Powder day...

Getting up today with a couple of inches of snow reminded my of skiing, not just skiing but top notch "Powder days"...

Started skiing the Loup Loup ski bowl in the fourth grade, broke my leg that year, did not miss a year after that - this will be the first year I have not skied in 40 years!! What a ride though - here are a few of the most memorable:

Somewhere in the early 80's was going home think Pres weekend in Feb and thought why not Helicopter ski!! Called what was then "Liberty Bell Heli Skiing" and reserved a seat. They fly out of Mazama, once arriving we went through all the safety rules, learned how to use beacons loaded up and headed off. We flew up to 6000 ft started a base area and went up and down from there. The powder was deep, light and un-tracked -- beautiful. This was my first adventure in "Back Country" skiing it was unbelievable, this also was my first time in going off, what I call snow balls, or large snow covered rocks the size of cars - total blast. The funny thing is my skis were 200"s narrow and built for speed but somehow they worked just fine. And I wore wool overalls as ski pants yes looked like a snowman. If my memory serves me right we did 30,000 vertical feet for the day and the cost under $400.00 - can't do that today...

Sometimes you hit these powder days with blind luck... Just across the border in BC out of Oliver is a ski hill called Mt. Baldy my brother and I went up there on a whim from Okanogan. Once we got there the sky was blue, the temp was cold and the snow deep. We started down this run not knowing where we were going - it was awesome, steep, deep, un-tracked, as the snow with every turn flew over our faces, the bottom dropped out almost felt like free falling - we had just went over a steeper part of the run. As a matter of fact the next time we went down that run I stopped before the steep part just to get ready. With all this great skiing one of the things I remember is the wonderful Toffee they had in the lodge - the little things...

Everyone in our family went to Tahoe and were skiing around the area but staying in a house close to Heavenly. On about the third day we got up to a foot of new snow - Bradley had gotten a concussion the day before but that is another story - we were in line for the second Tram ride up. Now the Tram goes over a renowned run called Gunbarell, today it had over a foot of snow and was perfect. Once at the top we all flew down hollering all the way skiing un-tracked powder top to bottom - "Heavenly"...

Crystal Mt. we have skied there for over 25 years and hit many great days but this day sticks in my mind. Children under 10 ski free so we loved going there while the boys were under that age. Timing is everything on a powder day - Pam and I had been with the boys and when they went in for lunch I wanted to go into the Southback backcountry, now it takes most of the morning to get the backcountry open and by the time I got to the access gate it was just opening. This is one of my favorite hikes to "The King" the highest point at Crystal. Instead of skiing down a run called "Brain Damage" I went down to the second bench inched up to the edge and below me was 18" of un-tracked, steep terrain, ready for me to write my name - and that's just what I did...

Over the past 10 years Stevens Pass was our home mountain we had passes most of the years which allowed us to hit so many powder days it's hard to pick a few. Last year was a great year this one day they had not opened up the backside in two days again 18" of new snow - all of us were up there together but the boys wanted to ski the terrain park - Pam and I were just relaxing having a great time not thinking about much came to the top of Tyee chair (here is that timing thing) unloaded moved over to a patrolman where the rope was still up and "just cus" asked when do you think the backside will open? with a smile he looked at me and said it just did - needless to say Pam and I wrote our names down Corona Bowl. I have skied Steven's and know most every nook and cranny but my favorite was a traverse into the backcountry, just off Jupiter along the power lines to the skiers right. Can't tell you how many times I cut a trail in new snow or even 5 days after and found an unbelievable playground - call that T's run...

There are more so many more stories of skiing powder - the draw is the solitude, the peace, the beauty of being where few go - a "Powder day" I will miss this day!!!

picture - my 50th bday March 08 Stevens Pass.