Home > Trip Reports > January 9, 2014, Summit West Yawn Patrol

January 9, 2014, Summit West Yawn Patrol

1/9/14
WA Snoqualmie Pass
6599
6
Posted by pipedream on 1/9/14 3:37am
After watching the snow fall on the webcams from my desk all day Wednesday, I pinged a like-minded, turn-earning coworker of mine to see if he'd be interested in a quick dawn patrol at West in the morning. We both agreed that it sounded like a good idea, but that we'd wait and see what happened overnight and chat over the phone at the buttcrack of dawn.

6am came fast - before I knew it my alarm was going off and I was checking the telemetry from the warmth of my bed. As I picked-up the phone to make the call, it rang in my hands. We agreed that the 10 inches overnight at pass level and 2 feet of accumulated base would be worth it and found ourselves gearing-up in the parking lot as the sun rose behind the clouds. Breaking trail, we eventually found the lone skintrack set by the only skier from the only other car in the parking lot and followed it straight up under Pacific Crest. About halfway to the top, the chair began to spin and by the time we transitioned just shy of the top, both Pac Crest and Dodge Ridge were in motion.

The turns down were worth it and elicited hoots n hollers from a couple patrollers riding the quad up. When we got to the bottom, we bumped into TNT & co. who had just finished an interview with the KIRO folks while our turns were being laid in the background. No word yet on opening, but things are starting to look good up there. For now, it's back to watching the snow fall from behind the keyboard...


Yours truly, putting the T in transition
Well I'll be, would you look at that:

After a positive update from the ops crew, we have decided to open for the season! Summit West will be open for limited operations first, with hours from 9am - 4pm starting Friday through the weekend and a minimum of Pacific Crest and Little Thunder chairlifts spinning each day. As we continue to get snow, we'll assess each other base area for possible openings and expand operations at West as conditions allow. Stay tuned for more updates.

Summit Central could be close behind Summit West with another serious shot of snow, while the base of Alpental still needs a lot of snow to allow for ample coverage of its rugged terrain.

Source: http://www.summitatsnoqualmie.com/opening-date

Glad we could help "assess the conditions" this AM ;D

KIRO video: http://bcove.me/6lqk43kh

What's the scoop with skinning there, say, tonight? Are they busy trying to get it open and want people to stay clear, or is it fair game? Or is there enough coverage over at Hyak to be worth it?

I have only skinned once at Summit Central and I don't know what the "agreement" is.

Can't say for sure, but I'd think as long as you stay out of their way and be respectful, you should be okay. Worst case, you have to go next door to Central or even as far away as Hyak, both of which should have sufficient, albeit thin, coverage.

Nice! I believe I was standing just to left of you at the moment that picture was taken getting ready to ski down with my Yellow Lab. It was a nice run and boy did it feel good to ski Snoqualmie Pass snow finally. Made it to my lunch no problem. Cool meeting you, hope to see you out there again.

Here's a short video of the day at West then down to the HOME stompin' grounds of the Yak!

got a cool bunny time lapse too as a bonus to the 10 inches :-)
http://thesnowtroopers.com/2014/snoqualmie-pass-wa-finally-there/

Reply to this TR

11534
january-9-2014-summit-west-yawn-patrol
pipedream
2014-01-09 11:37:00