Dec.22 Alpental

Some good turns to be had today at Alpy. Upon arrival conditions were crappy and vis really sucked. Then my buddy remembered he had to work at 3 in Olympia. Therefore only a few runs were in store for my unexpected quarter day >. After being frustrated with the moguls, hardpack, ice, forgetful partners, and limited terrain I decided to chill by the fire for a minute and ponder why I even drove up there for a few runs.....then it started to snow really hard with good ammounts piling up quick. Hit the lifts for a while longer and conditions drastically improved every run up Armstrong. Stuck to the lower mtn. just for depth perception as vis. up high was shot. Although some nice turns of of gunmount. Sessioned shots off the catrack which yielded good results..even a few faceshots in the pillows on Lower I. I bet the end of the day was nice....everything that was skied up was getting a nice layer of softies. I didn't wanna go home. Headed to Crystal to see the carnage out in Northback, oops I mean Northway.... I just wanna skin some runs at Paradise. Hope y'all have a good day tomorrow, might see you at Crystal...andy

How is the coverage on Alpental? I haven't gone up there yet this year, been going to Crystal. Sounds like you had fun.

You're right. Yesterday afternoon on Chair 2 was great. Everything really filled in and some wind deposits made for a few deep powder stashes that kept regenerating themselves...And here was nobody there, maybe one in four chairs on Chair 2 had a body as of 1:30 pm. I also enjoyed the tree lines down off the traverse on the lower mountain. Great test of modern goggles and outerwear.

Regarding coverage, they could definitely use a few more feet of snow. They haven't opened Nash or the BC yet. Still lots of exposed bushes and rocks under Chair 2.

Nash was open today (sunday) around 11am...tracked out fast...but still really nice and soft for the first few laps. Freezing rain/ice pellets below about 3500ft, but higher up it was still coming down as snow...gotta love that pass effect and how it can keep the rain away.