Whitewater Wonder

We have wanted to visit Nelson, B.C. for quite some time, but it is typically dumping snow at home and we never want to leave good snow. So, this year was the perfect year to go, with no snow at home.

Whitewater Ski Resort is pretty awesome. With just three, slow, two-seater lifts, it has a nice ma-&-pa ski area feeling. Despite having just those three lifts, there were no lines. The lodge was crowded at lunchtime with rosy-cheeked kids and families enjoying some excellent food.

[Our camping view for the week, in the parking lot of Whitewater]

Whitewater is part of what is called "The Powder Highway"; this year, it wasn't exactly powder, but there was white stuff covering the whole hill, and that's better than our hill, so we were pleased.

Kye and I spent some time one day on the rope tow, while Brandon did a little 'touring' for exercise. At one point, Kye decided it was super fun to go backwards, calling himself 'Tow Mater' (the best backwards driver in Carburetor County, for those unaware). 

[Tow Mater]

The next day, Kye said he was ready for the chairlift, so we enjoyed a few lift runs in the sunshine as a family. Pretty awesome experience.

[His legs didn't reach the edge of the seat.]

[Heather's view: is that blue jacket attached to a person?!?]

Little guy straight-lined the whole ski run unless we forced a turn (manually grabbing his binding). He said, "I'm Lightning McQueen. I want to go FAST!" 

[An evening skin, after lifts closed.]

We spent a day wandering around the town of Nelson, getting groceries and propane. Then, we drove to Ainsworth Hot Springs and set up camp nearby. We enjoyed an evening soak and shower. It's a cool spot, with a warm family pool and some hotter caves.

 [The nice Kootenay Lake campground near Ainsworth]

After cleaning up a bit, we headed back to Whitewater. Brandon got up early and headed out (with plenty of time, phew) to do the Coldsmoke Randonee Race . He felt strong and good during the race, finishing in 3rd place.

[B is far left front with orange pack, 

hidden next to dude in blue skinsuit...the start.]

1st- Philipp Schaedler (center); 2nd place- Ben Parsons (right); 3rd place- Brandon Kern (left)

And one last run for little man, after the race and before we hit the road to head home.

 Somehow he managed to sneak out his sleepy sheep.

Bachelor Bust

The past two years, Brandon has made a quick 'Batchelor' trip to Mt. Bachelor to do their randonnee race, enjoying a race in bluebird conditions and some time to himself on that long ride. This year, with the lack of snow, we decided to join him, so we made the trek down to Bend on Friday night after work.

Due to high winds, we opted not to stay in the Mt. Bachelor parking lot and instead stayed down in town. For some reason, Brandon has an issue arriving on time to this race. The past two years, he was stuck in traffic and unsure if he'd make it to the race (after 7 hours of driving). This time, we simply didn't allow enough time for the morning tasks and drive. Once there, Brandon sprinted from the truck to the start line and made it there literally just in time. He was already gassed before the race had even started.  The snow conditions were less than ideal as well, with thick cascade cement. When the race was finished, Brandon had finished in 6th place.

Our friends Seth and Holly joined for the trip, so I got to watch their son in the lodge with K while they all raced. Both finished strongly, with Holly taking 3rd in the womens' category.

[The boys were pretty happy playing trucks on the table.]

[The boys spent a little time skiing on the bunny hill.]

After the race festivities, we headed back down to Bend and enjoyed dinner with Seth, Holly, and Eli.  The next morning, we had breakfast at Sparrow Bakery, which might be worth a 7-hour drive in and of itself. Then, the loooooong drive home, with many pitstops at parks for little guy.

We'll Be Okay

We've been a bit depressed in our household this past 2 months. That word might be a slight exaggeration, but maybe not. First, the long-lasting plague. Then, the rain. No snow. And more rain. It turns out that living -with a kid- in the mountains during a winter with no snow is very isolating and cabin-fever inducing. Before kid, when this type of weather hit, we would head east to the sunshine or go into the city to watch a movie. Back then, it was much easier to be spontaneous.

So, last weekend, when I saw the forecast was for rain on Saturday, I made plans for K and I to go to the climbing gym with friends (B had to work). We had a great time climbing and chasing toddlers; it was the perfect solution to the rainy, dreary weather.

[Isaac and Isabel]

Then Sunday came, and it was a glorious "spring skiing" day, the kind where you are comfortable in a thin shirt and no gloves. I took K out skiing on the magic carpet. It was so awesome to watch him out there, a smile on his face, falling and giggling and sometimes, somehow, turning. At one point, he wanted to sit in the snow and watch everything. We admired the peaks around us, the moon rising, and enjoyed watching all the people careening down the bunny slope. We finished the morning off with hot cocoa in the sun. It was pretty great.

While we were thrilling on the magic carpet, B did some "backcountry touring" with his buddy Lowell. They skied up West and got onto the PCT, where they found no snow, then headed out to Rockdale Lake and back again.

At nap-time, I went up Hyak, down to the nordic trails, out to Grand Junction, beyond to Silver Fir and down. Then I caught the shuttle home. The whole day was a much-needed reminder of why we love living here.

[sorry for the selfie but that's what you get these days]

[note: smile]

[also noteworthy: sunshine]

Magic Carpet Kid!

We haven't done much this past month. About three weeks of it were spent with the plague. Seriously, this bug we all got had multiple rounds of grossness. At least it wasn't dumping snow while we suffered on the couch b/c that would've made it unbearable.

Anyway, Kye got out for his first ski in real boots and on real skis (last year he had the flexi model).

He took along his two snow groomer toys, one in each hand. They also love skiing of course.

After a few runs, he decided to take a nap.

"Nappy, daddy, nappy."

Lowering Our Standards...A Lot

Our friends have been heading out skinning the past few weeks, but B & I have just said, "We're not desperate; we'll wait for more snow."

So we waited. And waited some more. Then we began to get depressed. Maybe that word is a slight exaggeration but when you live at a ski area, you do get out of sorts when winter is not really coming. We weren't sure what to do with ourselves. Stay home and watch it rain? Go running again?!?

This morning, B headed out with some friends and lapped Summit West in the mist and fog. He enjoyed it and it felt good to be outside exercising. So I headed out during nap time and did some laps too. It was enjoyable, actually.

We will wait for more snow, but, until then, we'll enjoy this...skiing between dirt and rocks and sticks.

p.s. this is the worst spot on the hill; 

the rest is much more skiable than this, but still...

Send snow!

Sahale

Since the skiing was so good on Mt Baker and the next weekend was forecasted with good weather, when Lowell emailed to do Sahale I jumped again.  Glad I did, another great day in the mountains.

 Ross, Jens and Lowell starting towards Cascade Pass

 Cascade Pass

 Sahale has some of the easiest accessed scenery in the Cascades

Lowell on the summit

Little bit of rock at the top, ripsaw ridge in background(photo Lowell Skoog)

 Jens me, Lowell (photo Lowell Skoog)

 Ross with Johannesburg in background

Me and Steve Stroming (photo Lowell Skooog)

Watson Traverse

A few weekends ago I had the opportunity to complete the Watson Traverse on skis in the North Cascades.  When I first received the email invitation from Lowell Skoog I was hesitant, I had just put away my ski gear for the next season, and the warm weather already had me in Summer mode, thinking of riding bikes etc.  When Lowell told me it was the 75th Anniversary of the first traverse and that he wanted to shoot some film to recreate the film that Dwight Watson had taken on the original trip, I knew I couldn't pass this up.

For those that don't know, Lowell Skoog has quietly established himself in the history of the Cascades as a ski mountaineering pioneer, especially in the North Cascades.  Any trip with Lowell is an opportunity not only for good company but also a lesson in efficient mountain travel, ski technique and history.

On the history side of this story, the brief version is that the Watson Traverse was originally done in 1939, completed by Dwight Watson, Andy Hennig, and Erick Larson in a single day.  At the time, they called it the Mt. Baker traverse because the traverse was from Mt. Baker to Artist Point near the Mt. Baker ski area.  Lowell, being the historian that he is, decided that it was only fitting to name the traverse after Dwight Watson who is credited with planning the first traverse.  Dwight Watson was an amazing individual, establishing many of the first ski descents around the Cascades.  An interesting tidbit of info on Dwight is that he was the first person to take Fred Becky climbing.  The story goes that Fred's dad knew Dwight was a responsible, religious man and thought that he could teach Fred and keep him from killing himself in the mountains!  For more interesting reading check out Lowell's site here: LINK, and the video link to Dwight's film: LINK (the film is halfway down the page on right side).

Fast forward 75 years, and another group of skiers -myself, Lowell, Ross, Crispin, and Dwayne- started out to complete the Watson Traverse, leaving from the Heliotrope Ridge trailhead at 4:30 AM.  We started hiking on dirt in comfortable temps under clear skies, perfect weather.  The day was long and somewhat uneventful; we enjoyed excellent skinning conditions, only donning ski crampons for a couple areas.  Ropes were not needed as the glacier was still filled in.  We periodically stopped at key points so Lowell could shoot some film to recreate scenes from Dwight's film, so the pace was nice and comfortable.  On the summit we found warm temps and no wind whatsoever, really nice!  There were multiple descents, on which we found surprisingly good 'corn' conditions despite the warm temps.

Oddly enough, there was another party (large group of 12 people) on the same route this day.  The fact that we were on the same route is where our similarities ended.  These were a bunch of "bro-bras" with baggy pants, trucker hats, huge rocker skis, and music playing loud from their packs as they skied along, very interesting.  They also had a somewhat careless approach to how they skied the Park Headwall.  We chose a conservative descent, skiing down to the Cockscomb, then traversing onto the headwall at a lower and less exposed area.  The bro-bras just dropped onto the big open face above a gaping bergschrund, taking huge fast turns down the face and then jumping the schrund at the bottom!  Guess some people's idea of risk assessment is a bit different.

Despite the shenanigans of the big group we were able to enjoy the route first, and to ourselves as we moved a bit faster.  Which was good as listening to their bro-bra talk and loud music took away from the mountain experience a bit.  We arrived at the Mt. Baker ski area around 5 pm, and headed down the mountain to retrieve our cars and enjoy a delicious dinner at Milanos in Glacier.  I was back home and in bed by midnight, almost 24 hrs later!

Lowell and company heading out

Sunrise over the Coleman Glacier

Amazing!

Lowell below Colfax 

L-R Dwayne, Lowell, Crispin, me and Ross

Crispin dropping onto the Park Glacier below the Cockscomb

Lowell styling the Park Glacier

All tracked out

Crispin

Clouds building

Dwayne with the Portals in the background