November 3-4, 2001, Heather/Maple Passes
11/3/01
2495
0
Short Version: plenty of snow, rock skis not required, consolidated powder. Windy Saturday night, depositing 4"+ on leeward slopes. Rising temps. on Sunday deteriorated snow quality. Drizzle at trailhead by 1pm. Wonderful start to the season!
Details: Started the season with two days and one night up in the Maple Pass area. Most of Saturday is covered in Mark's comments below. We skied a bit closer to Maple pass than the others up there that day and found the best snow on N through E aspects. Sunset Saturday night was beautiful, as was the moonrise and sunrise Sunday morning. Sunday morning we had the area all to ourselves and skied untracked slopes just inside NCNP near Maple Pass. Last run was down the steepish east side of the Lake Ann basin; ski cuts did nothing, but the wind-deposited snow lead us to ski down in a moderately treed chute. It warmed up considerably late Sunday morning and early afternoon and just started to drizzle soon after we reached the car. Pictures and story line are here.
A disappointing side note to consider: our car was broken into at the Rainy Pass trailhead sometime Saturday night, via breaking the rear passenger window. DOT noticed it Sunday morning and along with a State Trooper kept an eye on the open car that morning. The good news is that the only things missing were some keys and a bag with some socks and a warming filter for my camera in it. Wallets, two pairs of skis, and more was left untouched-odd, but lucky. This was a minor blemish on a wonderful weekend.
Phil Higuera with Matt Peters
Details: Started the season with two days and one night up in the Maple Pass area. Most of Saturday is covered in Mark's comments below. We skied a bit closer to Maple pass than the others up there that day and found the best snow on N through E aspects. Sunset Saturday night was beautiful, as was the moonrise and sunrise Sunday morning. Sunday morning we had the area all to ourselves and skied untracked slopes just inside NCNP near Maple Pass. Last run was down the steepish east side of the Lake Ann basin; ski cuts did nothing, but the wind-deposited snow lead us to ski down in a moderately treed chute. It warmed up considerably late Sunday morning and early afternoon and just started to drizzle soon after we reached the car. Pictures and story line are here.
A disappointing side note to consider: our car was broken into at the Rainy Pass trailhead sometime Saturday night, via breaking the rear passenger window. DOT noticed it Sunday morning and along with a State Trooper kept an eye on the open car that morning. The good news is that the only things missing were some keys and a bag with some socks and a warming filter for my camera in it. Wallets, two pairs of skis, and more was left untouched-odd, but lucky. This was a minor blemish on a wonderful weekend.
Phil Higuera with Matt Peters
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