Pacific NW/AK/BC 2021-2022 PNW Ski Resorts/Conditions/Meetups

[SkiMore]

Good morning Snoqualmie

 

[Bad Bob]

49 Degrees North today and it was good. No off piste yet, don't be fooled by what you see.

 

[dovski]

Alpental was super crisp this morning but had an inversion up top. By noon it must have been at least 50-60 degrees at the summit with lots of sun and soft snow. Even the off piste softened up enough to make for some fun Spring like Skiing. Lines were not bad either. Basically carved in the groomers in the morning and let er rip on Chair 2 in the afternoon.

 

[slowrider]

49 Degrees North today and it was good. No off piste yet, don't be fooled by what you see.
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Ride the Tiger

 

[Slemers]

No Skiing for me this week. I tested positive for Covid Tuesday and it's been a long week. Pretty mild symptoms overall but still have some pressure in my left ear and some pain swallowing. I don't know who gave it to who but my wife had it too

 

[RJS]

Skinned up to Palmer yesterday morning with a buddy who wanted to try out his uphill equipment for the first time. He is taking his Avy 1 in March, so it will be nice to have someone to do more legit uphill stuff with in the future. As you can imagine, it was fairly icy going up (ski crampons would have been helpful for the last bit, lots of people including myself were sliding backwards on our skins at points), but the run down was nice with little pockets of wind drift near the top and the snow just starting to soften below Magic Mile. Just about everybody climbing above Palmer took off their skis and were using boot crampons.

Lots of people, but that is no surprise on a sunny Saturday morning. The climbers lot was already full at 7am, so we parked in the main Timberline lot. One of the big perks I imagine with having a Timberline pass is that as long as you are OK with getting up there early to find parking, the lines must not be that crowded when half of the people parked up there in the morning are skinning or snowshoeing! Maybe half is an exaggeration, but it was a lot.

I'm going to Bachelor for the first time since last season next weekend with a group. It looks like we are just going to miss great conditions, as the warm weather will end on Friday with below freezing temps and clouds firming up the snow, but without any significant new snow accumulation. Thankfully Bachelor has good groomers and I can take a page out of @slowrider's book and work on my carving .

 

[slowrider]

@RJS If firm conditions exist when you arrive at Bachelor start on the Eastside(Sunrise, Cloudchaser). But you probably already know that. Keep those edges sharp.

 

[slowrider]

It never got soft but the weather was Spring like temps, calm & no lines. It's all good.

 

[slowrider]

Stayed cold & hard all day. Off piste was skiable but not all that fun. Groomers were good if you could find where it wasn't scraped off by the heel pushers.

Right tool for the right job. Stockli♡

 

[David Chaus]

Stayed cold & hard all day. Off piste was skiable but not all that fun. Groomers were good if you could find where it wasn't scraped off by the heel pushers.
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Right tool for the right job. Stöckli♡
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Stockli Spirit SC from about 2002, yes?

 

[slowrider]

Stöckli Spirit SC from about 2002, yes?

Yes Sir. Haven't skied them in a few years. They're still great carvers today.

 

[David Chaus]

Yes Sir. Haven't skied them in a few years. They're still great carvers today.

I haven't used mine in a while either. Maybe I'll pull them out soon.

 

[slowrider]

I haven't used mine in a while either. Maybe I'll pull them out soon.

You should. They're actually quite fun and predictable even on firm conditions.

 

[gilligan]

Skied Bachelor Tuesday to Friday last week with a group. Not the best trip I've had there. Tuesday started out sunny but windy with firm snow. Great conditions to ski my new Laser AX's for the first time. Wasn't able to demo a pair before buying them but they're as good as advertised.

Wednesday was misty but with soft snow. Would have been pretty good if we could have seen anything! Ending up skiing the last half of the day with goggles up. On the upside, lift-lines we're non-existent.

Thursday was full-on rain. Only three of us braved it hoping conditions would improve, as forecasted. Made three runs before retreating inside for a beer. Waited for an hour and a half to see if the rain would stop which didn't happen and headed back to Bend.

Friday we saw the sun again. Started out cold but warmed up into the mid-thirties but the snow never softened. Lots of hardpack and machine-churned ice. The Summit chair opened in the early afternoon. We were able to find nice stashes of wind-blown between bone-rattling, refrozen snow.



I've been doing an annual trip with this group of 7-10 guys for the last 10 years. We've gone to Bachelor every year since 2014. The positive outcome from the underwhelming conditions was everyone agreed to move to a new location next year, which I and couple of others have been lobbying for for the last 5 years. Inertia and Bend's awesome beer scene kept drawing us back though!

 

[pchewn]

Why on earth would you come to Bachelor, or anywhere in Oregon in January? That's our typical "between storms" freeze/thaw period. February/March will be great.

 

[slowrider]

Why on earth would you come to Bachelor, or anywhere in Oregon in January? That's our typical "between storms" freeze/thaw period. February/March will be great.

Junuary

 

[Tom Co.]

A late posting on Crystals conditions today, Tuesday. I am late because we just got back from a Pink Martini concert which was most excellent. If you get a chance to see them live, do it.

A beautiful sunny day


Pretty much groomers only with my brother in the foreground

Things are starting to get thin in spots. Sunnyside and Memorial did soften midday. There's some big bumps out there.

 

[tomahawkins]

The PNW is encased in fog, cold, and dreariness -- if you're below 800 feet. Mt Baker sunny and warm today. Everything off piste was frozen solid in the morning, but by 1pm, Honkers softened up nicely! It's one of the few runs that bakes in the sun early-mid season. And I seemed to be the only one riding it!

 

[Posaune]

The PNW is encased in fog, cold, and dreariness -- if you're below 800 feet. Mt Baker sunny and warm today. Everything off piste was frozen solid in the morning, but by 1pm, Honkers softened up nicely! It's one of the few runs that bakes in the sun early-mid season. And I seemed to be the only one riding it!

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Yeah, I was there Sunday and Monday and it was much the same. Upper Canuk's is like that too, but the lower half is pretty tough. Honkers is the good call.

 

[gilligan]

Why on earth would you come to Bachelor, or anywhere in Oregon in January? That's our typical "between storms" freeze/thaw period. February/March will be great.

That's pretty much anywhere in the PNW in January. January is when it worked for this group and we wanted something in driving distance from Tacoma. Also, most of the guys on the trip are more into eating and drinking than skiing so Bend was a good a choice. I definitely had some good ski days on the trips there but time to move on.