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.