March 24, 2003, Mt. Ellinor, Olympics

Tried to take advantage of the brief break in the weather on Monday.  Decided against Muir, didn't feel like doing the drive, so headed to Ellinor to ski it before the glissade chute gets too big.  Took a friend, Hal, along for his first ski of it too.

Parked at the bottom of the Hogback, on the way down saw several vehicles right below the upper trailhead, I didn't feel like driving around that morning and having to turn around, plus I was there for a workout.  Sun was out and warming the mountain as we got to the bottom of the chute. Then the high clouds rolled in in a hurry.  What could have been a great ski turned into a hard snow with frozen death cookie descent.  Timing is everything sometimes.  The glissade chute was not very big yet, so it's not too late, plus you can always ski the summer route.  Snow cover is thin for this time of year, lots of little trees sticking out at the bottom of the chute.  Gonna be a sad spring ski season, unless it stays cold.