Ten Days in Washington & British Columbia

On March 11th, 2006 our crew of five (Cousin Nick, Nick, Rob, Dave & myself) packed up our rented minivan and headed up to Mt Baker Washington. We arrived in the parking lot to find a perfect bluebird day and a good bit of a 3 day old powder.

Dave and I on the lift:

A far better view from the lift:

A serious line for Dave under Chair 1 at Baker:
Rob blowing through a tree at Mt Baker:

Dave, bringing the funk in the Baker parking lot:

After a killer day at Mt Baker, we got in the mini van for the 5 hour trip up to Whistler. Thanks to the Nick's shady criminal past and lack of proper ID, we nearly got up sent to a Canadian prison camp for life. Lucky for us, Rob was able to sweet talk the immigration agent about the travesty of the Colorado Avalanche ever winning the Stanley cup and we were admitted to Canada.

We woke up on Sunday March 12th to another beautiful bluebird day at Whistler.

The crew hiking up the Sun Bowl:

Dave "The Technician" Gorton, showing perfect tele form in the Sun Bowl:

Rob, going big and crashing hard in the Sun Bowl:

The Flute Bowl. It's about a 30 minute hike out and we came down the middle, from the summit shown in this photo:

Dave, going steep in the Whistler Bowl:

Rob, also in the Whistler Bowl:

Non-Cousin Nick, dropping into the Whistler Bowl:

Dave, in the park at Blackcomb:

After a day each in Whistler & Blackomb, we headed south back to Seattle.

The sunset from Highway 99, south of Whistler.

On March 14th, we left Dave to work, grabbed Jeff & Susan and pointed the mini van toward the fresh snow at Crystal.

Rob dropping a huge old-school method air in the Snorting Elk Bowl:

Non-Cousin Nick going big:

Me atop Grumbstake Point above Crystal:
Cousin Nick charging through some trees:

Me coming down a chute in the Snorting Elk Bowl:

Cousin Nick making a high-speed turn in the deepest 3 inches of powder any of us had ever seen:

Jeff dropping it big:

After two days at Crystal and another at Baker (using Seattle as a home base), we pointed it east on I-90 towards Alpental for a day in the back country. We were greated with sunny skies in the parking lot, that turned into dense clouds and snow on our skin up. Despited the low visibality and vertigo inducing flat light, we got some great turns in on Saturday.

Dave skinning up the Pineapple Bowl in the Alpental Backcountry:

For our final day, we started with some great powder turns in-bounds at Aplental. We then headed across the highway to spend the afternoon skiing with Dave and Susan's Niece and Nephew at the Summit at Snoqualmie. Jack and Maggie (8 and 10 respectively) tore up the bunny slope and even took some air in the terrain park.

After ten days of killer skiing, great times with family and good friends and a red eye flight home, I’m very tired but satisfied with the extraordinary quality of my visit. Thanks to Dave and Susan for hosting us and thanks to Dave, Susan, Nick, Non-Cousin Nick, Rob, Jeff, PJ, Michelle, Aunt Pat and Uncle Tom for good times!

Viva Seattle

I arrived in beautiful Seattle this afternoon. It's nice to be in Washington, the 45th state in the union I have had the pleasure of visiting.

The rumors are that it's snowing like crazy in the mountains (14" in the last 24 hours at Crystal), so I’m getting super stoked to get out and start skiing. If I can work out the logistics, I will be skiing Crystal tomorrow. Worst case, I will be skiing at Mt Baker (17" in the past 24) on Saturday.

The Freemont district of Seattle, as seen from Dave and Susan's balcony:

Dave and Susan's lovely apartment: