April 20, 2008, Stevens Pass

I was a bit disappointed by the new snow at Stevens Pass today (after the good reports from lowly Snoqualmie). I thought the area would be fun, so I followed a skin track from yesterday up Double Diamond, but got worried by a few patches of icy snow that I had trouble traversing. The run was OK - a few nice turns - and only a couple of tricky spots. I stuck close to the trees on the skier's left where the powder seemed deepest. I decided it wasn't worth another run though, so went over to Heather Ridge to check out the back side (along with a number of other groups with the same idea). I was lucky to get 1st tracks down my favorite shot over there, but it was pretty cut up by the second run, so I headed down the front side from the top - survival skiing on a fast crust that caught my edges whenever I tried to turn. After an unexpected tumble I avoided the fall line with a series of slow traverses to the bottom. Snowed off and on all day, and didn't seem to get above freezing.

I was XC with my wife up to Lake Kelcema up the Mountain Loop Hwy Saturday and was amazed by the amount of snow - seemed like more than when we were there a month ago! I wonder when the road will open.