Not Our Favorite Season

Spring in the mountains is not the season of growth, new life, and human rejuvenation, as it is in the valleys and lowlands. All that spring means at our house is a slow melt of dirty, grimy snow that you can't even really call snow anymore. Its totally depressing.

Fall up here is amazing: beautiful colors, warm days, crisp evenings, and the eager anticipation of snow and winter. We've written multiple posts on the wonder and beauty of winter so you already know that we love snow, cold, and cuddling up inside with tea. Summer...well, who could not enjoy the warmth of the sun, the smell of the dirt, and the beauty of mountain peaks in blazing afternoon light? But, Spring, WHAT IS THE POINT?!?

If you can't tell, we've been a bit depressed here in the Kern household. Thus, we've been heading East a lot to save our souls. We seem to keep forgetting the camera so not many pics. Here's a quick run-down of what we've been up to in the last month or so:

• Some fun bike rides on the Rat Pack trail in Cle Elum, ending with a beer and great grub at the Roslyn Cafe.
• A great day climbing at Vantage followed by a surprise one-night stay at Cave B.
• A few awesome spring exercise tours up Silver Fir -in tee shirts & sunglasses- to catch the last of the white stuff, which is rapidly turning grey & dirty.
• A few more amazing days climbing at Vantage in the sun with friends.

 Cave B = relaxation and eating ecstasy

 Doug, pulling hard at 62 years old

 B is getting back into it...

 Doug blending in like a lizard

A great day...just what I needed, personally.

No Brainer

When Ed called us a couple weeks before spring break to say that he had secured his cousin-in-laws' awesome slopeside townhome at Whistler for a super low cost for the week, we considered our options:

• We could stay at home and watch TV, ski a little on the same hill we always ski, look at our piles of laundry and bills to pay, etc.
• OR, we could ski at Whistler-Blackcomb, ski tour in the South Coast Mountain range, eat well in the village, drink beer, and hang with friends.

Hmmm...this was a very hard decision.

And so, after much thought and debate, we hit the road, crossed the border, and spent a really fun week with Ed & Julie.

On Saturday Ed and Brandon headed to Cayoosh Pass for a quick afternoon tour/exploration.  They ended up touring up the side of Tzil and enjoyed great weather, snow, and were amazed at all there is to do up in Canada.

Crossing Upper Joffre Lake with Slalok in the backdrop

Tracks from a group of heli assisted tourers on the awesome North Face of Slalok

Ed drooling

Tzil

On Sunday Ed, Brandon a I headed out to Ski Cayoosh.  We found poor visibility and had to turn around just shy of the summit, much to Ed and Brandon's dismay, as this was their second attempt.

The snow clouds rolling in on our way to Cayoosh Peak.

On the armchair glacier, ascending into the fog.

Ed

 Heather popping out of the abyss of fog.

 Tele-Ed

We enjoyed great snow on a nice line.

We also enjoyed a few days in-bounds...

a brief & rare showing of the sun.

On Thursday, while Julie & I enjoyed reading our books in the sun on the deck, the boys headed to Mt. Chief Pascal. I had a great, relaxing day but I felt a twinge of regret when I saw/heard how good the snow was.

 Ed on the summit

 Brandon & Ed

Sunlight on tracks

Video of Brandon and Ed's day on Pascall:

Mount Chief Pascall from Brandon Kern on Vimeo.

Sweet Catherine

It's funny...I've been on the arm of Mt. Catherine several times but never skied it, even though it is literally in our backyard. We've always had some other goal and have bypassed Catherine. Brandon has skied it several times but this was my first trip to ski Catherine. I must say, she is my new favorite.

 the classic hold your hand out close-up

 B looking out, Granite Peak in the distance

 Untracked powder in the trees...

...on a beautiful sunny day.

Could it be better?!?

[Chikamin Peak with Hidden Valley in the foreground]

Plake @ Hyak

On the night of March 4th, Heather was at a friends house and I was home alone, when I heard the sound of a diesel idling outside. I looked out our front window and noticed a big rv right in front of the house, the occupants sitting inside looking at a map. It was snowing so hard I didn't notice that it was Glen and Kimberly Plake, lost, a few hundred feet from the Hyak parking lot, which they were trying to find.

The Plakes were looking for the Hyak parking lot to spend the night to ski the next day as part of Plake's down home tour. They showed up unexpectedly at Hyak because their original destination of Hurricane ridge was closed. Regretfully I didn't go out and offer directions, but had the chance to meet Plake the next day. Heather and our friend Melissa actually got to ski with Glen and Kimberly, while Ed and I skied powder on Mt Catherine. Pretty cool to actually meet a ski icon, and for Heather and Melissa to ski next to him.

Ed and I with Plake

Ed next to Plake's sweet camper with built in ski tuning shop

Ed skiing pow on Mt Catherine

Ed ripping

Mt Catherine

Late posting but did not take pics, only video, so it took a little while to put a video together. Ed and I headed over to Mt Catherine last Saturday to find some low avy danger tree sking, which we found. We also found many groups of people with the same idea. We ventured into a line that Kevin Curd showed me last year (not the standard descent route) to escape the crowds, and found Kevin's and Greg Louie's tracks from earlier in the day. Fresh snow was still found and after two quick laps we called it a day.


Untitled from Brandon Kern on Vimeo.