Whitefish Whiteout

I have been dragging my feet on posting this as pictures of me in my skin suit are kind of embarrasing.  But Heather made me.  We left Friday afternoon for a 10 hour drive to Whitefish, skied the race on Saturday, and then dashed home on Sunday; crazy, but we had fun.  I haven't been back to Big Mtn (now Whitefish Mtn Resort) since I was a kid so it was cool to go back. The mtn has changed a little, and the Kalispell-Whitefish area has really grown.  

The race itself was a learning experience to say the least, it was my first pro or non recreational class race. I have done a few rec races and have done fairly well but always have been curious how much faster I could go with light gear.  The main difference between rec and pro class is the vertical covered; a rec race is typically around 2k elevation gain & loss, pro class races can be anywhere from 4k to 9k.  This race covered 4800 feet and had variable snow conditions and temps.  At the starting line there were present 3 Canadian National Team members including the fastest guy in North America, the US national champ, and a few other fast looking spandex-clad folks.  

The race started as they all do in a full sprint for a 100' or so with everyone trying to establish position and/or test the speed of others.   The fast guys (about 6) began to quickly build a gap, as I stuck with a chase group of three, including #9 female in the world last year (very fast).  The first guy made it to the top in 28 min, I was around 34.  I felt good like I could increase my pace, but after the first descent and the first transition up I had a skin blowout, and then another and another.  Eventually, I just gave up and boot-packed the last three laps.  Instead of keeping pace with the three and finishing possibly top five, I finished 30 min back and in 8th.  

Oh well, the goal for me in racing is to have fun and I did have fun. I learned a lot so hopefully my next race will be more successful.  Heather, meanwhile, skied powder for a good portion of the day, and watched me at a couple points during the race. 

                                        

The Start

Run!

Well into the pain cave

                                        

First up to down transition

Finished finally

The Only Dry Place in WA

Ed & Julie kindly invited us to Julie's folks place in the North Cascades. The forecast was calling for rain everywhere, even in the mountains. A bit depressed, we hit the road and drove up to their cozy place overlooking the Methow Valley.

Ed Sr. and Kitty were gracious hosts and we had such a great time eating, giggling, socializing, etc.

We skied at Loup Loup on Saturday and it was the only ski area in the whole state where it wasn't raining. So although the snow wasn't powder, we weren't complaining...it wasn't solid ice or slush and we skied several fun runs without a single lift line. I can only imagine we would've been ringing out our gloves back home.

Snoqualmie & Baker

The plan was to go where it was snowing....trouble was, it wasn't snowing anywhere in the Western or Mountain states. After much deliberation -and I mean MUCH- Brandon & Ed were still nowhere closer to a plan.

So, they decided to ski Roosevelt and discuss the plan for the next few days while touring. The skiing cleared their minds, as it was sure to do, and they committed to a plan to go to Mt. Baker.

Brandon tried out his new GoPro Helmet Cam on this trip...after some video editing, he'll post that footage. But alas, we cannot wait for that...and so I'll post so that our blog life can go on.

It's Raining Now...

...but it was snowing last weekend. I'll post some pics of snow to make myself feel better.

We got out for a few laps in the backcountry: one through the trees on the south slope of Chair Peak, then a run on Pineapple Pass, then another down Chair. We were trying to get to the entrance to the north slope but kept getting cliffed out in the fog.

  Every once in awhile the fog would break for a moment and I'd get a shot...

...but you literally could see nothing but your skis on the way down.

Lazy Bums

Okay, so we've been really lazy all Christmas break, way lazier than normal for us. Today, we were supposed to get up early to go ski touring. 'Early' pretty much passed us by at 7am, 8am, 9am...seriously, we slept until 9:30. So after eating breakfast, getting dressed & ready, and packing a lunch, it was nearly lunchtime.

But it was a gorgeous day so we weren't going to not ski. We headed out to Chair Peak and were surprised that the lower bowl was completely tracked out.

We kept on going and then ripped our skins for a short wind-swept downhill slope to Snow Lake. Ate a quick lunch on frozen Snow Lake and admired some tracks on Roosevelt, our original goal.

Alas, we didn't have enough daylight to trek all the way out there, so we settled for a not-so-big slope above us. We didn't even have enough time to get to the top of this particular peak, but there wasn't much skiing above us anyway (mostly rocks and tight trees).

It was a great day outside in the blue sky mountains with my dear husband and we got a little exercise, so it was a success in those ways. Not a lot of skiing though. I think we need to get up just a tad earlier.

 At the top of lower Chair Peak bowl, heading back.

New Years Eve Eve

With conditions in the backcountry unknown and Hyak right outside the door with not much traffic on it still, the easy option was slack country laps at Hyak.

Melissa and Jeremy joined us

Ed

Nice evening reflection off Gold Creek Valley