December 2, 2005, Kendall Ridge

We were planning to ski opening day at Alpental but bagged that idea at the ticket window when we learned they weren't planning to open Chair 2.  Thinking about avy danger, we left the Alpental basin and headed to the Kendall Ridge area, and thus started a day of "shoulda, coulda, woulda."  

Hoping the skinning would be easier, we approached Kendall up the road from the Gold Creek SnoPark.  There was about a foot of snow filling in a track from the day before.  We were in rough shape by the time we broke trail up the road into the main clearcut.  Luckily a skier from Vancouver showed up behind us and started breaking trail.  He took the right fork in the road that heads to the ridge east of the main clearcut, we followed.  The snow was so deep (a foot of low density powder over a bottomless unconsolidated base of heavier snow) that the slopes weren't steep enough to turn in.  The highlight of the day was bombing back down the bobsled run our skin track had become.  Oh well.  Great training for skinning the rest of the season!

"Shoulda Coulda Woulda"

  - braved the drive thru low elevation south end snow to Crystal
  - chosen Hyak instead of Kendal and found Cascadefreak's dawn patrol skin track
  - taken a more direct approach to Kendal (PCT or Summit Central offramp) since we had to break trail anyway
  - turned around and gone somewhere else after an hour of breaking trail, rather than enduring about 1800 vf of trailbreaking slog on a road to earn two turns.

From reading other Friday posts it sounds like a few other folks had similar trailbreaking experiences.  Misery loves company :)

It's really nice to see a great base developing at Snoqualmie Pass.  I'm now the proud papa of a 6 week old daughter (I didn't know there could be something more fun than skiing!!!) and am looking forward to lots of half day jaunts from Seattle this winter.