May 21, 2014, Stevens Pass, next gen earning turns

Headed up to Stevens Pass in the early evening with my daughter for her first ever earned turns. She's tall enough now to use my 168cm spring rock skis with old grey Fritschis on them, with her accustomed downhill boots. Her previous skis were 160's and she got the hang of  turning the slightly longer skis pretty quickly. With luck she'll get hooked on spring/summer skiing too and she can help bust the trail when I get old(er) and slow(er).

One lap up and down Hogsback / Rock n Blue plus a short test run on the racer training slope below I5. 1K vert so it counts ;-)

Snow coverage at Stevens is still really good. (Is amazing how much snow has melted below the pass though, in just a month.) A few melted spots on the lower runs but looked like Tye and 7th and Barrier Bowl would have been nice runs with no cover issues whatsoever. (Big Chief face is looking a bit bare though.) Couple inches soft on hard base, maybe a bit too soft but plenty fun. Snow surface reasonably clean in the open but looks dirty under the trees. Broken clouds, warm at bottom. Higher up, breeze, even got a little cool, ducked into the bump shack to escape the wind while having our top of hill snacks. Some snomo and cat tracking on the runs from Stevens doing work but avoidable. Be aware though that there are certain spots around Hogs where the cats have dug really deep road cuts, I think they are making an effort to dig out the bike trails early, either to get a jump on the season or maybe to do some pre emptive work on the trails.