
The ski out to the car was much better then expected as well, and we even laid a set of eights down a small rise coming towards the lodge. Saw only four other people in four hours, and once past the lower mountain, it was really quite beautiful up there - that run has a few trees and a nice arc to it that makes it quite aesthetic, and is fairly wind-sheltered to boot.
I think north aspects have great snow, but off the normal piste coverage seems sketchy, lots of rocks. Temps never got above 30 at the Pass over the weekend so recent snow quality was preserved. If temps stay cold, might be some easy pickings left there. There are clearly some nice steeper untracked lines near where we were.
JimmyO
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