November 14, 2006, Snoqualmie Pass

Day 3
Snoqualmie Pass
11-14-06
Highpoint 4,400'
Vertical skied: 1,300'

Repent!

The hour of redemption is at hand! 

So soon after the tropical rains of the record breaking Pineapple Express only one week earlier threatened the electric anticipation of another ski season, a wallop of a storm brings contented resignation.  It began this past Friday, swift and deep, so that by Saturday morning 18" of knee and thigh deep base provided a surprisingly consistent ski.  The snow is perfect base builder snow but awefully tough to call excellent skiing as the bottomless feel was corrupted by uneven ground.  Mellow slopes became a follow-the-uphill-trench luge ride. Tips up and all that jazz.

But I did not regret taking the A board.  Hell, I even wanted the fatty.

And still it snowed.  Saturday night, Sunday and Sunday night.  By Tuesday morning Baker is reporting 10" new with a 63" 4 day storm total.  80" at the top!  Snoqualmie Pass was reporting much less for the time period, a mere 35", but this at 3,000'.  Perhaps at 4,500 feet - well, that 60" figure might not be far off.   

The Corruptor is in the mail, however, and the window of opportunity for good skiing in the new was a short one, with snow levels rising from 2,000' feet Tuesday morning to potentially 5,000' by Wednesday.   Something had to be done soon to enjoy the fruits of Ma Nature's labor.

Ron and I met at the usual and encounter the second "Traction Tires Advised - No Oversized Vehicles" WSDOT restrictions in as many ski days, a trusted harbinger of the Powder Day.  We were parked and in our snowshoes by 5:10 am.   

Wow, what a difference 2 feet of snow makes.  On Saturday the vegitation was clearly evident and shruds and bushes outlined the jeep trails and summer paths.  This dark morning, only the tallest bushes poked out from white carpet of pow.  The cold light snow of the night (just shy of a foot) rested on a cohesive and dense base from the earlier snow waves, a thick pancake of hardening goodness.   Travel was much improved.  It could not, however, be said that we made quick time.



We were able to follow an uptrack, or maybe it was a downtrack, it was hard to tell because of the blanket of new covering Monday's trails.  We reached a decision point between known and difficult versus unknown and attractive and decided to explore a little in terrain we seldom sampled.  Now this was breaking trail.  We called it at 4,400' or so, at 7 am, fighting for each uphill step and gaining less than 1,500 vf in 2 hours.  Yes, a new sherriff was in town and his name was DEEP.

The morning colors of the sun reflected off the swirling high clouds, and soon illuminated the slope below to full day contrast.  The skiing was very, very good. 



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Little more than an hour later, at 8:30 am, I was at the office in Bellevue, a cheery good natured how-do-you-do to all I meet, attempting to keep everyone's focus up high.  What can you say when you are ratted out by your mountaineering boots, my office loafers snug, warm and forgotten by the garage door. 

Not one person noticed.