We headed up to Stevens late in the day to enjoy a sunny and fairly empty day at the resort. We never had to stand in line for the lifts, food or anything. An awesome hard pack day filled with groomer cruising all day long. Off the groom was pretty choppy though...
A blog of my past, future, and present adventures. I dabble with a lot of activities, Whitewater Kayaking, Scuba Diving, Lightweight/Ultralight Backpacking, Snowboarding, Dirt biking/ATV Riding, 4wheeling, and all the goodies in between.
Showing posts with label Snowboarding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Snowboarding. Show all posts
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Stevens Pass 12/23/2010
Fairly poor, lighting, and mediocre conditions. So there wasn't much of a video...
Stevens Pass 12/16/2010
I'm playing catch up, I've been updating the facebook page, and forgetting to update the blog. :-)
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Crystal Mountain 11/27/2010
Another day on the hill before I have to buckle down and study hard for finals. Morgan took us up High Campbell for some powdery double diamond bliss, every time I've been to Crystal the High Campbell lift has always been broken or not turning. The traverse was a little hairy with all the rocks to attempt to dodge... Conditions overall were magnificant for this early in the season. I still got a lot of scratches in the base that I'll be p-texing this weekend. So here's the feature presentation.
The video is recorded in 960p at a 4:3 ratio. Double click on it to open it up and actually see the whole right edge of the movie... The next trip I'll record it in 1080p 16:9.
The video is recorded in 960p at a 4:3 ratio. Double click on it to open it up and actually see the whole right edge of the movie... The next trip I'll record it in 1080p 16:9.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Crystal Mountain Opening Weekend 11/21/2010 and GoPro Hero HD Trial.
Crystal Mountain opening weekend and my new GoPro HD Hero's first trial. I had some fogging issues, but I have desiccant anti-fog packets coming for the housing... Enjoy the film! I also misspelled Austin's name as Auston, instead of Austin. Sorry about that Austin. All the pictures except the ones that are noted as taken by me are taken by Austin.
Getting ready for the slopes.
Riding the trailer from the parking lot to the lodge.
Campbell Basin.
Talking to Victor before we head down the slopes.
Austin and I on top of Queens.
Austin rocking the lifted Subaru!
Getting ready for the slopes.
Riding the trailer from the parking lot to the lodge.
Campbell Basin.
Talking to Victor before we head down the slopes.
Austin and I on top of Queens.
Austin rocking the lifted Subaru!
Monday, April 19, 2010
Stevens Pass Closing Day 4/18/2010
Morgan, Sonia and I headed up to Stevens for the last day of the ski season. It was in the mid 50's, blue bird and slushy sliding all day. Morgan, the Mad Hatter of the day, had us wear some interesting hats for the day of celebration. There was some interesting costumes on the slopes as well, from Batman, to a mouse, to Uncle Sam with a banjo. Basically this is the day that everyone comes out of the woodwork.
So here' s a few pictures from the day. It was fairly epic for a spring day, great weather, good conditions and excellent company. Sonia made it down her first diamond run as well today! Just an awesome day overall.
One of the many beautiful views on the way up.
The Mad Hatter (Morgan) and the crazy hats he brought for us to wear.
Sonia and I with the crazy hats on.
The Mad Hatter half way down the backside of Stevens, and Sonia wondering what the hell I was taking pictures of :)
Mad Hatter on the lift on the Backside of Stevens.
So here' s a few pictures from the day. It was fairly epic for a spring day, great weather, good conditions and excellent company. Sonia made it down her first diamond run as well today! Just an awesome day overall.
One of the many beautiful views on the way up.
The Mad Hatter (Morgan) and the crazy hats he brought for us to wear.
Sonia and I with the crazy hats on.
The Mad Hatter half way down the backside of Stevens, and Sonia wondering what the hell I was taking pictures of :)
Mad Hatter on the lift on the Backside of Stevens.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Stevens Pass 12/17/2009
After we hit highway 2 the most interesting thing started to happen, for once there was courteous drivers on highway 2... Generally when you run into people going under the speed limit, as soon as you hit a passing zone they finally find the right pedal and try to race you while you are trying to pass... Today nearly everyone turned their flashers on and actually used the turn outs and shoulders to safely allow us to pass! Novel concept, but I've never seen it happen more than once every so many years... We had 4 to 5 cars pull over and allow us to pass!
Sonia came up to the pass with us on this trip, and Stevens had a killer deal on the lessons, lift ticket, and rentals package. It was only $25! So Sonia took some lessons since she hadn't snowboarded for several years and Morgan and I headed to tye mill to play around in all the fresh powder. The Small brothers arrived at the pass and hit some more runs with us. At least until Morgan and I headed down to the base to meet back up with Sonia and get some lunch. I made too many burritos, and was stuffed...
2 videos of 2 tries at the same drop. The drop is adjacent to the PCT off of the Tye Mill chair.
Morgan on Hogsback
Oops, getting up after nose diving off a drop...
Sonia getting help up the hill from Morgan.
We headed up daisy and hit a couple runs with Sonia, and all I can say is wow! It has been forever since I have seen anyone hauling down the hill that fast in between crashes, and getting right back up after the brutal falls. We hit up hogs for a few runs and headed home early to attempt to get Morgan home in time to pick up his daughter. Overall it was an awesome day! Good company, excellent snow, and a fairly safe trip home.
Sonia came up to the pass with us on this trip, and Stevens had a killer deal on the lessons, lift ticket, and rentals package. It was only $25! So Sonia took some lessons since she hadn't snowboarded for several years and Morgan and I headed to tye mill to play around in all the fresh powder. The Small brothers arrived at the pass and hit some more runs with us. At least until Morgan and I headed down to the base to meet back up with Sonia and get some lunch. I made too many burritos, and was stuffed...
2 videos of 2 tries at the same drop. The drop is adjacent to the PCT off of the Tye Mill chair.
Morgan on Hogsback
Oops, getting up after nose diving off a drop...
Sonia getting help up the hill from Morgan.
We headed up daisy and hit a couple runs with Sonia, and all I can say is wow! It has been forever since I have seen anyone hauling down the hill that fast in between crashes, and getting right back up after the brutal falls. We hit up hogs for a few runs and headed home early to attempt to get Morgan home in time to pick up his daughter. Overall it was an awesome day! Good company, excellent snow, and a fairly safe trip home.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Stevens Pass, Winter Chills and Packed Groomers, December 6, 2009
The day started off with a lot of odds and ends going wrong, like having to hike down 200 plus stairs and a 1/4 mile down the beach just to pound on Morgan's door to get him up. Then we finally got to Sultan and he realized that he left his shell jacket and seasons pass at home... So I was able to get a hold of a buddy in Snohomish and borrow a shell jacket.... The temperatures before wind chill were in the low teens, so a shell jacket with plenty of layers was essential.
We finally arrived after all the fiascos by about 11:30, mind you I arrived at Morgan's house by 6am and it is only a 2.5hour drive to Stevens from there... Luckily conditions were so-so and it wasn't a powder day, otherwise I would of left him cozy at home while I went and rode the powder. The day started in the mid teens with some serious gusts from east to west. I headed to the lodge and picked up a set of Skull Candy ear flaps for my helmet, Morgan grabbed a new pass and we were on the way to the chair lift. The runs were ice to firm packed snow off of the left side of Hogsback. We decided to try the backside first... and what a mistake. They hadn't groomed it in a couple weeks, so it was a solid sheet of ice, and off trail it was a lumpy wind blown ice mixture... When we finally got back to the ridge top, we rode down skid road on tye mill, and surprisingly it was firm, but not a solid sheet of ice. We rode Tye for awhile, than headed to the park to play around for awhile. This is where we were going to take a few videos, but since my camera has "tap control", which I normally turn off, since when you move it keeps turning the camera on... So my battery went dead at the start of recording a video in the park... So there isn't any pictures, but the trip was a success, and the conditions in the park and on trail off of Tye Mill were actually pretty good. When we left without the windchill it was barely 10 degrees now if you add in the 10 to 25 mph winds... It was freaking cold...
We finally arrived after all the fiascos by about 11:30, mind you I arrived at Morgan's house by 6am and it is only a 2.5hour drive to Stevens from there... Luckily conditions were so-so and it wasn't a powder day, otherwise I would of left him cozy at home while I went and rode the powder. The day started in the mid teens with some serious gusts from east to west. I headed to the lodge and picked up a set of Skull Candy ear flaps for my helmet, Morgan grabbed a new pass and we were on the way to the chair lift. The runs were ice to firm packed snow off of the left side of Hogsback. We decided to try the backside first... and what a mistake. They hadn't groomed it in a couple weeks, so it was a solid sheet of ice, and off trail it was a lumpy wind blown ice mixture... When we finally got back to the ridge top, we rode down skid road on tye mill, and surprisingly it was firm, but not a solid sheet of ice. We rode Tye for awhile, than headed to the park to play around for awhile. This is where we were going to take a few videos, but since my camera has "tap control", which I normally turn off, since when you move it keeps turning the camera on... So my battery went dead at the start of recording a video in the park... So there isn't any pictures, but the trip was a success, and the conditions in the park and on trail off of Tye Mill were actually pretty good. When we left without the windchill it was barely 10 degrees now if you add in the 10 to 25 mph winds... It was freaking cold...
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Crystal Mountain Opening Day November 11, 2009
After hiking at Stevens on the 8th, I was really craving some lift service runs. So Wednesday was my Veteran's Day anyway, so I needed to celebrate and there was no school. We gathered a group and headed to Crystal Mountain for opening day... We were obviously not the only ones with a similar plan, almost all the lots were full in a few hours.
Morgan and I headed up to the top of the Forest Queen Express and and traversed across to get some powder turns. After we got to the bottom, it was time for some stretching and we waited for van and the group that came up in his car. I received a few rock scraps, but Morgan went for the core on his skis...
Me at the top of Forest Queen.
Morgan at the top of Forest Queen.
Van at the top of Forest Queen.
After Morgan hit a lone rock... If you look careful the rock he hit rolled down the hill and is skiers right of his right pole.
Van trying to sneak some beer.
Morgan and I drinking the pitcher at lunch.
Look at all the ants hiking up...
now if you look careful you can see the top of the other skin/boot track that zig-zags up the mountain. These people are crazy, I would of taken the zig-zag path so that I wouldn't die of physical exhaustion...
Drum roll... the reason why Crystal tracked out with in a couple runs...
Morgan above Green Valley.
The fog in the valley on the way down the mountain.
A couple days later I repaired Morgan's ski base to the best of my ability. There's some ruff spots but without a base grind I wouldn't be able to remove the roughness of the edge of the cuts in his base.
The damage...
Evidence of a dry base that needs a good waxing.
Post repair, prewax.
The same spot that was above showing how dry the base was, This is after a One Ball Jay All-Temp Graphite hot wax, buffing, structuring and corking the base, look at that shiny base.
The damaged area post repair and post wax. It's the best that could be done with out a base grind to smooth the damaged area more. The depth of the cut might or might not hold the ptex forever, but we'll see and it was a lot cheaper than a Level 3 base repair.
Morgan and I headed up to the top of the Forest Queen Express and and traversed across to get some powder turns. After we got to the bottom, it was time for some stretching and we waited for van and the group that came up in his car. I received a few rock scraps, but Morgan went for the core on his skis...
Me at the top of Forest Queen.
Morgan at the top of Forest Queen.
Van at the top of Forest Queen.
After Morgan hit a lone rock... If you look careful the rock he hit rolled down the hill and is skiers right of his right pole.
Van trying to sneak some beer.
Morgan and I drinking the pitcher at lunch.
Look at all the ants hiking up...
now if you look careful you can see the top of the other skin/boot track that zig-zags up the mountain. These people are crazy, I would of taken the zig-zag path so that I wouldn't die of physical exhaustion...
Drum roll... the reason why Crystal tracked out with in a couple runs...
Morgan above Green Valley.
The fog in the valley on the way down the mountain.
A couple days later I repaired Morgan's ski base to the best of my ability. There's some ruff spots but without a base grind I wouldn't be able to remove the roughness of the edge of the cuts in his base.
The damage...
Evidence of a dry base that needs a good waxing.
Post repair, prewax.
The same spot that was above showing how dry the base was, This is after a One Ball Jay All-Temp Graphite hot wax, buffing, structuring and corking the base, look at that shiny base.
The damaged area post repair and post wax. It's the best that could be done with out a base grind to smooth the damaged area more. The depth of the cut might or might not hold the ptex forever, but we'll see and it was a lot cheaper than a Level 3 base repair.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Stevens Pass, Knee Deep in Pow November 8th, 2009
What a weekend... So I procrastinated some studying for the weekend and got some R&R/Masochistic hiking at Stevens Pass in to calm the soul. I'm all for difficult hikes just to get to anything my soul needs, and the pain in my legs from helping cut the boot pack up Big Chief in 30 inches or so of fresh snow is fairly evident.
The day started out in Lynnwood, and my cousin Zach and I dilly dallied our way out the door at 5:30am and slowly made our way to Stevens Pass. After a lot of stops on the way we finally were working our way up the pass. The roads were bare and wet most of the way, and since I was driving my "new to me" Subaru Forester I drove in the uncleared lane to see how the tires handled while cornering accelerating and braking, since the pass was a ghost town on the way up the mountain I could really test the braking. When we arrived at the parking lot the initial plan was to go to the PCT Trail head and hike the PCT across the resort to Tye mill, but the PCT parking lot had still not been plowed so we played in the snow! More vehicle handling tests, cause you can never be too prepared with the knowledge of knowing how your vehicle will handle in a slide or deeper snow. After having to dig out once... we finally went over to the main parking lot and just hiked the Big Chief run to the PCT... What a workout, even with snowshoes we were sinking past our knees up the nice grade. At about the jct to the PCT, which it was deep enough that if you didn't know where it was, good luck finding it. I decided there was no sense traversing to make a new boot back up Tye when there was already one being started on Big chief. So I continued up the hill in the boot pack and Zach stuck around to take a video of me coming down the mountain.
After taking the video, Zach started down the hill and I hiked back up for another run or 2. After the snowboarding I broke out the old trusty MSR Simmerlite and started melting snow to make the Burrito concoction that I've been working on. I promised awhile ago that I'd write a blog on it eventually, and now I will have to. I herby name them the "Stevens Pass Burritos". After adding the water to the bag with the mix in it, I wrapped the freezer bag in my fleece and stuffed it in my backpack to let it reconstitute. We melted a little more snow, and made some Hot Apple Cider to warm the soul. After making lunch we headed to the car and headed home. What an epic day for being so early in November! Bring on winter, cause my mind and soul needs an immersion into the deep powder of a winter wonderland!
The day started out in Lynnwood, and my cousin Zach and I dilly dallied our way out the door at 5:30am and slowly made our way to Stevens Pass. After a lot of stops on the way we finally were working our way up the pass. The roads were bare and wet most of the way, and since I was driving my "new to me" Subaru Forester I drove in the uncleared lane to see how the tires handled while cornering accelerating and braking, since the pass was a ghost town on the way up the mountain I could really test the braking. When we arrived at the parking lot the initial plan was to go to the PCT Trail head and hike the PCT across the resort to Tye mill, but the PCT parking lot had still not been plowed so we played in the snow! More vehicle handling tests, cause you can never be too prepared with the knowledge of knowing how your vehicle will handle in a slide or deeper snow. After having to dig out once... we finally went over to the main parking lot and just hiked the Big Chief run to the PCT... What a workout, even with snowshoes we were sinking past our knees up the nice grade. At about the jct to the PCT, which it was deep enough that if you didn't know where it was, good luck finding it. I decided there was no sense traversing to make a new boot back up Tye when there was already one being started on Big chief. So I continued up the hill in the boot pack and Zach stuck around to take a video of me coming down the mountain.
After taking the video, Zach started down the hill and I hiked back up for another run or 2. After the snowboarding I broke out the old trusty MSR Simmerlite and started melting snow to make the Burrito concoction that I've been working on. I promised awhile ago that I'd write a blog on it eventually, and now I will have to. I herby name them the "Stevens Pass Burritos". After adding the water to the bag with the mix in it, I wrapped the freezer bag in my fleece and stuffed it in my backpack to let it reconstitute. We melted a little more snow, and made some Hot Apple Cider to warm the soul. After making lunch we headed to the car and headed home. What an epic day for being so early in November! Bring on winter, cause my mind and soul needs an immersion into the deep powder of a winter wonderland!
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