Home > Trip Reports > November 16, 2013, Stevens Pass

November 16, 2013, Stevens Pass

11/16/13
WA Stevens Pass
4821
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Posted by jtack on 11/16/13 1:05pm
The telemetry suggested 22 inches, and that seemed about right.  What a change from the day before, we were skiing re frozen cat track, and three to five inches of wind packed powder.  Today, it was a whole new game.  Mike was hot for an early start so we left town at 0615 and were making tracks by 0720, it was hard for me to keep up, the powder madness was strong, thank goodness Mike was on the sharp end, and all I had to do was hang on.  As we made our way through the base area we were advised that the area would be opening at noon, but we would be out of the way if we kept to the east side of the area, and so we did. The word was out, and as we finished our first lap all, all manner of sliding  device was making it's way up our skin track.  The snow was really so deep, and unconsolidated that, fat anything was the order of the day.  Fourteen inches would have been fine, and because there was 22 it was a delicate balancing act, too far forward and it was tip dive and a superman, too far back, and it was way too fast and no control.   I think this was the best "first powder day" ever,  there were still trees sticking through but Stevens is well on it's way to a great ski season.

Mikes first act of rashness, this was followed by a beater.







This is my new favorite ski picture, Mike in deep.



By the second lap, some of our pals fell in, and we had a wonderful day.



A bad picture, but you get the idea.







And yes there were head plants, and they were the kind that caused momentary panic, wondering how you were going to get up.



Some of my better work!



And just can't stop smiling POWDER!







Skip whatever you were planing tomorrow, and  go get some turns!


Okay then!

Hope you left some on the lower east side :)

Man Oh Man, what a fun day!  I was impressed that even on a busy day when the lifts are going to open, Stevens Pass welcomed the uphill crowd.  I was more impressed by the snow.  I was even more impressed by the crowd.  I'd guess there were 200 uphillers at the ski area.  Swarms on Chief, and people headed toward 7th, Tye, Double Diamond, and even up Chief Bowl. 

The Wenatchee crew was well represented:


WaHooo!

Yeah, very nice day!

Took our older daughter out bc-ing for the first time, she doesn't have a split but used my Verts, I let her walk in my tracks  ;D but kept her off others'

Met many skiers and a couple other splitboarders, everyone was smiling and friendly



Glad you had a good day, based on my experience the other day, I'm not sure i would stress over walking in the skin track, nice to be thoughtful, but there were literally dozens of people trudging up the track, and by 1000 or so it was pretty solid. It would have been a wast of breath and time discussing skin track philosophy.

Pretty much perfectly summed up the conditions!
Was another one of the masses headed up Double Diamond. Luckily was one of the first to hit the DEEEEP lines under Southern Cross... Of course I started off with a nose dive into the sea of powder that I barely swam my way out of.
Conditions seemed pretty stable on the SE aspect even with the wind loading. Only downside was with that depth, you pretty much had to hit the steeps just to keep moving.


I and a buddy were also part of the MANY people heading up Chief and DD on Saturday morning.   Given the number of cars in the parking lot at 9am one would have thought it was a mid season powder day.    :)

We stayed on the front side and skied Double Diamond and found some great snow (with lots of scrub/trees on the upper part).  Here is some video:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYsqdW5-9eM


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november-16-2013-stevens-pass
jtack
2013-11-16 21:05:41