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Feb 9-11, Mt. Baker, Banked Slalom Weekend
12 Feb 2018 13:49 #231064
by pipedream
Feb 9-11, Mt. Baker, Banked Slalom Weekend was created by pipedream
The powers that be pulled my name from the hat for the banked slalom this year so I had no choice other than to take a break from my usual haunts @ Snoqualmie and head to the great northern dead end for the weekend.
The drive on Fri. just about killed me - if you think Mt. Baker's a long drive from the city, it's even longer from Snoqualmonix. Fortunately there was but a dusting of new atop I-90 so the road conditions were easy. I was grateful that the coffee stand was open off the Bow Hill exit when I pulled up to it at 7 in the morning. After a 5:30 departure, I pulled into the parking lot @ White Salmon at 8:40, not too shabby.
Visibility was low, it was pretty warm (low 30s) but what little precipitation that was occurring was falling as snow, which is always nice to see. The resort had 2-4" of new around it which I suspect would've gotten cut-up more quickly if it weren't for all the hubbub and excitement of racing. After donning my gear and going through the rigamaroll of race check-in, I was on Chair 7 a few minutes after 9 and then quickly over to 5 as my division was first in line. The grooming was uneven, the new snow was pretty wet & manky, but the vis in the natty halfpipe was good and the banks were fast and semi-smooth. After my inspection lap I killed time by taking a lap on 8 before coming-back to the starting line. It wasn't great, but it was better than standing around waiting. Before I knew it I was in the start shack and 95 seconds later I was breathing heavily at the bottom of the course, swapping high-fives and shooting the breeze w/ familiar faces. By 11am my division was done and it was apparent I'd have to go faster tomorrow morning.
I went down to the car to swap layers as I was way overdressed and then headed back out to watch the others, spinning laps between divisions on the Shuksan side. The snow came in showers, more on than off, making for difficult visibility for the pros & a slow course for those running it in the afternoon. After the legends, I ventured over to the Pan Dome side. The snow under 6 had been skied-out and wasn't much fun, but there were decent turns to be had on Pan Face & Chicken Ridge (just long laps as C1 was closed like usual on a weekday). I caught last chair on 6 and hit Gunner's Bowl. It was surprisingly okay but the runout down the Canyon was scraped firm with vertical walls and rode pretty hairy. I caught last chair on 5 and went up to spectate next year's competition, should I make it. The course was audibly soft and the times were pretty slow. Turns-out the ams had some of the fastest times of the day simply because we went early. It was still snowing lightly in the parking lot @ 30F when I left before they "locked" the gate. Oh yeah, and sometime during the day I cracked the highback on my front binding (but don't worry, I fixed it with duct tape).
After checking-in to my room in town and getting a much-needed nap, I wandered over to the bar and washed-down an enormous calzone with a few pints of Pfriem. If you find their hoppy pils on tap, you should try it, it's tasty! Then I headed-down the road to the legendary Mt. Baker Snowboard Shop to wax my board and hang-out. Pulling back into the parking lot of Chair 9 around 11, there was a raging bonfire going in the abandoned RV park next door and a very hands-off group of police officers supervising the mayhem in the dark. I said a few hellos, dropped the remainder of a case of beer on the ground, walked back to my room and went straight to bed.
Sat. dawned cold and clear - everything in town was covered in frost and the parking lot was a sheet of ice. I joined the conga line of cars on the road @ 8 and was all geared-up at WS by 8:45. It seemed like the entire cities of Bellingham, Mt. Vernon and every town in between had turned-out (plus some further away folk, the racing community, etc.). The line for C7 was initially bigly but dissipated quickly and I headed for C8 instead of C5 for a quick, pre-race lap. By the time i got to the top of 5, they were calling for anyone in my division to come to the start shack immediately as they had no racers to send down the course. I think I was the 3rd person out the gate on Sat. and the course was in great shape - fast but not too firm, much smoother than yesterday with excellent visibility. Times were several seconds faster than the previous day's, unfortunately I missed the cut for qualifying, dang. But it was a beautiful sunny day, the grooming was high quality and the snow on high in the backcountry was great (the exits not so much - lots of dust and even just plain crust with debris everywhere).
After a long lap out on the Arm we went back to spectate the race. Lots more DQs than yesterday, folks were clearly pinning it to have a chance at winning it. After the pros and a couple bowls of paella, I headed-over to the HM side to see how things were. Not great. What was passable yesterday had been shredded hard today (and was wasn't passable yesterday was even worse). I almost took-out a patroller in The Chute who was standing in the middle telling people it was icy... I'm pretty sure by the time they got to where he was they were well aware of that. As the afternoon wore-on I linked-up with some friends who I hadn't seen all season and we hiked to the top of Hemis where there was a full-blown party going down. Folks were lapping the windlip and enjoying the warm sun. Around 3, we decided it was time to head-down so we cruised a very mellow lap to the top of the Canyon before skittering through the shade to the Raven Hut for baked salmon. The temp dropped quickly in the afternoon shade and I ended-up catching last chair on 5 instead of hanging-out late. The parking lot party had started to go off, so I made the rounds before heading-out at sunset.
Knowing full-well I hadn't qualified for the finals, I decided it would be a good night to tie one off in town. After a shower and quick pre-game, I headed to Chair 9 until the cover charge was imposed on me, hopped on the Baker Bus (which was making the rounds all evening to keep the revelers safe!) and went down to Graham's to save 50-cents on pints & see a great rock band from Seattle play ( Wild Powwers ). Ran into a bunch of familiar faces down there and stuck around until after the bands were done, then hopped the bus back to Chair 9, arriving just in time to catch last call for a nightcap.
I slept-in on Sunday and with the conditions being mostly the same (but more skied-out) than Sat. decided to pack my bags, tuck my tail between my legs and make the long drive home. Stopped in Bellingham to catch lunch w/ friends and made it back to the top of I-90 in time to catch last night's spectacular sunset.
Would I do it all again? Oh yeah, you betcha ;D Cheers!
The drive on Fri. just about killed me - if you think Mt. Baker's a long drive from the city, it's even longer from Snoqualmonix. Fortunately there was but a dusting of new atop I-90 so the road conditions were easy. I was grateful that the coffee stand was open off the Bow Hill exit when I pulled up to it at 7 in the morning. After a 5:30 departure, I pulled into the parking lot @ White Salmon at 8:40, not too shabby.
Visibility was low, it was pretty warm (low 30s) but what little precipitation that was occurring was falling as snow, which is always nice to see. The resort had 2-4" of new around it which I suspect would've gotten cut-up more quickly if it weren't for all the hubbub and excitement of racing. After donning my gear and going through the rigamaroll of race check-in, I was on Chair 7 a few minutes after 9 and then quickly over to 5 as my division was first in line. The grooming was uneven, the new snow was pretty wet & manky, but the vis in the natty halfpipe was good and the banks were fast and semi-smooth. After my inspection lap I killed time by taking a lap on 8 before coming-back to the starting line. It wasn't great, but it was better than standing around waiting. Before I knew it I was in the start shack and 95 seconds later I was breathing heavily at the bottom of the course, swapping high-fives and shooting the breeze w/ familiar faces. By 11am my division was done and it was apparent I'd have to go faster tomorrow morning.
I went down to the car to swap layers as I was way overdressed and then headed back out to watch the others, spinning laps between divisions on the Shuksan side. The snow came in showers, more on than off, making for difficult visibility for the pros & a slow course for those running it in the afternoon. After the legends, I ventured over to the Pan Dome side. The snow under 6 had been skied-out and wasn't much fun, but there were decent turns to be had on Pan Face & Chicken Ridge (just long laps as C1 was closed like usual on a weekday). I caught last chair on 6 and hit Gunner's Bowl. It was surprisingly okay but the runout down the Canyon was scraped firm with vertical walls and rode pretty hairy. I caught last chair on 5 and went up to spectate next year's competition, should I make it. The course was audibly soft and the times were pretty slow. Turns-out the ams had some of the fastest times of the day simply because we went early. It was still snowing lightly in the parking lot @ 30F when I left before they "locked" the gate. Oh yeah, and sometime during the day I cracked the highback on my front binding (but don't worry, I fixed it with duct tape).
After checking-in to my room in town and getting a much-needed nap, I wandered over to the bar and washed-down an enormous calzone with a few pints of Pfriem. If you find their hoppy pils on tap, you should try it, it's tasty! Then I headed-down the road to the legendary Mt. Baker Snowboard Shop to wax my board and hang-out. Pulling back into the parking lot of Chair 9 around 11, there was a raging bonfire going in the abandoned RV park next door and a very hands-off group of police officers supervising the mayhem in the dark. I said a few hellos, dropped the remainder of a case of beer on the ground, walked back to my room and went straight to bed.
Sat. dawned cold and clear - everything in town was covered in frost and the parking lot was a sheet of ice. I joined the conga line of cars on the road @ 8 and was all geared-up at WS by 8:45. It seemed like the entire cities of Bellingham, Mt. Vernon and every town in between had turned-out (plus some further away folk, the racing community, etc.). The line for C7 was initially bigly but dissipated quickly and I headed for C8 instead of C5 for a quick, pre-race lap. By the time i got to the top of 5, they were calling for anyone in my division to come to the start shack immediately as they had no racers to send down the course. I think I was the 3rd person out the gate on Sat. and the course was in great shape - fast but not too firm, much smoother than yesterday with excellent visibility. Times were several seconds faster than the previous day's, unfortunately I missed the cut for qualifying, dang. But it was a beautiful sunny day, the grooming was high quality and the snow on high in the backcountry was great (the exits not so much - lots of dust and even just plain crust with debris everywhere).
After a long lap out on the Arm we went back to spectate the race. Lots more DQs than yesterday, folks were clearly pinning it to have a chance at winning it. After the pros and a couple bowls of paella, I headed-over to the HM side to see how things were. Not great. What was passable yesterday had been shredded hard today (and was wasn't passable yesterday was even worse). I almost took-out a patroller in The Chute who was standing in the middle telling people it was icy... I'm pretty sure by the time they got to where he was they were well aware of that. As the afternoon wore-on I linked-up with some friends who I hadn't seen all season and we hiked to the top of Hemis where there was a full-blown party going down. Folks were lapping the windlip and enjoying the warm sun. Around 3, we decided it was time to head-down so we cruised a very mellow lap to the top of the Canyon before skittering through the shade to the Raven Hut for baked salmon. The temp dropped quickly in the afternoon shade and I ended-up catching last chair on 5 instead of hanging-out late. The parking lot party had started to go off, so I made the rounds before heading-out at sunset.
Knowing full-well I hadn't qualified for the finals, I decided it would be a good night to tie one off in town. After a shower and quick pre-game, I headed to Chair 9 until the cover charge was imposed on me, hopped on the Baker Bus (which was making the rounds all evening to keep the revelers safe!) and went down to Graham's to save 50-cents on pints & see a great rock band from Seattle play ( Wild Powwers ). Ran into a bunch of familiar faces down there and stuck around until after the bands were done, then hopped the bus back to Chair 9, arriving just in time to catch last call for a nightcap.
I slept-in on Sunday and with the conditions being mostly the same (but more skied-out) than Sat. decided to pack my bags, tuck my tail between my legs and make the long drive home. Stopped in Bellingham to catch lunch w/ friends and made it back to the top of I-90 in time to catch last night's spectacular sunset.
Would I do it all again? Oh yeah, you betcha ;D Cheers!
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