May 6, 2003, Alpental
5/6/03
WA Snoqualmie Pass
2157
2
Spring showers bring May...POWDER.
5:45 am, I leave the Alpental parking lot and follow the Express Chair up the lower mountain, and am delighted to find boot deep mashies with two or three inches of light fluff covering the left over 50" base. Clouds roll past and snow showers threaten, but the sun makes bright May random visits and the wind remains quite calm.
At the Mid Mountain transition I need to put my jacket on - it's damn cold up here! - and I follow kick steps up the steep sections of the Edelweiss chair area, the snow building in depth, the sun rising in the air, my pace quickening with anticipation. It's the first time I've been to Alpental and each unraveling fold of the terrain brings deeper joy of a new-found treasure.
Below me, the clouds are rolling past the white pasted peaks of the surrounding mountains and in the distance I can hear Semis churning down the grades of I-90 in the stillness. The steep walls of the upper cirque are Alaskan-esque and a chain of enticing lines rolls away from me in all directions. The cold chills me as I watch the sun come fully out from behind the clouds, wildly reflecting on the light and dry powder in a blinding, sparkling dance.
I drop a line off the backside of Alpental, International I believe, and I chase my own billows of powder flying in front and around me like unbridled cold smoke of a January day. I take the whole bowl in one mighty gulp of Joy. It was absolutely fantastic.
Lower down, I work a steep chute named Felsen and then find my way back out to the Cascade Traverse to avoid the flats. The lower moutain is smooth and creamy and I whoop and hollar, realizing I am in the midst of the finest powder skiing run of the year.
All too soon I am back at my car, throwing the board in the bed and waving to the arriving Area workers...I drive to work at 7:45...2,280 vertical of surprise powder, at a surprising little area.
The smile never leaves my face the rest of the day
5:45 am, I leave the Alpental parking lot and follow the Express Chair up the lower mountain, and am delighted to find boot deep mashies with two or three inches of light fluff covering the left over 50" base. Clouds roll past and snow showers threaten, but the sun makes bright May random visits and the wind remains quite calm.
At the Mid Mountain transition I need to put my jacket on - it's damn cold up here! - and I follow kick steps up the steep sections of the Edelweiss chair area, the snow building in depth, the sun rising in the air, my pace quickening with anticipation. It's the first time I've been to Alpental and each unraveling fold of the terrain brings deeper joy of a new-found treasure.
Below me, the clouds are rolling past the white pasted peaks of the surrounding mountains and in the distance I can hear Semis churning down the grades of I-90 in the stillness. The steep walls of the upper cirque are Alaskan-esque and a chain of enticing lines rolls away from me in all directions. The cold chills me as I watch the sun come fully out from behind the clouds, wildly reflecting on the light and dry powder in a blinding, sparkling dance.
I drop a line off the backside of Alpental, International I believe, and I chase my own billows of powder flying in front and around me like unbridled cold smoke of a January day. I take the whole bowl in one mighty gulp of Joy. It was absolutely fantastic.
Lower down, I work a steep chute named Felsen and then find my way back out to the Cascade Traverse to avoid the flats. The lower moutain is smooth and creamy and I whoop and hollar, realizing I am in the midst of the finest powder skiing run of the year.
All too soon I am back at my car, throwing the board in the bed and waving to the arriving Area workers...I drive to work at 7:45...2,280 vertical of surprise powder, at a surprising little area.
The smile never leaves my face the rest of the day
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