Mar 29 2021 - Goofy Powder and Long Lines

Since breaking the rib in December, it's been pretty tough to ride switch or Goofy and I typically set up for regular and try to only ride switch to take a break for a bit... but of course, after warming up enough on a twin board, I inevitably find myself riding switch too aggressively.... which is why it takes me three to four days to recover from each half day of riding.

With the season coming to an end soon, if not after today... I decided to give it one last go with a dedicated goofy day on the LibTech Orca... a day that did not disappoint in the least!

Powder powder powder powder, spraying everywhere!!!! I showed up around 9:30 today and the parking lot was packed...perhaps more so than a typical weekend day and maybe due to Spring Breakers... it dumped 11-14 inches overnight and nobody wanted to miss out on this epic morning. The lines were pretty short on the front side but the Double Diamond line to get to the backside was pretty backed up... which is typical on weekend mornings since it often starts operating around 9:30.... but today was different, a special day... I mostly rode through knee deep pow throughout and although half of my tracks weren't fresh it was a blast, that is, until I reached the lift lines on the backside @_@

This was by far the longest line I have ever waited in at Stevens Pass and reminded me of a pow day at Whistler/Blackcomb. Unfortunate for most that found their way back here, Jupiter Express was not running at all, which is the Intermediate friendly lift and only Southern Cross was running, which only gives backside access to difficult terrain. After about a 45 minute wait, I found myself atop Southern Cross and hiked over a bit to get access to some fresh lines heading into the trees, starting out of bounds and working my way back across. I was betting that anyone in that line learned their lesson and went back to the front side and that only the die-hards would remain....and I was right. By the time I reached the lift the lines were a quarter of the size and they stayed pretty small for the remainder of the day.

In addition to the heavy traffic, there were a few injuries that slowed the lines down as ski patrol worked hard to safely extract the injured individuals (hopefully nothing too serious)...and then, Southern Cross broke down. It was looking pretty grim on the backside but the lifties got Jupiter Express up and running in only 10 to 20 minutes, impressive! It was pretty hard to go anywhere and not find a fresh stash of powder so I spent a good part of the day just exploring and hootin as I floated down the steeps on the Orca. What an amazing day and if it's the last of the season....what a way to end it! I really needed a full goofy day to get back some of the skills that were going rusty. ^-^ also, a great use of my "floating holiday"

Mar 24 2021 - Powder in the Spring

Last weekend the weather report predicted not much snow until Monday and Tuesday with the heaviest precipitation coming Wednesday.... well, here we are on Wednesday but looking at a slightly different outcome; or so it seemed...

I checked the weather report last night and it wasn't looking great... it hadn't snowed in a few days and there were only expectations of 1 inch overnight and a few inches in the morning. On the drive in, it started snowing about 30 minutes away from the resort.... a sign of hope! As I got closer and closer the roads became much harder to drive on since the plows hadn't made their first pass yet...

I arrived, parked, and stepped out into about 3 inches of fresh powder... light and soft... fluffy!! Most of the mountain had 3-6 inches of snow early on in the morning but the snow just kept coming down... it was quite windy as well... some of the steep slopes near the Southern Cross lift had only a few inches covering a thick icy crust but the majority of the trails were loaded and primed for rippin'... it looks like we got around 11 inches today!!

It was a typical mid week day with no lines for the lifts and very few people on the slopes, as compared to the busy weekends... with all this fresh soft snow, I found myself flying through familiar areas much faster than I am regularly able to and even stumbled across some new paths that had previously looked quite sketchy. I was out on the LibTech Orca today riding regular, so it was a pretty one-sided workout but it also made it quite easy to stay on top of the snow and keep my speed up through the deep sections of powder... I managed to find some time to do a couple 180s but slaloming through the woods was the highlight of the day... I'm so glad I took off work today and drove out for this end of season blessing ^-^

Mar 13 2021 - Warm and sunny

The GoPro was pretty awful today... on most runs I would lose connection to my remote control and would have to restart both the controller and the camera in order to reconnect... but overall it was just a minor setback... today, I was out on a mission... because it was a warm and sunny day with excellent visibility...

My mission was to ride every lift at the resort and capture them with a time lapse... I want to make a couple videos based on these that can be used as reference when trying to plan routes for the day... hopefully others find them helpful as well.

It was a bright and clear day... even up at Seventh Heaven and with the sun baking the entire exposed mountain face, the snow was very soft... Most of the mountain had fairly decent conditions except for some of the shaded steep slopes... I found myself on one of these treacherous slopes as I was trying to head back to the front side but was detoured around Double Diamond by the Ski Patrol, who were closing off that trail presumably because it was as sketchy as the run I was about to embark down...

It was a pretty bad scare heading down Wild Katz... as I hit a patch of ice and slipped out on one of the steepest sections of the trail. For a moment, I was heading sideways down the mountain with a feeling of weightlessness... but I managed to get a little grip with my toe edge and spin around before gaining too much momentum and tumbling down into the trees below... it couldn't have gone any better and it wouldn't have ended well otherwise.... I'm counting my blessings for now and planning to avoid these sketchy areas as the season closes out.

Mar 06 2021 - A Mostly Crusty Day

Moss on trees near entrance of Wild Katz

It hasn't snowed for a few days at Stevens but that's no excuse to stay home... half way to the mountain I realized that I left my jacket (and lift pass) at home and had to turn back... my sweetheart girlfriend volunteered to drive out towards me and met me half way, cutting about 40-50 minutes off of my mistake <3 ... I still got to the resort pretty early and didn't have trouble parking.

I was expecting a pretty icy and crusty day, which it eventually became but this morning started out with a decent amount of snowfall over most parts of the mountain; providing just enough (~3 inches) freshness to soften up the morning runs.

Since I tend to be distracted by the GoPro when it's recording, I decided to leave it in my pocket for most of the day in order to better focus on my riding... since it definitely uses up brain cycles when it's on: starting, stopping, checking battery, wiping off snow, etc.

Although I thought I had warmed up enough on the first run, I tweaked my back on the second one after about 5 minutes of nonstop aggressive riding down a challenging line though the trees... this setback left me managing the pain for the rest of the day and directing much more focus into using my abs and legs to turn.... mostly disconnecting lower and upper body movements unless absolutely necessary.

Despite the somewhat sketchy crusted conditions, I found myself going pretty quickly down the mountain and built up a solid leg burn... even an occasional quads cramp here and there. I mostly stuck to familiar runs but did manage to veer out into a couple paths that I normally don't travel... it was a pretty fun day to be out at Stevens.

I finished the day off with a small hike up to Wild Katz...turned on the GoPro... and challenged myself with the steep, gladed, and mostly crusty terrain... the video captures start to finish including the several times I had to stop to catch my breath... what a great workout!!

Feb 24 2021 - Sunshine and Powder

After the storm passed by, we got a break in the weather... blessed with a clear sunny day! The scenery was breathtaking and, despite moderate avalanche risk, many people were out in the easily-accessible backcountry hiking up to find fresh lines. I eventually found my way out there as well and got the goods. ^-^

I spent most of the day just riding around enjoying the soft powder and darting through every patch of trees that I could find... the slush from a couple days ago had cooled down just in time for what seemed to be a very busy day at the mountain... as if everyone knew it was going to be so ideal. The lifties were out checking for passes on almost every run and the lines were much busier than they were on Monday, but still no real waiting was required.

I didn't push it too hard today to avoid aggravating the rib that is still recovering... since this is my second day in such a short timeframe. Without any fog, condensation, or precipitation issues, the GoPro footage was much better today and I'm looking forward to throwing together some clips when I find some time to edit. I got heckled a few times from people up on the lifts... from an apparently college-aged crowd... perhaps because not many out here have an action camera equipped... and despite their encouragement for me to be reckless, I still managed to take it easy. $_$ ... looking forward to revisiting Baker next season!!

Feb 22 2021 - Visiting Mt Baker

I've been thinking about paying a visit to Mt Baker for a couple years now and finally managed to schedule a trip... it gets a lot of yearly snowfall and still has a small resort feel as it is quite far from most of the population density of western Washington. It wasn't hard to find reasonably priced lodging nearby (within 30 minute drive).

The drive to the resort this morning was easy and relaxing with hardly any traffic on the road... I had a slight scare when rounding a corner in the mountains, where several (10-15) tiny birds decided to take up half the lane. Thankfully no care were coming from the other direction and I was able to swerve around them, as only 2 or 3 flew away.

When I got to the mountain it had already started snowing, as an incoming storm was arriving. Parking was simple and the lift lines non-existent. Even though I was out on the slopes a little later (half-hour after opening), every run for the first hour or two was fresh tracks!! The landscape is littered with cliffs and there are many "expert only" areas roped off.

Today had a pretty high avalanche risk with somewhat slushy (but also light) knee-deep powder. I struggled to find tree runs of any reasonable length and mostly just wandered around the mountain trying to get a mental map of the terrain... but there was that one, "out of bounds" patch that led to a creek... I had to hike out but it would definitely be worth it if the snow was in better condition.

Visibility was pretty poor and early in the afternoon the storm started to pick up.... I decided to call it a day and head back to the rental. When I got back, I went over today's footage and found that the GoPro messed up all the video timestamps (somehow it cannot correct them)... talk about a bad software experience... so all my footage for today is marked as December 31st 2015 -_-

The highlight of today was from a cliff scare that turned out to be a pretty fun technical challenge:

Feb 13 2021 - Cold AF

I spent about 3-4 hours waxing three of my boards yesterday afternoon and evening... cold-temp wax, of course... it was the first waxing for the LibTech BoxKnife & Gnu Money and an overdue wax for the LibTech Orca...

It wasn't easy to commit to a colder than average day on the mountain but it ended up being well worth the effort today... with the polar vortex in full effect and several fresh inches of snow all over the Greater Seattle area, the roads were pretty terrible to drive on early this morning. Even with AWD, the snow was so deep on the highway that it was tough to plow through in my sportomobile... once I hit the mountain roads it was much more manageable, as they are prepared for this type of weather all throughout winter.

I got to Stevens Pass around 9 am but the parking lots were still pretty empty... most people from the west didn't bother trying to make it out today and it left the resort feeling pretty empty, which was just what we needed on such a perfect day to ride! Beside the arduous drive out of the city, there were very high wind speeds on Highway 2 and the temperature at the mountain was 8F... which is well below my tolerance threshold of around 15F.

I put on my warmest gloves and even an extra top layer and head out to explore with the BoxKnife... it took a few laps to get warm but then it was completely manageable, especially since it heated up several degrees throughout the morning. After a couple runs near Kehr's chair through steep moguls and trees, the Double Diamond lift started running and opened up the backside.

The snow today was magical...we normally don't get this type of cold weather at Stevens and it made the snow very light and dusty. Accidental face shots were in full effect, which left me with a numb face and a headache...but it was hard to complain with such a great surface to ride on.... Almost everywhere was covered in about a foot of this soft stuff and every run this morning was dreamy... unfortunately, my GoPro Hero9 is quite awful in cold weather. The buttons freeze up and make it impossible to turn on or off or start recording without a remote control or the phone app... then, once it turned on, it would spontaneously turn off a few seconds later, presumably because it was too cold... whatever; I charged hard all morning and with such short lines, got a bunch of laps in and had completely exhausted my self by lunchtime...

As it had warmed up a little by noon, I was able to get the GoPro back on and recording, but I had to store it in my jacket when not in use (to keep it just warm enough with body heat). I was pretty worked by this time but was still eager to rip as much as I could ... managing to get a few runs recorded in the process. The day ended with a pretty sweet ride down Wildcat (a trail that has been closed for much of the season)... experts only, they say... which was a very steep ride throughout and provided access to some of the tree runs I found last weekend...except this time around, the snow was like a cloud - soft and fluffy... ^-^

The wax job really paid off today and provided a very consistent and reliable feel under foot along with adequate glide.... so much so... that I went back to the car, grabbed the Orca and went back to Wildcat for a victory lap...as I really needed to see what this fresh wax felt like on it... and it didn't disappoint!! ... just another reminder to always head out with the right wax and not let the base dry out (no Phantom treatment on the Orca). Thankfully, I avoided the curse of the last run and went home safely although somewhat reluctantly...it was too nice of a day to just leave the mountain, even though I was exhausted.

Feb 06 2021 - Powder Day

It's been mostly ice and crust up until now and it hasn't been easy to put in a full day on the mountain... but today was pretty different.... I managed to stay out there from 9am-3pm and got worked!! A snow storm came through this week and softened things up a bit, almost everywhere... and then today, it snowed nonstop and heavily enough to cover up tracks on every run... most of the day was spent making fresh tracks ^-^

With grey skies all around the mood was bright and uplifting... and despite extremely long lines on the backside of the mountain, the wait felt well worth it. This is really one of the few days where a wide skill range of riders are able to get out on very steep terrain and experience very low consequences. I saw people laying out backflips and others working on spinning or jumping... often times falling and tumbling down a steep hill for a bit... but always getting back up in good spirits and continuing to rip it!

I took to the woods and head out into sections that were previously pretty sketchy to be in but were now knee+ deep with snow. The only downside was that a certain amount of speed had to be kept in order to stay afloat, which can be tricky in dense woods. I managed not to have any major collisions today but did have about 5 run-ins with the trees... because I didn't take a proper break once I got tired and tried to ride through it (which is highly unadvisable regardless of your skill level).

I took a short lunch break in the car and head back out with a different board, the Gnu Money, to see how it faired in the powder... it was pretty good for a twin-shaped board and something I could definitely rely on to get through a powder day as my only board. Despite being tired from riding regular all day, I found it difficult to ride switch because my right leg had been biased to take most of my weight for most of the day... but I still gave it a go and tried to ride switch as much as possible for the rest of the day.

As the day went on the storm picked up and forced several parts of the mountain to close early for the day. It was to the point where the lift was moving at a crawling pace because the winds at the top made it hard to unmount... the resort crew kept it going as long as they could while keeping everyone safe... well played. I tried to ride a bit more over on the front side but it was pretty crowded, even in the trees. On my last run I ended up detouring while in a small patch of trees to avoid a couple that were slowly working their way through it and lost traction on the slope... slamming my board into a tree and jamming my ankle in the process... it was clearly time to go home. -_-

Overall it was a magical day and I hope we get blessed with some more of this snow and a little less wind (since the wind blows much of the soft snow off the steep slopes and turns them back to icy crust). Today was a much needed uplifting of spirit given the past few weeks of trying to get back into my riding style on crust... what a day!!!!

My rib hasn't stopped hurting since last weekend and I have been managing it throughout the week as best I could... thankfully it didn't really bother me much today. I've decided to drop down to just one weekend day rather than two back to back days to get in a better recovery... I still may do a lighter day midweek to stay sharp. This season will be at a slower pace for sure because the rib probably won't be 100% until at least the summer time.

Jan 31 2021 - Money on My Mind

I switched boards today and went out with the Gnu Money... a budget board that not specifically great at anything but it's pretty good at everything... and I also remembered to pack the clear lens today... woot! The Money is new and has the Phantom application as well so it'll be a few more slow days in order to get this board broken in.

My day started off with being followed for 45 minutes by a king county sheriff into the mountains and eventually pulled over for following too closely in a turn. We had a conversation about safe driving distances that was no more than 5 minutes and he wished me a safe day on the mountain... I still got a pretty good parking space when I arrived... off to a decent start.

There was some scattered snowfall last night and the entire mountain was covered in fog, so I decided to start with 7th heaven chair and get straight to it... the steeps!! A huge group of skiers went up right before me but thankfully didn't clog up the path that is quite unfriendly to snowboarders (steep, narrow, short). I went down some of the moguls just off to the left before starting to head back towards Tye Mill (access to the backside) and away from all the nearby cliffs... on my way over I hit a knee-deep powder puddle, fell down, and then dug myself out... after getting back on my feet, I cut through a pretty sweet patch of trees that I need to get back around to next time *_*

I spent a lot of time in the trees between Pegasus and the Southern Cross looking for trees to split (wherever there was enough powder) and for tree wells to help pack in. The occasional patches of ice kept me on high alert and also reminded me that my knees are still aching from yesterday's riding... overall, a solid warm-up.

I met a skier on the lift and we got to talking about steeps... which inspired me to head over to Double Diamond and check out how ridable it was... and it was!!! There was adequate coverage on the big moguls (drooly emoji) and even enough snow to safely split some trees... I took three laps through and hit a lot of fresh spots venturing deep into the woods and finding places where trees had dropped a load... it might be worthwhile to break out the LibTech Orca next time ^_^

Overall, was a great day on the mountain... best of 2021!! ... but my rib is really hurting now, most likely from the extra steep terrain... I hope it's nothing too serious but I'll probably rest until next weekend to be safe.

Jan 30 2021 - Foggy and Dodgy

The snowfall this week was scattered about and conditions today were still pretty sketchy but trending towards ridable. There was just enough snow for grip... and it was covering just enough ice to slip... patches of fluff here and there amidst a plain of crust... get too comfortable and down you go x_x

My goggles kept fogging up today and I forgot the clear lens at home.... oh well. The mountain was mostly covered in fog as well which just encouraged me to stick to the trees where the visibility was adequate.

It's been getting easier to ride in these variable conditions as I continue to come out here regularly... hoping for some powder tomorrow though to get a break from all the ice... it's getting old on these old knees 0_0

I'm finally noticing the effects of the Phantom application on the LibTech Box Knife... so I can go ahead and start waxing again ∆_∆ ... looking forward to a faster base next time out with this board!

Jan 27 2021 - A Lighter Day

After working hard all weekend, it was nice to take a midweek day to just ride around make some turns with friends. It wasn't too busy at the resort and there was some decent freshness on the ground ^-^ The sides of the runs were all dusted and soft and we stuck to Intermediate terrain today.

A small ride through the terrain park is all it took to feel the psychological effects of the rib-breaking incident. I opted out of any jumps even though they were pretty small in the section we rode through. After a few hours we were ready to head out... twas solid chill day $_$

I intended to have videos for each of these blog posts during the season but I find myself too tired to watch and edit after driving and riding... also, my process to move and edit videos is still pretty clunky... I'd like to eventually get it more streamlined and reliable but for now I've just been uploading small clips to instagram.

Jan 24 2021 - Back to Back

What better way to get back into things than to go hard two days in a row... I'm going to feel this for the next few days. *-*

Yesterday put a beating on me so I had to go a little easier today... but I still ended up on the backside trying to rip it on ice and crust...even in the fog. The constant vibration from the chattering board have made my knees quite sore... they're particularly achy tendons and ligaments without much muscle soreness.

I covered most of the mountain today just trying to feel out this new board and train a bit on staying centered over it... I have the tendency to lean too far and then the board digs into the snow and puts me down... still trying to break in this Phantom base application.

Jan 23 2021 - First Day Back on Snow

Today was the first day back on snow and I spent most of this week full of uncertainty about how it would go. I got up shortly before 6 am and made it out to the resort around 8. Road conditions were pretty great and there wasn't too much traffic either... but the cops were on the prowl 0_0

I got a pretty good parking spot and skated around a bit to feel out the new board (Lib Tech Box Knife). The base has a Phantom 2.0 treatment which will help keep me moving on the snow whenever my wax runs out... unfortunately the first few days of riding are quite slow. I tried to convince myself that I would keep to mellow terrain and avoid the steeps today... for about 30 minutes before the lifts started running, I stretched excessively and visualized myself "taking it easy".

I got up on one of the first several lifts at Hogsback Express... exited left and rode down to Tye Mill which leads to the back side....which wasn't yet open. It was a twenty minute wait, which ended up being quite unpleasant because it was around 14 degrees (F) x_x

I never had a chance to take it easy... first ride on the back side could have been mellow but I found myself on icy and uneven terrain just playing around with turns... and just towards the end, I wiped out and lost my GoPro Hero9 that was mounted to my backpack strap. -_- ... I noticed it was gone at the lift line and then head right back over to find it. Thankfully, I was riding in a spot where no one else would really want to go and found it pretty easily right where I had fallen (tumbled is a better way to put it).

With such cold conditions, the snow was icy and crusty all over... despite having a few hours of sunshine... but thankfully I spent a decent amount of time last season playing around on icy & crusty snow so I felt quite comfortably challenged... but for real though, my knees are now aching from all that chatter that came up through the board.

My biggest struggle today though was riding switch. The new board is a 157W (157 cm long and slightly wider than the standard size), which has more surface area...requiring more effort to maneuver. I tend to ride with a fairly narrow stance and I found that just outside of my binding I was creating pressure that would flex the board enough to snag the snow and send me tumbling. It may take a few days on the mountain to learn how to ride this one switch so I'm looking forward to that ^-^

Overall it was a successful trip. I called it quits around 1pm and left quite exhausted. My legs are going to need to catch up as well as my cardio... so that I'm not gasping for breath after just a few turns on the steeps. The rib didn't hurt that much and it was mostly soreness... very reassuring given how hard I pushed it today.

Jan 17 2021 - New Year, New Gear

With all this sitting on the sideline... I found myself scouting out new gear almost daily. Thanks to trip insurance, I was able to recoup the lost days at Park City... which helped fund the 2021 lineup ^-^

It started with a new board (Lib Tech Box Knife) to replace the broken GNU Headspace... but I threw in some socks, gloves, balaclava, and even tried out the new DC Control Step-On boot... unfortunately it wasn't a good fit and caused foot pain just standing and walking around at home... but then I started looking into lightweight, breathable, weatherproof shells... and after quite a bit of contemplation, purchased a 3-layer GORE-TEX bib and jacket from Burton's [ak] lineup. The breathability of these shells allows me to wear them in the house for quite a while without overheating ... can't wait to get out in the snow with em!

Speaking of... it's been six weeks since the break and the pains I feel seem to be muscular and fascial, which is encouraging because I am planning to head out to the slopes this upcoming Saturday. *-* Two days ago I started light workouts with resistance bands and today I got all the gear out and even managed a light workout clipped into the board. I am still a ways away from riding aggressively but pretty encouraged with where I'm at in the healing process. "Don't fall" will still be the main focus when riding but as I regain my strength and confidence it'll be back out into the forest!!!

Here is a video of my workout today... if you want to exercise along with me in the video, it would help to have a resistance band ;) but no equipment is needed.

I still haven't gotten a solid ride on the Step-On X bindings yet so day one will be on the new board with new bindings and a new shell... I'm still thinking about getting a new helmet since 1. the dreads are gone (combed them out in September) which left a bit of space and 2. I may have hit it on the ground when I fell and broke the rib... and I finally got a selfie stick so you may actually see me in some of the videos I post.